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In Reply to: Subwoofer Phase posted by TAK13 on December 16, 2022 at 09:56:08:
It's important to work on integrating any subwoofer with any system.
There are several aspects to this. Phase over the crossover region is important - remember that a crossover is not a brick wall where the subwoofer stops and the main speaker immediately starts - even the 48 dB per octave slope (or higher) possible with DSP crossovers, there is still some overlap and in that region phase will have an impact on the sound in the room. I have found it useful to take measurements at my listening position when adjusting phase of the subwoofers in my system. One can easily see something of a null ( suckout ) when the phase is dead wrong, but you may see too much of a peak if the phase is correct. Eq can help here, especially as the crossover region tends to be coincident with main room modes in most domestic listening rooms. If you fiddle with it enough, you CAN get it right, at least in terms of a smooth amplitude transition between subwoofer and panel speaker.
Keep in mind the wavelengths we are dealing with here - the wavelength of a 60 Hz sound wave is almost 19 feet. Moving the subwoofer a few inches isn't likely to have much impact.
The other characteristic which I find it is important to try and match between subwoofer and woofer panel is "bass overhang" sometimes also referred to as "bass speed" - A subwoofer pressurizing the air in a box is going to cause that box structure to store some of the energy pumped in by the cone motion. No matter how rigidly built or perfectly damped, that box is going to radiate that stored energy in the room over time, on a time scale that is longer than the actual bass note or impulse. Panel speakers don't have very much stored energy, and so matching a panel speaker with a box subwoofer just does not sound quite right to me. I had some box type subs, and yes they filled in the lowest octave and prevent trying to drive the panels with all that bass power, but it didn't sound quite "matched." It sounded "subwoofery" to me. This was OK for explosions and so on from movies, but didn't sound correct for music. I got rid of those box woofers and now have 4 Rhythmik servo open baffle 12 inch subs, which don't store nearly as much energy. THis, to me, is a much better match in the time domain with the panels. I cross over at 45 Hz with a 48 dB/octave crossover. Adjusting the phase using measurements has worked OK.
Also, as noted by Siegfried Linkwitz ( https://www.linkwitzlab.com/Sound_field/Field_control.htm ) dipole woofers - which open-baffle subwoofers are - will excite room modes in a less objectionable way, making for a less "lumpy" or "one-note" low end.
Science doesn't care what you believe.
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- RE: Subwoofer Phase - triamp 18:23:35 12/20/22 (0)
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