Yes, in the theoretical world, adding a passive HPF around 80 Hz would decrease distortion in the rest of the sound frequency for the electrostatic speakers, but the distortion is so low in the electrostatic speakers, that I'm not sure that it would be worth it, although, in the interest of experimentation, I should try it. However, my next sonic experiment will be adding 2 more subwoofers to create a swarm. . .afterwards, I may look at creating a passive HPF using Duelund capacitors and a resistor in parallel, but that's another project. (And there's no way am I going to get wrapped up into bi-amping the speakers, although I commend you for your industriousness.)
Comparison of various subwoofers for 2 channel audio
I have a 2 channel audio system, and I appreciate how subwoofers have augmented the sound quality of my system (with electrostatic speakers). I currently am using a pair of Martin Logan Balanced Force 212 subwoofers, but I’m thinking about adding more subwoofers for a total of four in order to help balance the low frequency sound waves. I’m considering adding a pair of Rythmik, SVS, or perhaps Velodyne subwoofers to the system. Does anyone have experience with many of those brands, and how well they integrate with electrostatic speakers in a 2 channel system, or perhaps should I just get a second pair custom built with certain specifications?
Thanks.
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@drbond Yes please, you should. That will be a 60 dB/oct filter which is very slow. You might want to try setting the HPF to 100 Hz and the sub LPF at 80 Hz. I spent years with Acoustats, RH Labs Subwoofers and the Dahlquist LP1. To set the HPF you were given an assortment of caps and the formula for determining the 3 dB down point given your amp's input impedance. I tried every combination you can think of. It was a very euphonic system and anything but accurate. Getting subwoofers to disappear running up to 80 or 100 Hz is not easy. Most have enough coloration to stick out like a sore thumb especially if you have very uncolored loudspeakers. |
I too am running an ESL system: 2 Quad 2905's and 2 Quad 2805's perpendicular to the 29's (all modified). I am running an isobaric sub with a 50 Hz cutoff, but frankly it doesn't do very much. Almost all of the bass augmentation comes from Magnepan DWM bass panels, powered by big Brystons (a 7BSST3 per DWM). The 7B's are potent, fast, and clean enough to drive the DWM's flawlessly - overkill, really. The DWM bass panels use the latest push-pull technology favoured for the big panels. They are very fast - basically indistinguishable from ESL's at 500Hz, an octave above middle C. The stock crossover is at 200Hz, but it's easy to bypass that and do it right with an electronic crossover. The DWM's are fairly flat to 2 Kz and still produce a decent signal at 5KHz, so they are ideal for mid-to-upper bass augmentation in the critical region of 40-300 Hz. I like them very much. YMMV |
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