Bass is too loud! I know it's stupid but help :(

H

Hooligan

Gawd
Joined
Aug 7, 2001
Messages
834
So I sold my Logitech z640 5.1 speakers and got Logitech z5300e - but this new subwoofer is a monster. It's way too loud, even at the lowest bass setting, it annoys the fuck out of my roomate and neighbors (I can't blame them, this thing shakes my whole apartment building).

I was wondering, is there a way to make it not shake/be as loud? I am pondering if I should wrap the thing with an egg-shell matress cover and an old comforter. But the amp has a heatsink, and I'm worried that it will overheat if I do that....

The only way my roomate/neighbors can sleep at night (when I am using my PC) is if I turn the volume down... A LOT - which sucks ass - I can BARELY hear it. I didnt have this problem with smaller speakers, even with the z640, which have a pretty powerfull subwoofer, it wasn't as bad.

Help :(

edit: Please don't tell me to "sell your speakers and buy a set of smaller speakers" :/
 
Simple solution---->
Return them and buy something that doesnt have a boomy sloppy sub from hell that you can't turn down far enough;)
 
If the subwoofer is ported, try stuffing the port. This should cut volume by a good bit.
 
turn the nob all the way down then go into the control panel/sound and audio devices/advanced under device volume/advanced/ and turn the slider on the bbass all the way down

or if you have a audio icon at the bottum jus go to that and click advanced
 
MAngelo said:
If the subwoofer is ported, try stuffing the port. This should cut volume by a good bit.
Click to expand...

wow, this actually works pretty good....

can i damage my subwoofer/amp if I do this, though?
 
Hooligan said:
wow, this actually works pretty good....

can i damage my subwoofer/amp if I do this, though?
Click to expand...
lol did you try my method to?it should work...and not damage your sub
 
no, it wont damage it, just quieten it up a bit :)

Home theater peeps sometimes have their subs ported for movies, and plug that port for tighter bass for music....

HTH
 
Youll find it'll rattle a lot less if you sit on a set of spikes rather than the feet most subs come with. Also if it fires into the floor, either sit it on a paving slab to reduce the energy going into the floor, or tip it on its side. Stuffing the port wont harm it, but it will make it sound like shit, it doesnt quieten it, you essentiallyu just loose all your bass response, above a certain frequency it wont have a lot of effect, so depending where your crossover frquency is set you might still get the really annoying tones out (~80hz, which ive found, purrely by accident of course, to be the best for transmitting through the house)
 
Is it a ported enclosure, or a bandpass? If its bandpass, all your output is from the port, so dont stuff it. But if its a ported cab, just stuffing the port (with a pillow or a plug) just makes it a sealed enclosure, which prob tapers the bass off sooner. It may match your room gain better sealed, and sound better. Just try it, its un-doable. :D Measure the cab and port and use WinISD to determine the tuning of the cabinet, you may experiment with different lengths of port to tune it different.
Also, placement has a lot to do with a subwoofer. Is it in a corner? If it is, and its too loud or boomy, try moving it around. It will lose some gain if you move it away from the corner, and since you say its too loud, less gain will help.
HTH

check out:
andhttp://www.hometheaterforum.com/htforum/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=22
 
i hope i dont have the same problem. my current speakers suck so i dont have it now, but i just ordered logitech 5500. i live in an army barracks, so i have neighboors and a room mate. the neighbors play loud music all the time, so hopefuly they wont mind me doing the same more often than they do. now i have a weapon against them when they are playing loud movies at 11:00pm, its like they go to the video store and say "lets get a movie with lots of big explosions and play it late at night just as our neighbors go to bed"
anyone with the 5500 know what its like to just listen to music at moderate volume? you know, can hear it and talk to somone next to you without yelling. whats the bass like?
 
YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE BOUGHT THOSE SPEAKERS.

i went through 2 brand new sets of z5300es in 2 months.
 
MAngelo said:
Is it a ported enclosure, or a bandpass? If its bandpass, all your output is from the port, so dont stuff it. But if its a ported cab, just stuffing the port (with a pillow or a plug) just makes it a sealed enclosure, which prob tapers the bass off sooner. It may match your room gain better sealed, and sound better. Just try it, its un-doable. :D Measure the cab and port and use WinISD to determine the tuning of the cabinet, you may experiment with different lengths of port to tune it different.
Also, placement has a lot to do with a subwoofer. Is it in a corner? If it is, and its too loud or boomy, try moving it around. It will lose some gain if you move it away from the corner, and since you say its too loud, less gain will help.
HTH

check out:
andhttp://www.hometheaterforum.com/htforum/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=22
Click to expand...

