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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
dnicol
19 posts
 
Just got a swarm debra system, using dayton SA1000, questions for those who have set these up.

1) What are the effects of blocking the ports, why would you want to do that?

2) I'm setting the amp at 90 degree phase, 75 hz freq, not using the EQ. What settings do you use and why? Playing with gain around 10-11 oclock.

3) Does anyone wire 1 of the drivers reverse polarity?

4) All my drivers are facing the wall, about 1-2 inches out. One of them is corner loaded. Just initially set them this way, I know the instructions/procedures, but I wanted to see performance by just dropping them in place based on my room diagram, Jim gave me positioning based on that. Thoughts?

5) SA1000 thumps on shut down, gain control all the way down. Preamp feeding it had been set to an unused input, 0 volume. Not sure I like that. Shouldn't do this?

This DBA system integrates very smoothly, and does not smear the mains. In fact it compliments them much more then other subs I've tried.

Thanks for the help.


hleeid OP
219 posts
 
@dnicolCongrats on the Swarm!
Yes, the DBA does integrate very smoothly.  By far the best subwoofer solution I have experienced.
I will try my best at this using quotes from Duke LeJeune (Swarm DBA inventor):
1) Sealed mode is generally better for smaller rooms, and ported mode is generally better for large and/or open-floorplan rooms. I use one sub ported (the one that's in a front corner) and the other three are sealed, and the sealed sub in the very back of the room is in reverse polarity – just to give an example.
My room is 14 x 17 and this is what I do.

2) As a general ballpark starting point, I suggest the parametric EQ controls be set for minimum effect: Frequency at 18, Bandwidth at .1, and Level at 0, or about 2:00 on the dial. On the low-pass filter controls, set the Phase at 0, and again as a ballpark starting point, you might try Frequency between 8:00 and 9:00, and Gain at perhaps 10:00. On the back of the amp, turn the Subsonic Filter ON for now (and consider keeping it on if you listen to vinyl), and turn the Bass Boost OFF if you plan to use the subs mostly or all ported, and ON if you plan to use them mostly or all sealed. These are ballpark suggestions just to get you started. You will have a lot of power and output capability on tap, and there is no combination of settings that will overdrive the woofers unless you hit them with very high power signals below 18 Hz in vented mode with the subsonic filter disengaged.

I also follow this but have left phase at 0.
I also found the need to alter the gain depending on the mains I run (higher with efficient speakers).
3) - See response to 1)

4) I have 2 subs elevated, each one an inch from the wall and facing the ceiling. The floor subs are an inch from the walls but only because I face them parallel to the walls.  Otherwise at least 3 inches clearance is advised.
5) I had 2 Daytons thump on shutdown. One was a refurbished unit. The other was brand new.  Still working with Parts Express on this.Will let you know what happens.
Do you hear a mechanical buzz from your Dayton?
luisma31
516 posts
 
I have dual Daytons and both are dead silent
noble100's avatar
noble100
2,419 posts
 

      Yes, the Dayton is not operating correctly if there's a thump, buzz or hum.  With my AK Debra, I found the overall bass sounded boosted if any of the subs were positioned within about 2 feet of a corner.  It won't harm anything even if you put a sub in each corner.  I just prefer my bass powerful, dynamic, smooth, fast, accurate, detailed and natural without overemphasis.
     I tried wiring 1 of the subs in reverse polarity as the procedures suggest, one at a time, but without noticing a positive effect.  I run all of mine in-phase and ported.  My goal was to set the level and crossover frequency both as low as possible with the bass still sounding powerful, smooth, detailed and natural to me. My main speakers only have a rated bass extension of 35 Hz so I run them full range with the Dayton's level set at about 11:00 (slightly below half volume) and the crossover set at 40 Hz.
     This results in the deep bass being perceived as seamlessly blended or integrated with my main speakers but the bass is still very powerful, dynamic, natural that can even be a bit startling on music and HT when the source content dictates for sudden powerful bass reproduction.

     Welcome to the DBA  club, dnicol, have you paid your yearly dues yet?
Best wishes,
     Tim
dnicol
19 posts
 
Not hearing any mech buzz from the SA1000 during operation, dead quiet, only thump on shutdown, a few times it did not do it though, might be because I'm changing the preamp out to unused output before shutting down the dayton that's doing it.

Also agree with Subsonic Filter on and Bass Boost off.

@noble100 I see you're running a 326S, (380S here) are you splitting an unbalanced out for the SA1000? I'm also going to try setting xover point lower as well. I do like the phase straight up at 90 though.

I tried setting 1 at reverse polarity, didn't do much for me. 1 of the drivers is loaded right at a rear corner, which was suggested to me. Ended up raising off the floor about 3 feet and against side wall like the others, much better.

No HT here, and no single listening position, trying to make the entire room sweet spot since that's how I listen, these really help that effect.
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