Maggies and subwoofer integration

A friend of mine dropped by 2 weeks ago to listen to my main rig. We eventually listened to the smaller LRS+ system in my office with the KEF KC62 sub (room is 12x11x9. He was asking me about the sub because he thought the integration with the LRS+ was amazing. I laughed at that because I really do not know too much about subs.

However, what was important for me was that these comments were coming from someone who served as a recording engineer, microphone builder, and musician. If I get an OK from him, I am good. A year or 2 prior I had terrible feedback from the same person on the same room but with different speakers and no sub. I made drastic changes after that feedback.

Small room = Magnepan LRS+ | KEF KC62 sub

BTW - one should ask why Magnepan make DMW sub panels when so many other subs are available.

BTW2 - I am currently listening to the great KCRW radio station on the FM dial with an incredible tuner. The DJ is Sly Stone’s daughter Novena Carmel. She has been playing really bass heavy tunes this morning. It sounds incredible in my small room with the LRS+ and KC62. I cannot believe I do not have fatigue with all the bombast.

I just want to add my two cents to this discussion - I have been a Maggie owner since 1982. I now own two systems I my home based on Maggie’s. My main system now is my Maggie 1.6 QRs (modified by Peter Gun - new wood frames and propritary crossover) and The Swarm ( 4 subs designed by Duke - AudioKinesis ). The subs match the speed of the modified Maggies ( powered by my Krell K 300i integrated) beyond my wildest expectations. Note The Swarm came with their own amp - I feed the Krell preamp out to this amplifier - DaytonAudio - everything is  adjustable - crossover point, eq, phase, gain. You can match this to your room - no problem. My second system are Maggie 1.7i s with a DMW panel. This system runs with a Krell 550 and a separate Son of Ampizalla pushing the DMW. 
 

Both Maggie systems benefit from the extra bass support. But I must stress The Swarm added to the older modified Maggie 1.6 QRs is amazing. My rooms are the same size - 17’ by 20’. Whatever Maggies you own - add some bottom end!! You will never have regrets. Just add quality subs.

Happy Listening

tom8999

Magnepan 1.7i's with two subs!! The only way to live!!!

I also run my Maggies (MMGs) through a B&K EX-442 Sonata. I’m using a Rythmik F12G sub. After lots of back-and-forth, I settled on 80 Hz for the crossover (it was either 60 or 80 for me). With the room EQ/DSP I run it integrates very well when the distance setting is done right. My PLP is about 14 away from the speakers so I need to add distance to my sub setting (about 7.3 feet to be exact). I’ve found it’s largely a timing issue. Frankly, I don’t know what a 50 Hz crossover and real low gain is going to do for you. I’ve tried it and it didn’t seem to add much to my listening experience. YMMV.

Clearly, I'm in strong disagreement with those who say you can't successfully integrate a sub with Magnepan speakers.  

I do wish people would be more direct with their opinions. 😉

One can definitely integrate subs into a Maggie setup. To each his own, but there are genres of music that I feel need the punch, and I use subs with box speakers too. 

Being a big REL fan (I run a swarm of 5 at times - it's a massive room) I think there are some misunderstandings about what subs are supposed to do with music.  It's different with home theater where it's supposed to give you the boom of the explosion.  REL subs add a spatial quality, almost more air than boom, and they shouldn't really be setup so that you can "hear" them.  

That's one reason why I like the swarm approach - several set at low gain creates a subtle strength behind the music that I prefer to pushing one sub harder. 

I also have 2 DWM panels that I'll include in the mix sometimes, but if I had to choose between REL subs and DWMs I would take the subs. 

To address the OP: I think your favorite genres might be part of your analysis here.  If you do like a bit more of the phat sound (as I do), I would suggest you see if you can go to at least 2 subs - see if you can run them stereo (i.e. left speaker signal to left subwoofer, right to right).  While upgrading subs to avoid HT-focused versions will help improve sound, relatively cheap subs are still good in a multi-configuration and you want to keep the gain on them relatively low -- you don't want to be able to detect where the bass is from. 

It's all about experimentation and personal preference.  There just isn't any "right" when it comes to sound preference in audio.