Velodyne Subwoofers Owners Thread

[betty boop]

Tut tut Alebonau, as I keep telling everybody you are a very naughty man!

Okay you have had enough time how does it perform?

I have been extremely naughty indeed and am going to be in big trouble. anyway...

haven't had a huge amount of time with it to be honest as been out and about for most of the night and just come back. Though have had a little bit of a play before heading out.

Its unpacked...I am in awe of its beauty. I cannot honestly believe the build quality of it. Have always loved the build of my missions but the wood work on the velodyne dd15 is quite something. Even just taking the grill off gives you an impression of how well its made - really never got an apreciation of this side of it jsut demoing instore. And its heavy !.

Its in place...

http://www.dtvforum.info/index.php?act=Att...pe=post&id=1089

a bit bigger in height to my richter which visually I have to get used. But obviously not too big to stick out like a sore thumb and happy its fitted in where it is. I'm planning to run it where it is. If turns out completely wrong positioning wise I have a couple of other locations it can go.

I quickly hooked up to my avr and set vol level to about where my richter thor was. Ran the auto room eq - very simple just needs the mic hooked upto it and its test swirls done.

Gave master and commander a run after that. I have my sub level quite subtle. Very happy firstly it wasn't over the top - boomy, overbearing etc. I was a bit worried it might be, considering I'm goign from a 12" to a 15" with a lot more power behind it. The sound is incredibly clean. Never to bring too much notice to itself and was quite happy to see the spl meter hitting 100db+ with the canons going off and yet the whole time it had this efforlessness and sense of ease with that. My richter could get upto 100db plus but there was always a sense you were pushing or straining things. Anyways I decided to check what the auto eq had done setup wise - (you can see where it adjusted the sliders in the mains response plot pic below). also noticed it by default runs in the jazz/classical setting with max servo control (set on 8). Will need to experiment with loosening the servo control - easy to adjust back to 1 or 0 on the servo control to see what that does to the sound - or alternatively could jsut try the movie setting which does hte same.

Next up checked my mains response. This was again very easily done. By running the test swirls and just muting the sub. Below is the response plot for my mains.

http://www.dtvforum.info/index.php?act=Att...pe=post&id=1090

excuse the blurry pics as its hand held shot of the plasma. Also disregard the slidder posns in this pic - they are from the auto room eq adjustments for the sub response and dont' come in play here with the sub muted.

Now need to run the test swirls again this time with my mains muted to get my sub response. Following that need to decide on xover point, sub level to match my mains and adjusting eq to blend in the sub and mains and tune the response to as flat as possible. All thats for tomorrow. Not possible to run sub swirl tests while got a cranky baby thats jsut gone to sleep !

I'm not expecting a totally flat response. Given the box and positioning compromises but anyways will try my best and see what I get.

If nothing else have really enjoyed playing with it so far and seing the response plots coming up on screen in real time and seing the sub do an auto eq and what my mains can do. Looking forward to tomorrow and to playign a bit more with it

[Foggy]

You sly dog Al

This sub, or one of it's little brothers is at the top of my hit list, so I'm an eager beaver to see your impressions.

I'd also be keen to know if you feel the DD series is worth so much more than the SPL series. As far as I can tell, the only difference is that the DD series come with the SMS Eq adjustment system. I would've thought that buying the SPL series and the BFD, as well as a decent microphone would be a much cheaper and more flexible option.

[betty boop]

You sly dog Al

This sub, or one of it's little brothers is at the top of my hit list, so I'm an eager beaver to see your impressions.

