Wiim Amp with Polk XT15 & Polk PSW10

[Vicious]

"Distorted rumble" shouldn't happen; you should only hear that some frequencies are louder than others when doing the initial sweeps, and this should balance out during the "evaluation" part (i.e. once RC filters are already applied).

I assume you hear this distortion in both phases - during initial RC measurements and during evaluation, right?
Is it possible that something in your room is vibrating at said frequency and causing the rumble?
E.g. once I had a situation where a person had wine glasses in a cabinet which were vibrating at a specific subwoofer frequencies and causing audible rumble which sounded as if it was coming from the sub. But just moving the glasses slightly away from the cabinet wall solved the issue completely.

Hmm could be that as well.

Makes sense that it’s evaluating as you stated. It makes that “sound” once the test starts and it’s for a half a sec only, then disappears instantly

 

[Vicious]

Max sub volume :O

 

[Vicious]

Ok last run for the night, got it to this point but still that dip at 70-90hz

 

[dominikz]

Hmm could be that as well.

Makes sense that it’s evaluating as you stated. It makes that “sound” once the test starts and it’s for a half a sec only, then disappears instantly

I'd suggest to try and figure out if something in the room is vibrating.
You can find frequency sweep generators online that might help you pinpoint the problematic frequency range, so that you can easily reproduce the rumble while searching for the cause.

Max sub volume :O
View attachment 20023

This is looking better, except for the dip.

Are you happy with how it sounds so far?

Regarding the dip - given that 180° phase switch in the WiiM Home app subwoofer menu didn't help with it I'd suggest to revert back to 0° and set Frequency=100Hz in the same menu. Agan re-run "Subwoofer & Speakers Sync" and RC after this.
The idea now is just to see if the dip will move to 100Hz.

Also, would you be able to draw a simple floor plan of your layout, and mark distances from each loudspeaker and sub to nearest walls?

 

[slartibartfast]

I'd suggest to try and figure out if something in the room is vibrating.
You can find frequency sweep generators online that might help you pinpoint the problematic frequency range, so that you can easily reproduce the rumble while searching for the cause.


This is looking better, except for the dip.

Are you happy with how it sounds so far?

Regarding the dip - given that 180° phase switch in the WiiM Home app subwoofer menu didn't help with it I'd suggest to revert back to 0° and set Frequency=100Hz in the same menu. Agan re-run "Subwoofer & Speakers Sync" and RC after this.
The idea now is just to see if the dip will move to 100Hz.

Also, would you be able to draw a simple floor plan of your layout, and mark distances from each loudspeaker and sub to nearest walls?

We know that the automatic subwoofer synchronization doesn't work correctly unless the WiiM device is at the listening position so it might be worth trying manual delay settings either side of the auto settings.

 

[dominikz]

We know that the automatic subwoofer synchronization doesn't work correctly unless the WiiM device is at the listening position so it might be worth trying manual delay settings either side of the auto settings.

Indeed, I was hoping to use the floor plan and distances to figure out the delay manually, and also to see if SBIR might be a problem.

@Vicious please also include distances from each speaker and subwoofer to the listening position in the floor plan drawing.

 

[Vicious]

Thanks guys

I’ll pull up a map of the layout tomorrow morning and the distances

Weirdly, Ive also considered playing with the delay settings and manually adjusting it. The last graph was me setting the subwoofer to 10ms, instead of the 13ms the app automatically set it to. It seems to have provided me a better PEQ result and preset?

 

[dominikz]

Thanks guys

I’ll pull up a map of the layout tomorrow morning and the distances

Weirdly, Ive also considered playing with the delay settings and manually adjusting it. The last graph was me setting the subwoofer to 10ms, instead of the 13ms the app automatically set it to. It seems to have provided me a better PEQ result and preset?

10ms and 13ms seem awful lot to me for a residential (i.e. smallish) room.
If we assume the usual speed of sound of 343 m/s delaying the sub by 10ms is like it is 3,4m farther away from the listening position.

In my room I only set 2ms of delay on the loudspeakers and 0ms on the sub to align them. This is to compensate for my sub being physically placed roughly 0,5m further away from my listening position compared to my loudspeakers.

 

[Vicious]

10ms and 13ms seem awful lot to me for a residential (i.e. smallish) room.
If we assume the usual speed of sound of 343 m/s delaying the sub by 10ms is like it is 3,4m farther away from the listening position.

In my room I only set 2ms of delay on the loudspeakers and 0ms on the sub to align them. This is to compensate for my sub being physically placed roughly 0,5m further away from my listening position compared to my loudspeakers.

Hmm Interesting!

Running an automatic sync test returns values;
Main Speaker: 3ms
Sub; 13ms

Which is weird, taking into consideration of your comment, I’m seated 1.5m away (give or take, I’ll measure later) and the sub below me is also roughly 1.5m away from my listening position

Why a 10” sub for such a small room, got it for a mad special

 

[Vicious]

Side question
Do I toggle (off or on) the subwoofer room correction on as well, in the settings before starting the RC
Just something i noticed while reading through the forums, some gents have it off.

