2. speakers
  3. 175856-142800

Will I benefit from a subwoofer with 20Hz speakers?

My source is a minidsp shd studio with Dirac going into Denafrips Gaia DDC to Denafrips T+ DAC to McIntosh 601 Monoblocks to Cabasse Pacific 3 speakers. The speaker's published frequency response is 41-20,000Hz. I presume this is achieved in an anechoic chamber. In my room however, it goes down to 20Hz, at least according to the Dirac measurements. In fact, I needed to flatten the curve and  reduce by 5-20 DBs between 20-100Hz due to the room effect.

So, considering I already go down to 20Hz, is there anything else 1 or 2 subwoofers will do for my system?  Would it create a more consistent low frequency field? I see many people adding up to 6 subs, so I wonder what I'm missing. 

Thank you for your insight! 

dmilev73
andrei_nz
192 posts
 

If you listen at mid volumes (or your room is large) then a sub should be of some benefit,  If you listen some of the time at low volumes then a sub will always be of great benefit.  You can do the equalising thing (early amps always had a 'loudness' button!) but a good quality sub is the better way.

dsnyder0cnn
65 posts
 

Justification for subs: The best place for imaging is never the best place for bass™

erik_squires
16,010 posts
 

Op: I am not in any way saying you should not get a sub.

Properly configured a sub can be glorious.  I just want you to maximize your current room and system first.

erik_squires
16,010 posts
 

OP:

Sometimes speakers image better crossed in front.  Depends on a lot of factors, but what this tries to do is minimize early reflections from the side.  If you don't have early side reflections this can't provide any benefit, but being only important in the mid-hi frequency range it's OT for this conversation. 

erik_squires
16,010 posts
 

BTW:

To all the nay-sayers, please take a look at the OP’s data. Notice how the original measurements showed output at 20 Hz very close to the output at 1 kHz. This is despite his speakers being rated to -3dB at 40 Hz.

This is a very similar situation to the one I wrote about in my blog and why I keep saying measurement is important, and we may be adding subs for the wrong reasons. Let the OP clean up his bass first, and then decide, based on his own needs and values if a sub is worth the trouble.

 

In terms of what this SHOULD Be, I am going to go with Floyd Toole and Anthem's ARC room gain recommendations.  Below 100Hz there should be a shelf of around +3 to +6 db.  Basically this is "salt to taste" when it comes to bass levels, and follows my overall process:

 

1 - Measure

2 - Clean up

3 - Re-shape

More to discover