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What are the best subwoofers to use with Magnepan 20.1s?

Hello all.  Which subwoofers would give the smoothest response/integration with Magnepan 20.1 speakers?  The rest of the system is Audio research Ref 3 preamp, Pass labs 600.5 amps, VPI ref scoutmaster turntable, Pass Labs XP 25 phonostage, UHA Tape Deck.  Thank you in advance for the help.
powerdoctor
bondmanp
1,805 posts
 

I second the Vandersteen.  The 2Wq IMO has a big advantage over the RELs, in that the system high-passes your mains, reducing the deep bass the Maggies have to reproduce.  The rolloff is first order beginning at 80Hz, so your Maggies will need to work down to about 40Hz, but that last octave can really strain a lot of speakers and amps, especially panel speakers.


If you can swing it, the outboard battery-biased crossovers are much more transparent than the in-line filters, but if your amp or preamp has a first order crossover built in, you might be able to use that.  Check with Vandersteen to be sure.


I have owned a pair of the 2Wqs with the M-5HP crossovers for a while now, and I could not be happier.  Quick, deep bass that energizes the room, and they work perfectly in the room corners, as they are intended to, with no need for bass traps or EQ.  Your room might be different, of course, but my 2Wqs are in my system to stay.

audioconnection
1,271 posts
 
The other advantage of the Vandersteen 2WQs is that it hooks up at speaker level not line level. This is a major advantage with a tube pre amp as it never sees the subs load.
 As Bondmap mentions above the other neat advantage is the Vandersteen High pass units remove the lowest lifting off the main amps  achieving ideal in room bass response that's adjustable to your preference this allows not only lower distortion but dramatically increases the whole systems clarity and transparency.
 Best JohnnyR
 
stickman451
553 posts
 
Subwoofers DO make a positive difference with Maggies!  I know, I use two Rel G2's with my 20.7's.  The primary purpose for using subs with Maggies is not for the reason you might be thinking; more, deeper bass.  My Maggies go down to approx 27 hz in my 17.5 x 26 room which is Plenty Low for most music.  

What I have found is that adding the Rels makes the entire soundfield bigger, more dense, more full, adding to the PRAT, and actually Improving the level of Detail that I hear in all my music.  Yeah I know, you've heard that last one before, but it's True! Once the Rel's settled-in I began to hear intricate details and subtle cues in the music that I had not previously noticed.  

I don't know or understand the physics, but adding the two Rel's took my rig to the next level!  I seldom run the Rels above 28hz or 30hz and always at a very low volume level (typically less than 10).  It WORKS!

I prefer the Rels over Magnepans own supplemental woofers beacuse they do not add an additional Load to your amps; the Rels have a very high impedance so they dont add a burden to your main amps (which are already working overtime to drive the Maggies).  

The Rels make an Excellent speaker, the Maggie, an even better one!




jafreeman's avatar
jafreeman
689 posts
 
Great description, Stickman. I believe REL invented subwoofer integration by hooking up at the speaker output.  

audiokinesis
2,734 posts
 

James Kates published a paper in the Journal of the Audio Engineering Society years ago that showed dipoles to have smoother in-room bass than monopoles.   Since getting smooth in-room bass at low frequencies is difficult at best, getting in-room bass from a subwoofer system that can subjectively keep up with dipole mains is even more of a challenge. 

Note that smooth bass = fast bass, because the in-room peaks correspond with longer decay times.  The good news is that when we have smoothed the frequency response we have fixed the time domain response because they are the same problem.

Dipole subwoofers seem like the obvious solution, but dipoles have a subjective lack of impact down low.  They don't give you that chest-compression WHACK! that a good monopole sub does.

One way to have both smooth bass and impact at the same time is to use a distributed multi-sub system.  Four subwoofers intelligently distributed around the room will be inherently far smoother than a single unequalized sub, and that smoothness will hold up pretty much throughout the room, which is not the case with a single or even a pair of equalized subs.  Remember smooth bass = fast bass.  And those four subs can be fairly small because, well, there's four of them. 

The Absolute Sound awarded a 2015 Product of the Year award to a four-piece multisub subwoofer system, so apparently the concept works well.   You can of course cook up your own version with Rhythmics or Vandersteens or RELs or JLs or whatever.  

Duke

dealer/manufacturer/multisub advocate


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