Hello kingbarbuda,
In my experience, it's very difficult to integrate a single sub, no matter the quality or price, seamlessly and well with Magnepans. You'll get more bass but it won't be the same fast, smooth, tight and articulate bass that Magnepans naturally produce although with significantly limited authority, extension and impact, with the exceptions of the top models.
The bass from single subs with a large driver typically sounds slow, lagging and disconnected from the fast, smooth and detailed response of planar-magnetic panel speakers producing the remaining frequency range because a single large point source bass driver lacks the speed and agility of a planar -magnetic panel transducer. A single sealed sub with a smaller driver or a dipole sub are better matches but lack the bass authority, extension and impact.
2 sealed subs with smaller drivers or 2 dipole subs are a better match for Magnepans. Based on personal experience, however, the Audio Kinesis Swarm and Debra distributed bass array systems using four relatively small subs, each 1ft W x1ft D x2ft H and 44 lbs, with 10" drivers are definitely the best bass system solutions I'm aware of for use with planar-dynamic and electrostatic panel type speakers.
The key features of a dba system's effectiveness being the presence of 4 separate subs and their rather random positioning within the room. This means that an effective custom dba system can be created using virtually any 4 subs an individual prefers, for example 4 larger ported or sealed subs with larger 12-15" drivers if even more bass authority is desired.
The bass produced by a 4-sub dba system has the speed, smoothness,agility and detail required to blend seamlessly with the fast, smooth, agile and detailed sound performance characteristics of planar-magnetic and electrostatic panel speakers while also producing the bass authority, extension and impact smaller Magnepans lack.
Tim
In my experience, it's very difficult to integrate a single sub, no matter the quality or price, seamlessly and well with Magnepans. You'll get more bass but it won't be the same fast, smooth, tight and articulate bass that Magnepans naturally produce although with significantly limited authority, extension and impact, with the exceptions of the top models.
The bass from single subs with a large driver typically sounds slow, lagging and disconnected from the fast, smooth and detailed response of planar-magnetic panel speakers producing the remaining frequency range because a single large point source bass driver lacks the speed and agility of a planar -magnetic panel transducer. A single sealed sub with a smaller driver or a dipole sub are better matches but lack the bass authority, extension and impact.
2 sealed subs with smaller drivers or 2 dipole subs are a better match for Magnepans. Based on personal experience, however, the Audio Kinesis Swarm and Debra distributed bass array systems using four relatively small subs, each 1ft W x1ft D x2ft H and 44 lbs, with 10" drivers are definitely the best bass system solutions I'm aware of for use with planar-dynamic and electrostatic panel type speakers.
The key features of a dba system's effectiveness being the presence of 4 separate subs and their rather random positioning within the room. This means that an effective custom dba system can be created using virtually any 4 subs an individual prefers, for example 4 larger ported or sealed subs with larger 12-15" drivers if even more bass authority is desired.
The bass produced by a 4-sub dba system has the speed, smoothness,agility and detail required to blend seamlessly with the fast, smooth, agile and detailed sound performance characteristics of planar-magnetic and electrostatic panel speakers while also producing the bass authority, extension and impact smaller Magnepans lack.
Tim