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Subwoofers and Crossovers.

My system is Cary DMS-550 / Luxman L-507uxii / Spendor D7.2

 

After researching I decided to add an active crossover and two stereo subs to the system.

 

  1. I am looking at JL Audio CR-1 as the crossover.  This will take the pre-out from the Luxman and feed mains-in and setup the Luxman as separates. Is there anything else that I should look at?  I am only looking at analog solutions.
  2. After looking a REL, Rythmic, SVS, Martin Logan and JL, I am leaning towards getting two JL Dominion D110s.  Would these subs be sufficient or should I be getting JL E110s? I won’t be using the internal crossovers, so primary concern is fidelity.
  3. If I am unable to treat the room properly, I may be introducing a DSP solution just for the subwoofers.

 

I am looking for some advice from people who have walked this path before me on both the active crossover and the quality of D110s. 

I would appreciate any advice on this process of integrating subwoofers into a two channel audio system.

dimbhaka
avanti1960
1,480 posts
 

such a crime to high pass the Spendors but I do hope it works out for you. difficult for any sub to keep up with them.  

dimbhaka OP
30 posts
 

@avanti1960 , my main aim in high passing the Spendors is to eliminate intermodulation(amp) and doppler distortion(speakers). I will also be setting one of the presets to disable the subs and run Spendors full range.  I will post my experience in this thread. 

Also, I have been reading such good things about bi-amping and adding subs with high passing the mains is another form of bi-amping.

PS. In this journey, I read your subwoofer threads in the other forum.

avanti1960
1,480 posts
 

Yes, thank you.  I have learned a lot in my journey!   

Some speakers work well with the right subs, some do not, and ultimately if you value speed, dynamics and lightening burst timing no subs are best.  

Not everyone values that however.  

Good luck! 

dimbhaka OP
30 posts
 

I had Rythmik FM8s and miniDSP SHD delivered by Saturday and have been fiddling with REW and miniDSP software until now. The subs are flanking the Spendors on the inside.

Myt steps in setting them up.

1. Level matching the subs to the mains. Initially I put them one notch above zero, but dialed them back to zero.

2. Measured subs and the mains one channel at at time at different crossovers ranging from 80 to 150. Left channel was fine all across, but the right channel was not performing well between 100 and 120. So I had to choose either 90 or 140/150 and I decided to cross them over at 150 with 24db/octave.

3. Time delaying the mains was the most time consuming step, as I had to learn the process. After several measurements and methods, the results I had was 7.5ms for the left and 7ms for right channel.  I decided to set both of them to 7.5ms

4. Finally ran Dirac Live to flatten the response curve with a little boost in the bass area.

I am going to leave it with these settings for some time.

I am noticing two immediate benefits:1. There is more bass with more texture and the drum beats have a sharper starts/stops. 2. Vocals are clearer without being effected by base notes.

I am grateful  to the forum members for all the help and guidance.

rhg3
207 posts
 

@dimbhaka thanks for reporting back with your results!  This is a very interesting solution and I hope you'll report back again in a few months after these changes settle in. I look forward to your update and I'm pretty sure I'm not alone.

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