Vandersteen Sub woofers v Rythmik Subs

LMAO...Those were one of the first high end speakers I heard when I was 9. The local guy where I bought my Yamaha YP211 TT/Grado cart, Yamaha CR 620 receiver and locally made/sold 3 way speakers carried Klipsch.   he had phase linear and Crown too.  That's what he drove them with. He also used a small tube amp, who's name I will never remember.  Corner horns were unreal.  Friends of mine got Heresey's .  I turned a lot of guys into audiophiles back in the day, lmao..

ctsooner,
     My first decent system was a pair of unfinished Klipsch Heresey and a Yamaha CR series 40 watt receiver and modest TT setup that I used through college.  I always regret not trying tubes with that setup but, if I recall correctly, I enjoyed Talking Heads, Peter Gabriel and Supertramp tunes back then at high volumes with some solid punch in the bass.

  " reat bass is amazing, so is state of the art imaging !
a 40 HZ filter is certainly low....not a ton of music down there...
what are you listening to with content down that low ?"

tomic601,
     
   Yes, a 40 Hz low-pass cutoff is fairly low.  My system is a combo ht and music system in my living room.  For ht, I'm getting a lot of content that's 40 Hz and below  both through Bluray discs played//Dolby Digital surround decoded  through my Oppo 105 and even surprisingly high quality content from the local Xfinity  hi-def cable . 
      I'm currently watching an Epix HDTV series  called Get Shorty.  The 24 bit/96 Khz PWM soundtrack is very good, often with a very realistic drum riff in the background.  The drum kit seems to be in the room front and center.  I believe it sounds so realistic because the AK Debra dba system's bass is so accurate, dynamic and articulate/defined; providing natural and life-like bass which makes it very easy to distinguish the heard and felt bass of the kick drum from the sharp and taut bass of the tom-tom.  I also believe there are higher frequency bass harmonics being reproduced by my main speakers, Magnepan panels running full range, that contribute to the very realistic sound stage illusion.
     For music, I don't listen to pipe-organs but my music collection, consisting of ripped Redbook 16 bit//44 Khz CDs and 24 bit/96 Khz hi-res  WAV files on a NAS 10 TB hard drive, must contain deep bass information because I'm hearing the Debra's deep bass contributions consistently. on my music: Fat boy Slim, Parov Stelar, Jennifer Gomes and various Rock/R&B/Blues/Jazz all on CD and hi-res.

Tim 

HT
I understand now....

I guess I was spoiled, my first pair of speakers were Infinity....and a class A Onkyo amp - stayed class A to 7 watts, Denon table and a very nice Grado.....

I loved those old Denon TT's. They looked great and were built like tanks, lol.  I used only Technic's and Stanton cart when DJ'ing or at the radio station.

Sorry to revive an old thread, but it was a very interesting read.

I own Vandersteen Treo CT’s and one (currently) Rythmik F12 subwoofer. My preamp is an NAD 12 and the Treo’s are being driven by Rogue M-180 monoblocks. 
After reading this thread, I believe I understand the benefits and design of the Vandersteen subwoofers. The main benefit is the crossover relieving the main speakers speakers from playing low frequencies that they might not designed to play. This also helps the amplifiers by “freeing them up” to do more.

My question is: If I use a stereo preamp (NAD M12) that can control the low pass filter AND the high pass filter, would I see much improvement using a Vandersteen subwoofer over a Rythmik (or any quality subwoofer)? Also, what would be the best crossover settings on the NAD with the Treo’s?

I do plan to add a second Rythmik F12 subwoofer soon. The NAD can control two subwoofer’s in either dual mono or dual stereo.

P.S.- I am in no way saying that Rythmik subwoofers are better (or equal to) Vandersteen subwoofers. It’s just that I already have a Rythmik and adding a second on down the road will be easier (cheaper) than buying two Vandersteen subs.

 

Steve