 

[dominikz]

Why a 10” sub for such a small room, got it for a mad special

No room is too small for a sub!

Running an automatic sync test returns values;
Main Speaker: 3ms
Sub; 13ms

Which is weird, taking into consideration of your comment, I’m seated 1.5m away (give or take, I’ll measure later) and the sub below me is also roughly 1.5m away from my listening poposition

That does sound like the auto sync function may be incorrectly estimating delays and causing the crossover dip. Perhaps try resetting delay for both loudspeakers and sub to 0ms and just run RC.
If both the loudspeakers and the sub are equally far from your listening position relative delay shouldn't be needed anyway.

 

[dominikz]

Side question
Do I toggle (off or on) the subwoofer room correction on as well, in the settings before starting the RC
Just something i noticed while reading through the forums, some gents have it off.

Definitely keep Subwoofer Calibration enabled in RC.

 

[slartibartfast]

Hmm Interesting!

Running an automatic sync test returns values;
Main Speaker: 3ms
Sub; 13ms

Which is weird, taking into consideration of your comment, I’m seated 1.5m away (give or take, I’ll measure later) and the sub below me is also roughly 1.5m away from my listening position

Why a 10” sub for such a small room, got it for a mad special

That sounds very strange. It is impossible to have a delay for Main Speaker and Sub simultaneously. One of those numbers should always be zero

 

[Vicious]

Just a quick RC Stereo test with 0ms set to both speakers and sub.

I’ll map the layout shortly and then bump the crossover frequency to 100Hz to see if we can move that dip.

 

[dominikz]

Just a quick RC Stereo test with 0ms set to both speakers and sub.

I’ll map the layout shortly and then bump the crossover frequency to 100Hz to see if we can move that dip.

View attachment 20039

One comment: the filters here look very imprecise; I'd suggest to use 1/12 smoothing, maximum Q at 10, and keep "Precision" RC option disabled.

 

[slartibartfast]

Just a quick RC Stereo test with 0ms set to both speakers and sub.

I’ll map the layout shortly and then bump the crossover frequency to 100Hz to see if we can move that dip.

View attachment 20039

Is it really possible to manually set a delay for both Main and Sub separately? Unless something has changed recently my experience is that setting a delay for either one resets the other delay to 0ms

 

[Vicious]

Right, let's explain the image attached

Cables - 2m Sub out to RCA Y-Male Splitter (Had it before, used it for this setup)
Speaker cable to AMP - 14 Gauge precise cut, 2m each, running on their own (No other electrical cables are sleeved in with them)

As the image states, the speaker's ports, (Exhaust) are 11cm away from the foam/wall behind them.
The sub at the bottom is brought forward, but can move 30cm deeper under the desk - Kept it a bit forward for testing.

The two Speakers tower and pointing down (The image is a bit "extreme" they have a 8cm drop) measure 62/63cm from each other and have a very slight pointing outward facing position; pointing to outside my head, not direct at me.

The room, behind me is a single bed (Visitors) and a window with thick curtains. Then to the right of me, is cupboards, to my left, is a bedside table and some wall decorations

 

[dominikz]

Right, let's explain the image attached

Cables - 2m Sub out to RCA Y-Male Splitter (Had it before, used it for this setup)
Speaker cable to AMP - 14 Gauge precise cut, 2m each, running on their own (No other electrical cables are sleeved in with them)

As the image states, the speaker's ports, (Exhaust) are 11cm away from the foam/wall behind them.
The sub at the bottom is brought forward, but can move 30cm deeper under the desk - Kept it a bit forward for testing.

The two Speakers tower and pointing down (The image is a bit "extreme" they have a 8cm drop) measure 62/63cm from each other and have a very slight pointing outward facing position; pointing to outside my head, not direct at me.

The room, behind me is a single bed (Visitors) and a window with thick curtains. Then to the right of me, is cupboards, to my left, is a bedside table and some wall decorations

View attachment 20041
View attachment 20042

Nice desktop setup!
How far are the speakers and the sub from the respective side walls?
Could you push the sub into a corner? How far from your head would the sub be in that case?
I assume the speakers are around 0,7-0,8m from your head when seated, right?

 

[Vicious]

Nice desktop setup!
How far are the speakers and the sub from the respective side walls?
Could you push the sub into a corner? How far from your head would the sub be in that case?
I assume the speakers are around 0,7-0,8m from your head when seated, right?

Right speaker to the wall closest to it, 1.44m
Left speaker to the wall closest to it, 95cm

Sub further back under the desk is +- 110cm (1.1m)
Fyi, had the sub at this position when I started testing**

Speakers to my ears, +- 90cm yessir

 

[Vicious]

Currently this is what we have with the above-listed setup.