What is Floyd Toole saying about extra amplifier power and headroom?

Hello diamonddupree,

     After my last post, I think you received some good advice from several members on the benefits of multiple subs and active crossover devices.  I  run my mains full range and have my 4 subs low passed between 40-50 Hz.  I don't utilize an active crossover because I didn't notice a significant sq improvement when I tried one and reduced the bass sent to them.  I believe this was because my class D monoblock amps provide ample power, 1,200 watts each into my 4 ohm main speakers, and ample current, up to about 30 amps.
     I just wanted to let you know, however, that I believe you may perceive a significant improvement in sq in your system  by using an active crossover device like the Shiit Loki or DSP Mini to reduce the bass duties of your Magico Mini IIs.   I believe both these devices operate in a very similar manner but I'm not absolutely certain.  
      I also wanted to make sure you understand that utilizing at least a pair of good quality subs are also crucial for providing the high quality bass that will no longer be provided by the combination of your Magicos and your current single sub. 
     It's useful to think of the use of the active crossover device and dual subs as 2 sides of the same coin; they're both partially responsible for seamlessly integrating the high quality bass performance of dual subs with the high quality midrange and treble performance of your Magico Mini IIs.  
     They go together like hand and glove, Mutt and Jeff,  eric_squires and millercarbon as well as Trump and incompetence.

     If you decide to take this path as an upgrade solution, I'll share some more useful info and tips, that may be useful to you, along the way.

Tim  

@mapman according to Valin, "the MAGICO Mini is a textbook-perfect load (never dipping below 4 ohms and staying about 6 ohms for most of its frequency range)."

@noble100 good stuff and much appreciated. I just ordered a MiniDSP HD and should have it in a few days. I'll see how that works out and go from there. Thanks! 

That’s good, but there is still not much to bank on with the MF amp regarding how it handles even 6 ohms nominal even with dips below that. So that still leaves things open perhaps to a significant extent. 6 ohms nominal may be a harder load than 8 ohms nominal with some dips...it all depends. You would have to try them with an amp known to be stable into 4 ohms which in most cases mean an amp spec’ed and preferably measured for 8 ohms that also doubles power as much as possible into 4. The MF might do that pretty well but there is nothing concrete to bank on that it would so far. If it could, you would think MF would document it and make the amp more appealing for more cases. Also the bass control offered by the very efficient Class D amps could still deliver a big difference alone. OR even a Class a/b with good documented performance into 4 ohms. Could even be Class A but that could get very big bulky and expensive to deliver the watts needed for headroom with less efficient speakers going louder.

On the other note, I have considered a miniDSP for use with my KEF ls50s and Klipsch sw308 sub and liked it very much so very interested in how that works out.

If we weren't such sound anal audio buffs we wouldn't even care about these details.  We'd just say hey we have a good enough system and call it a day.   Off course, no self respecting audio kook would EVER do that right?

@mapman guilty as charged! I'll let you know how the DSP works out. Thanks again!