I'd also be keen to know if you feel the DD series is worth so much more than the SPL series. As far as I can tell, the only difference is that the DD series come with the SMS Eq adjustment system. I would've thought that buying the SPL series and the BFD, as well as a decent microphone would be a much cheaper and more flexible option.

hi foggy,

the DD-10 & DD-12 are both very good subs too. The difference between the spl range and the DD range is not just the sms Eq but also that the DD range are servo controlled subs. When going for the smaller cabinet subs as the velodynes are I'm not sure you can beat the servo designs. Check out this post of mine re the servo designs http://www.dtvforum.info/index.php?s=&show...ndpost&p=384630

I'm also really liking the integrated aspect of the DD+eq+mic and velodyne sotware, finding it extremely easy to use.

below is a shot of my system response as done with the auto room eq

http://www.dtvforum.info/index.php?act=Att...pe=post&id=1091

haven't really had a chance to any tweaking as such. Will hopefully get a chance a bit later. Guess thats what I like about it the way you can jsut get up and goign pretty easily with not too much muckign around. And theres plenty to muck aroudn with if you do want to and I'll slowly work through it all when get a bit of time.

[Foggy]

the DD-10 & DD-12 are both very good subs too. The difference between the spl range and the DD range is not just the sms Eq but also that the DD range are servo controlled subs. When going for the smaller cabinet subs as the velodynes are I'm not sure you can beat the servo designs.

Thanks al, I've been led down the wrong path by a salesman... I thought the SPL series were servos too.

[RodN]

below is a shot of my system response as done with the auto room eq

http://www.dtvforum.info/index.php?act=Att...pe=post&id=1091

haven't really had a chance to any tweaking as such. Will hopefully get a chance a bit later. Guess thats what I like about it the way you can jsut get up and goign pretty easily with not too much muckign around. And theres plenty to muck aroudn with if you do want to and I'll slowly work through it all when get a bit of time.

Hi Al doing really well mate, what a peice of eq those DD's are.

With that plot, what xover point are you running at? Often a bit of a tweak with phase to get it spot on will help with the boost/suckout at the xover. It looks as if it's at 80Hz perhaps as there's a big boost trying to compensate for phase shift.

Having giving some improvements it still looks brilliant already!

[betty boop]

Hi Al doing really well mate, what a peice of eq those DD's are.

With that plot, what xover point are you running at? Often a bit of a tweak with phase to get it spot on will help with the boost/suckout at the xover. It looks as if it's at 80Hz perhaps as there's a big boost trying to compensate for phase shift.

Having giving some improvements it still looks brilliant already!

Thanks nobby,

yes 80hz it is ! . yeah haven't played with phase yet. it has 15 deg increments adjustments so hopefully thats should do it. Haven't done anythign with my mains as yet either so got to play with that as well - any ideas where I should try chopping my mains at - you can have a look at my mains response if you like. Have pretty much just followed the velodyne intructions step by step so far. But yeah plenty of tweaking options to play aroudn with when I get a chance. Spearmint was talking about a house curve as well so need to look into that - you got a plot how one of those should look like nobby?

[RodN]

Thanks nobby,

yes 80hz it is ! . yeah haven't played with phase yet. it has 15 deg increments adjustments so hopefully thats should do it. Haven't done anythign with my mains as yet either so got to play with that as well - any ideas where I should try chopping my mains at - you can have a look at my mains response if you like. Have pretty much just followed the velodyne intructions step by step so far. But yeah plenty of tweaking options to play aroudn with when I get a chance. Spearmint was talking about a house curve as well so need to look into that - you got a plot how one of those should look like nobby?

There are some nice house curves here: http://bfdguide.ws/ just scroll down to the bottom and you'll see some users curves including Sonnie's and Andrew Pratt's.

For your room and just mains graph with no sub do you see the 63Hz dip in the response? I would be inclined to want to tune that out so would crossover above that so the sub is working on it which can be eq'd otherwise if you xover lower than it it'll always be there. You could experiment at 60/70/80....

[betty boop]

There are some nice house curves here: http://bfdguide.ws/ just scroll down to the bottom and you'll see some users curves including Sonnie's and Andrew Pratt's.

