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[Wilderness]

I happily discovered that I could solve my problem today with too much bass coming from my new subwoofer by changing a setting in JRiver.  I am very pleased that I can now play music with just the right amount of bass without my house rattling. 

My new sub, the PSB 450, was causing the loose-fitting dummy doorknobs on my laundry closet to rattle loudly when I played some music with deep bass.  The same with the wobbly doorknob to my garage.  And a picture on the wall. 

I tried reducing the level (volume) on the back of the sub as low as I could while still getting sound and lowering the crossover to 52 hertz, but the loud rattlings were still there.  I put the sub on a padded platform (Subdude) and then added two of the low Isoacoustics stands designed for subwoofers, but this did nothing to reduce the rattling in my house.

So, although I did not think it would work with my powered speakers, I adjusted JRiver's DSP room correction setting for the subwoofer by reducing it by eight decibels.  The distracting rattling in my house disappeared instantly.  I also adjusted the distance setting.

I am not using a receiver or preamp.  I have my subwoofer connected directly to the dual RCA outs from the back of my powered Audioengine HD6 speakers.  Because of this system arrangement, I did not think that changing the setting in JRiver would do anything, but it worked.  And I verified it by undoing the setting in JRiver, which immediately brought back the loud rattlings with the loose doorknobs.  I did the setting again in JRiver, and the rattlings stopped.  I used Pink Floyd's "Speak to me" song from the Dark Side of the Moon studio album as the test track.

I was then able to increase the crossover on the back of my sub to 59 hz, which is good because now my sub and speakers blend well and there is plenty of bass from my sub without causing any annoying rattlings.  I also use my speakers and sub with my TV, and action movies sound awesome now.

I was pleasantly surprised that the one settings change I tried in JRiver did not cut the bass or level to my two speakers, only the sub just as I wanted.  I verified with a frequency and level app, and by ear, that everything is as I want it to be with the speakers and sub now.  I am running the HD6 speakers full range without any EQ in JRiver.

I expect that there must be many other people like me who are using powered speakers and subwoofers without any bass management options from receivers, external crossover devices or preamps.  And just like I was, they must be frustrated with their subwoofers causing their their homes to rattle.  JRiver software can be the solution.

How did JRiver make it possible to reduce the output to a subwoofer that is connected directly to powered speakers without altering the powered speakers' output or frequencies  in any way?  To my untrained mind this seems like some kind of magic that defies what should be possible.

[mwillems]

Does this happen with stereo recordings or only multichannel recordings? The "sub" channel in DSP studio refers to the LFE or .1 channel on multichannel source material.  If you have your output format set to 2.1, 5.1 or 7.1 and have JRSS mixing enabled, it may also be creating an LFE or .1 channel.  The LFE channel contains sound information from about 10Hz up to 120-150Hz or so.  So by attenuating that channel you could reduce the amount of low bass going to your outputs.

But if your output format is stereo and/or you're using a 2 channel source adjusting the sub volume in room correction should not have done anything. 

[Wilderness]

Thank you for responding to my post, mwillems.

Your comment is consistent with what I thought would happen or not happen with my system.

My DSP settings in JRiver show that JRSS mixing is enabled, but the mixing is 2.0, not 2.1.  And when I have attempted to select 2.1, it keeps that setting for a minute or so but then reverts back to 2.0.  With that setting, 2.0, it would seem that reducing the sub's level by 8 decibels in JRiver's room correction option would not do anything.  But it clearly does, as I have verified several times: I noticed that the level to the sub was reduced and the room rattling disappeared completely when playing Pink Floyd's "Speak to me" studio track.  Disabling the setting brought the loud rattling back with that same track.  Resetting it eliminated the rattling with the same track.  I am playing the track again now, and it sounds great with the subwoofer pumping out plenty of bass but no room rattling.  The setting did not affect the two main speakers' level, so that is not what is happening.

I do not know whether the Pink Floyd music track is stereo or multitrack.  It is a 16/44.1/1411 purchased AIFF download.  There are several other bass heavy tracks from other artists that also caused loud room rattling with my new subwoofer until I changed the room correction's subwoofer setting in JRiver.

I have my one subwoofer connected via a right and left RCA cable from the one powered HD6 main speaker (right and left RCA from the one HD6 speaker and the same right and left RCA on the one sub).  The second HD6 speaker, which is passive, is connected separately to the powered HD6 speaker.

The one powered HD6 main speaker is connected via an optical cable from my iMac.  Between my iMac and the powered HD6 speaker are Wyred4Sound's Remedy reclocker and Audioengine's basic D1 DAC.

I have Media Center 22.0.88.

I am wondering whether my Audioengine HD6 main speakers are able to recognize that a sub is connected and then whether it could be possible to reduce the sub's decibels independently in software such as JRiver as I did.  There are other manufacturers, such as Vanatoo, that have main speakers that recognize a sub.  But the mixing in my JRiver is 2.0, not 2.1, and so that would seem to indicate that this can't happen.

So, I don't know why JRiver is doing what I want but I am very pleased anyway.

[Wilderness]

You are correct.  The test track I used with the Pink Floyd album Dark Side of the Moon is a 5.1 song. 

I adjusted the settings in JRiver again.  I set the sub's volume level at -20 in JRiver's room correction option.  On the sub itself I increased the level to 20 percent and the crossover to 64 db.  With these settings there is no room rattling with music.  And now when watching an action flick on TV the subwoofer blasts special effects very loudly, just like I want.

I would not have figured this out without your post, mwillems.  Thanks.