You should also consider the KC92’s from KEF. One additional beauty to these is that they can be stackable as well. They sound amazing and extremely musical.
Are REL the most Musical Subs?
Forgive me if I have created a redundant thread. I don’t usually post in the Speakers area.
I have a Paradigm sub in my basement HT that has apparently given up the ghost after about 20 years. I’m not a huge bass listener. We used to use the area for movies but lately a different room of the home has taken that over. I listen to classical music and the system gets used primarily for SACD and Blu Ray. No desire for multiple subs. The front speakers are full range, setup is 5.1
I added a REL sub to my 2 channel system a few years ago, an REL, and have been delighted with the results. It doesn’t boom at me. What it does do is add the low level percussion effects that composers such as Mahler, Shostakovich , and modernist composers add to reinforce bass lines. I never realized, for example, how many gentle tympani and gong effects are in Shostakovich Babi Yar symphony.
The REL integrates all of this naturally without calling attention to itself. The Paradigm in the basement never did this but it was an older design and more budget friendly.
So I am inclined to replace the Paradigm with another REL in the basement but was wondering what the current thinking is with subs. I haven’t paid much attention lately and the stuff that I have pulled discusses multiple subs, Atmos, etc, and doesn’t seem to address my needs.
Placement will be different as well. The current sub is placed between the front speakers, and the gear rack is on the other side of the room. 20 years ago I had the energy to bury the cables next to a baseboard heat along the all, after schlepping the sub over the basement testing placement spots,but with advances in DSP I’m now hoping to place the sub next to the rack
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Yes it makes a difference, as multiple responses have pointed out. The reason is the way bass notes interact with a room. Bass notes (say 20-60 Hz) have wavelengths in the range of 19 to 56 feet depending on the frequency. As bass notes bounce between surfaces of the room, they reinforce or cancel with the reflections, causing something called room modes, where certain frequencies have peaks and valleys at certain locations in the room. When you use more than one subwoofer, they are in different positions and each one creates a different room mode pattern. Blended together, they produce a more even bass response in the room. Two smaller subwoofers are capable of creating higher quality bass than a larger more powerful single subwoofer. . |
I owned a pair of SVS SB16-Ultra (recently sold). I now own 2 pairs of Rythmik F8 8' servo subs. |
@mijostyn writes: "You need a complete 2 way crossover and steep filters available only in the digital domain for the best performance. The best subwoofers are passive, crossovers and amplifiers are outboard."
I have employed this type of thinking in my main system and really enjoy the efforts of going this route. I have custom built cabinets for my low frequency (subwoofer) drivers, an external electronic (digital) crossover, separate power amps for subs and the mid/hi (main) speakers, etc. Removing low frequency information from your main speakers reaps rewards. The low/mid drivers in your main cabinets really "clean up" by not having to reproduce the fundamentals of kick drum, bass guitar, low synth notes, and low pitches of acoustic instruments, etc. that are found below the crossover point chosen to divide the subs and main mid/high cabinets. A huge issue is that most people don't really wish to go through the thought processes and expense of getting all this gear together. There are a fair number of people, if not most, I suspect, that just want "plug and play" and don't want to deal with the added external crossover, subwoofer amplifier, correctly choosing and designing a passive cabinet with your chosen cabinet maker, choosing the right sub driver, etc. Essentially, it's a pain in the tail end to get it all right. Hence the popularity of products from REL, SVS, etc. It's only my opinion (and yours may / probably will be different) that a lot (but not all) of these mass market, more affordable powered subs with DSP are 'colored' to my ear if a lot of eq is used in the pre-programmed DSP section of the sub. Most likely done in order to get extended low frequency response that the box/driver design process could not accomplish naturally. |
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