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Maggies with no Sub: Fantastic surprise

OK, I have had Maggies for years, and always had subs with them: Vandersteens, DefTech, Velodyne, JL Audio, Sunfire, SVS Sound, etc...

When using set up software I have measure the lower end to 35 hz consistantly, so then I would take a ton of time and effort placing the subs in the correct spots, and letting the sub or controller (SMS-1) set up the crossover for different locations. I was always looking for that perfect integration for both stereo and LFE effects, so I finally bought a Rel B1 and I am awaiting it's delivery.

In the mean time, I have for the first time ever, been listening to the Maggie 3.6R's without a sub, and I am shocked. My God, there's a lot of bass there. I have a lot of juice going to them (Cary CAD 500 MB's) and Mye Stands, but wow, they really sound great. I'm kind of sorry I bought the Rel now. I think I may just buy a cheap sub for LFE effects on movies and just leave the Maggie's on their own for Stereo.

Anyone else have this experience??

It may all be amp related, but I will now dispute anyone who says Maggies have no low end authority. I am shocked that much of the low end bass I thought was coming from the subs over the years was actually coming from the Maggies!!
macdadtexas

Showing 2 responses by shadorne

shadorne's avatar
shadorne
7,491 posts
 
A little tip for subs, make sure they are in the same plane as the midrange driver/panel. Front or rear firing subs are ok, but down firing subs are not very tuneful.

Agreed upon keeping the sub close to the plane of the speakers but where did you get the idea that down firing is less tuneful. Downfiring front or rear firing will make very little difference to the sound unless the sub is used well above 100 Hz or it has large amounts of harmonic distortion that bleed into the lower midrange (such as on most poor quality subs) - remember bass frequencies propagate in all directions.
shadorne's avatar
shadorne
7,491 posts
 
Dogmcd and Dave_b...All speakers, cone or panel, experience increasing distortion before their output rolls off. Indeed, distortion components tend to hold up the measured output level as the fundamental, which is what we care about, rolls off.

Which is why Soundstage won't even test speakers above 100 db SPL. (It would even damage many of them so they say - no matter that an un-amplified piano or drum set, trumpet, trombone etc. can easily exceed 100 db SPL)

A SW is a good way to protect speakers from damage and still get high SPL output as the bass is what requires the lion's share of excursion and power.
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