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Two Subs Vs. One

Trying to augment the sound from a pair of Totem Hawks in a large room (rest of system is an Olive Musica server, Eastern Electric Minimax Pre, Classe CAP-150 Amp). I am doing some in-home auditions of affordable single subs (mostly REL) and really like what they do for the sound. So far, I am leaning toward two smaller subs, one behind each speaker (ie. REL Q108E's - I like the sound better in that position and it looks better - wife factor) versus one larger one in the corner (ie. REL R-205). Can't find two demo units of the same sub to audition the two-sub option and was wondering if anyone had experience with this comparison.
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eldartford
4,262 posts
 
Warnerwh...I too have a spectrum analyser, and in general I can't agree with you about how much signal lies below 45 Hz. What kind of music are you playing? Some recordings do go right down to 20 Hz, but in my music library these are the exceptions. Also, if you are playing vinyl, rumble and warp will keep your SW busy, but do you really want to listen to rumble and warp?
elevick
2,636 posts
 
Remember, bass below 80hz is really non-directional. Why not try 1 sub and if you don't get enough "slam" then add a second. You may be amazed that in normal listening that you probably won't be able to tell if 1 sub is connected or two.
eldartford
4,262 posts
 
Elevick..."Remember, bass below 80hz is really non-directional". This is widely stated, but, to my ears, is not true.
tim916
52 posts
 
As far as smoothing out the bass response 2 subs can be better than 1, but only if you take great care in setting them up. In order to do this properly you really need some sort of tool that will give you visual feedback on how the bass is behaving such as a computer program like ETF, or a stand-alone unit like a velodyne sms-1.
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