For your room and just mains graph with no sub do you see the 63Hz dip in the response? I would be inclined to want to tune that out so would crossover above that so the sub is working on it which can be eq'd otherwise if you xover lower than it it'll always be there. You could experiment at 60/70/80....

thanks for that nobby, seems the guys have it about 10db up at 15hz end gradually slopping/dropping back down to the 80hz point. A good bit of interesting reading in that page too !

yes see the 63hz dip in the response I'll try out 60/70/80 as you suggest. thanks again

[Spearmint]

Well to say I’m pissed is an understatement… it has been 24Hrs and no subjective information on how this sub is performing in your system.

And yes I am pissed...

[betty boop]

Well to say I’m pissed is an understatement… it has been 24Hrs and no subjective information on how this sub is performing in your system.

And yes I am pissed...

hehehe you must have missed my initial post back here spearmint

~

Gave master and commander a run after that. I have my sub level quite subtle. Very happy firstly it wasn't over the top - boomy, overbearing etc. I was a bit worried it might be, considering I'm goign from a 12" to a 15" with a lot more power behind it. The sound is incredibly clean. Never to bring too much notice to itself and was quite happy to see the spl meter hitting 100db+ with the canons going off and yet the whole time it had this efforlessness and sense of ease with that. My richter could get upto 100db plus but there was always a sense you were pushing or straining things. ~

still haven't had that much of a go at it to be honest, been a bit busy with a a few other things. Had another listen to it earlier today with titan AE and also with morcheeba to check it out on music. I tried a tighter and looser servo setting and difference is certainly audible with a corresponding tighter and looser bass.

From all I've heard so far its very clean sounding, goes lower than my thor ever did - has the power to shake the sofa ....and the floor & also the walls and the whole house if I want it too so there you go, subjective enough for you? hehehe !

[Spearmint]

hehehe you must have missed my initial post back here spearmint

still haven't had that much of a go at it to be honest, been a bit busy with a a few other things. Had another listen to it earlier today with titan AE and also with morcheeba to check it out on music. I tried a tighter and looser servo setting and difference is certainly audible with a corresponding tighter and looser bass.

From all I've heard so far its very clean sounding, goes lower than my thor ever did - has the power to shake the sofa ....and the floor & also the walls and the whole house if I want it too so there you go, subjective enough for you? hehehe !

So do you like the new sub…(j/k)

[norpus]

Well to say Im pissed is an understatement& it has been 24Hrs and no subjective information on how this sub is performing in your system.

And yes I am pissed...

Pissed. I reckon I know what you mean. A large coruba went missing early this morning:) Not great for the tennis but keeping the head down is working so far:)

[betty boop]

Got some good news from the wife today.

She said she quite liked the look of this 'new speaker'. Says our wedding picture looks very nice on top of it and says it can stay !

[Chui2]

Congrats on the purchase,

Putting wedding pictures on top to gain approval??? Great angle. There's a new one fellas. Anything you buy in the future, just stick a wedding photo on top.

Cheers

Chui

[norpus]

Ahh chui that may not work well for everyone... May even have the opposite effect for some hehe

Great news for you tho Al

Congrats on the purchase,

Putting wedding pictures on top to gain approval??? Great angle. There's a new one fellas. Anything you buy in the future, just stick a wedding photo on top.

Cheers

Chui

[betty boop]

Ahh chui that may not work well for everyone... May even have the opposite effect for some hehe

Great news for you tho Al

hehehe thanks norpus, yeah could backfire I guess with the photo either being smashed on the floor or getting klonked on the head with it I suppose hehehe

yeah we watched trapped last night with it. I had it set to action & advanture and put about 6db boost on it as haven't put a house curve in on it as yet. With trapped at quite a few points you have this deep throbbing hearbeat that comes along the sub really dug deep here. Interestingly the heart beat imaged fairly highish above the screen as well. The sub also nicely added really some good atmosphere to the dramatic sections of the movie. Talking about dramatics after it we caught a bit of Devdas a bolliwood movie on sbs ... boy that has a few bits with some very punchy bass as well. Plus sections again where bass adds very nicely to to the atmosphere.

