Vandersteen Sub woofers v Rythmik Subs

Dr Tim
love the brain salad surgery!

Richard Vandersteen agrees "the more subs the merrier.....however, if only one....I'd Vandersteen it.

Richard Vandersteen agrees "the more subs the merrier.....however, if only one....I'd Vandersteen it. 

Yeah, I figured I'd probably need to RV it to get what I want (and I also have the 2C's so would be a great match all the way around) I just thought I would put the feelers out in case there were any other musical subs that could get me the same type of sound/integration without having to spend so much. RV is hard on my wallet!

The Audiokinesis swarm makes sense, but then if you could put 4 or more subs of any brand in your room, you would probably get the same result. The whole idea is to balance room aberrations.
As I posted in other threads, the new Vandy sub is probably going to make the 2wq prices drop. So, you might be able to pick up a pair with less impact on your wallet.
FWIW, I still own a pair of 2w subs. They function as they should and that despite being more than 20 years old. I asked Johnny Rutan if I should send them in for a checkup. He said if they work, don't worry.
Mr. V. really builds his speakers to last.
Bob

"Wow, thanks Tim, I had no idea a product like this was out there and at a comparatively low price to boot. Here are the things I would worry about: the WAF (yep the WAF strikes again for this one)
Integration with the mains - Does it do it the way the Vandersteens do with an external cross-over that lowers the output 6db? Also the Vandersteens keep the signal in the analog realm. Is my understanding of the AudioKenesis that a DSP would be involved to manage the bass? If so, I think that would turn me off. I want that signal as analog as possible.

Hi bstatmeister,

1. WAF- I think the waf, along with concerns about fitting 4 subs physically in their room, are the biggest obstacles most people think of when considering using a distributed bass array system.
I can just describe my experiences with my use of the Swarm and hope it helps you a bit.
I am fortunate in having an understanding wife who also enjoys listening to music and ht through my system. If your wife is less understanding, I’d suggest trying to get her involved with discussing your system and let her make some choices about the music you listen to and the ht you play.
The optimum position of my 4 subs in my 23 x16 foot living room turned out better than I expected, too. Two of my subs are located along my room’s front 16 ft. wall, each about a foot in from each 23 ft. side wall. Each sub is also mostly hidden from view by my l+r main speakers (6 ft. tall by 2 ft. wide Magnepan panels) that are positioned about 3 ft. in front of them.
My other two subs are located along each 23 ft. side wall about 3 ft. in from the 16 ft. rear wall, one on each side. One sub is mostly hidden from view behind an end table while the other is out in the open but my wife likes how it looks like a wooden art gallery pedestal and she usually has a vase full of fresh flowers on it.
2. Mains integration and DSP- The Swarm’s supplied 1K watt class AB amp only accepts l+r unbalanced rca signal inputs and cannot accept speaker level inputs as the Vandersteens can. I don’t view this as a negative, however, since the analog rca inputs result in a seamless integration with my main speakers
There is also no DSP, microphones, room analysis software or digital equalization involved with the Swarm bass system. The signal remains in the analog domain from input to output. But each sub does have its output lowered by 6db by design.

Hoped this helped a bit,
Tim