Subwoofer Optomized

Okay so I think I'm finally done tweaking the subwoofer. The blue line is the unequalized measured response. The pink line is the equalized response. Not sure if it is the ideal house curve, but I like the way it sounds for movies. Haven't done a test for music yet, but I don't expect to listen to music too much in that room.

I'm getting good output below 20hz, whereas before (look at the graph down below), the frequency rolled off below 30hz. And that was with a ton of boost. I actually lowered the gain on most of the frequencies.

Thanks a bunch to ThomasW over at the subwoofer site posted in the links to the right. His help was invaluable. Small detail of a low frequency filter being turned on seriously impacted the bottom end. Amazing what a little dip switch flipped to the wrong side can do.

Now the low end is amazing. The Darla tapping on the glass screen in Finding Nemo is frightening. I can't even imagine what it would feel (note, not sound) like with two more drivers (which is what they first recommended to me). Although I'm thinking of upgrading the drivers sometime next year with ones that have nearly 3 times the displacement... :)

New Receiver!!!

Woohoo! Picked up a suh-weet receiver for the HT. So very nice. Thanks mom and dad for helping to cover some of the cost with the Christmas money.

But of course nothing can be easy - guess what? The receiver is 1.5" deeper than my previous receiver. No problem in standard rack/shelf systems. Unfortunately if you recall my system doesn't have much room to work with. So out with the reciprocating saw, jigsaw, pry bar, etc. to remove more wood studs. I installed a stud that was rotated to gain the extra depth. Nice.

Oh wait, there's more - if you've ever worked with HDMI cables, you'll find they are not very flexible. Well, due to the extra depth, I could not run my HDMI cables because they require more room in the back. Sheesh. Fortunately they make these right angle swivel adapters so I ordered two. Oh but wait, I needed three. Great. Ordered the third one, was more expensive a day later, and then was inadvertently shipped to Seattle. Doh!

I sure hope I can fit all this stuff back into that column base. Did I mention the new receiver is about 5/8" taller? That's going to require some fancy action too to get all three components to fit in there. Calgon take me away...