Just recieved my HSU VTF3-MK3! ! ! ! !

[jwill242004]

As some of you know I purchased the VTF3MK3, and was anxiously awaiting delivery. Well the waiting is over and I have it set up and playing LOUD!!!

I havent had time to calibrate yet and it's not even broke in yet. I had about 1 hr to play with it before I had to leave for work.

This thing is HUGE and is beautiful. The ports are VERY large and the BASH amp is large as well. This is a side firing sub with rear ports. I have the sub placed directly behind my couch and listening position as Dr. HSU recommended with the woofer firing directly into the back of the couch, about 3 inches away. The ports are facing towards my left rear surround.

I have played with the Variable tuning feature back and forth as well as the crossover adjustment, which I finally decided to let my recievers crossover take over duties. I have found it sounds best at 80hz (so far) and low frequency extension seems to be just as good in Max Output mode as with one port plug in and set to Max Extension mode. This will take some tinkering to figure out what I like for sure.

This woofer TRAVELS bigtime and the amp gain is only turned half way up. I have my subwoofer level at +6 on a -12 to +12 scale. As I said I have not used a SPL meter yet nor have I made many adjustements to the gain on the amp. I am afraid to turn the gain all the way up because of the amount of excursion that this woofer is going through at this setting, although Im sure if I did it would be fine.

I have played some Bass heavy music as well as Star Wars Attack of the Clones so far. The beginning scene of this movie when the space ship lands and blows up sounded unfreakin believeable, with no bottoming of the sub at all and it just pumps out these low frequencys with no problems. This thing is causing some serious shaking of my couch as if I had shakers installed, and the LFE is very cool, playing frequency's the I cant hear or locate but can feel with authority. One thing I noticed is that when the crossover is set to 100hz I could locate the position of the sub audibly easily and this seemed to be taken care of when I lowered it to 80hz.

With music the bass seems to be nice and tight with techno music, but it shined when I played put some Rap on. The low end is unreal and as I traveled further and further away from the sub ( into my master bedroom for instance) the LFE seemed to get deeper and deeper.

This sub will easily fill up my room with extremely low and hard hitting bass, and my room is very large with an open kitchen and dinette, as well as an open foyer, office, and formal dining room. I cant imagine what this thing is capable of in a small closed off HT room. I used to multi sub setups in vehicles and I know what LFE is supposed to feel like, and this sub is suprisingly handling the lowest bass frequency's of my music and from what I can feel some good numbers for SPL.

Ill keep you guys posted as I can play with it more.

[cschang]

Great stuff.

That said...judging by your room and gain settings, I am willing to bet you are running the sub hot, but as long as you are having fun.... :D

My gain is barely up 1/4.

[jwill242004]

I am wide open to any recommendations, im not even close to a technical guru about this H/T stuff. Elaborate on what you mean by "HOT"

[cschang]

Just mean you probablu have the sub playing louder than the rest of the speakers Calibrate it with an SPL meter and test disc like Avia and check it out.

[jwill242004]

Oh without a doubt its playing louder than the rest of my speakers. I plan on doing a calibration to 85hz and I'm sure my taste will tell me to turn it up louder than the rest anyway. Your absolutely right though. It does not bother me at all however, and I prefer the bass louder anyway. I thought by hot you meant I was putting the sub in danger in some way. LOL

[Lwang]

You are probably localizing at 100hz due to the sub's excess level.

[DNelms]

Congrats and keep having some fun. Keep us posted on how things are going.

[jwill242004]

Just gotta chance to play with the included test CD, Track 1 is just plain silly. I have never heard Organ music until tonight and I cannot believe how low this sub is able to go. I'm amazed at the sturdiness of the enclosure. I have decided to keep the sub in Max Output mode as I feel you get much more volume from the sub and still get every bit of LFE thrown at it.

[Pete_Hsu]

Thank you so much for sharing your first impressions, jwill! I am not surprised you enjoy the maximum output mode, since in-room frequency response should be quite flat to 20Hz or even a bit below that, and output is very strong from 20Hz on up in that mode!

Sincerely,

[jwill242004]

Peter,

Is it normal for the sub to produce serious amounts of port noise when playing frequencies below 20hz?? Will adding a turbo still cause excess port noise when playing these frequencies?? Also if I add the turbo to my 3-MK3, will tones below 30hz be doubled as far as output is concerned? If I am enjoying the LFE without the turbo, am I sure to be absolutely blown away with an added turbo??

sorry for all the questions, just kind of excited....

j

[cschang]

When you say port noise, what do you mean? Below the tuning point, most of the sound is produced by the ports.

