Pipewire upmix weak lfe

Support Sound
1

Hello i try to make upmix to 5.1 working so i have set this :

/urs/share/pipewire/pipewire-pulse.conf

stream.properties = {
    channelmix.normalize  = true
    channelmix.mix-lfe    = true
    channelmix.upmix = true
    channelmix.upmix-method = psd # none, simple
    channelmix.lfe-cutoff = 1000
    channelmix.fc-cutoff = 15000
    channelmix.rear-delay = 12.0
}

even if my lfe is working it keep exrtemely poor, on my sound card i have a aux output that is stereo, if i use this instead the sound is way way better.
i try a lot of values into lfe cutoff. when is set to 0 or negative i basiaclly have no lfe at all, and bigger value a quite better but far from the aux method (i suppose the upmix is made directly by my speakers system)

i try without normalise but not a huge change

it’s a shame to have to change the config every time i switch from stereo to surround and vice versa.

2

LFE cut-off frequency of 1000 Hz is much higher than typical sub-woofer cut-off frequency

I suggest check manufacturer’s specifications to find out the cut-off frequency for the sub-woofer or surround sound system (usually around 250 Hz)

3

yea i already try 250

4

My subwoofer panel gave me many problems, I replaced capacitors after it failed when it was just over 1 year old, then just took it out when it failed again.

So I now use a TP3116 chip Class D 2.1 channel amplifier for the front, which has a filter and level control for the subwoofer and another 2.0 for the rear. The front runs from an old Laptop psu, the rear from an old Bluray supply.

Anyway, depending on your front speakers:

I have Monitor Audio, bookshelves - which have good bass, but not too much energy below 60Hz, so I’d set lfe-cutoff at 60 or so and adjust (this is your crossover) using a frequency sweep playback to listen for overlap. I actually needed a dip there, because of the room acoustics. For smaller speakers maybe that frequency needs increasing - again, hard to say but I’d listen in your room with a test video (sweep/test audio from 20 Hz up to 200Hz) - if that’s in steps you can listen to the deeper bass responses (moving around the room as you do, Bass is often not audible in some parts of the room and bloated in others).

I think you should be working on local copies of files - not system files here… so maybe copy files to ~/.config/pipewire for local changes.

Take a look at /usr/share/pipewire/client.conf and read it for instructions… then you can probably edit the local file and restart the audio to adjust it.

5

Seconded.

@jean-raphael @Ben

Also, if you find that you still need different configurations it’s easier to store and manipulate them locally, for example:

~/.config/pipewire/client.conf-backup
~/.config/pipewire/client.conf-surround
~/.config/pipewire/client.conf-stereo

… and just swap them as needed:

cd ~/.config/pipewire/
cp client.conf client.conf-backup
cp client.conf-stereo client.conf

…or similar. Cheers.

1 Like
6

as i say if i use the aux stereo input from my sound system evryting is working very great so it’s not an hardware problem is an upmix problem

7

hat is the prupose of using ~ ? i need to edit the confing each time i have a new user ?

8

~/ is effectively a global variable.

You could consider it as a shortcut to your profile folder, for example: /home/jean-raphael. Likewise, ~/ points to the user folder of any profile you are currently logged into.

In the case of users John, Paul, George, or Ringo, ~/ points to either:

  • /home/john
  • /home/paul
  • /home/george
  • /home/ringo

… depending which of those profiles is current.

Regarding the client.conf files:

Yes, you could create configuration files for each new user. You could also copy them to each new user. However, if there is a path within those client.conf file versions, you would need to edit those accordingly, for each user profile.

9

Oh no it isn’t. It’s the same as ‘/home/ben/’ folder. Surely the tilde means it’s the same as the ‘/home/USER’ folder currently signed in?

I’d suggest you have some reference for this (meaning a ‘reference folder’ which could be a public shared folder accessible to your other users).

1 Like
10

No need, as you’ve now provided it.

11

Sorry, something went wrong when I wrote that. I was going to say - have a reference folder, I put one in my Dropbox for odd config files - I used for my old ‘Serenity’ hardware for MPV to passthrough Dolby when using Plex - then when I created a ‘TEST’ user for troubleshooting I could just copy it in from there.

12

I understood where you were heading. I use a separate profile location as a Public folder for LAN use; albeit not a fully qualified user profile.

Nonetheless, I should adjust that post for more clarity.