[betty boop]

following the advice of spearmint and info from nobbys' links, I've added in as a first attempt a 'housecurve' to the DDs response. I also shifted the xover from 80hz tried 70hz and ended up settling on 60hz it seems ot get rit of the trough I had, plus moved some of the slidders arround to slightly differnt freq and made some asdjustments there too as part of getting the house curve. probably still quite a bit of tweaking possible this is where its at at present

http://www.dtvforum.info/index.php?act=Att...pe=post&id=1099

looking at some of the posts in the BFD links people seem to typically have about a 10db? boost from about 80db well some have literally nothing and some much well much much more than that ! hehehe

anyways with listenign to what was on last night it sure gives a pretty exciting listen ! watched a fair few tracks on morcheeba agian and added to the enjoyment value and was very musical. Also watched chapter 7 of 'the village' boy this has some quite awesome bass. Anyway it pretty much shook the life out the little lamp that is parked on the sub ! so not sure if I'm getting a bit carried away here ! hehehe

anyways I've kept all my settings from previous and can always jsut do another auto if I completely botch it up I suppose.

Wondering what people think in regards the response curve ?

[Spearmint]

That looks fine to me Al. Just be careful with how much you try to boost the freq’s as you can run out of power/excursion real quick. At the end of the day you set the response curve to what you like, a flat response can sound a bit clinical hence the use of a house curve.

[betty boop]

well a bit more playing aroudn and have a slightly less agressive calmer version of the house curve that I'm very happy with.

http://www.dtvforum.info/index.php?act=Att...pe=post&id=1109

pretty happy with the sound, adds a nice bottom end to everyday TV viewing, some very nice bass and dynamics for the movies and quite musical for the music video's Ive tested it on. Blends in very nicely I think, no localisation and its amazing just how subtle it is when you mute & unmute the sub inbetween normal viewing - suprising the effect it adds given the subtlety.

Also below is a screen shot of the other settings behind the graph. Even though I've explored the effect of most settings, you'll see I haven't really had to do anythign seriously fancy as yet. Mainly just changed the polarity to '-' xover to 60hz and vol of the sub to match to match the mains.

http://www.dtvforum.info/index.php?act=Att...pe=post&id=1110

this page basically shows the 6 preset settings you can pre-program and select on the fly via the remote.

1. action adventure

2. Movies

3. Pop/Rock

4. Jazz/classical

5. Custom

6. Eq defeat

The music/theatre setting is to adjust the level of servo control. Music (1) & theatre (8)

The contour freq/Contour level setting allows a selectable boost at any particualr freq. Eg 35hz which as you'll see for some presets can add that little extra oomph if required.

The house curves agessiveness I've foudn is easily adjsutable quite simply by adjsuting the sub level in the avr or sub vol via the velodynes remote. So even though I think the curve is about right for me if I want ot back it off a tad its very easily done.

Theres probably more tweakign I could do eg the couple of little camel humps etc, but think its pretty right for now, much to my liking to keep the toe tappign and the smile on the face ...

[Mike Kakay]

Hi al, a bit confused here, so is this EQ'ing the sub offers software based 'ala' mic plugged in computer and using software there, or is it all intergrated in the actual sub?

If its a part of the sub how is it connected to your screen, composite connection from out of the sub or your pc? Whats really happening here?

Well subs are really coming a long way these days and it seems the Velodyne (keeper?) is very user friendly. Nice find.

[betty boop]

Hi al, a bit confused here, so is this EQ'ing the sub offers software based 'ala' mic plugged in computer and using software there, or is it all intergrated in the actual sub?

If its a part of the sub how is it connected to your screen, composite connection from out of the sub or your pc? Whats really happening here?

