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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
hleeid OP
219 posts
 
I got a Dayton SA 1000 amp refurbished from Parts Express for $250. Duke at AudioKinesis suggested I go for it as it would save me cash.

The amp started making a mechanical hum and caused the subs to occasionally make a popping sound.

I called Duke who said he would ship me a replacement amp ASAP so I wouldn’t be Swarmless for a while.

I really can’t say enough about Duke’s unwavering commitment to quality customer service and of course SOTA products.
Simply outstanding!

Parts Express was very professional and polite. They decided to refund me and let me keep the amp as they can't do anything with RMA returns on refurbished items.

I plan on using two Daytons with my Swarm for a while.
But with 2 Daytons, I may eventually call Duke for 4 (or quite possibly more) subs and using the other Dayton to set up a second Swarm in my living room to go with a pair of B&W Matrix 801 S2s.

Safe and happy listening everyone!


audioquest4life
775 posts
 
Interesting read here. I am researching the SWARM/DBA system through the forum here and other places. I had B&W Nautilus 800s with two sealed 15" subs, the B&W ASW850 and the HSU Research ULS15. I use a Velodyne SMS-1 EQ and my room is custom built with lots of sound mitigation in the walls, ceiling, etc. from my technology transfer experiences building secure spaces for "organizations". What I like about having the SMS-1 EQ is that I can turn the volume up liberally to enjoy super rock tunes when I want to...I mean thump you in the chest rock, but, I don't always play that way because I am a cool audio geek, and listen to audiophile recordings, or music at normal listening levels most of the time, with the subs blended ever so slightly above the cutoff frequency of 36db for the speakers. I have analyzed and measured slope, roll-off, phase, volume, 12 vs 24 cutoff, etc., for years and feel confident in being able to match my subs with the speakers. 


BREAK: 

All of that is about to end. I ordered the Classic Audio Loudspeakers T1.5 reference and will be here after all of this Covid stuff is over. So, now, I have some issues. One, the T1.5's are bigger then the N800s's, so subs have to move out of the spot behind, left and right of current layout. Nope, they stick out way too much and are just big, 95 and 90lbs each so cant put them anywhere else. I like my cake and eat it too when it comes to loud music, as described above, with chest thumping bass, when I want to, because I rock and roll, and I do the audiophile lower level listening thing just for listening to music and the details, trumpet here, soft sultry voice there, cymbals splash, etc., but, I love that I can turn the volume way up on the subs when playing Back in the Saddle by Aerosmith, and just go with the beat, no need for audiophile superlatives for those occasions, its just plays loud, and that's what I want and like. So, does the DBA give someone like me the opportunity to rock the house while enjoying the benefits of blended bass the rest of the time? IME, no matter how much you measure a room, and subs, high volume is going to skew your environment as we set a target measuring volume of 80db normally, and adjust whatever EQ if measuring for the warble tones to measure as flat as possible at the pre-set volume and the frequency being tested. I am assuming for most of the time, the DBA would be a great fit for my system due to the smaller size of the DBA system, I can place 4 DBA speakers scattered around the room (33'x19') and not worry about the bulkiness of the subs. I would even have room behind the T.15's for the DBA's and along the walls where I have natural stone columns jutting out, the DBA could just nestle on either left or right side of said column. I know I would have to measure, but that is fun to me. Anyway, long story short, can the 4 speaker SWARM/DBA rock and roll  way past the point of 80DB reference points. My subs could produce  120db output if called to do, and do they ever get called for Back in the Saddle. How loud can the SWARM/DBA get? Thanks for reading my mini journal only to get the BLUF at the end. 

Audioquest4life  
audiokinesis
2,754 posts
 
@audioquest4life wrote:  " I ordered the Classic Audio Loudspeakers T1.5 reference" 

Congratulations!  AWESOME speaker!! 

Audioquest4life: "I love that I can turn the volume way up on the subs when playing Back in the Saddle by Aerosmith, and just go with the beat, no need for audiophile superlatives for those occasions, its just play loud, and that's what I want and like... 33'x19' room... 120 dB output... " 

For unusually demanding applications like yours, there is a custom high-output version of the Swarm which is not up on my website.  The footprint is 14" square, the height depends on how low you want to go. 

Regarding your room - is it open into adjacent rooms or hallways?  

Duke
audioquest4life
775 posts
 
Duke,

Thank you for the reply and on the new T1.5 speaker purchase. It figures, I would need a custom high output solution for my particular needs. The room is closed off and one contiguous space, concrete slab, and concrete on three walls. Additional construction notes; rear wall double wall with 2" gap, Quietrock 540 on all walls and ceiling, spray foam under joists, Roxul Safe and Sound batting below spray foam, and in walls, resilient channel, Green Glue, bamboo hardwood floor; 33 feet deep, well actually exposed 30 feet long, have a false wall for the acoustics transparent Black Diamond screen and B&W 804Diamonds, and Nautilus HTM1 center, and Velodyne subs. The pocket behind screen is probably about 3 feet deep by 10 feet wide usable space for the AV speakers. I have 20 amp circuit behind screen. The width of room is 19 feet. Have two rows of 3 curved seating and a bar table in back of room. Back corner has Giks bass absorbers, and front corners have Gik hybrid diffusor bass absorbers. Front wall has about 4 foot wide stone veneers on left and right sides for natural diffusion. After measuring room frequency response, I added the additional Vicoustic and Gik wall diffusors.  
See pics for more information. https://www.amazon.com/photos/shared/2QT4BvZhQB-vSIcbi9SxPA.4XPoLe8t7q0ECDLoEPaH8u
V/r

Audioquest4life
mizike
107 posts
 
I have been reading along with this thread to learn what I can about this swarm technique. I own 2 Rythimik subs the F12 model, nice subs. If I want to add two more what is the best way to do that? With a Y adaptor or is there a better solution? I use this system for 2 channel listing only. I have an Aesthetix Calypso pre amp with PS audio M700 monos.
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