The Official Elemental Designs Subwoofers Thread

[Fors*]

Originally Posted by mrpink134

Hate to say this guys but the a2-300 IMO is a let down I have tried everything and my Polk 12 inch sub sounds better. I moved it and tried changing the crossover setting 80 then 120 then 80 again my phase I moved all over the place and to me it seems like its lacking ump and boom. Im lost

Have you tried moving the sub around the room? It appears you messed with the settings quite a bit, but what about moving the sub around?

[mrpink134]

Originally Posted by forsberg21

Have you tried moving the sub around the room? It appears you messed with the settings quite a bit, but what about moving the sub around?

Yes I did I talked to someone over at ed and he told me that the old amps work different than the new ones. Basically the old amps gain are more sensitive compared to the new ones and that I would have to move my gain higher than the people who have the old style amps and I notice a big difference when I did that. I had to move my gain to 3 o clock to get that ump and thump I was looking for. My receiver is set the 3 or 4 db.

[Tru2theBlu]

I have not extensively worked with the A2-300 yet, but my first impressions are WOW ! It is simply a beast, and now the workhorse of my HT. I love it, and have no regrets in buying one. I will give a detailed review later on tonight!

[Driver_King]

Originally Posted by mrpink134

Yes I did I talked to someone over at ed and he told me that the old amps work different than the new ones. Basically the old amps gain are more sensitive compared to the new ones and that I would have to move my gain higher than the people who have the old style amps and I notice a big difference when I did that. I had to move my gain to 3 o clock to get that ump and thump I was looking for. My receiver is set the 3 or 4 db.

Thank you for that input. I will make sure to not tell people to try to limit the gain on the sub to 1 o' clock and to turn the crossover on the sub all the way up to 180hz instead.

[Audiophile_At_Birth]

Well I'm glad we found out what is up with the new amps. It's good to know that all you have to do is turn that dial a little more!

[erict]

Originally Posted by Audiophile_At_Birth

Well I'm glad we foung out what is up with the new amps. It's good to know that all you have to do is turn that dial a little more!

I e-mailed them last night when I saw the questions being raised about output with the new amps and asked them to come over and explain the difference with the new amps. I thought we would get the best answers to the questions that way. Thanks Brett

[erict]

Also not sure if you guys heard, but someone tried to break into eD on Saturday and again last night. They are a little busy repairing doors and replacing locks so it delayed shipping and e-mail responses. Again thanks Brett for taking the time to explain the amps as I know you're a little busy.

[rpneuss]

Well guys i pulled the trigger on 2 A3 300's and now i'm excited to get them and set them up. I figure if I need more bass(which i don't think I will) I can just add another A3 300. I talked to brett and it seems like these guys know their stuff so I'm excited to hear these bad boys.

[Driver_King]

Originally Posted by rpneuss

Well guys i pulled the trigger on 2 A3 300's...

[mrpink134]

Well I got it set up. My gain on the sub is at 3 o clock gain on receiver is a little over the middle I think at +2 db. What I noticed about the sub is that I feel the bass alot more than I did with the polk sub and It sounds great. The polk sub seems to have more high bass though is that normal?

[rpneuss]

Originally Posted by Driver_King

Is that good or bad Driver King? lol!

[Driver_King]

Originally Posted by rpneuss

Is that good or bad Driver King? lol!

It's bad! Really bad! You're going to go deaf! You poor, poor person you!

[Driver_King]

Originally Posted by mrpink134

Well I got it set up. My gain on the sub is at 3 o clock gain on receiver is a little over the middle I think at +2 db. What I noticed about the sub is that I feel the bass alot more than I did with the polk sub and It sounds great. The polk sub seems to have more high bass though is that normal?

Yes. That is normal. Mid-bass accentuation is an issue with lesser quality subwoofers. If you want that feeling though, there is always the equalizer. In all seriousness though, the A2-300 has a pretty flat frequency curve (although room modes may have an adverse effect on this) so no one set of frequencies should really stand out. It should be an extension of your speakers. Once you get used to it, you will be in bass heaven.

