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Vandersteen Sub woofers v Rythmik Subs

I really love the idea of the Vandersteen Subs where they are connected with the mains via extra speaker cable off right and left channels off the main amplifier, which is supposed to provide better bass transition from the mains while keeping the signature from the main amplifier. My question is with Vandersteen coming out with the SUB THREE and the price going significantly higher, I was wondering if there are other subs for less that you could integrate in the same way. (Most subs seem to rely on the line level input which is just a sub-woofer RCA going from the pre-amp to the amp on the sub). Can this same Vandersteen set-up be achieved with other subs?
I picked Rythmik since they are known (in the home theater community anyway) for being one of the best bang for the buck subs and the most "musical" of the bunch. (between Hsu, SVS, PSA).
And could I possibly achieve even greater sub-woofer nirvana since I could get an 18" for around $1500? Vandies only have 3 eight inchers.

I am a Vandersteen fanboy and I would like to support RV whenever I can, but don’t know much about my other sub-woofer options so looking for some feedback. Doesn’t even have to be related to Rythmik necessarily. If you know of other subs that can integrate the same way I want to know about it!

Thanks
bstatmeister
mr_m
1,900 posts
 
It's really interesting with the first sub I ever owned being the Vandersteen 2Wq. I am using it with a pair of Treo Ct's. Bought the HP-5 crossovers, new. I put the lone sub in the right corner, adjusted the crossover frequency, and output of the sub. That was all there was to it! Sounded great from the get go. I used a recording of a jazz standup bass and adjusted output so upper bass frequencies were same volume as lower bass frequencies, as RV suggested. Tried bringing out the sub from the corner, but corner placement in my room sounded best. Near perfect balance of frequencies across the board. Even when a stand up bass is located left in the soundstage, the speakers make the sound come from that position perfectly even though the sub is in the right corner. The front main speakers maintain a stable image from left to right. What more could I ask for???
bondmanp
1,807 posts
 

@mr_m - My first sub was (and is) a def Tech PF15.  A boomy mess until I got a Behringer FBD Pro parametric EQ.  The whole thing was a beast to set up, but the results were, um, okay.  But I noticed, once I had flattened out the response a bit, the plate amp was getting really hot to the touch, especially with movies.  That kind of scared me.  The Behringer is gone, and the Def Tech is for LFE duty only, equalized by the DSP in my AVR.  Then I got first one, then another 2Wq, and later the M5-HP crossovers.  No comparison.  And my set-up story mirrors yours exactly.  Easy as pipe.


@bstatmeister   - I happened to be at Audio Connection in Verona, NJ, last night.  He has the Nines, but they are not hooked up yet.  Yes, they look like beasts, although, size-wise, the 7's are large, but not huge.  Still, I was surprised to see one 13" driver rather than multiple smaller drivers.  I am sure it won't matter with RV as the designer, and perhaps he is feeling the pressure from the competition who usually use one massive driver rather than multiple small ones.  I did get treated to a nice demo of the Quatros, though.  Johnny Rutan of Audio Connection really knows how to set up a system.

tomic601's avatar
tomic601
12,911 posts
 
hz is in the music they will reproduce it well. my understanding is the 9 is for larger rooms, more spl and tge driver is optimized for a very narrow range like 60 hz and down, hence the choice of driver.....

every now and then, often near the end of a listening session with the 7’s and most likely a nice bottle of Red, i imagine them in the corners.......how could my wife notice them ???????????
bstatmeister OP
537 posts
 
hz is in the music they will reproduce it well. my understanding is the 9 is for larger rooms, more spl and tge driver is optimized for a very narrow
range like 60 hz and down, hence the choice of driver.....
So the built in subs in the model 7 still handle the upper bass and only the super low frequencies are handled by the 9s? Make sense since the super low frequencies wouldn’t need drivers that have to be as fast and can focus more on pressurizing the room
gdnrbob
4,444 posts
 
Thanks for the link bstat. I was a little disappointed in the design of the subs. They seem a bit stark, but I guess after looking at the 2wq's for so long, any change would be unsettling. The good news is that they are a bit more compact (17x20x21 vs. 24x24x24), so should be much easier to place.
B
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