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Subwoofer Decision

I have narrowed my search to two choices though I am sure I will get comments steering me away from these.
Contrast Rythmik Audio 12G with Vandersteen 2Wq. I would like to get only one though I know a pair are best choice. Could maybe afford 2 Rythmik, but only 1 Vandersteen for now. The subwoofer would support Dali Helicons (4 ohms) biwired and driven by 2 mono McIntosh MC 252's at 500 watts each into 4 ohms. Living room size aprox. 24'x16'x8' placement not centered on 16' wall due to furniture (wife) constraints must stay put. Subwoofer placement needs also to stay there as well, I know this limits possible best choice for placement, my bad. There is room behind, next to, and between speakers. Any help help is appreciated.
128x128lowfreqguy
tomic601's avatar
tomic601
12,911 posts
 
bracing is good

bracing and constrained layer damping is better

just physics..motion into heat

vs just moving the motion....
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,788 posts
 

Absolutely tomic601. I designed and built my own 4 cu.ft. (internal) enclosures for the Rythmik 15" sub kit, and incorporated Danny Richie’s idea of a "sandbox" (it is viewable on the GR Research website). It is an enclosure within an enclosure, the 1/2" space between them (supported by "ribs") filled with sand. Deader (non-resonant) than a doornail, and very heavy. The inner box has a cross-brace every 6" in all three planes (top-to-bottom, side-to-side, and front-to-back), and the baffle is three layers of MDF (2-1/4" thick). I drew up the plans, and had a local cabinet maker cut the MDF into a flat pack, which I then assembled (glue and clamps) and painted.

I also made some constrained-layer platforms for the tops of my Solid Steel equipment stands, putting a layer of ASC Wall Damp (similar to E-A-R Isodamp) between two of the top shelves. While Maple boards are popular for their pleasing "musical" sound, I prefer no sound from support platforms, same as speaker enclosures.

hlg3
11 posts
 
Why did you not mention Velodyne subwoofers? I would look at a DD 12 Plus. It has both balanced and single ended in/out. It has room and system equalization built in. At around $2,500 it might be too expensive, and that is why you eliminated it.
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m-db's avatar
m-db
971 posts
 
Dunkirk. I thought it was just the theater I was in. That monotonous low frequency rarely letup throughout the film. It went on to win the Academy Award for sound?


Velodyne seems to be so busy with their LiDAR sensor development and production that their subwoofer marketing is almost non existent.

There wasn't much on the subwoofer market when I purchased their ULD-18 the first low distortion servo controlled subwoofer whose development has continued to their current products. Velodyne's DD Plus Auto EQ and the flexibility of the visual eight band nine parameter Manual/Preset Room Optimization enables almost limitless adjustability and indistinguishable system integration. 

Back panel connectivity is wide ranging. The remote controllability of polarity is useful on those recordings that reverse polarity from track to track while the six presets and gain are just too much fun.  
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