Subwoofer Crossover Replacement for Wilson WHOW?

Raul and Nsgarch,

I must have been asleep at the wheel: The next to the last sentence in my post should have read "I'm looking for an excellent subwoofer crossover with RCA inputs and outputs." Raul, thanks for bringing that to my attention.

Besides being an expensive coffee table, the WHOW's drivers were selected to match and harmonize with the drivers in the Watt/Puppy. At this stage, I don't want to take on the task of finding a subwoofer with drivers that go with the Watt/Puppy. So, for now, I'll stay with the WHOW. Nsgarch, thanks for the Class D suggestion. I'll look into those.

Great Listening,
John

Correction: One of the two WHOW owners referred to in my post informed me by email that the crossover he replaced Wilson's by has both RCA and Balanced inputs and outputs. It's the Krell KBX. So, if I can find it on the used market, that would definitely be a candidate for my short list of crossovers to audition.

Nsgarch: Although I am initially looking for a replacement for my crossover, I am also looking at the different alternatives for a higher powered amp. In fact, both of the WHOW owners reffered to in my post also obtained high powered amps. The Bryston 7B SST, Parasound Halo JC1, and the Crown K2 have been recommended by different people for my short list.

Rbes: My new dedicated listening room is 23.6"x20.8"x8.9". So, more power will help. Even with three 20 amp, dedicated AC lines coming into the listening room, the new power cords and AC line conditioners made a big difference. The subwoofer is on it's own dedicated line, as is the front end. The Jadis amps are on the third dedicated line. The cords and conditioners, of course, are not in the signal path. With them in place, the sonics are much cleaner, the noise floor is much lower. Consequently, there is now greater clarity, transparency, and discernible detail. The harmonic texture, nuance and delicacy of music is now more apparent. In short, I am now happier with the overall resolution, musicality and involement. The weak link is in the bass. At this point, I'm open to any and all suggestions for my short list: passive or active. In the end, auditioning by the ear/mind/heart will decide which combination of the candidates on my amp and crossover short lists is most satisfying to me musically and emotionally.

Best Regards,
John

Nsgarch,

I plan to experiment with other amps and crossovers. My current short list for crossovers consists of Bryston 10B (SUB version) and the Krell KBX. And my current short list for subwoofer amps consists of Aragon Palladium, Parasound Halo JC1, Bryston 7B SST or 7B ST, and the Crown K2. If anyone has heard any of this components driving a subwoofer, I would greatly appreciate your observations. Any other candidates I should consider?

Thank You,
John

Nsgarch,

Thanks for your recommendation of the Bryston 10B. I also got another high recommendation for it today in an email from another audiophile.

As for the subwoofer amp, I'm looking primarily for an amp that has superb bass characteristics: deep, fast, clean, tight, detailed, powerful, and controlled bass. Usually its the better amps that have a high quality bass. About 10 years ago I was shocked to hear an improvement in the mid range and treble when I upgraded the subwoofer's speaker cable. It was an unexpected surprise. Recently, I had a similar experience when I upgraded the power cord on the amp that drives only the subwoofer. The explanation I got for this phenomenon is: Improving the quality (not just the amplitude) of the fundamental bass tones naturally improves the harmonics of these fundamentals and this improvement shows up further up the spectrum. However, if there are less costly quality alternatives, I'm open to suggestions.

Best Regards,
John