Film or Music setting for Music?

[Damage Inc.]

I know, I know; "What kind of stupid question is that?" :P
Let me explain:

I have this (self-amplified) subwoofer that has two modes; "Film" and "Music".
Also 'Normal' and 'Reverse', but that's not for now.
Although, I'd like to know what the 'Reverse' can be used for?...

Long ago I decided that I'd use of course "Film" for films and "Music" for music.
As the difference is, the "Film"-mode having a fuller and more exaggerated sound.
Obviously for effects and such.
And the "Music"-mode having a somewhat tighter and less over-the-top sound.
It was clear between DVDs and CDs that the modes match great.

However, it confuses me once I put in a Music-DVD for example.
It's music, but it's on a DVD, which might be different than a CD.
Also since they are usually mixed in Dolby Digital or DTS, more than PCM.
So what should I use for music-DVDs/BDs? Like concerts that is.

I know it's a matter of listening to what it sounds like.
But really, one DVD sounds too thin in the "Music"-mode and OK in "Movie"-mode.
Then another might sound good enough in "Music"-mode already.
Or are some DVDs to blame for not sounding good?
It's hard to get the music of concerts sound good, while films and CDs sound great.

Also, in combination with bigger concerts that have explosions and such,
which they probably use the LFE for, sometimes it sounds weak in "Music"-mode,
but then again too ridiculous and mushy in "Movie"-mode.
So does anyone know what goes wrong?
I kind of suspect the DVDs are just kind of "meh" in quality.
Buuut... yeah, then most of them would be kind of bad, which shouldn't be true.

[Johk]

Originally Posted by Damage Inc.

Also 'Normal' and 'Reverse', but that's not for now.
Although, I'd like to know what the 'Reverse' can be used for?...

The "Normal" and "Reverse" mode should be the phase control which is reference on other subwoofers as 0° and 180°.

For advices on how to set up the phase control, check out Big Daddy's thread - A Guide to Subwoofers: Characteristics, Placement, & Adjustments. Basically for most application the phase is set to Normal or 0°

Originally Posted by Damage Inc.

I know it's a matter of listening to what it sounds like.
But really, one DVD sounds too thin in the "Music"-mode and OK in "Movie"-mode.
Then another might sound good enough in "Music"-mode already.
Or are some DVDs to blame for not sounding good?
It's hard to get the music of concerts sound good, while films and CDs sound great.

I would say that the DVDs are to blame on this one. Live music DVDs can sound really good to really bad depending on how it was recorded, the room acoustics, etc. In my opinion, it's not as easy to get good sound in a live venue than it is when recording in a controlled environment i.e. a studio. Also live recordings are a one take, one shot deal whereas in a studio, multiple takes can be made. The same goes for movies. I wouldn't be surprised also that the average price to record/produce most concert dvds is way lower than the price to record/produce a studio recording. But of course there are exceptions to this.

Anyway I don't know what sub you have but it would be interesting to know what the music and movie mode really do. Do you have the model/make info?

Edit: There is a thread about this at the Shack

Depending on the sub, the "movie" / "music" mode could be a subsonic cutoff that cuts the lower frequencies (for example at 30 hz) for music and gives more headroom or it could boost/cut certain frequencies. And I'm guessing it's a yamaha sub?

[Damage Inc.]

Ah, thank you, that clears things up quite a bit.