What 4 subwoofers to buy?


I am using a pair of Klipsch Cornwalls from 1984 and a pair of Klipsch Heresys stacked on top of the Cornwalls. I recently bought a Klipsch R-115SW subwoofer and could not get any satisfaction from it. Too many room placement issues. So I kicked the subwoofer out of my listening room, being that I get better results all around without it.But I still desire an upgrade on bass performance and would not complain if overall speaker performance was increased. I have been reading alot  lately about the DBA thing, and without even trying it, I am positive that it will be the best thing for me. But I have come to a brick wall sort of speak in my search for which subwoofers to buy. I am not rich, so buying 4 of Rels best is out of the question. I know that Miller Carbon is always saying that quantity over shoots quality, but when I use manufacturer subwoofer mating tools, the results always comes back with their most expensive subwoofer for my system. One of my main concern is will 4 lower end subs be an enhancement to my system? I was going to buy 4 SVS SB1000s because they are very good priced for the quality and they also have the high level speaker input which I will need for hooking up to my vintage integrated amp. But as I was researching all of their other models, I noticed that only their 1000s had these hookups? I emailed them and asked why their other upper models did not have high level speaker inputs? They said that none of their customers have expressed the need for them? I am not sure how to understand that? Maybe most of their customers main interest is in home theater and not 2 channel stereo? I do not know? This is where I have come to a stand still in buying my 4 subs. Will 4 lower end subs work for enhancing my system or do I need to go higher up in the chain as far as quality is concerned? Any ideas, knowledge, experience and or opinions will be greatly valued. Thank you.
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Elate wrote: "I have been reading alot lately about the DBA thing, and without even trying it, I am positive that it will be the best thing for me."

You must be pretty good at wrapping your head around new ideas, because the idea that four subs spread around the room = QUALITY instead of merely QUANTITY is fairly counter-intuitive.

Elac: "... the high level speaker input which I will need for hooking up to my vintage integrated amp..."

It is possible to make a passive "voltage divider network" which would derive a line-level signal from your integrated amp’s speaker-level signal. I assume REL subs have a built-in voltage divider network which performs this function. In other words you are not necessarily limited to subs which have speaker-level inputs.

Elate: " Will 4 lower end subs work for enhancing my system or do I need to go higher up in the chain as far as quality is concerned? "

Assuming your requirements are not exceptionally demanding in SPL capability or low-end extension, you probably don’t need four top-of-the-line subs. The SVS SB2000 looks good to me; imo the SB1000 would probably need EQ.

@williewonka wrote: "What do you hope to gain with 4 subs? why not just two subs?"

Imo the advantage of four subs over two subs is, smoother in-room response. And "smooth bass" = "fast bass". As a ballpark rule of thumb, the more intelligently-distributed bass sources in a room, the smoother the in-room bass. So two subs are potentially about twice as smooth as one; four subs are potentially about twice as smooth as two; and eight subs are grounds for a divorce.

Roberjerman wrote: "I know both the Cornwall and Heresy well. Sure, they play really loud - but sound overly bright... Adding subs will not improve the sound."

Imo adding subs can in some cases significantly improve the sound of bright speakers.

You can think of the tonal balance of a speaker system as a see-saw with the balance point at about 700 Hz. Brightness is a symptom of too much "weight" north of 700 Hz. By adding more "weight" well south of 700 Hz, subs can improve the overall spectral balance.

Subs can’t actually fix problems north of the subwoofer region of course, but if a speaker is good except for a lack of energy in the bottom octave or two, subs can be very helpful.

Imo, ime, ymmv, etc.

Duke
kinda into that four-sub thing
You can get a doodad to take a high level signal to low level at Best Buy for $50.  I did this recently for a desktop system.  The thing is aimed at car audio and will be in the car audio installation area.  
Imo the advantage of four subs over two subs is, smoother in-room response. And "smooth bass" = "fast bass". As a ballpark rule of thumb, the more intelligently-distributed bass sources in a room, the smoother the in-room bass. So two subs are potentially about twice as smooth as one; four subs are potentially about twice as smooth as two; and eight subs are grounds for a divorce.
IMO - the more "sources" the less detailed the bass gets and it I do not believe it equates to FASTER BASS.either

I always found the fewer drives the better - when it comes to HiFi.

I think we'll have to agree to disagree on this one - sorry

Just a differing opinion :-)

Regards