If you're looking to measure a subwoofer unit with your 2.0 speaker setup, you can achieve this via daisy-chaining the speakers to the sub unit.
Setting up a 2.0 subwoofer system for speaker measurements
You can easily measure a speaker setup with an additional subwoofer unit. Simply route your L-R channels through the sub in a 2.0 stereo setup (daisy-chain). To do this, there will be input and output slots available at the back of the sub.
In other words, if you are using the stereo version of the SoundID Reference Measure app, the subwoofer can NOT be routed on a third channel separately:
How it works
We are using the subwoofer's built-in crossover, which will take care of the low-frequency separation between the sub and the speakers. The speaker calibration profile will then work for the entire setup at any given volume. There will be no need to make any separate volume adjustments on the sub after completing the measurements.
In fact, if you make adjustments on the sub separately after completing the measurements, you might need to recalibrate as the correction balance between the speakers and the sub has changed.
Tips and tricks
Setting up a subwoofer for the perfect measurement can be a little tricky, especially with all the physical settings options on the back of your subwoofer unit. Set the subwoofer level to your liking, perform the measurements and follow these tips:
- Don't change the speaker/subwoofer level and placement relations after calibrating
- If the low-frequency correction is exceeding 6 dB, go back and turn down the subwoofer a little, then measure again
- If you can't get a good reading and the applied correction seems extreme, you might have a problem with a room mode: try a slightly different placement for the sub and measure again
- If the measurement suggests that there is still a problem/room mode present, try adjusting the available settings at the back of the sub (Crossover, Phase Inversion, LPF, etc.)
- Use the Limit Controls and Custom Target controls in the software to fine-tune the correction:
Not enough bass after calibrating a subwoofer setup?
If you are concerned about SoundID Reference cutting out too much bass from your sub, you can always adjust the correction using the Limit Controls and Custom Target controls in the software!
However, it is most likely that the calibration profile is accurate, and your ears simply need some time to adjust to the change. If you still have doubts, simply test by working with the new calibration profile and see how your mixes translate - if the bass response is translating well on other playback systems, everything is working as intended and the calibration profile is accurate!
2 comments
How about active speakers with a dedicated sub out?
askal Since whoever the official poster was won’t answer I surely will, your SOL is what you’ve got with that setup. If you use this above mentioned method, which speakers get measured? If it’s only the LFE then there’s no Channel Indicator for the sub (no setting for Outputs 1/2 with Sonarworks reading your clearly using a daisy chained setup or in your case there would be no Channel for Sonarworks to indicate it’s for the Subwoofer). This post was Negatively Informative, what speakers are you saying to measure? If you measure just the LFE then how are you doing the Left/Right calibration (plus there’s not even a stereo channel to choose from, which a daisy chained LFE is definitely passing through stereo information) and this you’d be cutting out the most important calibration. If you measure only the Left/Right channels of a 2.1 setup with the LFE engaged that still won’t work without separate LFE indication, because your Left/Right channels will be lacking Low-End, the measurement will pick up on that from the HPF working the way it should on the majority of LFEs I’ve seen, then Sonarworks is going to boost the low-end signals; thus making including the LFE worthless again. The only way you get a separate LFE/Sub channel is if you have a UAD/Apollo interface with SoundID for Apollo, then you can calibrate a 2.1 setup with Bass Management on only SoundID for Headphones & Speakers (for Apollo); you don’t even get that option at all getting SoundID for Multichannel and it recognizing a daisy chained 2.1 system. Even through Multichannel and a 2.1 setup it’s either you have the individual Outputs on your interface or you cannot calibrate the .1 of a 2.1 system; the only situation with Sonarworks that you can calibrate a 2.1 setup with a daisy chained 2.1 setup is if you have a Apollo interface, otherwise in all other situations and editions of SoundID you are SOL