Not sure what you mean by bandpass :(
It's a closed box with 1 port.... unlike my old subs where you could see the speaker
these are it:
http://centre.net.au/prod/img/LOG0620.jpg

see how u can't see the actual speaker? it only has 1 port... unlike other speakers where u can "see" it like this:
http://forevergeek.com/images/Logitech_Z-5500.jpg

It's not in a corner, it's between my desk and a table..

I grabbed an old t-shirt and stuffed the port... it silenced the sub... a lot. But some of you said that might not be good for it.

So I grabbed a smaller, old rag and stuffed the port only bout 3/4 full- letting some air out.

And joethemole, why do you say these speakers are so bad? i only read good reviews about them.

Edit:
(14) Do not post MATERIAL where you do not have permission to distribute it electronically or otherwise. This includes posting images directly from a website (Bandwidth Theft) Images are to be hosted personally or by a third party host.
 
That is a bandpass.

Bandpass boxes work by isolating the speaker, and using a series of ports to boost the frequencies over a large range. By their very nature, they are boomy and loud. Pretty much bandpasses exist purely for rap music and bass-heads. There are a few good bandpasses, but they are quite rare. Blocking that port will kill your bass response.

The older set you mentioned is a standard ported, where plugging the port may help.
 
If you cant see the driver at all that means its a bandpass enclosure, so called because only a sound within a certain range, or pass band is allowed out of the box. Stuffing the port essentially means the driver has to work a lot harder to move itself, could potentially damage the driver. if you want to drop the bass off your best bet would be to do it on the pc side of things, either with the EQ settings on your soundcard, or if it doesnt have them, in whatever music player you are using. Just bring down the sliders to the left of it till the bass is at an acceptable level.
 
also.. room placement.. if your sub is close to a wall.. the bass will radiate off the wall.. if it is clsoe to a corner.. it will radiate off 2 walls... put it in the middle of the room.. and stuff the port.. that should do fine.. and you can turn the bass down on the computer... or get headphones..
 
Max-Powers said:
i hope i dont have the same problem. my current speakers suck so i dont have it now, but i just ordered logitech 5500. i live in an army barracks, so i have neighboors and a room mate. the neighbors play loud music all the time, so hopefuly they wont mind me doing the same more often than they do. now i have a weapon against them when they are playing loud movies at 11:00pm, its like they go to the video store and say "lets get a movie with lots of big explosions and play it late at night just as our neighbors go to bed"
anyone with the 5500 know what its like to just listen to music at moderate volume? you know, can hear it and talk to somone next to you without yelling. whats the bass like?
Click to expand...

I have the z-680..which is almost identical (in sound) to the 5500..except your base would be a little bit deeper as I heard in some reviews comparing the 680 to 5500.
Anyways, playing it at moderate volume, about 25%, you wouldn't have to yell o speak to someone next to you, maybe if someone is trying to talk to you in another room you wouldn't hear them. The base is not bloomy at all....it is FREAKING sweet..apparently for the z-680 series, the sub would start to crackle/rattle, which was caused by the blowhole loosening..which I opened up the sub and fixed in an hour. Anyways..the bass is loud and has very good response..my computer was down for the last two weeks and I couldn't use my speakers..and yesterday..I connected them up and pumped up "Sandstorm by Darude" (trance song) and put the volume to half way and WOW they were so crisp and base is so loud..anyways I am getting carried away here..

and BTW, I paired this up with an audigy 2 zs ;)
 
Guys above me said it. Its a bandpass, all your output is from that port- dont block it. It wont hurt anything, but that port is the only exit for sound. Use the volume control in Windows to decrease the volume from the sub.
Or take it back.
Edit:
Supposed to be a pretty good sub driver in that bandpass box. If you're feelin ballsy, take it apart and build a small sealed enclosure for it. Its a 6.5" driver, so I'd start with a .75 cu ft sealed box. Stuff w poly to tune. :)
 
Or a simple solution without plugging anything would be to go into the advanced sound properties, and adjust the slider for the Bass volume to low. If you have the sub hardware set on low, and then slowly lower the Bass volume in Windows, you will not have to stuff the port, keeping the quality.

