Lowther Bass Reflex and Subwoofers


Well, after reading about how difficult it is to marry a subwoofer and single driver speakers I think I now understand what all the fuss is about.

My speakers are Lowther DX2 in a Lowter America 2.5 I bass reflex cabinet. The subwoofer is a REL Strata II. A quality 300b SET interstage coupled amplifier is the power. Primary music is diverse; jazz, rock, reggae, classical, indian. Most of the mate rial is acoustic and some with very high dynamic range.

The REL is set on third position for both crossover (fine, coarse) settings which is around 60hz. The REL is driven with speaker level via the standard Neutrik connector.

I was listening to material with pretty good dynamics the other night; ie, Shakti, Roger Waters In The Flesh, Bob Marley Survival. There was just no bass impact on the bottom to speak of. When I walked over to the woofer there is all sorts of low end energy happening. Sitting in the sweet spot of the Lowthers and it just sounds kind of muddy.

The Lowthers are placed about three feet from the rear wall and one is near no side wall; the right speaker is three feet from a side wall.

My understanding is this REL is one of the better subs out there for use with "quick" speakers. Might it be that I just need to spend more time with crossover points and positioning of the Lowthers? The sub is to the left of the system; ie, about one foot to the left of the left Lowther and two feet from the rear wall.

The walls and ceiling are bare at this point as I just moved in. I am just about ready to acquire another woofer, or two, to audition. Some of the woofers I've been considering are the Magelland and the PMC. I'd like to find an older Hsu 8" passive woofer and run an active crossover but I have never seen one for sale.

Advice?
c123666
To make some good WAF I made two of my subs into end tables. It’s amazing what a 1” thick piece of glass and a lamp will do you hide them. Most people have no idea they are speakers. :)
The thing about full range drivers is that they aren't.


So if you want to really have fun with them a sub system is a good idea. To that end you might want to look into the Swarm by Audiokinesis, since it can do an excellent job of integrating. The subs are small and meant to be placed directly against the wall. There are four of them; they are meant to be placed asymmetrically in the room. In this way they can break up standing waves in the room, giving you uniform bass to 20Hz without drawing attention to themselves (both sonically and visually). To that latter bit, they should not be run above 80Hz. 80Hz and below is the frequency at which the human ear detects bass only in an omnidirectional way. Its harmonics of the bass instruments that will be played in your Lowthers, causing the soundstage.


The Swarm subs are 1 foot square and 2 feet high; fairly small as subs go yet they go to 20Hz as they are meant to take advantage of the room boundary effect. IOW you can't do the same placement with regular subs as they will draw attention to themselves if placed against the wall, making integration very difficult!


The Swarms have received three Golden Ear Awards, well deserved.
Swarms a good option as suggested or a proper cabinet for the Lowther ported that's really not the best way to do this.