HRSW12V upgrade options

[EazyE232]

I currently own a HRSW12V and am looking to upgrade. I have the subwoofer in an L-shaped basement that is approximately 4000ft^3. I currently listen to about 50/50 movies and music (predominantly classical). I have considered several options for upgrading:
1) upgrade the current HRSW12V driver
2) add a MBM-12
3) upgrade to a vtf3-mkii or better

What current drivers are compatible with this subwoofer and how much improvement could expect to see from upgrading the driver? Which of the above options would give the best performance for the money?

[Pete_Hsu]

Hi EazyE,

I wouldn't bother upgrading the driver. My preference would be to move up to a VTF-3 MK3...

Sincerely,

[EazyE232]

Thanks for the response. How much better would the performance (extension, SPL, etc..) of a new vtf3 mk3 be versus the HRSW12V? What about HRSW12V with current driver and updated driver? I checked the response of the subwoofer and I am getting large drops in SPL from 20-35Hz and 55-80Hz. This is probably more of a room problem than a subwoofer problem but I am interested in figure out the best way to smooth out the response. Explosions, gunshots, tympani drums are all missing that punch that they should have.

[Pete_Hsu]

Hi EazyE,

May I see a picture or rough sketch of your room, including dimensions (HxWxD) and openings to other areas?

Adding a second sub (such as VTF-2 MK3 or VTF-3 MK3) may help to flatten out your frequency response. An MBM-12 can help there too.

The replacement driver won't help nearly as much as adding a second sub and/or adding an MBM. In fact, the replacement driver may make it more noticeable to hear port noise on your unit.

Thanks so much

Sincerely,

[EazyE232]

Here is the current room layout (8 ft ceilings) and the response curve I obtained from the subwoofer (from couch facing tv). I did some subcrawling when I first got the sub and the current position gave the best results (by ear alone). Though it is not ideal as shown by the response cuve. Thanks again for all of the help.

[skool]

Wow, you have quite an abnormal frequency response based on that chart. It seems that your HRSW12v does have a nice extension slightly beyond 20 Hz. Since it seems you used REW to do the sweep, have you thought about using the RTA feature to scout out the best frequency response in your room for your sub rather than the crawling method? With RTA, you can get a real-time frequency response by moving your microphone to different prospect spots for your sub in the room.

[Pete_Hsu]

Hi EazyE,

Thanks for the info! The dip that you have in the deep bass (at around 24Hz) is due to sitting in the middle of the room. If you can avoid the middle of the room, then that should significantly help.

It looks like a mid-bass module in the nearfield could help to smooth out the mid-bass frequency response and dip in the 55Hz region, although again you will want to avoid placing it in the middle of the room or sitting in the middle of the room.

Multiple true subs could also help to smooth the response, although the results are a bit less predicatable, especially since you have an opening on the right side.

The room is fairly large in overall volume, so adding a second true sub would definitely be beneficial in filling that space.

[EazyE232]

Thanks for the responses Pete and skool. I will try rearranging the furniture and/or the sub to see if I can get a smoother response. Due to the shape of the room it will be difficult to avoid sitting in the middle though. I'll take your advice skool and look into the RTA feature of REW to help me decide the optimum locations for everything. If all else fails I guess I will be in the market for a new vtf3.