Woofing "Q"


Todays query pertains to sub matching to a stand mounted two or three way speaker. Irrespective of room acoustics and crossover over or underlaping points and levels. What are the effects of mis matching Q or damping. Is it detremental to match a acoustic suspension sub with a ported monitor or must they both have the same box alignment. This assuming that a sealed box is quicker than than a bass reflex box. I curently am using sealed Yamaha 10m monitors with a Yamaha sub that has two 8 in drivers and a port. It is matched pretty well. The Cary 805c is telling me I need to step up my game, but I don't want to lose my alignment match. Halp before I make a 'greener grass' mistake.
lewhite
Woofer enclosure doesn't matter. You want to get the balance correct, and therefore the loudness of the sub does matter. Any powered sub I know has the means to vary the output. I have found that subs that fire down...or anyway, not directly out are the best for integration.
My Rythmik subs have variable Q. Seamless integration (to my ear) was often possible at more than one "Q" setting. Sometimes, my preferred Q setting changed, depended on other x-over variables (like slope and and x-over frequency). And, even though seamless integration was possible at different Q settings, the overall character of the system definitely changed, depending on which combo of Q and other parameters was chosen.

Generally speaking, I found that it is definitely possible to "mismatch" the Q of the sub and main speaker (when it's wrong, you'll know it), but there is no one perfectly "right" answer. I suspect that some degree of experimentation is probably useful to optimize Q to personal preference. I would personally recommend a sub with variable Q for this reason.

Marty
I understand that level and xover point are adjustable and must be optiomised first but adjustable dampining Now that's a new concept . Marty: is it more noticible to have an over damped sub (lower number) compaired to the monitor or the other way around.
I'm not sure I have a great answer for that. Slightly underdamping the sub can make the system feel a bit more dynamic and punchy, slight overdamping it can make it seem more transparent. Too much damping and things can go dry and lifeless. However, for me, extreme underdamping is probably the worst condition so, twist my arm, and I'll say that underdamping the sub is worse.