Subwoofers

I added two SVS SB-3000 subwoofers to my living room entertainment area.

SVS SB-3000 Subwoofers

The SVS SB-3000 is a 13-inch 800 watt sealed cabinet subwoofer with a frequency response of 18-270Hz ±3 dB. The sealed design tightens the bass response and minimises distortion, making it ideal for my 50/50 music/movie listening. Another benefit of the sealed design is the compact dimensions.

I have been looking for subwoofers and surround speakers to pair my current SVS Ultra Towers and Center from the 2022 Black Friday sales. So last year (2024), I purchased two SVS SB-3000 subwoofers from West Coast Hi-Fi for $1,799 each (reduced from $2,599).

I placed both subwoofers on the inside of my towers. While not acoustically optimal, symmetry and aesthetics were important considerations (IYKYK).

Both subwoofers are connected using AmazonBasics 2-Male to 2-Male RCA cables. I split the cable and connected each side to my Denon X3800H AVR. While there is an AmazonBasics subwoofer cable available, it's likely the same as these RCA cables but coloured purple.

West Coast Hi-Fi

A quick shoutout to Conor from West Coast Hi-Fi. He replied to my messages at all hours and helped me place an order while I was waiting for my new credit card to arrive. Delivery took 3 weeks from payment.

SVS SoundPath Subwoofer Isolation System

Along with subwoofers, I also purchased the SVS SoundPath Subwoofer Isolation System for $99 each. These are four big rubber replacement feet that help reduce vibration and noise artifacts by decoupling the subwoofer from the floor. While the effect might be placebo, I feel better knowing there might be a possibility of tighter and cleaner sounding bass.

Compared to the original feet:

A1 Evo Nexus

Measurements

I integrated the subwoofers using A1 Evo Nexus instead of Denon's Audyssey. A1 Evo Nexus is the second-generation room correction algorithm by Obsessive Compulsive Audiophile. I had previously used the first-generation A1 Evo and experienced noticeable improvements in audio quality. They are currently working on a third-generation A1 Evo Neuron, which I plan to try once it's out of testing.

I followed these two tutorial videos:

For each measurement, I connected my computer to the AVR and TV, then positioned myself on the kitchen bench to avoid interfering with the recordings.

I used the Audyssey microphone on a tripod, positioned at ear level.

I took measurements on the middle, left and right of my main listening position (MLP). I captured 5 good samples and averaged them. The AVR was set to Dolby Audio - TrueHD + DSurround in Movie mode to utilise the subwoofers. I did not get any output on the subwoofers in Stereo or Multi-Channel Stereo. I chose the Dirac Harman 8dB target curve to get more bass from the subwoofers.

Tips

• Turn ECO mode Off during measurement. Return it to Auto when finished.
• Disable CinemaEQ and Loudness Management.
• Ensure subwoofers do not interfere with speaker measurements:
  • Ensure crossover is Off (Full Range).
  • Ensure subwoofer output is LFE and not LFE + Main.
  • Better yet, turn off the subwoofers when measuring the speakers.
• Each subwoofer is measured individually. Turn off other subwoofers to measure a single unit (SW1/SW2/SWx...)
• Get the middle position (or skip if not MLP) within 3cm. Every measurement is aligned to this at the end.

Results

After the calibration, the application told me to:

1. Set Low Pass Filter to 250Hz.
2. Set Subwoofer Output to LFE + Main.
3. Set Bass Extraction LPF to 200Hz.
4. Switch the polarity on both subwoofers.
5. Run fixDynamicEQ.

Home Assistant Automations

I created these two automations in Home Assistant to ensure the right sound mode is picked on the AVR for the content being played.

For Plex, it uses AUTO so the content being played determines the sound mode (i.e. Dolby, Stereo, etc.):

alias: Denon AVR - Sound Mode for Plex
triggers:
  - trigger: state
    entity_id: [media_player.shield]
    attribute: app_id
    to: com.plexapp.android
actions:
  - action: media_player.select_sound_mode
    data:
      sound_mode: AUTO
    target:
      entity_id: media_player.denon_avc_x3800h
mode: single

For SmartTube and Spotify, they will only ever be stereo:

alias: Denon AVR - Sound Mode for SmartTube/Spotify
triggers:
  - trigger: state
    entity_id: [media_player.shield]
    attribute: app_id
    to: com.teamsmart.videomanager.tv
  - trigger: state
    entity_id: [media_player.shield]
    attribute: app_id
    to: com.spotify.tv.android
actions:
  - action: media_player.select_sound_mode
    data:
      sound_mode: MCH STEREO
    target:
      entity_id: media_player.denon_avc_x3800h
mode: single