mcreyn:"You can also continue to believe that your 2.7s extend with any authority to 35 hz, they start to roll off in the 50hz range and will quickly slap the panels when trying to reproduce any type of deep bass. If you would high pass the 2.7s they will sound less dark and sound cleaner after being relieved of trying to handle the deep bass. Did I mention I owned a pair of 2.7s for more than a decade which were run both full range and with an active crossover?
Those that get so myopically focused as to believe there is only, or decide they already know it all, never learn and never develop further."
Hello mcreyn,
You're likely not aware of how well your 2.7QRs reproduced bass because of the amp or amps you used to drive them. In my experience, they performed better over their entire frequency range with more powerful amps that have high damping factors.
The 2.7s are 3-way speakers and actually have a rather large planar-magnetic dipole bass section in each panel (625 sq. inches). I was previously driving mine with an Aragon stereo class AB amp that was rated at 400 watts into the 2.7's 4 ohm load and the bass was decent. Their bass performance noticeably improved when I switched amps to a Class D Audio stereo amp that was rated at 440 watts at 4 ohms and with a damping factor >1,000 and later they produced the best bass I'd ever heard from them when I switched amps again to a pair of D-Sonic class D mono-blocks rated at 1,200 watts each at 4 oms and the same very high damping factors.
Your statement that "You can also continue to believe that your 2.7s extend with any authority to 35 hz, they start to roll off in the 50hz range and will quickly slap the panels when trying to reproduce any type of deep bass." is definitely and categorically false when the 2.7s are driven by sufficiently powerful amps with very high damping factors. I didn't measure the exact in-room bass extension but, by ear, the 2.7's rated bass extension of 35 Hz seems accurate and there was absolutely zero panel slapping occurring at anytime. I've had that occur on previous Magnepans I've owned and know what that sounds like.
I think the 2.7's bass by themselves would more than meet the needs and expectations of most, including myself, but it lacked a bit of the visceral bass you feel as well as hear that gives the perception you're listening to live music unless I cranked the volume up to halfway. I don't always like to listen to music that loud so I continued to use the two 12" subs. This worked well but I thought the bass detail, impact, dynamics and blending with the 2.7s could be improved upon.
I began thinking a pair of more expensive and higher quality subs might improve the performance in these areas but stumbled on the Audio Kinesis Swarm 4-sub DBA concept during my search for a very high quality pair of subs for about $5K or less. I decided to give the Swarm an in-home free tryout first at $2,800. I think I may have previously mentioned how well the Swarm 4-sub DBA system performed in all the important bass areas in my system.
You stated: " Those that get so myopically focused as to believe there is only, or decide they already know it all, never learn and never develop further."
I think my path described above disproves the accusations that I'm myopic, believe there's only one solution, know it all and never develop further. The truth is I was willing to try two different amps of a type I'd never used before, gained practical bass system knowledge and experience by utilizing several different supplemental bass methods in my system such as a single sub, dual subs and even a sophisticated and advanced method using four subs strategically positioned and configured. Now that I've thought and written about some of my audio journey, I know that none of your descriptions apply and the more fitting description would be open-minded, willing and daring enough to try various methods and gear to gain knowledge and experience. Perhaps I should change my user name to audioadventurer.
Finally, you stated " If you would high pass the 2.7s they will sound less dark and sound cleaner after being relieved of trying to handle the deep bass. Did I mention I owned a pair of 2.7s for more than a decade which were run both full range and with an active crossover?"
Were they black and did you sell them to a guy from Indiana that met you in a parking lot in Dayton, Ohio for the $1,200 transaction? If so, that was me. Hah!, that would be unbelievable. Maybe you'd have kept them if you had a better matched amp or amps to drive them.
I did try running the 2.7s high pass filtered through the Swarm's amp/control unit, trying various crossover settings between 100 and 230 Hz and was expecting the 2.7's to benefit. I believe I didn't get the typical sound quality gains from high passing the mains because my D-Sonic mono-block amps, at 1,200 watts each, were not overtaxed driving the 2.7s full-range.
Later,
Tim
