Do I need a subwoofer?

[Doc Gorpon]

In my setup, I use a pair of NHT A-10's. I like them quite a bit, but they
have no sub-woofer, so they are somewhat flat. I enjoy the clarity when mixing
on them, but my mixes don't always translate. I will get the mix perfect
sounding in the sudio, but when played on a car or home stereo I get a bit of
bass muddiness in the overall frequency of the mix.
Would having a subwoofer to click off and on and hear what the mix would
sound like in a home environment help this problem?

[EganMedia]

> I will get the mix perfect
>sounding in the sudio, but when played on a car or home stereo I get a bit of
>bass muddiness in the overall frequency of the mix.
> Would having a subwoofer to click off and on and hear what the mix would
>sound like in a home environment help this problem?


It might help, but it will probably hurt. My guess is that if your mixes seem
muddy on other systems, it's probably due to cancellations at those frequencies
in your control room. You can't begin to critique speakers until you can trust
your room.


Joe Egan
EMP
Colchester, VT
www.eganmedia.com

[Arny Krueger]

"Doc Gorpon" > wrote in message


> In my setup, I use a pair of NHT A-10's. I like them quite a bit,
> but they have no sub-woofer, so they are somewhat flat. I enjoy the
> clarity when mixing on them, but my mixes don't always translate. I
> will get the mix perfect sounding in the studio, but when played on a
> car or home stereo I get a bit of bass muddiness in the overall
> frequency of the mix. Would having a subwoofer to click off and on
> and hear what the mix would sound like in a home environment help
> this problem?

I use a fairly stout (400 watt power amp) home-brew 12" sub with my A10's
when I want to get serious about listening. I find that the A10's have a
lot more dynamic range if crossed over from 80 to as high as 130 Hz (24
dB/octave). A 130 Hz crossover means that the sub and the A10s have to be
pretty close together. I use the sub for a foot rest, if you catch my drift.

[Ethan Winer]

Doc,

> I will get the mix perfect sounding in the sudio, but when played on a car
or home stereo I get a bit of bass muddiness <

As Joe suggested, this sounds like a classic case of control room acoustics
at play.

As for subwoofers, to my way of thinking a subwoofer should simply extend
the response of the main speakers to a lower frequency. Your A-10s are
spec'd flat to 57 Hz, which is not very low. So a sub might help in your
case. But even more important is fixing the room first.

--Ethan

[Scott Dorsey]

Doc Gorpon > wrote:
> In my setup, I use a pair of NHT A-10's. I like them quite a bit, but they
>have no sub-woofer, so they are somewhat flat. I enjoy the clarity when mixing
>on them, but my mixes don't always translate. I will get the mix perfect
>sounding in the sudio, but when played on a car or home stereo I get a bit of
>bass muddiness in the overall frequency of the mix.

Can you hear the bass in the studio?

How carefully do you have the room set up?

> Would having a subwoofer to click off and on and hear what the mix would
>sound like in a home environment help this problem?

It depends on the problem. If it's a room problem, adding a sub will make
it worse.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[EggHd]

It depends also on how you mix. You can be adding things with EQ that you
don't need and can't hear. be careful with broad bottom end EQ on things.

Plenty of people mix on smaller speakers and do very well, it takes some
experience to know what not to do.


---------------------------------------
"I know enough to know I don't know enough"

[Doc Gorpon]

>Can you hear the bass in the studio?
>
>How carefully do you have the room set up?

I can hear the bass fine in the studio. I don't have the room setup that
great. But it's not any worse than where my secondary listening tests, which
don't sound as good, are. Like living room, den, etc.

[Wayne]

>Doc Gorpon > wrote:
>> In my setup, I use a pair of NHT A-10's. I like them quite a bit, but they
>>have no sub-woofer, so they are somewhat flat. I enjoy the clarity when
>mixing
>>on them, but my mixes don't always translate. I will get the mix perfect
>>sounding in the sudio, but when played on a car or home stereo I get a bit
>of
>>bass muddiness in the overall

Sounds like the room your mixing in is not letting you hear the range the
muddiness is in and your compensating for what you can't hear.. Could be
anywhere but most likely in the 250 area. You can get a lot of things piling
up in that range and think 100 cps either way also.

Of course, if you're loading up the 80-100 to make it sound like you like it,
it can mask the 250 deal.

I went nuts for a while with a similar problem until I fixed the low end
acoustics in my control room.


--Wayne

-"sounded good to me"-