Sub advice needed
I've been using a Dspeaker anti-mode 2.0 as a bass pre-amp and it has a remote - I use it constantly to adjust levels between tracks. You can also use it for room correction when you add the sub. You could use MSB sub isolators to add a sub to the signal chain, but they are kinda expensive, especially if you get a pair. |
My concerns are: Not a problem. Human beings hear low bass frequencies so much differently than mid-bass and up that its simply not a concern at all. Subs can be placed anywhere in the room and unless crossed over too high you will never be able to localize them. Please note: subs. Plural. One sub is only slightly better than no sub. One sub inevitably results in one set of big room modes, ie lumpy slow bass. Multiple subs, 4 is recommended, results in less sub having less output producing more smaller modes for much smoother more articulate bass. Multiple subs is the secret to really deep, articulate bass. The kind of bass that accurately recreates the low frequencies of a large space. This kind of bass actually improves imaging. 2. Remote volume control on the sub since different songs may need different amount of sub? Well are you after accurate bass? Or a tone control? A proper distributed bass array with truly smooth, accurate and articulate bass will be there when the music calls for it, and unnoticed when it does not. If you're looking for advice on how to get a lot of boomy bass whenever you think it should be there look elsewhere. Not my bag. I can place the sub in any area of the room. Excellent. Except remember its subs, not sub. Best placement usually will be asymmetrically distributed around the room. But if starting with just one be aware you will have to move it around a lot trying to find the least bad location. I also read on this forum somewhere about the pros and cons of connecting subwoofer to speaker outputs, but can't seem to find the thread, nor do I recall it ending with an answer if it can potentially cause amplifier problems or not. This ones easy. If your sub accepts speaker level inputs then use em. If not then the easiest solution is what's called a Line Out Converter or LOC. Quality does not matter, except for appearance. So buy cheap, parts-express.com has about the best, by which I mean cheapest, because quality does not matter! Or if you are comfortable soldering, or even if you just want to know what the heck is going on, this is the single best page on the web http://www.epanorama.net/circuits/speaker_to_line.html With this circuit and the $2 worth of resistors it calls for I was able to convert my tube integrated to add a pre-amp out that I have been using to run my two Dayton amps powering my distributed bass array for nearly a year now. So you can be sure all the info above is accurate and based on actual experience. As opposed to say what you may have "read on this forum somewhere". |
I prefer accurate, tight bass without boominess. Me too. The importance of having four cannot be overstated. Ported or sealed, driver size and wattage all pale in comparison. Nothing I ever heard anywhere comes close to what I have now with my distributed bass array. Duke himself, if I remember correctly, had a client with a $30k budget (just for subs) and compared went with the Swarm over a lot of much bigger, more powerful, and more expensive options. The Audiokinesis Swarm is a complete 4 sub system that will get you true state of the art bass for about $3-4k. Duke builds them ported and they come shipped with plugs to enable them to be run sealed if needed to get your desired in-room response. Tim, aka noble_100 has this and has posted lots of positive comments on it. Another option, I built my 4 subs using Morel 10" drivers and cabs from partsexpress.com where I also bought the same Dayton amps Duke (Audiokinesis) uses. This option is under $3k even with two amps and premium rosewood veneer. It does however involve a lot of DIY skills. Third option, buy 4 powered subs. Whatever size/power/design you like. This does matter, but a whole lot less than you’d think. By far the most important decision you have to make is not which but how many. |
I have a pair of Velodyne HGS-15s and a pair of HGS-10s. Does that count as four subs, or do they need to be the same size? Tim seems to think it does. He's been urging me to give up my idea of separate pairs of subs for stereo and HT setups. Do multiple small subs extend the lower end of the frequency range by multiplying the radiation area? For example, might three HGS-10s be the equivalent of two HGS-15s with a total radiation area of 30" in each case? I don't understand acoustic propagation well enough to know the answer. db |
If you go with four subs, they don't have to all be the same size or even brand. I have two SVS SB13 Ultra subs and two Rythmik F25 subs in my 4 sub setup for my 2 channel system. Completely overkill, but they are also used in my home theater system. To the OP, you could get four Rythmik F12-300 subs within your price range. It looks like you're using the Brooklyn as a pre-amp? It appears to have two sets of outputs and your amp has only RCA inputs, so I'm assuming the amp is connected to the Brooklyn using the RCA outs. You would need to get a couple of XLR Y splitters and then XLR to mini-XLR to connect the subs to your Brooklyn using the XLR outs on the Brooklyn. You don't need a remote control for the sub's volume. If your sub(s) is set up right, the bass will be there when it's in the music and it won't be when it's not. You want to have the subwoofer set up to blend in the bass, not overpower the rest of the frequency range. Once you have that, leave it alone. |
veerossi, I'd skip it for now. You are better of with what you have than trying to fix yourself up with a sub system for that kind of money. The Audiokinesis Swarm is probably the best for the money at $3200 which is a great price for that system. Otherwise you would have to do something like two JL Audio Fathom subs the cheapest being $7000/pr. Do not do just one sub unless you plan to buy another down the line. |
big_greg, can the Ultra be used as a master controller to output its DSP processed and preset signals to slave non DSP subs? Are you able to simultaneously connect your two channel and your HT to the Ultra with the caveat of using the two channel or the HT one at a time? If I'm not mistaken the JL Audio F and G series subwoofers can master control their more economical E series and possibly other powered subs with an XLR input. dbphd, in my room when I replaced a more than ample single Velodyne DD-18 with two DD-12 Plus' I gained an across the board presentation improvement. I attribute to a second sub reducing the rooms modes along with newer design amplification and certainly their far more advanced Plus Room Optimization and equalization. Crossover integration is the subwoofer industries unaddressed secret. Once you've heard it done properly you'll immediately realize that a single crossover point telling the sub to begin outputting is stunningly inferior to multi-band parametric filter frequency, level, and variable Q adjustability. |
big_greg, can the Ultra be used as a master controller to output its DSP processed and preset signals to slave non DSP subs? Maybe? It has XLR and RCA outputs. I've never considered doing that. The manuals should be available on SVS's website. Are you able to simultaneously connect your two channel and your HT to the Ultra with the caveat of using the two channel or the HT one at a time? I haven't done that, I'm using outputs on my two channel pre-amp to send signals to the subs when the HTBP is engaged on my two channel pre-amp. Doing it that way I lose bass management from my home theater processor. I'll have to give that a try, that would be a better solution than what I'm currently doing. |
