Wiim Amp with Polk XT15 & Polk PSW10

[Vicious]

Hi!

Recently bought the following:
Polk XT15 and WiiM AMP

I had the Polk PSW10 10" sub.
The room it's in is a 4 meter by 4.5 meter, with some furniture, no extreme room treatment has been done, but there's little echo going around.

I paired the set up and trying to fine tune everything, the internet is full of answers but not to the exact kit I have. I'm hoping you can help me WiiM Forum

First, on the WiiM app,
- Level, I left it at 0db
- Crossover Freq -> 85Hz (testing and playing around)
- Phase > 0 or 180? (The sub is toggled to 0 )
- Bypass Mode, I've turned this off, it sounded muddy turning it on.
- Main Speakers Output Bass, on or off?

On the Sub itself, I need your guidance as well
- Low Pass (Hz) 80 or 160?
- Phase 0 or 180?

I have a RCA Y to Single male connector, covering the Left and Right Line in on the Sub.

Thank you in advance!

 

[dominikz]

Hello! That should be a great sounding little system you are setting up, congrats!

Here's a solid starting point:
On the WiiM app:
- Subwoofer Level: 0db
- Crossover Freq: 85Hz should work fine with Polk XT15
- Phase: 0
- Bypass Mode: off
- Main Speakers Output Bass: off

On the sub:
- Low Pass to maximum frequency (160Hz) since crossover is done in the app.
- Phase: 0
- Volume: set by ear so that the subwoofer is a bit louder than the loudspeakers (this will be better balanced later by RC)

Looking at the sub manual you can connect it to either L or R input, or with the Y cable - that doesn't matter much as the sub output from WiiM Amp is mono anyway.

After you do all this, use the "Subwoofer & Speakers Sync" function in the WiiM Home app to align the timing and phase of the loudspeakers and the sub. Note that is why you don't really need to touch the phase toggle in the app or the sub, at least not initially.

Then I suggest to run Room Correction (RC) - have a look at this help article for basic loudspeaker/sub placement recommendations and RC settings. I recommend to use the "individual channel" mode of RC.

Once you do the steps suggested in the article, you can post here RC screenshots from the WiiM Home app so we can help you if any fine-tuning is needed. Note that if you have a measurement mic with a calibration file you will get more reliable RC results compared to using the built-in phone mic.

Good luck and have fun!

 

[Vicious]

Awesome stuff - Thanks for the swift feedback @dominikz

Let me get the baseline setup and report back later today

Appreciated

 

[Vicious]

Ok ignore me, I thought this would be a process of note, seems it's rather quick and easy.

Attached as requested my good sir

 

[Vicious]

Ok ignore me, I thought this would be a process of note, seems it's rather quick and easy.

Attached as requested my good sir

View attachment 19989

View attachment 19990

View attachment 19991

After Room Correction and applying the PEQ, the Mids and Lows are quite lively, which I like, due to my music genre, Rock, Indie and Metal.
The vocals do seem to be a bit "thin"

I'm quite green when it comes to the audio space, but I'm trying to learn haha, so please be gentle

 

[dominikz]

Ok ignore me, I thought this would be a process of note, seems it's rather quick and easy.

Attached as requested my good sir

View attachment 19989

View attachment 19990

View attachment 19991

Good job, that looks quite solid for a first attempt!

I have a few suggestions you could try to further optimize:

1. If you angled your loudspeakers towards the listening position, try to point them straight into the room instead. This is because they have a flatter direct response 30° off-axis compared to on-axis so that might help with any excessive brightness. Alternatively, we can instead use one of the PEQ filter bands to combat the raised treble response with a shelving filter.
2. Raise the volume on the sub a bit more - that will give you more usable level in the bass for RC.
3. To be safe, after doing the above changes re-run "Subwoofer & Speakers Sync" function in the WiiM Home app
4. In the Room Correction (RC) config modify the following settings:
   • Freq: 30Hz to 400Hz
   • Min gain: -12dB
   • Max gain: 0,5dB
   • Make sure that "Precision Room Correction" is disabled
5. Re-run RC and be sure to select "Individual Channel Room Correction" option when it is presented (after "Audio Check" step)

You can share your screenshots and listening impressions again after that.

my music genre, Rock, Indie and Metal.

I approve!

 

[Vicious]

Good job, that looks quite solid for a first attempt!

