How to boost subwoofer sound

[TimCha]

Hello everyone,

We are having issue with lack of subwoofer sound, the only way to hear it is if we turn up the low Freq. knob all the way on each individual settings, which I know isnt a good idea. I've been searching for a main knob that controls the subs on the whole board but noting to be found.

We have a Mackie VLZ Pro 32-4 W Prem XDR Mic Preamps
The subs we have is TurboSound TCS 215 Serial # 571511
They were made in UK, but not longer is in production.

They sound great but lately they are putting out very low bass sound, I dont know of any main knobs that boosts the subs across the whole board. I'm not certain how they are connected to the amps and stuff!

Thanks, Tim

[tedanderson]

You will have to find the amp that controls the subs and adjust it. Sometimes it may take tracing the wires from the subwoofers back to wherever the amps are housed.

[bladeaudio]

Ya, your going to have to do some detective work to find the signal path from your mixer to the sub. Does it go to a system processor? Is there a crossover somewhere? What amp drives your subs? Are the subs Aux fed?

If you can find out the answer to some of those questions you'll be well on your way to not only fixing your volume issue, but understanding your system a whole lot more.

[Brad Weber]

I believe the TCS-215 is a non-powered box with no integrated crossover so there indeed are probably several other electronic components involved between the mixer and the subwoofer. There may settings or adjustments related to one of more of those that are affecting the subwoofer output.

Another potential factor is what is actually meant by the subwoofer output being low. Is at some extremely low level in general or is it low in level compared to the mains? The latter could mean that the subwoofer or subwoofer and amplifier combination is simply not capable of keeping up with the mains as you would like it to.

Sound like it is probably a good opportunity to figure out how everything is connected to the amps and stuff and to document that information for future reference.

[TimCha]

Thanks everyone! I appreciate your assistance!
I'll take a day and figure it out!

[audiomatic]

I have to agree that the problem should be easy to fix once you have figured out which mixer output is feeding the amp that is driving the subs. You mentioned that you can hear the subs when you turn up the low frequency on all the individual channels. Is there a master eq on the mixer where someone may have inadvertently turned the low frequencies down?

Another consideration is the location of the subs in the room. If you place the subs against a reflective wall or in a corner, much of the energy that would otherwise be dissipated behind the subs would be reflected out into the room.

Please don't let these suggestions detract from the need to figure out how your system is wired. Understanding the signal path is the only way to troubleshoot problems that might arise anywhere in the sound reinforcement system.

[Rickcperry]

Providing that all other factors are correct, Don't rule out boundary cancellation. There's a great article you can read on Peavey's website. Just google it and you should find it. I wrote a blog on it because of a gig issue that happened to me once. After blowing a sub I that I knew hammered pretty well, I started looking into why!