Well subs are really coming a long way these days and it seems the Velodyne (keeper?) is very user friendly. Nice find.

hi mike,

I was suprised jsut how simple the setup is myself.

you just plug the mic that comes with it into the sub. the sub has software(user upgradeable) and whatever necessary already loaded.

If you wnat you run a composite video out to yoru screen and you also if you want a 'eq out' rca to your avr to provide a signal for your mains. both are well worth hooking up as can get a visual very quickly in real time of the inroom mains response, sub response and system response and ability to see the options and their effects.

Also comes with a self eq function which doesn't require any hooking up jsut parking it where you want, hooking hte mic and runnign a key sequence on the remote to do a self eq and get you up and going. If you do hook it all up it does also do an auto eq and gives you full control of all the adjustments if you want to tweak any aspect.

very user friendly, learnt a lot using it, a good bit of fun and definetely a keeper.

[Mike Kakay]

hi mike,

I was suprised jsut how simple the setup is myself.

you just plug the mic that comes with it into the sub. the sub has software(user upgradeable) and whatever necessary already loaded.

If you wnat you run a composite video out to yoru screen and you also if you want a 'eq out' rca to your avr to provide a signal for your mains. both are well worth hooking up as can get a visual very quickly in real time of the inroom mains response, sub response and system response and ability to see the options and their effects.

Also comes with a self eq function which doesn't require any hooking up jsut parking it where you want, hooking hte mic and runnign a key sequence on the remote to do a self eq and get you up and going. If you do hook it all up it does also do an auto eq and gives you full control of all the adjustments if you want to tweak any aspect.

very user friendly, learnt a lot using it, a good bit of fun and definetely a keeper.

They sound very interesting indeed. So to adjust all the variables you would need it hooked up to a screen, to see where you are going?

[betty boop]

They sound very interesting indeed. So to adjust all the variables you would need it hooked up to a screen, to see where you are going?

yes thats right. Its got a coupel of options of composite or s-video. I actually have it in as the same input on my plasma that my xbox 360 is hooked to. The 360 is hooked up via component and the velodyne dd via composite. Fortunately component takes priorty so when xbox is off can see the velodyne screen and when the 360 is on can see the 360 screen - don't loose a video input on the plasma that way. Excellent to see on a nice big screen too especilly as it does the plots there and there in front of you.

[norpus]

well a bit more playing aroudn and have a slightly less agressive calmer version of the house curve that I'm very happy with.

http://www.dtvforum.info/index.php?act=Att...pe=post&id=1109

pretty happy with the sound, adds a nice bottom end to everyday TV viewing, some very nice bass and dynamics for the movies and quite musical for the music video's Ive tested it on. Blends in very nicely I think, no localisation and its amazing just how subtle it is when you mute & unmute the sub inbetween normal viewing - suprising the effect it adds given the subtlety.

That's a better looking house curve Al - fantastic! I can't wait to hear it.

I also like the 15Hz subsonic filter setting with 24dB slope. At the HES, Kaanage and Rick also suggested to me that anything below 15Hz just sucks huge amp power for no real sonic benefit (we were discussing 10Hz brickwall filters at the time). The example given was X dB at 100watts for 20Hz would require 400watts for X dB at 10Hz. So a 15Hz filter Rick thought was a good idea. As a BFD won't do anything below 20Hz, the Velodyne seems to have this covered nicely.

[Spearmint]

That's a better looking house curve Al - fantastic! I can't wait to hear it.

I also like the 15Hz subsonic filter setting with 24dB slope. At the HES, Kaanage and Rick also suggested to me that anything below 15Hz just sucks huge amp power for no real sonic benefit (we were discussing 10Hz brickwall filters at the time). The example given was X dB at 100watts for 20Hz would require 400watts for X dB at 10Hz. So a 15Hz filter Rick thought was a good idea. As a BFD won't do anything below 20Hz, the Velodyne seems to have this covered nicely.

Well you can always invest in a Velodyne SMS1 with the new version of the software it will support down to 5Hz.