Okay, I recently received my SMS-1 and I have some setup questions and far as the X-over goes.
Here is a list of the gear I'm using, I have the Outlaw 990/7700 combo, dual SVS pb12-plus/2's and of course the SMS-1. My question is this, I currently have all the crossover points on the 990 set at 80Hz, so I know I have to disable the crossover on the SMS-1 by selecting "select" and "reset" while in the menu mode to prevent double filtering. My main question is this, both my sub have the subsonic filter set on 20Hz. How exactly do I set the subsonic filter on the SMS-1. Do I somehow have to disable the SS filter on the SMS-1 or do I have to change the SS filter on the SVS's? Any and all help would be greatly appreciated.

The subsonic filter in the SMS-1 cannot be disabled. You can set it to its minimum position (15Hz), or you can disable the subsonic filter in the SVS's and move the SMS-1's subsonic filter to 20Hz (assuming that can be done), or you can download updated firmware from Velodyne and set the subsonic filter to 5Hz (there's a new firmware available from their site, but the only change is the ability to lower the subsonic filter to 5Hz).

Another thing I just noticed is according to Outlaw's website there is a software update for the SMS-1 that I did not download. What exactly does the update fix or correct and is it something I should do before completely setting up the SMS-1?

Crap, never mind... Thanks Gonk.

I haven't installed the new firmware since I have my subsonic filter set around 20Hz and there was reportedly absolutely nothing different otherwise. The firmware can be downloaded from the bottom of this page . If you do plan to install it to get that 5Hz subsonic filter setting, I'd do it first as I don't know if it retains old settings after a firmware update or not.

We're quick this morning, aren't we?

Just thought of something, correct if I'm wrong though. If the signal is going from the 990 to the SMS-1 and then to the SVS's, the SVS's will only be able to play to 20Hz before they begin to roll off below that, correct? Meaning, shouldn't I set the SMS's SS filter to something higher than the SVS's SS filter. Sure as hell hope this makes since.

Or would I be better off setting it at 20Hz like the SVS's subsonic filter is set at?

Well, this is the response I received from SVS.

Hi Rob,



Don’t bypass the SVS filter. Leave the SVS filter(s) at 20hz, and use the 15hz setting for the Velodyne EQ. Having cascading subsonic filters shouldn’t make an audible difference in this context---the SVS filter will be rolling off the signal very rapidly(steep) by 15hz anyway.



Tom V.
SVS

The SVS filter starts working around 20Hz (probably starts a little above that, although I don't know for sure) and begins to drop off fairly rapidly below that. The SMS-1 filter starts working around 15Hz, so it is trimming away material below that point - material that the SVS's filter would get rid of anyway.

I agree with Tom Vodhanel that the crossovers being in line with each other isn't going to be an issue here (the first crossover acts on material that will be significantly diminished or eliminated entirely by the second crossover). If you knew the slope of the SVS filter and could defeat it, you could replicate that filter with the SMS-1's subsonic filter. It's just as well to let the filter SVS picked out handle the signal and set the SMS-1's for the minimum frequency (15Hz) and a fairly steep slope (36dB or 48dB will cause it to act rapidly around that 15Hz point, meaning that it will also start acting closer to the 15Hz point).

Okay, I finally got around this weekend to really sit down and focus on getting my room setup with the SMS-1 and I have a few questions. This is how I started off, first I disconnected the sub cables from the SMS-1 and went directly to the 990 to calibrate the subs to 75db in line with all the other speakers. Once I had all speakers including the subs running at 75db I then reconnected the sub cables back to the SMS-1 and ran the auto-eq feature of the SMS-1 as a starting point. Once the volume on the 990 was around 80db on the right side of the screen I began to raise the volume on the left side of the screen to match the right. The one thing I noticed was the volume on the SMS-1 was somewhere around 50, is this normal? Once I began manually adjusting the eq of the SMS-1 I could get everything pretty flat until I got to 125Hz where I got a drop of about 4db, is this normal also? Is there anyway to adjust this, is it placement or are there some settings I don't know about. And before anyone asks, I have the crossover in the SMS-1 disabled and I'm using the 990's crossover. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

My SMS-1's volume setting isn't that high, but you're going to see a fair bit of variation and I wouldn't worry about it (for that matter, I felt funny setting my SMS-1's volume as low as I did, would have felt less odd about setting it up around where you have it).

If you have a dip or other activity around 125Hz, it's nothing that the SMS-1 can help with. Not only is your crossover probably set higher than that (meaning that the sub is no longer active at that point, at least with the SMS-1's test tone), but the highest position that you can set an EQ to on the SMS-1 is 120Hz even if you did raise your crossover that much - not something that I'd recommend doing. Also, I think that the SMS-1 is not intended to continue to provide accurate results all the way up to the end of the scale since it can't apply EQ all the way there. In my experience, it seems to start to roll off around 160Hz or so. Once you get too much past 150Hz I don't know how precise the display is.