Book Shelf Speaker advice - Formerly Book Shelf Dilemma

@grislybutter Don’t get me wrong. My reservation and decision not to add sub(s) as part of system is in a general term, not related to a sepecific model/brand of sub. As @soix mentioned, SVS is a good brand and SB1000 is a fine sub. But, a 12" woofer controlled by a separate (especially non-servo controlled) amp being slower than most of the bookshelf or standmount speakers with 5"-6" woofer is a law of physics. When there are busy bass notes, a sub lack of control (ability to "stop" the note reverb) will spin out a series of bass notes reverberating over preceding notes. That is the reason I avoid the sub. I would imagine though the smaller woofer drivers such as SVS 3000 micro that uses dual opposing 8" driver will render more speedy bass but digs deep as SB1000.

I would imagine though the smaller woofer drivers such as SVS 3000 micro that uses dual opposing 8" driver will render more speedy bass but digs deep as SB1000.

No, it just doesn’t. In subwoofers and physics, size matters and the 3000 Micro with its 8” drivers and smaller cabinet simply can’t move nearly as much air despite the clever design techniques employed in its design. And those 8” drivers will have to work much harder and by necessity exhibit much more excursion than one larger driver. I was recently involved in a thread where a buyer of a 3000 Micro found it just couldn’t deliver the goods and switched to an SB1000 Pro and was much happier. Plus, for $300 more than the 3000 Micro you can get TWO SB1000 Pro subs that if space allows — game, set, match. And, at the end of the day the SB1000 Pro ain’t all that much bigger than the 3000 Micro and gets you down to an honest 20Hz versus 23Hz for the Micro. FWIW, and best of luck.

well, that makes sense @lanx0003 and @soix’s note too, I will soon find out if I have the right size to avoid a sonic mess.

and to add to the complexity, my MF A3.2 will send signals to my bookshelf speakers via speaker cables and from the amp’s pre-amp to the sub’s amp via RCA cables and then at some point in time (probably at different times) they will all move the air for overlapping frequencies, and finally it will reach my ears, bounce back from the walls... I somehow see it as not my smartest upgrade :)

I find so many similarities in this thread about my room and system I felt compelled to jump in.

I am moving up a level in my current apt building and am using the bay windowed living room as my listening room. Dims are smaller at 13.5'W x 15.5'L x 9.5'H and will similarly set up speakers in the bay and fire back to a listening position. One concern is setting rear firing ports too close to the short wall of the bay. I'm hoping the total depth of 4' will help with boom boom.

In 2019 I bought new Evoke 20's to replace 20 year old Wharfedale floor standers (maybe ~1500 for the pair back then) due to their failing iron on plastic finish, although they still sounded great, just couldn't look at them any more. The new speakers were fun but no grunt to them. Someone suggested I buy a sub and I stared back correlating a car driving by with bass so loud the screws for the rear quarter panels were backing out. I told this person I was not big on subs.

Off to the local HiFi store after seeing an ad for a pair of floor model Elac Adante AF61's at a deep discount (love sales slogans). Bargain shopping at its best and purchased on the spot. The grunt was back! Happy right? Well hold on.

COVID hits and I am sent home to start working remotely. No! I'm an outdoor dog and don't like being indoor all day for what turned out to be months. Ahh, there is an upside, online shopping and I need new gear for the speakers. Buy! Buy! Buy! Oh Boy!

Then I found this site and dug in reading all about HiFi. Out of that I learned subs aren't so bad and bought a Dyn Sub 3 to fill in the lows. Better if I buy 2 or more was the insight picked up here. Buy!

An Andrew Jones interview I heard back then said this about DSP. I paraphrase, "The best DSP is another pair of speakers". I connected mono blocks to the Elac's and sent a RCA pair to an old amp not being used to connected the Evoke 20's and another set of RCA's to the subs and I'm in 6 speaker stereo bliss. Seriously try it. My friend sat in my listening chair and teared up. I have a well treated room because, why not? You can learn a lot here.

Now I'm selling the Elac Floor standers because out of this craziness I've learned subs are good in pairs and the Evoke 20 and Dyn sub 3 is after all where I should have stopped. Although I did sign up for an invite only we are selling floor stock at 70% off this Friday. Looking for replacement monitors in the 10k range. I've been good and saving money since last year at this time.

I do this for the pleasure of listening to music.

Just want to mention that between now and Christmas, many speakers are on "special" if you look. For instance, Crutchfield has the Wharfedale EVO4.2 on sale for $999 now (no stands, you'd need to budget for some, perhaps Monoprice for now.

You just missed the ELAC Halloween sale - RATS. Polk was running a good deal on their Reference series (the R200 would have been a contender) but now they are pushing their older, more expensive Legend series (the L200 are $1200).  

Good luck! For your room, as someone noted, front ported (if ported at all) speakers might be best.