Subwoofers have made my system come alive like never before. I recently purchased the latest iteration of KEF R3 speakers as a space saving exercise, having eschewed floor standing speakers for the first time in decades. I placed the stand mount-sized R3s atop my Martin Logan 12" powered subs creating what amounts to a 4-way system with bass extension to 22Hz with the crossover point set to 30Hz so as not to muck up the lovely mid-bass produced by the KEFs right out of the box, with the subs processed with the subwoofers' built-in ARC Genesis room correction by Anthem. The 600W RMS Martin Logan Dynamo 1100X 12" subwoofer is an excellent value. In fact, I am toldf that ML subs are the manufacturer's best selling product category. Retail list is 1299.00 USD but they are offered at a reduced price periodically.
Honest Experience on Effects of Subwoofer Please
I have read countless of threads on people’s experiences with subwoofers but am still confused. Although I don’t have any experience with high quality music subwoofers, I have been using a decent sub in my audio system for the past 18 years or so. The sub went in and out of the systems and various rooms throughout the years as I was not convinced if the sub was contributing anything to the system. At times I felt I could hear an improvement and at other times I thought the sub wasn’t doing anything. If I bump up the volume and crossover frequency on the sub to hear a larger impact, it’s overly done.
I am aware that a proper set up and/or quality of subwoofer is crucial to ensure a successful implementation of the sub(s) in a system. Let’s just assume that everything is done properly.
To cut to the chase, do people hear a small or appreciable difference with subwoofers, or it’s a big night and day difference? I know everyone’s expectations are different but I’m reading different opinions and experiences on this forum. For the first time in 15 years, I am considering a sub upgrade and have been in communication with the sub maker and dealer. I just wanted to get a clearer picture on the situation.
So, coming back to the question, just two questions;
1. Do people hear a small or appreciable difference with subwoofers, or it’s a big night and day difference?
2 Do subwoofers just fill up the missing deep bass below say 40Hz or 35Hz where the main speakers won’t reproduce, or they will also augment the mid bass and upper bass by producing a punchier sound with better kick, heft and dynamics? The drums or kick drums are usually in the region of the midbass and upper bass, not low bass.
Posts like the one below taken from another thread make me confused.
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@phusis 1+. Live concerts are in much larger venues than a residential room. Bass is much less of a problem in larger venues. Then you have to deal with echoes which can be profound. We really do not have echoes in our homes or rather very little. The distances are too short which makes the delay shorter. We have difficulty with reflections which can be perceived as part of the music then as a distortion of the original signal. There are very few systems that could not benefit from subwoofers. My goal is to save people, who want to get into them, time and maybe some aggravation. I have always used a two way crossover, always, right from the beginning. I had a single sub for 6 months when I discovered that one was not going to do it. This lasted for 22 years and as I said before it was a love/hate relationship and at times very frustrating. 22 years later TacT entered the market and I jumped right one, their 1st preamp and I upgraded to another one down the line. The results floored me. Then I realized that I needed 4 subwoofers, next is 8. The TacTs time has come to an end as there is now better tech out there. I thought I was going to get a Trinnov unit but I am waiting to see what the next high end DEQX unit is going to like. It is supposed to be released next quarter. The company has not yet released an owners manual so I can get a handle on it's capability. But, from the outside it looks great. The point of all this is that if you start out with two subs and a digital crossover like the MiniDSP you will saving yourself a lot of time, frustration and expense. Don't do it cheap. Do it right. On the other hand if you have to learn the hard way like I did fire away. You will learn a lot in the end. |
@b_limo , that is an interesting way to do it. What are you doing to delay the sub so the arrival time and phase are the same as the main speaker's Your version is surely visceral when you are seated but everywhere else not so hot. The realistic way to do it is multiple subs out front and a lot of power. @scm , I also cross over at 100 Hz. You need subs that sound good that high and they have to be in a stereo array. The rational for it is to take the load off the main amp and speakers to lower distortion and increase head room. In my case IMHO it is critical. I use full range ESLs. One diaphragm handles everything. Taking out the bass literally cleans up everything and they play louder than anyone could stand for 30 seconds. |
As a last comment, I previously mentioned 8 subs. What I plan on doing is 8 drivers in 4 enclosures. I'm doing this because in comparison to live performance I feel my bass which is wonderful for a home system, needs just a little more authority. Doubling the drivers only gives you another 3 dB but I think the array will pressurize the room better for lack of better terminology. It may not work. The problem might be with the dynamic range of the source material. It will definitely lower distortion in the bass so it should be worthwhile in the end. |
- 51 posts total