REL Quake or ACI Force for semi small room

48Hz floorstanders with a 40Hz sub cutoff is indeed quite close. Close enough that I'd want a home demo before committing my money.

I'd hold out for a used REL. I bought mine used several years ago and they still sell for what I paid (about $800), so it's a bit like money in the bank (particularly with current interest rates !).

The velodyne DD series do seem to be almost universally thought to be better than the REL strata, but they are much more expensive .... I guess you pay your money and take your choice.

Agreed, I should wait for a Strata III. I'm crossing my fingers...

Below, I've copied the Essex response. If I remember correctly it is better to cut the sub off lower than let the mains than to have them playing the same notes. This would product a bloated sound in that range. Any thoughts here?

So being able to cut the sub off lower than 40 seems important.

Essex response:

We have found from experience that the having the crossover at 40Hz has not limited the use on all but the best floorstanders, this is partly due to the fact that although the specs on the floor standers may say they go to 35Hz this is normally a -6dB point or even a -10dB point. That said when setting the sub up you would need to set the crossover slightly higher than the lower notes on the main speakers. The lower limit of the SW1 is about 25Hz.

There is a limiter on the SW1 and I would say that it possibly very similar to the REL, out of interest we produced the REL models up untill about 3 years ago.

Regards


Tom Pearce
__________________________________________________
B.K. Electronics, Unit 1, Comet Way, Southend-on-Sea. Essex
Tel:- 01702 527572 Fax:- 01702 42024

Dear Matthew and friends: My advise is that you need two subs in your, btw in any audio system.

Please take a look: http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?eanlg&1117893153&openflup&27&4#27

The crossover point is extremely critical and my experience always told me that it has to be at around: 80Hz.

Regards and enjoy the music.

Raul.

"That said when setting the sub up you would need to set the crossover slightly higher than the lower notes on the main speakers"

That has not been my experience at all. I have always had to set about 5 Hz lower than the stated -3dB point of my speakers.

Raul ... 2 subs MAY load a room better than one, but they also cost twice as much. Given a budget of $1000 I'd rather pick one $1000 sub than two $500 subs.

As for crossover ALWAYS being at 80Hz that would only apply if you are filtering the signal to the main speakers. If you are running the main speakers full range then the sub crossover frequency will depend on the specification of the main speaker. No one frequency will work.

yes, the guys at ACI recommend using a 60 or 80hz passive high pass filter on the mains. this just plugs inline to the interconnects b/t the pre-amp and amp.

i am curious if anyone has done this?

it certainly makes sense to not drive the speakers as hard in the lower realms.

at the same time, the thought of putting a cheap capacitor into my system seems like an added complication. because i have an intergrated, i'd have an interconnect leaving the pre-amp outputs, looping out, through the crossover, and right back into the amp input = weird.

my local dealer says that the high pass addition is silly, that the speakers roll off naturally where they should. the sub should just augment this natural roll off.

hum?