A stupid question about subwoofers
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  1. #1
    Tech Guru diezdiazgiant's Avatar
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    Default A stupid question about subwoofers

    Finally got some quality monitors at home, replaced the stereo hifi with some krks, and I'm just wondering - its probably not worthwhile to use an aiwa home stereo subwoofer with the krks if I want a clean accurate representation of the mix, true or false?

  2. #2
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    from my experience, subs can cause more problems than they are worth if you are going for accuracy. room acoustics is most important, and using bass traps would be more effective to making your KRKs sound better. I've heard extremely good sub-bass representation out of 8" woofer studio monitors that were in a room with treatment.

    a single sub is more suited for home stereo imo. if you are going for studio accuracy and want subs, its better to 1) treat your room, 2) get a pair of subs (3 is even better), 3) strategically place the subs in your room to minimize standing waves, and then 4) run an EQ analyzer to balance out the frequency spectrum.

    most djs don't want to go through all this trouble however.

  3. #3
    Tech Guru JasonBay's Avatar
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    It's good to have the sub to monitor what's going on in the lowend, as this is club music you're making (I'm guessing), but I wouldn't leave it on when writing or doing your mixdown. Try and get the best mix down you can without the sub, then at the end turn it on and see how it feels with it.

    That's why a lot of studio subs come with a footswitch bypass so you can turn it on and off easily

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    Tech Guru JasonBay's Avatar
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    And I don't know about the need to have three or even two subs as that can cause even more issues

  5. #5
    Tech Guru JasonBay's Avatar
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    So yes, I don't see anything wrong with using your sub, just use it to get a snap shot at the end of your mixdown, or just when you in the groove to rock it on the sub once in awhile. Just wouldn't leave it on all the time

  6. #6
    Tech Guru diezdiazgiant's Avatar
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    Sweet. Had a feeling it wouldn't really be practical. it's a small untreated room, sounds like before I give any thought to the sub I should do something about the acoustics in this room

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    Quote Originally Posted by JasonBay View Post
    And I don't know about the need to have three or even two subs as that can cause even more issues
    http://www.sonicdesign.se/subplace.html

    If you hang out on any studio design forums this is fairly common knowledge

  8. #8
    RGAS Guru Xonetacular's Avatar
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    Yeah you definitely want a better studio sub over a hifi sub.

    If you got KRK rokkits then a sub can be particularly helpful since the bottom end of the rokkits is pretty boomy and inaccurate while the KRK 10s sub is kind of decent and can make it sound cleaner. Really though you probably want room treatment and bass traps if using a sub or like jason said just toggle it on and off with a foot switch and use it to check. That's what I do at the moment until I get some GIK traps.

    You just need to get a room calibration mic for properly setting the sub level- the Behringer ECM8000 is kind of a budget standard and is good despite being behringer. Then you can use spectrum tools to play a known audio sample and adjust the sub until the frequency curve matches (ozone is good for this but lots of stuff works). Also room setup and location is very important (as it is anyway) so if you don't have you desk setup exactly centered between two parallel walls and not shoved into a corner do that before even thinking about adding a sub.


  9. #9
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    accurate sound and pleasing sound are not the same thing. accurate sound is a flat frequency response from 20hz-20khz. you can get perfectly accurate sound out of studio monitors and room treatment.

    99% of the time adding a sub will make pleasing sound, but your frequency response will not be flat. its a good reference for club systems though, just not "accurate" representation of sound.

  10. #10
    RGAS Guru Xonetacular's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by sesshin View Post
    http://www.sonicdesign.se/subplace.html

    If you hang out on any studio design forums this is fairly common knowledge
    I have two KRK 10s subs already- I may have to try this when I get home.

    Quote Originally Posted by sesshin View Post
    accurate sound and pleasing sound are not the same thing. accurate sound is a flat frequency response from 20hz-20khz. you can get perfectly accurate sound out of studio monitors and room treatment.

    99% of the time adding a sub will make pleasing sound, but your frequency response will not be flat. its a good reference for club systems but it isn't what you would call "accurate", which was what the OP was asking for.
    Right- but you're not going to get accurate flat low end below 60hz out of most monitors- so a properly set up and tuned sub in a treated room is the best bet.


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