[jwill242004]

For instance when I play track 1 on the included test CD, Pipe Organs. There are consistent 16hz tones being played throughout this track and my sub has no problems making everything in the house shake. I notice when this tone is being played that you feel everything and dont hear anything besides the air being rushed out of the port. I cant explain the sound, but you can definately hear tons of air being forced through the port.

[cschang]

How loud are you playing the tone?

I think I know what you are experiencing. This is with one port plugged? With the turbo, you will get less of it.

[jwill242004]

yea with one port plugged, in max extension mode. You HAVE to know what i am talking about, im sure its normal. So having the extended port will reduce this "noise"?

[cschang]

yea with one port plugged, in max extension mode. You HAVE to know what i am talking about, im sure its normal. So having the extended port will reduce this "noise"?
yes....because the port area is doubled....in the same tuning, with the turbo you will have two 4" ports. I get no port noise at all, but I didn't get any without the turbo either....I probably did not push it as hard.

With normal everyday stuff, the single 4" port should be plenty though.

You are having too much fun with that port. :D

[RonL]

For instance when I play track 1 on the included test CD, Pipe Organs. There are consistent 16hz tones being played throughout this track and my sub has no problems making everything in the house shake. I notice when this tone is being played that you feel everything and dont hear anything besides the air being rushed out of the port. I cant explain the sound, but you can definately hear tons of air being forced through the port.The lower frequencies aren't generally audible to the human ear -- they are meant to be felt.

The turbo should definitely reduce the port noise at peak volumes. I don't have the the turbo, but can't hear any port noise at the volume levels used in my room (2500 cubic feet).

[jwill242004]

I know they are felt not heard, however you CAN hear the air coming out of the port during those tones. Hopefully the turbo will remedy this

[cschang]

have you measured the levels with an SPL meter? Is the sub level matched with the rest of the speakers?

Does it sound like maybe there is a leak around the port?

[jwill242004]

No I have not matched the levels with an SPL meter. There is no leak from the port. I think anytime air is rushed through a hole at that rate there will be a little noise. Im sure its a noise thats supposed to occur.

[cschang]

From my experience with the same track, I am going to guess you are running the sub louder than the rest of the speakers. :) A true bass head.

[jwill242004]

I wont deny that claim

[Ddavidson]

With up to 15dB of headroom in some DD/DTS soundtracks if your running it 10dB hot you are pushing the limits rather high http://www.hsuresearch.com/forum/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

I run flat with music and 2dB hot with many action movies as I find thats a good balance.

Ddavidson

[jwill242004]

in all honesty, I havent calibrated with an SPL meter yet...but I dont think I have it set much higher than my other speakers. I know this isnt the best way to reference it but....my settings on the reciever are as follows with the gain on the sub amp half way up in Max output Mode:

Left Front: +5
Center: +7
Right Front: +5
Right Surr: +8
Right Rear Surr: +8
Left Rear Surr: +10
Left Surr: +12
Subwoofer: 0

These are on a +-12 scale, only calibration I have done is Test Tone calibration on the reciever and made all speakers sound even from the main listening position. All speakers are set to SMALL and the crossover is set at 80hz. This setting provides PLENTY of bass. I believe my volume on the reciever is on a 0-70 scale and I find comfortable listening to be right around 45 or 50. I dont know if this helps. My reciever has a double bass feature available if you set your front speakers to LARGE, which is supposed to direct bass normally sent to the mains to your sub. With this setting on I dont really notice a difference in sub output. I dont know what thats all about. Its an Onkyo reciever for those of you who know about them.

[cschang]

halfway up on the sub amp? Mine is not even at the quarter mark. :)

[jwill242004]

hmmm dont know how that helps, but glad to hear it

[cschang]

Just another way of saying I think you have the sub at least a bit louder than the rest of the speakers. :)

Our ears are less sensitive to bass frequencies. It is not unusual for someone to calibrate by ear and have the sub level more than 10db louder than the mains.

[ThunderousBass]

I like the image of the sub putting out so much air that there is an audible "gush" of wind.

Must say I've never experienced that particular thrill, and have been a longtime owner of the good Doc's TN tubes.

--TB

[jwill242004]

well I just placed the order for the turbocharger, so I guess I'll get my fix soon enough ;)