I live on the top floor of a small apartment building. A sub on the floor would be tough on my neighbors but no one lives above us. Do people put subs on shelves?
I don't listen to music all that loud. Usually the loudest thing I listen to is TV/Entertainment.
And I'm not a huge bass head so I can't imagine ever even wanting a large sub. Maybe a small 8" one.
I don't have new mains yet - I'm still shopping and so far and like the small bookshelf models (so far without subs) such as Sierra 2's.
No but that’s where most are designed to be to work best.
You can place a sub on an Auralex Subdude platform or something similar to help isolate the sub from interacting with the floor. That usually results in cleaning up the sound with more articulation to the bass (ie better sound overall as a result). Many with neighbors below in particular use these.
Adding subs is the best thing you can do for your system.
with a decent active crossover integration is easy. But an 8" sub probably will not go low enough. Get a bigger one and turn it down as needed.
As as for your orginal question moving a sub off the ground and putting it on a stand will help the tone in a good way. Just like moving your speakers away from the walls. As always two are better then one
Short answer, the best position for a sub is how it loads the particular room it’s in. I have done experiments with raising and lowering a REL Strata lll in the front corner and the best position for bass articulation, extension and soundstaging was positioned in the middle with the driver facing the ceiling. I used the Strata lll as it is easy to move around and lift but the results speak for themselves.
Of course, this looks very odd and also needs a solid platform to perform best but it did teach me about how subs load a room. My current sub which is a REL Stadium lll works best sitting in the front corner, driver facing down with port positioned outward. I tried it with the driver facing the ceiling and the port positioned next to the wall and the results were impressive with regards to extension but integration with the main speakers was problematic.
It always pays to play with positioning in one’s own system despite what conventional wisdom dictates.
/erik_squires im liking you more and more reading your post .. I'm by no means a headphone fan but sometimes choosing the lesser of two evils may be key . Inna same to you i think we are on the same path in our thought path
Op . I would personally hesitate putting a sub somewhere that is not somewhat stable it will resinate and you will battle that demon imo .. Put the sub on a worthy platform or audiopoint or stillpoints but all these seem bassackwards get a good pair of spkrs buddy start there subs come later imo .. Respect
I think there is another thread on Audiogon discussing putting subs on stands. It was a couple of months ago. If I remember correctly, some said it made the subs sound better.
Thx all! Neatly all of the speakers I've heard at some good quality dealers have been without subs and sounded fine to me for music. Even medium sized bookshelves with 6" and 7" woofers.
I'm just trying to decide between some towers where I def won't buy a sub, or some bookshelves, where I could if eventually I felt the need.
Ideally I want to avoid the whole sub thing and have smallish speakers. The towers, such as the ascend towers, are just a lot more money than the sierra 2's.
FWIW, I hate the boom of explosions and stuff in movies and sports. I just hate that crap.
Under $5K for LRC speakers. Maybe under 3K even. The rest of my setup is to my liking except the receiver which eventually I'll upgrade. (marantz 5009, nad cd player, rega tt)
I've been looking at bookshelves like Spendor, PMC, dynaudio, .. I've liked most but I'm not hearing a really vivid imagining like I've heard with some maggies and other slightly non-conventional speakers. So I'm kind of intrigued with taking a chance on ascend's ribbon tweeters. I also need to hear the Linn 109's and a few others.
I liked the B&W 805 D3 but just can't afford them.
There are a few things to remember about subs. First, bass is largely a matter of moving air, i.e. pressurization and depressurization of the room. Listen to a car stereo to prove this idea with the car's relatively low air volume. Second, most speakers cannot more air like a sub can since they usually have to be accurate on frequencies higher than low bass frequencies and large cone excursions will cause high bass and midrange problems. I saw a review of a JL Audio sub where the reviewer felt its bass to be better than that of a Wilson Audio Maxx 2 Speaker, definitely a plumber of the low frequencies. Third, a lot of speakers cannot produce the lowest bass or bass dynamics but sound great elsewhere. Example-my single-driver speakers. Adding a sub enhanced the one weakness of this design, IMO, bass dynamics. And yes, it took some work. A lot of where to place a sub depends on the size and dimensions of your room and where you sit. As you move it away from room boundaries it will have less room gain but may sound better in other ways, particularly if it excites room modes less. And a lot of recordings are primarily midbass that a sub will not enhance much unless you move its crossover point up into the midbass region, or at least have a slower low-pass rolloff.
I would agree with the reviewer of the JL Audio subs. I have a pair of E-110's I'm using with my Janszen hybrid electrostats and after some work to make them blend in well, they are incredible.
Oleschool, thank you. Wall mounts for subs, right. Question is how many of them? Depends on desired impact, I guess. Wolfernyc, there are many very good speakers with 6.5" - 8" woofer(s). If you choose monitors you will need good stands and good coupling to the stands and to the floor. Personally, I just like floorstanders, maybe because I simply got used to them, or maybe because they often have a greater volume compared to monitors. This does matter too.
It's all Apples and oranges op jl are above what your shooting for imo no offense .. Everyone has opinions but if your buying spkrs and are keeping for sure ! Lol your power buy spkrs suited .. If not be careful and buy the best sounding spkr you can afford . Probably a relatively sensitive spkr and buy a amp intergrated probly that will mate well . Or your pocket will be open for a long time . The 2-3 k spkr range is wide open there are some great spkrs in that range . If you go used ( my reccommended choice) your in the 4-6 k new range which is just another level. A 2-5 k monitor with a real stand will sound great if mated well . Your in floorstander money then too.. Spend a cple g used, cple g used on a sweet intergrated (or a surround amp) which in general youll pull your hair out researching a good surround amp lol . . Look at kef acoustic zen splendor go listen to some and mate it properly you will be glad you did . In your range a used sunfire hvs or rythmic is easily obtained for like 500-800 bks good luck
Hsu subs can be had for not a lot of money and give pretty good performance for the buck. Using spikes with subs should also help decouple them. Wolfer- a good sub, properly tuned for music shouldn't be 'boomy'.
Regarding cost, you can find a used REL for a couple hundred bucks (I recently added a REL Q108II to my Q150e and it sounds great…8" woofer, lots of adjustability)…good subs "charge" a room regardless of the music’s low frequency content rendering everything more lifelike, which is a good thing if that’s what you want to hear. Also note that a well designed musical sub allows you to "tune" your room by moving the sub around and adjusting the output, and once you get it right where you want it you can’t imagine not having that benefit as it seems to open everything up. Very few main speakers can get close to actual bass so using a sub is an easy path to accurate sound. Plus, you can get drunk and dance around like an idiot.
You must have a verified phone number and physical address in order to post in the Audiogon Forums. Please return to Audiogon.com and complete this step. If you have any questions please contact Support.
