So a subwoofer does make a difference
 

My son left a little subwoofer behind when he left for school, and has never reclaimed it. I have a pair of Acoustic Research Connoisseur 35T, which are smallish for floor speakers - 3 way with an 8" woofer, 6.5" mid and titanium tweeter - so they don't shake the room with bass. I was surprised that adding the sub actually had more effect on acoustic stuff than on Led Zepplin. Just finished playing Mazzy Star - So Tonight That I Might See, and the clarity was amazing. I suppose the sub frees up the main speakers to really deliver on the mids and highs. The setup did a good job on FZ's Apostrophe too. Now listening to a Smithsonian Jazz Piano collection. Maybe a little Esparanza Spaulding next.

Regards,

D-Ray

Oh God, next thing you know, Don will be driving a little Japanese car with fart can mufflers turning about nine thousand RPM!:eek::D

Apostasy! Real bass starts at 12" and above.:D

Nah, it's cool that you're enjoying it Don.

My DCM TF400s produce an amazing amount of bass from dinky 6" woofers. I might have to rotate them back in from the garage one day.

They can make a huge difference. But, I prefer the type of sub that's built into your mains. Done right it is awe inspiring.

Dave

I'm a sub user in my main system, primarily due to room constraints. As a result, my speaker set-up has a very high WAF and sounds pretty damned good. That said, I'd probably prefer a larger full-range speaker system in a different room.

D, you are on the right track. :D

Precisely. This is the living room system, and my wife loves the look of the AR's - largely because you can see over them when we have company. The larger speakers are in the man-cave and the den.

Regards,

D-Ray

If I did that, I would have to park around the block whenever I go to see clients.

Regards,

D-Ray

I'm in the camp of more speakers the better. How could adding a sub not be beneficial? Set in at 50 to 80 HZ helps I noticed for me.

But my only system with a sub is the one for one TV.



Barney

I use dual driver M&K subs in two systems, low pass set at 45Hz even though both pairs of speakers have 15" woofers in them. Subs reach way below where the mains roll off. Above 50 Hz the sub becomes directional.

I've lusted after those M&K subs beam!

I've run subs two or three times. I think the big issue and why they're generally unloved is they can be hard to integrate. Fortunately I don't have a golden ear :o

My favorites (and the only higher end subs I've ever owned) were twin HSU original tubes doing low duty for tweeter modded DQ-10s. It was early on, I can't remember what I was driving everything with but my amps were probably low end. The room had a horrendous hump around... 70 hz? so I used Marchand active xovers with a notch filter at the hump hz. Worked well.

My young nephew was over, I had the stereo on very low in the background and he suddenly looked a little panicked and said 'was that thunder??' I turned off the stereo.

I think subs have a place in many systems. Even my last AR-9s could've used them occasionally methinks.

Pete

i run my towers large with two subs (2.2)

Esparanza Spaulding is an excellent choice

also consider Patricia Barber, Cafe Blue

even better

I found a Klipsch sub for my home theater for $35 and it will rattle the walls.

I use a Yamaha powered sub on my SE Maggie amp sometimes. The best sounding subwoofer application I have heard in my experience was with one of those 3 channel Motorola tube amps: I hooked a passive Bose Accoustimass sub to the bass 6BQ5 channel of the Motorola....the low end was great. In fact I should use that now that I think about it with out the rather harsh and reedy 6BM8 high end channels plugged in. Maybe I can configure it into one of my systems.


I have much more respect for NAD now that I have one. My 7155 hads a bass eq button that increases the low end by about 20 percent...just enough not to be boomy. The amp has a loudness button too.

In my limited experience you will not need a sub with Realistic Mach One or an RSL 3600 speakers.

Subs are great, depending on it's application. I have 19 powered subwoofers in my system..

Unless you did something on purpose to make it so, adding the sub changed nothing about what was coming out of the main speakers. But it does sound like you're getting some nice-quality low-end reinforcement.

As you've doubtless observed. your brain uses higher frequencies to figure out where sound is coming from, and tells you the bass is coming from there too, even if the woofer is right behind you.

Size requirements depend on what you want. For big thumps nothing moves air like a big cone. If you want to enjoy low notes made by musical instruments, a smaller driver may be better, unless you need it to be plenty loud....

Signature of an AK member (not mine, mine is "Zappa is the best. Bach is the bestest"):

"We don't need no stinky subs."

I've successfully run subs in my two channel systems. Right now, I'm not because the sub I built with the Dayton Titan III driver and 500 watt plate amp is too strong for the box it's in, which is an old Velodyne 1500 box. Damn thing started rattling apart within hours of it's first use, post modification. So, I needs to build me a better, and slightly larger box as the Velodynes internal volume is right at the bottom limit of that MONSTER Dayton - 3.2 cu. ft. (Sealed)

Dave

If he is filtering out the lowest bass frequencies to the mains and sending it strictly to the sub, it will change their character somewhat. I've found this to enhance midrange clarity noticeably. Thinking it might have something to do with reducing the effects of intermodulation at the mains woofer cones?

Dave

I agree. If your speakers are low efficiency, it is better to have the sub filter out the LF signals below 50Hz. Bass will sound tighter and faster, especially if the speaker is acoustic suspension (I stuff the ports with gym socks). Much less load on the amp.

On my JBL 250 Ti's I run the speakers full range and have an M&K MX-100 sub connected through an external active crossover to provide bass extension.

I use subs in all of my 2-Ch systems except the one with Dynaco A-25's.

To the thread title; if you can hear the sub, or where it is, you have it up to loud. The way I was taught they are strictly for fill in. All bets are off when I'm listening to rap though.

No subs here.

That's the music application. But home theater soundtracks use them 'for effect.'