2. speakers
  3. 1334273244

Tidal Piano Cera speakers and Subwoofer?

After moving from the ACI Talisman SE to the Tidal Piano Cera, I love everything about the Tidals except the lack of the lowest octave. I miss the slam and low frequencies of the ACI's self powered woofers. I've read most of the threads here on subwoofer integration and know there isn't any formulaic, one size fits all answer to my question. If you look at my system pictures, you'll see I'm stuck with the less than ideal compromise of having my rack and television between my speakers. So, there's no room in the middle for a single subwoofer. A larger size single subwoofer would have to go to the right side of the right speaker, near the wall. I do have room for two smaller cubic subwoofers up to around 11" square behind both speakers.
I'm hoping some other Tidal owners might have some insight into my question as to whether one larger, very articulate subwoofer like a JL Audio F112 would be superior to a stereo pair of less capable, smaller subs. Perhaps something like the Sunfire HRS-10s. On the one hand, the transparency of the Tidals seems to point to a great match with something like the JL Audio. (I have read owners of the JL caution that the very articulate nature of that sub makes it very difficult to integrate successfully when installed to the side of the speakers as I would need to.)
Thanks in advance for any insight or advice.
photon46
photon46 OP
1,088 posts
 
Rower30's current thread "High Quality Subwoofers - which one" has a lot of helpful information about a number of the subs I'm considering. In the past, I have integrated a sub successfully with Magnepan 1.6's in the same room and location I'm considering now. I was aware of the soon to be released Piano X-tender but I'm assuming that it will be as pricey as the rest of their products. Frankly, I doubt my budget will stretch that far after buying the Pianos :-(
bostonbean
241 posts
 
Be patient and wait to see what the Tidal's Piano X-tenders look like. They will probably be the answer to your lower octave desires and will most certainly integrate better with the Cera's.
bostonbean
241 posts
 
By the way, do your Cera's have the Variogain where you can boost the bass?
photon46 OP
1,088 posts
 
Yes, my set has three vario-gain adjustments for bass and I'm using the setting that has the most bass enhancement. As I was listening last night, I thought the bass of the Pianos is so "almost right." If the F3 point were only something like 28hz. instead of 32hz., I doubt I'd ever quibble over this.
bvdiman
491 posts
 
Since you have just gotten your speakers, may I suggest that you play around/get to know them for a bit more prior to hastily deeming of needing a sub. As I see, you are currently driving them with a 30w/ch amps which was probably a great match with your previous speakers having its own self-powered subs. Although I agree that not all watts are created equal, but as other Tidal owners will soon attest, they do like power/current to really get the bottom end going. In general, a good hundred watters (with exceptions of few overbuilt highest-end esoteric amps) I think is the minimum if you want to exploit/capitalize on their full potential.

In my case, by alternating three different amps, I got three different resulting bottom end responses. And interestingly, as of recent, by simply swapping a single PC to amp, an audio buddy who frequents my home thought that I have added and hidden a subwoofer when playing his favorite music. What I'm trying to get to here is that the Tidal speakers are so transparent that they act almost mirror like in reflecting what's preceding them. So, unless your room is on the largish side, or that this system double function for your HT use--with the right amp+cabling combo, I'm pretty sure you could work towards squeezing that last few hertz that you so desire out of your Piano--without subs.

Not the answer to your original question, but just a thought for your consideration. Hopefully more Piano owners will chime to weigh in on their experiences.. Good luck!
More to discover