My experience adding subwoofers to 2 channel

Hi Tim
Nice system - and interesting that we share some of the same experience, listening a bit more nearfield, for the best 3d immersive experience.
Bass and time coherence - I am no expert, just reporting what I heard. I first tried down-firing subs and next came to prefer front-firing ones. First, two Rel subs, didn’t get them to match the system, so next, one big Velodyne. I noticed better sound by positioning the subs precisely in relation to the woofers on the main speakers. But maybe it was room alignment more than time alignment. I did not use REW or other software, but mainly my ears. My audiophile imagination jumped to the idea that time does in fact influence the result. I very much agree with the idea that a main purpose of the sub(s) is to get the room ’in full swing’, smoothness, lack of boom etc. Still I wonder if distance to the subs plays a role also. Even if mainly indirectly / reverberant.Through the room, so to speak.

Hello holter,

     I'm certainly no bass expert, either.  James Romeyn mentioned to me how well his A K Debra system and its distributed bass array concept works and I just read all I could find out about the concept, mostly research done by Earl Geddes, Floyd Tool, Duke Lejeune and Todd Welti.  
     I learned a lot, its psychoacoustics basis made a lot of sense and James Romeyn's offer to let me try it out free in my room for a month convinced me to give it a try.  I can't overstate how well the Debra/Swarm system works with my main speakers on music and ht.
    You have a fairly large room at 20'x27', are already using A K main speakers and seem like an ideal candidate for a DBA system.  I think you'll be amazed by the results.  I'd suggest calling James Romeyn and see if he'll give you a 28-day in home trial period.  I guarantee you won't be returning it.

   Tim  

Hi Tim
Yes, getting some DBA woofers may be an idea, maybe just 2 of the 4, since I already have a bit of distributed woofer / bass extension, using a pair of Audiokinesis LCS speakers along with the Dream Maker front speakers. However I am note sure. I still have some distance to cover, to get the two pairs of speakers to correlate optimally. It is wonderful to be able to do this in the analog domain, not through electronic bad-sounding equalizing. As far as it goes.

Some users prefer the Dream Makers alone, no LCS (or "space generators", a later Audiokinesis term), and I feel happy that I have the equipment to adjust the mix of the DM and the LCS optimally (like you can adjust bass volume and sub positioning on the DBA). For me, it means that the LCS are just BARELY notable. Yet I get better bass, along with a larger sense of air and space.

Since the Dream Makers augmented with the LCS woofers "grip" the room so well, I am not sure of the extra benefit of DBA, though I might be amazed of course.

Another consideration is, this is a living room not just a listening room. 4 more speakers, 8 total? Seems a bit much. I was trying to scale down.

Hello holter,
     I'm not very familiar with the Dream Maker speakers, although I've read good reviews on them.  I don't think you'd need any more than 4 AK subs to get excellent bass response in your room.  I think James would be the best person to talk to about combining the Dream Makers and a Debra bass system since he's very familiar with both.


Tim