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Swarming!

Hi folks!

Hope everyone is doing well.

I just got my Swarm Distributed Subwoofer Array from AudioKinesis hooked up.

Wow!

Pre Swarm setup:

Office (10 x 14 minus closets):

Amp: Hegel H190 integrated, Bryston P26 preamp, Ampzilla 2000 Second Edition monoblock amps
Speakers: KEF LS 50 non wireless, Ologe 5, Magnepan LRS


So two subs arrived yesterday (Saturday).

With two subs and the Dayton amp, I first hooked up one sub in various positions on the floor.

Listened to a variety of music.
Played around with the gain.
After four crawls and two more "just to confirm" crawls, I located and left Sub 1.

I’m still a newbie here so apologies in advance if the proper terminology escapes me when I try to describe all the ways everything (not just the bass) just sounds a lot better.

While it sounded better than three other subs I tried, the bass got less clear soon after the gain was up enough to hear the sub and especially when I moved around the room.

Now, with Sub 1 optimally (for now) placed, Sub 2 took the rest of the evening.

Sub 2 is ceiling facing (3" clearance from the ceiling) on a long shelf behind the listening position.
Spent a few hours sliding it left and right, flipping it over to fire the port in the opposite direction, etc.

Flipped it three times.
My back was starting to complain when I first got it up on the shelf. These things are heavy and awkward to remove from a high shelf when flipping over, not to mention the heart stopping, lose balance or grip on the sub, close call moments!

Decided to leave it in the corner where the shelf meets the right wall with the port facing the corner and wait for the other subs.

The improvement, though not significant, was more than noticeable at my listening position.
The improvement started to get significant when I rolled my chair around the room or got up and walked around.

Things sounded pretty good in more areas of the room.
I heard more quality out of the newly added quantity of bass.

The other two subs arrived today.

Duke at AudioKinesis suggested varying the heights of the ceiling facing sub(s) if possible as this will affect the vertical plane.

So,...

Subs 3 and 4 are also ceiling facing with a 6" clearance located in the left and right front corners of the room.
They are perched on steel wire shelving units allowing for one inch height increments. The added storage space with the shelves is a huge bonus!

Turned the music back on a little while ago.

What a mind blowing experience!
While the LRS made the room seem bigger, with all four subs firing, the Swarm seemed to add body, intensity and dynamics to the "bigger room".  Just about anywhere in the room.

I can raise the gain much higher and actually enjoy the clarity and evenness in the added bass.
Bass is not lost at low volumes. I can actually hear more details in the bass without needing to raise the volume.

Absolutely love the LRS! Thought the bass was pretty good. Didn’t hit like the LS 50s but seemed more than adequate.
But after a satisfactory gain setting and listening with the Swarm added, I got up and turned the gain all the way down and listened to just the LRS.
The Swarm added such a high quality and intense "kick" to the low end that just went away.

This got me out of my chair again to bring the gain back up.
A remote for the Dayton sure would be great!

I just can’t imagine listening to my system without this really cool subwoofer solution!

Limited to a small room?

Yes, there are four sizeable subs and an additional amp to place.
I thought there was no way that would work in such a small 10’ x 14’room.

Why four subs?
For anyone not familiar with the Distributed Bass Array concept, search through these threads.
There are numerous postings on this by some really knowledgeable people. (millercarbon and noble100, especially)

With three of the subs up high, the fourth sub is the only additional piece taking up floor space.

It’s been only about 2 hours listening with the Swarm in place.
With just the first sub placed via crawling and the other three just put in place, everything sounds like my system had a major upgrade!

It’s actually quite shocking! Seriously.

Excited to experiment with the subwoofer heights, different amps and also with the LS 50s and Ologe 5s.

Kodus to Duke at AudioKinesis for building such an effective, simple and flexible subwoofer solution!

These things actually look pretty cool too! Zero WAF issues!


Stay safe and healthy everyone!

hleeid
ozzy's avatar
ozzy
7,456 posts
 
I have been using 4 JL Audio F-113 subs for quite a while now. But, I never thought about removing the corner ASC Bass traps. I may try it soon just to see what they do bring to the sound.
BTW, my Hometheater adds another 4 subs with the bypass through on my preamp that makes 8 subs when playing movies!

ozzy
noble100's avatar
noble100
2,419 posts
 
Hello Ozzy,

      I’m still waiting for your invite to movie night, sir!

     You know what they say about subs;  ....4 subs sound and perform about twice as well as 2 subs and 8 subs are, as they say, good grounds for divorce.       You’ve created the best, and likely most expensive, implementation of the DBA concept that I’m yet aware of.

Congrats,
   Tim
lemonhaze
416 posts
 
Earl Geddes has been a longtime proponent of multiple subs. There are a few other enlightened individuals who agree but it seems strange that this system is not more widely adopted.

I assisted a good friend with set up of 3 subs in an awkward room and when we eventually found the best placement was knocked out with the result. I later took over a tiny pair of bookshelf speakers, adjusted the settings and slowly turned up the volume. Well talk about a WOW moment. We heard what could easily have been mistaken for a pair of large floorstanders, only thing is a single pair of speakers, which can be explained, can not produce the kind of bass we were hearing. If I high-passed the little speakers, relieving them of the bottom 2 octaves they would have been even better.

Should anyone reading this wonder if bass trapping is necessary, it is, but the tiny foam things from Amazon or wherever simply can not, regardless of what they claim, absorb low frequencies. Unfortunately physics demand they be rather large. My recently installed traps are 900mm (35.5") across and run from floor to ceiling. I have measured the room and notice that I probably need more. Fortunately my wife actively encourages me.

Hi noble100, your room looks great. Your pics show a unit sitting on top of the Oppo which appears to be a streamer. May I ask what it is you have there and how you came to choose it?
noble100's avatar
noble100
2,419 posts
 
Hello lemonhaze,

    You’re correct, that silver unit atop the Oppo is a Lumin D2 dac/streamer.  The black box to the right of the Oppo is a 20 TB Synology hard drive storage unit I use with it along with an IPad, running the Lumin app as the GUI and remote.
     When I walked into a local dealer, I was originally intending to buy a Bluenote but, after demoing both on a Levinson 5805 integrated and Magico A3 speakers, I definitely thought the Lumin’s GUI and sound quality were better.  The Lumin’s a bit more money but l thought it was worth it. it’s been a really good addition to my system.

Later,
Tim
hleeid OP
219 posts
 
@noble100  - Hey Tim!  I just reviewed the Swarm experiments you shared with me.
I faced the 3 ceiling facing subs towards their respective walls in accordance with Experiment #2. I also slid the sub on the shelf away from the corner and faced it against the wall.

Can't put my finger on it but can definitively hear increased clarity (probably from pulling one sub from the corner and facing it and the other two towards the walls) on some bass heavy tracks.

Also, I have experimented staggering the vertical heights of the ceiling facing subs.  

FWIW - in my 10' x 14' minus closets space, lowering the front left and right ceiling facing subs to about 6' and 4'  respectively yields greater ambiance, balance and coherence in a larger soundstage.

What a remarkably simple, straightforward solution to achieving SOTA bass augmentation!

I have had nothing but excellent results Swarming with 3 significantly different main speakers (Magnepan LRS, Ologe 5 and KEF LS 50s).

Detractors - detract all you want. But I will bet just about anything that all it takes is an honest listening session to convert you or any detractor to hear and appreciate the logic of a properly set up DBA. 

Stay safe and healthy everyone!
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