...Reading your post made me laugh, I cant imagine "too much bass", but thats just me. The more, the better. :D
 
Holy Dead thread batman!

If the op picks this up what happened to it? If youre changing speakers go for a set of gigaworks, best sound ive heard from a sub £500 sub sat system.
 
MAngelo said:
Guys above me said it. Its a bandpass, all your output is from that port- dont block it. It wont hurt anything, but that port is the only exit for sound. Use the volume control in Windows to decrease the volume from the sub.
Or take it back.
Edit:
Supposed to be a pretty good sub driver in that bandpass box. If you're feelin ballsy, take it apart and build a small sealed enclosure for it. Its a 6.5" driver, so I'd start with a .75 cu ft sealed box. Stuff w poly to tune. :)
Click to expand...

Actually, the z680's and 5500's use a ported subwoofer enclosure. The tube for the inside is just designed in a way to gather more pressure to produce more bass at certain frequencies to make up for what it lacks. Real sound. I blew my z680's and I don't care. The subwoofers i'm using now are not boomy at all and sound fabulous for music, although i'm looking to buy new bookshelf/satellites. Mister X recommended me some 5.1 but I don't know if i'm going 5.1 anymore. 2.1 actually sounds just fine to me now. Good 2.1 is better than a lousy 5.1. I learned the hard way (expensive way). I've been looking at some athena speakers recently. Maybe next paycheck :).

In the car audio world, this is what a bandpass looks like. It uses the rear pressure to port it and the front is sealed. The z680's/5500's do not have this. Instead the front is open like any other ported sub with a hole. The boominess comes from having LESS backpressure so the sub shoots out air all the time giving sound. I prefer sealed boxes as they give a more natural sound for a wider range of music. I really don't know of another way to give a more simpler explination.http://www.electronixwarehouse.com/car/boxes/empty/bandpass.htm
 
Also, the 680's had a really horrible frequency range for the midrange. The crossovers on those speakers were set really high. The 3" speakers should have played a little more midbass. It just didn't sound natural. Okay, sorry, that's the last of my rant about those damn things. I'd say, return them and get something better. Mister X knows his shit, listen to him. YOU DA BEST MISTA X hah sorry.
 
I wouldnt return it.

I would use an eq and lower the bass a bit using that. See if your soundcard has settings that allow you to alter the bass.

Dont listen to people calling your sub boomy - it's a good sub. Most of the people who call it boomy dont even have direct experience with it, so they dont even have the right to call it so.

Not as tight as the Ultra sub? Yes. But boomy enough for you to return it? No.

You have a good speaker system.

Be careful not to COMPLETELY stuff the port, you end up increasing pressure within the sub itself and this may not be very good for the woofer. You can partially block the port, but dont turn your ported sub into a sealed one.
 
Blocking the port will not hurt it all.

One time I found a speaker sub like that at an apartment I lived in. I believe it was a Logitech speaker (older though) and it had a big 8" driver....so I thought....

I opened the thing up to see how it was constructed and low and behold there was a shelf in the middle with a little 4" subwoofer. The "driver" was nothing more that a passive radiator that was actually incredibly flimsy. The little internal subwoofer did all the work.

I got a good laugh out of that.
 
westrock2000 said:
Blocking the port will not hurt it all.

One time I found a speaker sub like that at an apartment I lived in. I believe it was a Logitech speaker (older though) and it had a big 8" driver....so I thought....

I opened the thing up to see how it was constructed and low and behold there was a shelf in the middle with a little 4" subwoofer. The "driver" was nothing more that a passive radiator that was actually incredibly flimsy. The little internal subwoofer did all the work.

I got a good laugh out of that.
Click to expand...
Passive radiator subs are actual pretty vogue at the moment, the theory being, most of the advantages of a ported box without the excessive boominess at certain frequencies.
 
N_Raged said:
Don't you just love boomy Logitech speakers...
Click to expand...
I can wait til the day that they put satellite drivers back into their speakers. They are just so damn boomy and muddy. Klipsch has it down, but are lacking digital imputs and decoders.

And all blocking the port does is prevent the air that moves through it from going in and out. Less air moving means the speaker cant flex as far, causing it to be quieter, and ALOT less boomy in logitech's case.

Wish they would make a midsize model. These 500watt speakers are way too much for dorms, apartments, and condos(where I live).
 
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