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Question regarding subwoofers

I have an RHLabs SB-1 that’s served me pretty well for many years and use with it with my Acoustat 1+1s. (Had it refoamed a couple years back.) As well as the 1+1s image, I’ve always been slightly annoyed by having a single subwoofer between the panels. When playing something with a large sonic image like orchestral music the setup works fine. However when playing something more intimate like Jazz it’s easy to "see" where the lower frequencies are coming from: The middle. As my listening has gotten more refined it’s getting to be less acceptable to me. So I’m looking possibly at a pair of smaller, powered subwoofers. Why powered? Simple: If I do this, I’d rather the ARC VS-110 just power the panels. So, my questions:

1) The SB-1 has a single 10 or 12" driver. I’ve seen subs anywhere from 8" to huge. What folks experiences been with a pair of 8-10" powered subwoofers? Too much? Not enough?
2) Did a pair of subs affect imaging much? IOW, could you discern enough left/right to make it worthwhile?
3) How tough was it to balance them?
4) Do I run another set of interconnects from my SP11? Or do I get a set of Y adapters to feed both subs and amp?

Let me close by saying that like with most things audio there’s going to be a lot of "it depends". I get it. But I’d still like to hear of folks’ experiences as I do see a lot of systems with subs.

As always, thank you much for your time and comments!

musicfan2349

Showing 1 response by lalitk

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lalitk
5,750 posts
 
“However I must disagree with your implication that bass is non-directional. I have moved the subwoofer in the past to different locations and please believe me when I say that I could tell you where it was (and wasn’t) in the soundstage.”

OP, It appears you missed the whole point. If your system is properly calibrated, you won’t be able to localize main speakers or subs in the room from your listen chair (sweet spot). Please read it again what @millercarbon and others are saying. And yes, two subs are always better than one (small or large) if you can’t accommodate 4 (DBA or Swarm setup).

“The one thing that really matters is the one thing you don’t mention: crossover frequency. It should be below 100Hz, and 80Hz is even better.

This is because bass this low in frequency, you cannot localize it. If a sub is putting out any energy above about 100Hz you will localize it and that is why your bass seems to be coming from one spot.

Below 80 you can’t tell where the sub is, you can only tell there’s more bass. Where the bass is coming from, your main speakers provide those location cues. Also since you can’t localize there is no L and no R.”


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