I have a few suggestions you could try to further optimize:

1. If you angled your loudspeakers towards the listening position, try to point them straight into the room instead. This is because they have a flatter direct response 30° off-axis compared to on-axis so that might help with any excessive brightness. Alternatively, we can instead use one of the PEQ filter bands to combat the raised treble response with a shelving filter.
2. Raise the volume on the sub a bit more - that will give you more usable level in the bass for RC.
3. To be safe, after doing the above changes re-run "Subwoofer & Speakers Sync" function in the WiiM Home app
4. In the Room Correction (RC) config modify the following settings:
   • Freq: 30Hz to 400Hz
   • Min gain: -12dB
   • Max gain: 0,5dB
   • Make sure that "Precision Room Correction" is disabled
5. Re-run RC and be sure to select "Individual Channel Room Correction" option when it is presented (after "Audio Check" step)

You can share your screenshots and listening impressions again after that.


I approve!

Done done and done
Test 2 below

 

[slartibartfast]

Done done and done
Test 2 below

View attachment 19994

View attachment 19995

That isn't individual channel Room Correction is it? By the way which microphone are you using?

 

[Vicious]

That isn't individual channel Room Correction is it? By the way which microphone are you using?

The iPhone 15's, ear height.

Not sure what you mean by individual room correction? Please teach this green member haha

 

[slartibartfast]

The iPhone 15's, ear height.

Not sure what you mean by individual room correction? Please teach this green member haha

Don't you see this screen after the Audio Check?

 

[Vicious]

Don't you see this screen after the Audio Check?
View attachment 19996

Ah yes, i do, the one you have selected is the one I chosen as well

 

[dominikz]

Ah yes, i do, the one you have selected is the one I chosen as well

Try to re-run RC and use the other option - the option called "Individual Channel Room Correction" in the screenshot.
"Stereo Room Correction" (1st option) results in less bass and worse matching between the L and R channel responses so I wouldn't recommend it.

 

[dominikz]

Done done and done
Test 2 below

View attachment 19994

View attachment 19995

You seem to have a deep cancellation right around the crossover frequency - it is possible your sub and loudspeakers are playing out of phase here.

If you want to try and troubleshoot this I'd suggest to first flip the sub phase (select Phase: 180° option in the WiiM Home App subwoofer menu), then re-run "Subwoofer & Speakers Sync" function, and last re-run RC and post screenshots again.

 

[Vicious]

You seem to have a deep cancellation right around the crossover frequency - it is possible your sub and loudspeakers are playing out of phase here.

If you want to try and troubleshoot this I'd suggest to first flip the sub phase (select Phase: 180° option in the WiiM Home App subwoofer menu), then re-run "Subwoofer & Speakers Sync" function, and last re-run RC and post screenshots again.

Maybe shift the crossover down to 80Hz as well? Instead of 85Hz

 

[Vicious]

B&K or Harman?

 

[dominikz]

Maybe shift the crossover down to 80Hz as well? Instead of 85Hz

I think no need for now.

B&K or Harman?

I'd suggest B&K for now; but make sure to use the "Individual Channel Room Correction" mode.
If you decide you want more bass you can later try Harman.

 

[Vicious]

 

[dominikz]

View attachment 19997

I see you used Individual Channel RC mode now - that is great!
But the result doesn't seem that much different compared to before - which is unexpected. Did you set the phase to 180° in the WiiM app subwoofer menu for this attempt?

Secondly, I'd suggest to increase subwoofer volume further - it is still too low; additional +5 or even +10dB would be optimal. Again, after making any changes I suggest to re-run "Subwoofer & Speakers Sync" function and re-run RC.

 

[Vicious]

I see you used Individual Channel RC mode now - that is great!
But the result doesn't seem that much different compared to before - which is unexpected. Did you set the phase to 180° in the WiiM app subwoofer menu for this attempt?

Secondly, I'd suggest to increase subwoofer volume further - it is still too low; additional +5 or even +10dB would be optimal. Again, after making any changes I suggest to re-run "Subwoofer & Speakers Sync" function and re-run RC.

Indeed I did - Phase 180 in the WiiM app

Cool, i’ll maybe bump the sub volume to 80% (Started at 50%, then 60%)

Something Ive noticed, when running the room correction test, the sub when it does its low end frequency test and works itself up that frequency, it has this distorted rumble. Not quite sure if this is normal?

 

[dominikz]

Something Ive noticed, when running the room correction test, the sub when it does its low end frequency test and works itself up that frequency, it has this distorted rumble. Not quite sure if this is normal?

"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.