AudioKinesis Swarm or JL Audio F112 Pair?


I own a pair of JL audio F112s and was looking to integrate them into my 2 channel setup. I was intrigued by AudioKinesis Swarm after its stellar review in the Absolute Sound, but can't seem to find much about the whole setup other than the review (including other users experiences and additional reviews). I do know the Swarm is cheaper than the JL pair, but not sure if it would be in the same league. Also not sure how you go about setting up the Swarm (cabling, positioning, etc.). Does anyone here have any experience with Swarm, and possibly be able to compare it to a pair of Fathoms?
jstrid
I've never used a Swarm, but I have tried to "knock off" the idea with a pair of Rythmik subs and the pair of smaller Velodynes that I used prior to upgrading to the Rythmiks.

The four sub set-up reduced some "bloat" in the octave above 70ish hz (by about 5 db) that I couldn't shake when using the Rythmiks alone. Other than that, there wasn't a lot of difference in response, either by my ear or by my RTA. I then EQ'd both the dual subs and the quad subs with Audyssey and found the sound from the two set-ups was pretty much indistinguishable. Although the RTA readouts weren't identical, they were pretty close. They were also better than the non-EQ'd four sub set-up and, in either case, I preferred the EQ'd set-up

In the end, I settled on dual subs with Audyssey and now use the Velo subs in other applications. Note - this isn't a comment on the Swarm (which I've never heard), merely my experience with dual subs vs quad subs and EQ'd subs vs non-EQ'd subs.
I have a Swarm and used to have a Fathom (but not a pair).

My main speakers are Magneplanar 1.6qr's which roll off between 30-40Hz in my room. The Fathom gave me all the deep bass I wanted, but I always had a major problem with discontinuity between the planar drivers and the dynamic drivers of the Fathom.

I read about people using the Swarm successfully with Maggies so I talked to Duke LeJune at Audiokinesis and bought a Swarm. His advice on setup was to "scatter" the Swarm speakers around the room. Better still, get them on different levels (e.g. some higher in the room than others).

I found the actual Swarm locations to be fairly non-critical. I did have a strong bass node at one listening position that totally went away with some small repositioning of some of the drivers. More importantly, I've gotten much more coherent music as a result of the change.

I've been running them for about 5 years now and have no plans to change. Very worthwhile, at least for me in my system.

YMMV