Rythmik subwoofers?

Another professional user of Rythmik subs is Sterling Sound, the great audiophile mastering house in NYC. They have three pair of F15's in their monitoring systems.

Planar and mini-monitor speaker lovers have long had to accept the rolled-off bottom end of their speakers, and the difficulty in successfully adding subs to them. Maggies are one such speaker of course, and the bass they do have is excellent in quality. Subs good enough to blend seamlessly with them are few, and Rythmik is one such sub. The number of Maggie and mini-monitor users happy with the mating of their speakers and Rythmik's has been slowly growing, all by word-of-mouth.

Subs have traditionally been considered almost impossible to be added to the highest-quality speakers for music reproduction, but there are now a handful, many listed by the above posters. I have had a few myself, from the legendary KEF B-139 woofer (used by Dave Wilson in his WAMM model in the 70's-80's) in a folded transmission line enclosure, HSU sonotube 10", and Infinity RS-1b servo-feedback towers with six 8" woofers each. I now own pairs of both Rythmik F15HP's, and the very, very special Rythmik/GR Research OB/Dipole subs (a pair of 12" woofers mounted in Open Baffle H-frames)---producers of the highest quality bass I have yet to hear, regardless of price.

By the way, don't be "fooled" by the fact that the Rythmik L12 has an "only" 300 watt amp versus the SVS SB2000's 500 watts. Just as with any speaker, the SPL produced by a sub is determined not just by the wattage of the amp, but also by the sensitivity/efficiency of the driver(s) the amp is powering. Rythmik's woofers, due in part to their relatively low (for a woofer) mass, are more sensitive than the woofers used in most other subs. Remember, if the Rythmik L12's woofer is only 3dB more sensitive than that used in the SVS SB2000's, the Rythmik will actually have effectively more power than the SVS. I don't know that such is the case, I am just making the theoretical argument.

topjetboy---The Rythmik F12 plate amp includes lots of controls (most importantly a phase control providing not a couple of settings, but a continuously variable range of 0-180 degrees, to allow time-alignment of speaker and sub electronically, without having to move the sub physically), including of course a low-pass filter for the sub itself, with a range of 40Hz to 120Hz, and 2nd and 4th order slopes---12dB and 24dB an octave respectively. The standard A370 version of the plate amp also provides high-pass filtering for the main speakers.

If you want a reasonably-priced outboard x/o that provides more flexibility, and perhaps better (more transparent) sound, Nelson Pass’ First Watt B4 is one such x/o. It provides x/o frequencies in 25Hz increments from 25Hz to 3200Hz, and 1st/2nd/3rd/4th order slopes---6dB/12dB/18dB/24dB per octave. Now THAT’S flexibility! And, it is built with discrete parts---no opamps or ic’s. The B4 retails for $1500, but I believe Reno Hi-Fi sells it for about a grand.

Yup yogiboy, it sure will. But it will provide only one slope---2nd order, 12dB/octave. And only two x/o frequencies, one at each switch position. You’ll need to specify those frequencies when you order the x/o from HSU. I doubt you can beat it for anywhere close to a hundred bucks!

If a 1st order, 6dB/octave slope will work for you, the best filter is a single capacitor installed on the input jacks of the power amp for your main speakers---a passive x/o. The value of the capacitor will determine the corner frequency, the amps input impedance also being a factor in the equation. The formula for determining the capacitor value to achieve the desired x/o frequency can be found via a Google search. This way of filtering eliminates the need for an extra pair of interconnects---from the x/o to the amp. Plus you’ll avoid any degradation of the signal an active x/o may impart.

Fair enough rlb. On the other hand, there are a fair number of happy Rythmik owners, including the audiophile mastering house Sterling Sound, who have three pair of F15's in their monitoring systems. All companies have a percentage of product failures, Rythmik's percentage being lower than many who offer much more expensive ones.

The L12 is a Rythmik budget model, not their top-o-the-line 12", the F12 (with aluminum-cone woofer) and F12G (paper-cone). That model is more competitive with the e110. If you can afford the three-times-as-expensive JL e110, it's curious you would buy the L12 instead of the F12.

I'm with ya on the made in the U.S.A., but Rythmik's designer/owner Brian Ding is Chinese, and has a great relationship with his parts suppliers. If made entirely in the U.S.A., Rythmik subs might retail for twice as much as they do.

rlb61, pointing out that the L12 is a Rythmik budget model was not done to make the case for it therefore of course being less reliable than the F12 (or JL e110, or any other sub), but rather because you made the case for the JL e110 being a higher performer than the L12. My point was that if it was the level of performance the JL provides you desired, and you could afford the e110, why then when you got yourself a Rythmik wasn't it an F12 instead of the budget model L12? The difference between the two is not "bells and whistles"; the extra controls on the F12 are not decoration, they provide valuable performance benefits. The F12's amplifier is a higher performance and wattage design than the one installed in the L12. And the F12's driver (both aluminum and paper cone versions) is a superior design and performance unit than the one used in the L12.

A comparison between the performance of the Rythmik F12 and the JL Audio e110 is a valid one, between the L12 and e110 less so. Reliability is a separate issue.