1) So I’m not an idiot. Of course I’m setting the volume of the amplifier at a fixed level that approximates my 75 dB listening level and fine tuning volumes with the DAC that then controls what both the amp and the subs see.
2) If I wanted to spend $2-4K on subwoofers I would have, so all the suggestions about buying "audiophile" quality subs will be respectfully ignored.
3) The bass response on the Moabs is great which is absolutely not the same thing as saying the system wouldn’t benefit from well integrated subs. Here is a chart of the Moabs with and without a very old Velodyne CHT10 subwoofer with a speaker level input. As you can see that sub improves the measurements of the system as well as improving how it sounds. I wanted to see if the Starke’s improved things further although so far I’m not sure that is true.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/bf83tvl57i9l0qw/Moab%20with%20and%20without%20Subwoofer%2050Hz%20Crossover...
That REW graph of the Moabs shows a lot of weird stuff in the response above 200 Hz and that was because the Moabs weren't well positioned in the room when that measurement was taken. Where I have the Moabs now the frequency response is +- 5 dB from 100 Hz to 10 KHz except for a little bump around 325 Hz that might be the crossover.
All comments about how subwoofers don’t belong in my system will be respectfully ignored.
4) I didn’t think about the fact that the Klipsch was ported so I guess I’ll reserve judgement. Not planning on using that sub with the Moabs anyhow so I will do no further investigation there. And I’m not going to mess around with the Moab’s ports.
5) I need to do some further investigation about the pros and cons of a) leaving things as they are with the tube amp connected to the DAC’s RCA output and the Subs connected by XLR cables. b) using an RCA Y Splitter to connect subs and amp to the same RCA input. c) Millercarbon’s suggestion to adapt subs to a speaker level input. d) when I bought the subs Starke said you could connect one sub to RCA and use the subs balanced out to connect the second sub with an XLR cable. That sounds weird but I may give it a try rather than having multiple Y splitters.
I will note that there doesn’t seem to be any difference in the curve in the subs response when you switch from RCA to Balanced inputs so it isn’t clear to me why so many of you seem to think it is imperative the subs and the amp use the same input as long as volume is controlled further upstream, i.e. at the DAC level.
6) miniDSP looks interesting and perhaps I’ll get one later but not something I want to play around with right now.
Thanks to all of you who are providing detailed constructive comments.
2) If I wanted to spend $2-4K on subwoofers I would have, so all the suggestions about buying "audiophile" quality subs will be respectfully ignored.
3) The bass response on the Moabs is great which is absolutely not the same thing as saying the system wouldn’t benefit from well integrated subs. Here is a chart of the Moabs with and without a very old Velodyne CHT10 subwoofer with a speaker level input. As you can see that sub improves the measurements of the system as well as improving how it sounds. I wanted to see if the Starke’s improved things further although so far I’m not sure that is true.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/bf83tvl57i9l0qw/Moab%20with%20and%20without%20Subwoofer%2050Hz%20Crossover...
That REW graph of the Moabs shows a lot of weird stuff in the response above 200 Hz and that was because the Moabs weren't well positioned in the room when that measurement was taken. Where I have the Moabs now the frequency response is +- 5 dB from 100 Hz to 10 KHz except for a little bump around 325 Hz that might be the crossover.
All comments about how subwoofers don’t belong in my system will be respectfully ignored.
4) I didn’t think about the fact that the Klipsch was ported so I guess I’ll reserve judgement. Not planning on using that sub with the Moabs anyhow so I will do no further investigation there. And I’m not going to mess around with the Moab’s ports.
5) I need to do some further investigation about the pros and cons of a) leaving things as they are with the tube amp connected to the DAC’s RCA output and the Subs connected by XLR cables. b) using an RCA Y Splitter to connect subs and amp to the same RCA input. c) Millercarbon’s suggestion to adapt subs to a speaker level input. d) when I bought the subs Starke said you could connect one sub to RCA and use the subs balanced out to connect the second sub with an XLR cable. That sounds weird but I may give it a try rather than having multiple Y splitters.
I will note that there doesn’t seem to be any difference in the curve in the subs response when you switch from RCA to Balanced inputs so it isn’t clear to me why so many of you seem to think it is imperative the subs and the amp use the same input as long as volume is controlled further upstream, i.e. at the DAC level.
6) miniDSP looks interesting and perhaps I’ll get one later but not something I want to play around with right now.
Thanks to all of you who are providing detailed constructive comments.