Room Correction Wants To Set My Sub Volume Lower – What Do I Do?
There are lots of subwoofer setup recommendations out there. We’ve even got one! Most will start by telling you to set your subwoofer volume knob to a certain level. Usually 50%. You may even get conflicting recommendations from online sources and your subwoofer manufacturer. And then there is your room correction! Your room correction wants you to set your sub volume lower than all of those recommendations. Should you? Who do you believe? Let’s discuss!
All Recommendations Outside of Your Room Correction
Let’s start with all the recommendations you found before you started running your room correction. Every single one of them is a suggestion based on best practices. They want you to start at a good and safe point where your subwoofer will definitely be doing something (too low and it won’t have enough output) but not risk damaging the subwoofer (volume maxed out). The general recommendation of 50% is not a hard and fast rule. It is just a good “rule of thumb” for where to begin.
Why Is Your Room Correction Telling You To Lower Your Sub Volume?
Now that you’ve started the room correction process, your AV receiver is measuring the actual output of your subwoofer in your actual room. We have moved beyond the theoretical (where all the “rule of thumb” advice lives) and into the real world.
Your room correction, as we’ve explained, isn’t doing anything to your room. It is simply modifying the sound that is coming out of your speakers to counteract some of the acoustical problems that are created by your room. Step one of this process is getting all of your speakers (and your subwoofers) to output the same volume so that reference level on your AV receiver’s volume dial equates to 0dB.
When you set your volume knob at 50%, that may or may not be the correct volume level for your room. When your room correction wants you to set your sub’s volume level lower (or higher), it needs your help to get your sub’s output closer to the correct volume. While it can adjust the output slightly with its trim settings, that is often not enough. Having you adjust the volume knob is an important first step to setting the volume level correctly.
Should You Turn It Back Up After?
Surely the randos online or the subwoofer manufacturers know something your AV receiver doesn’t! They didn’t all just make up the same (or similar) recommendations! Maybe after you finish the room correction, you should turn the volume back up to the recommended level?
I mean…you could. Your subwoofer will be overly loud in comparison to the rest of your speakers. It will most likely be way too loud but maybe you like bass? If you want accurate sound, you should leave it alone. If you want more bass, you should adjust the target curve for your room correction. But, hey, it’s your room. You do you!
