Lowther Bass Reflex and Subwoofers


Well, after reading about how difficult it is to marry a subwoofer and single driver speakers I think I now understand what all the fuss is about.

My speakers are Lowther DX2 in a Lowter America 2.5 I bass reflex cabinet. The subwoofer is a REL Strata II. A quality 300b SET interstage coupled amplifier is the power. Primary music is diverse; jazz, rock, reggae, classical, indian. Most of the mate rial is acoustic and some with very high dynamic range.

The REL is set on third position for both crossover (fine, coarse) settings which is around 60hz. The REL is driven with speaker level via the standard Neutrik connector.

I was listening to material with pretty good dynamics the other night; ie, Shakti, Roger Waters In The Flesh, Bob Marley Survival. There was just no bass impact on the bottom to speak of. When I walked over to the woofer there is all sorts of low end energy happening. Sitting in the sweet spot of the Lowthers and it just sounds kind of muddy.

The Lowthers are placed about three feet from the rear wall and one is near no side wall; the right speaker is three feet from a side wall.

My understanding is this REL is one of the better subs out there for use with "quick" speakers. Might it be that I just need to spend more time with crossover points and positioning of the Lowthers? The sub is to the left of the system; ie, about one foot to the left of the left Lowther and two feet from the rear wall.

The walls and ceiling are bare at this point as I just moved in. I am just about ready to acquire another woofer, or two, to audition. Some of the woofers I've been considering are the Magelland and the PMC. I'd like to find an older Hsu 8" passive woofer and run an active crossover but I have never seen one for sale.

Advice?
c123666

Showing 2 responses by hifidream

To make some good WAF I made two of my subs into end tables. It’s amazing what a 1” thick piece of glass and a lamp will do you hide them. Most people have no idea they are speakers. :)
Subwoofers are hard to integrate because of the length of the waves, 25-50ft and that wave is bouncing around the walls making peaks and nulls like water drops in a pool of water in a box (this is why reversing the polarity doesn’t help, it’s the same wave off axis). You may find a great spot for it that works with your room (it won’t be near a corner) but if you still have trouble you should consider a sub array.

 Four subs can use each other’s waves as the vehicle to do DSP room correction. If you use an active crossover like a mini DSP with a high quality microphone to measure the room with Room EQ Wizard you can add the data into Multi Sub Optimizer (both programs have suggested donations and I used their tutorial with my own data) which will give you the data to make custom crossovers (each sub needs its own channel/amplification) in your mini DSP. Copy past them in and you’ll have full range music bliss. Just need to adjust the volume of the subs vs the mains till they disappear. No muddy base, fully integrated, no angry wives or neighbors. It’s work but anything worth having is. . .