[mrpink134]

Originally Posted by Driver_King

Yes. That is normal. Mid-bass accentuation is an issue with lesser quality subwoofers. If you want that feeling though, there is always the equalizer. In all seriousness though, the A2-300 has a pretty flat frequency curve (although room modes may have an adverse effect on this) so no one set of frequencies should really stand out. It should be an extension of your speakers. Once you get used to it, you will be in bass heaven.

I understand about the lower bass. I do have a question should I hook up my other sub with the a2-300 or no

[Driver_King]

Originally Posted by mrpink134

I understand about the lower bass. I do have a question should I hook up my other sub with the a2-300 or no

Absolutely. Place the Polk nearest your seating position for upper bass and the A2-300 opposite the room for lower bass. Dr. HSU recommends this setup, as does Big Daddy. Read this post for more info.

[mrpink134]

Got it BTW the thing I like about the a2-300 is the bass is so low it scratches my back without me moving

Transformers is great along with TDK Incredible Hulk

[rpneuss]

Driver King would I be best to place the phasing on both subs to 0 to start off with? They will both be at the front of the room with on near the right corner and one near the left corner.

[Driver_King]

I believe that is what the distance setting on the Auto-calibration systems on receivers are for (I'm not positive). If you're doing a manual setup, try 0 at first to see how it sounds...

[Big Daddy]

Originally Posted by rpneuss

Driver King would I be best to place the phasing on both subs to 0 to start off with? They will both be at the front of the room with on near the right corner and one near the left corner.

Setting the Phase of One Subwoofer
When the woofer on the sub and the woofers of the front speakers move in and out in sync with each other, the system is said to be in phase. When the speakers and the subwoofer are moving out of sync with each other, the subwoofer and the front speakers’ bass overlap and cancel each other. In this case the system is said to be out of phase, resulting in less bass.

Unfortunately, there may be another problem between the main speakers and the subwoofer. If the main speakers are producing bass at the same time as the subwoofer, at some points the bass will reinforce each other. At other points the bass will cancel each other. The solution is to allow only the subwoofer to reproduce bass by setting the front speakers to small in the receiver’s setup menu. This can yield a smoother bass response throughout the entire room.

To get the best bass response, you should set the phase (polarity) of the subwoofer(s) to deliver the highest output at the listening position. This can be achieved with the help of a test signal at the crossover frequency and an SPL meter. You should run this test several times by changing the polarity of the subwoofer and measuring the bass response on the SPL meter. Select the phase option that results in the highest bass response. If you don’t have an SPL meter, you will have to trust your ears.

When setting the subwoofer phase by ear, play some music (not a movie) that has a repetitive bass line. Switch the polarity several times and choose whichever setting sounds “faster” or “fuller”. If you do not hear any difference, leave the phase switch at “0" or “normal”.

Setting the Phase of Two Subwoofers
Set the front speakers to small and their crossover to 60Hz or 80Hz and let the subwoofers take care of the bass sound.

Position the subwoofers and adjust their phase according to one of the following:

1. If the subs are identical:
   • Put one in the front and the other in the rear opposite from the front sub and set the phase of the rear sub to 180 as a start. Adjust the phase of the rear sub to get the maximum output at your primary listening position. If you can't hear any differnce, set both of them to zero. An SPL meter is very helpful.
   • Put one in the middle of the right wall and the other one in the middle of the left wall. Set the phase as in the previous case.
2. If the subs are not identical, put the stronger sub with lower frequency extension up front in a corner, about a foot or more away from the walls. Put the smaller sub behind your sofa or on the side of the sofa. Adjust the level of each sub separately so that one sub does not overpower the other. Set the phase as above.

Importance of Phase
The animation in the following shows two waves traveling in the same direction. The phase difference between the two waves varies with time so that we see constructive interference when maximum points are aligned (peak) and destructive interference when minimum and maximum points are aligned (null). This illustrates why it is important to adjust the subwoofer’s phase control so that we obtain maximum output.

Animation courtesy of Dr. Dan Russell, Kettering University

[SellmeyourDVD]

I just picked up u571 yesterday and my daughter will be at grandmas on friday

From what i've read, my house is going to be shaking on friday