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Swarming!

Hi folks!

Hope everyone is doing well.

I just got my Swarm Distributed Subwoofer Array from AudioKinesis hooked up.

Wow!

Pre Swarm setup:

Office (10 x 14 minus closets):

Amp: Hegel H190 integrated, Bryston P26 preamp, Ampzilla 2000 Second Edition monoblock amps
Speakers: KEF LS 50 non wireless, Ologe 5, Magnepan LRS


So two subs arrived yesterday (Saturday).

With two subs and the Dayton amp, I first hooked up one sub in various positions on the floor.

Listened to a variety of music.
Played around with the gain.
After four crawls and two more "just to confirm" crawls, I located and left Sub 1.

I’m still a newbie here so apologies in advance if the proper terminology escapes me when I try to describe all the ways everything (not just the bass) just sounds a lot better.

While it sounded better than three other subs I tried, the bass got less clear soon after the gain was up enough to hear the sub and especially when I moved around the room.

Now, with Sub 1 optimally (for now) placed, Sub 2 took the rest of the evening.

Sub 2 is ceiling facing (3" clearance from the ceiling) on a long shelf behind the listening position.
Spent a few hours sliding it left and right, flipping it over to fire the port in the opposite direction, etc.

Flipped it three times.
My back was starting to complain when I first got it up on the shelf. These things are heavy and awkward to remove from a high shelf when flipping over, not to mention the heart stopping, lose balance or grip on the sub, close call moments!

Decided to leave it in the corner where the shelf meets the right wall with the port facing the corner and wait for the other subs.

The improvement, though not significant, was more than noticeable at my listening position.
The improvement started to get significant when I rolled my chair around the room or got up and walked around.

Things sounded pretty good in more areas of the room.
I heard more quality out of the newly added quantity of bass.

The other two subs arrived today.

Duke at AudioKinesis suggested varying the heights of the ceiling facing sub(s) if possible as this will affect the vertical plane.

So,...

Subs 3 and 4 are also ceiling facing with a 6" clearance located in the left and right front corners of the room.
They are perched on steel wire shelving units allowing for one inch height increments. The added storage space with the shelves is a huge bonus!

Turned the music back on a little while ago.

What a mind blowing experience!
While the LRS made the room seem bigger, with all four subs firing, the Swarm seemed to add body, intensity and dynamics to the "bigger room".  Just about anywhere in the room.

I can raise the gain much higher and actually enjoy the clarity and evenness in the added bass.
Bass is not lost at low volumes. I can actually hear more details in the bass without needing to raise the volume.

Absolutely love the LRS! Thought the bass was pretty good. Didn’t hit like the LS 50s but seemed more than adequate.
But after a satisfactory gain setting and listening with the Swarm added, I got up and turned the gain all the way down and listened to just the LRS.
The Swarm added such a high quality and intense "kick" to the low end that just went away.

This got me out of my chair again to bring the gain back up.
A remote for the Dayton sure would be great!

I just can’t imagine listening to my system without this really cool subwoofer solution!

Limited to a small room?

Yes, there are four sizeable subs and an additional amp to place.
I thought there was no way that would work in such a small 10’ x 14’room.

Why four subs?
For anyone not familiar with the Distributed Bass Array concept, search through these threads.
There are numerous postings on this by some really knowledgeable people. (millercarbon and noble100, especially)

With three of the subs up high, the fourth sub is the only additional piece taking up floor space.

It’s been only about 2 hours listening with the Swarm in place.
With just the first sub placed via crawling and the other three just put in place, everything sounds like my system had a major upgrade!

It’s actually quite shocking! Seriously.

Excited to experiment with the subwoofer heights, different amps and also with the LS 50s and Ologe 5s.

Kodus to Duke at AudioKinesis for building such an effective, simple and flexible subwoofer solution!

These things actually look pretty cool too! Zero WAF issues!


Stay safe and healthy everyone!

hleeid
big_greg
6,640 posts
 
I initially set my 4 subs up using two Y splitters directly from my preamp.  After reading about possible impedance issues and at the suggestion of others, I purchased a used iFi Micro iTube2. 

I now run the left and right output from my preamp into the iTube2 and have the Y splitters coming out of the output of the iTube 2.  Two of the subs are connected by RCA cables and two are connected wirelessly.  I didn't hear any noticeable difference after inserting the iTube 2, you might be fine running Y splitters right out of the preamp. 

I wish I could remember where I read that information as it was explained better than I can why impedance matching with multiple subs could be a problem.  It might have been one of these:

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/preamp-connection-to-multiple-powered-subwoofers

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/possible-impedance-matching-issue-with-subwoofer

It was relatively inexpensive to add the iTube 2 and I decided "better safe than sorry". 

This approach allowed me to make individual adjustments to each sub, which was important in my case due to their locations.  For example, I have the level down on the one in front which is pretty close to my turntable as well as one that is relatively close to my listening position.  I have the crossover levels higher on the front subs than the ones in back.  

Hopefully someone with better technical knowledge can speak to the issue (or perhaps non-issue) of impedance matching your preamp to multiple subs and the use of a Y splitter.
luisma31
516 posts
 
@big_greg thank you for your post, you are correct, impedance could be an issue but in my limited knowledge it depends a lot on the preamp you are using and its output impedance, I have an atmasphere pre myself and just out of curiosity I asked Ralph, in my case I'm outputting to my mains amp and to a Jensen balanced to single ended transformer, one channel of the transformer goes to the left amp powering 2 left subs and the right output to another amp powering the right sub. Someone said before the swarming was all mono and that is not correct, it all depends on the design, if you are using the SA1000 Daytons, for the cost and IMO and to avoid clipping 2 is better than one
noble100's avatar
noble100
2,419 posts
 
“Tim, the Mini DSP looks interesting, everything I see shows coming off an AVR LFE out. I use a two channel pre amp. My system is for two channel music only. Do you own this product for further questions on use?“

mizike and luisma31,

     No, I don’t use a miniDSP or a iTube2, I just connect my preamp’s stereo left/right outputs and Blu-ray player’s mono LFE output to the Dayton sub amp/control unit which enables auto switching between the 4-sub DBA for music or HT.   I  run all 4 of my subs in mono because there’s no such thing as stereo imaging with deep bass below 80 Hz. Plus there’s virtually no recorded music with discrete bass channels below 100 Hz, anyways.      Duke of Audio Kinesis also stated that some Swarm users use 2 Dayton amps and enjoy the effects of running a pair of subs on the right side of the room 90 degrees out of phase from the other pair on the left side of the room. I forgot what the effect is but I don’t bother with this either.
Tim
     
mizike
107 posts
 
One more question. With the idea of swarming subs, what about long runs of single ended(RCA)cable? Is that going to be a problem with a  30' plus run?
hleeid OP
219 posts
 
@mizmike I use a 6' RCA cable in my Swarm.  Duke at Audio Kinesis suggested not going any longer than that unless running balanced.
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