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Vandy 2WQ bottoms out with movies

Hello. I have the following in my system:
Vandy 3A Sigs, VCC5, VSM1s, 1 2Wq, and 1 V2W, Bryston SP1.7 (SP2 on order) and a Bryston 9B SST.

The single 2WQ in the system is new. I was told by Vandersteen at one point before the purchase to leave the processor set to large for the 3A/2WQ. Of course leave the V2W LFE sub active as well. Well I am disapointed to hear that the 2WQ is bottoming out on some movies. (Having said that I did buy the 2WQ mainly for music anyway.) I have heard many say that rather than having the two different subs (one for movies and one for music) that 2 2 WQs work well and will deliver about the same level of bass. Unless there is something the matter with my system setup, I can't imagine how that would work. If one is bottoming out then surely two of them would too. I was thinking of going this route too. I would appreciate any advise from Vandy owners.

Thanks,

Dwight
redsierra
flrnlamb
508 posts
 
I recommend (even one will do in a room 3000cu feet) a couple of Paradigm Servo 15's and you'll be fine. Pretty darn musical, and plenty of range for movies...excellent subs.
You could go with more expensive Revel's and M&K MX5000's and such, but you'll spend a great deal more for similar.
good luck. I also like the Earthquake subs, but don't know what you'll get for music with them.
tdaudio
201 posts
 
I just went through a sub search and purchase. You need to cross over your 3A/V2Q system to enough HT sub. You can determine if another V2W will do it or if a beefier sub is needed.

I have 5As and one of the 5A "subs" has bottomed out once during a movie (Batman Begins - pretty loud playback) and a couple times during LP playback (one Smashing Pumpkins song causes this at levels not all that high). My room is good sized at 4,500sq ft.

Well I got the itch to get a sub or two for HT. After a lot of checking on the avsforum, I ended up finding a great deal on a Returned JL Audio Fathom 13. I started a thread on avs asking about set-up and after some responses I ended up running the Fathom as a mono sub from my Lexicon 12B. This way it gets some LF content and the .1 LFE as well. The 5As are run full range.

After a few movie tests I think this set up is taking enough LF content pressure off the 5As to play as loud as I want for HT. There is now a ton of punch on the low end.

If that did not work, I was going to cross over the 5As to a sub/subs.

TD
davemitchell
253 posts
 
Glad you found the problem. I am a Vandersteen dealer and have been running 2Wq subs for years in theater systems and they have proven indestructable-- even in cases where someone has forgotten to use the required high pass filters!

We have enough 2Wq subs lying around the store that I typically one under every channel of a surround system for the ultimate full-range experience. A system just sounds much bigger and more effortless when each speaker is supported by the 2Wq down to near 20hz and with the additional 300 watts supplied by the built in sub amplifier. It also takes a huge burden off of your loudspeakers and power amplifiers at the same time. Just make sure that any speaker you run with a 2Wq is capable down to 40hz or better for optimal blending.

Good luck.
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