subwoofer for Maggie 20.1

Multiple subwoofers or massive bass systems about your best choice. And I agree with Duke [so for all practical purposes the subwoofer(s) and room form a system].

The biggest hurdle to good in-room bass is the room itself. The biggest thing the room does is impose a significant peak-and-dip pattern on the output of a sub due to how that sub interacts with the room modes. You can change the peak-and-dip pattern by moving the sub or by moving the listener, but you cannot eliminate it.

Dipoles inherently have smoother in-room bass than monopoles because of how they interact with the room's low frequency modes. This presents a challenge when trying to integrate a monopole sub.

A single sub will generate a much more exaggerated peak-and-dip pattern than the pair of dipoles they are trying to blend with. Two subs will be considerably smoother than one, because each will generate a unique peak-and-dip pattern at the listening position and their sum will be smoother than either one alone.

Four subs will be smoother than two, especially if they are arranged asymmetrically. Your ears will add their outputs to a much smoother summation than any one of them alone, and the impact will not be degraded by the arrival time differences because your ear's resolution in the time domain is much coarser than said arrival time differences. In fact, your ears cannot hear the low frequency output of the subwoofer apart from the room's effects, so for all practical purposes the subwoofer(s) and room form a system.

Imho, ime, ymmv, etc.

Duke
dealer/manufacturer

Thanks,

REL was one of the two crossovers I was thinking about. They would be convenient for me as they are also carried by the same dealer that carries the Maggies.
The other I was considering was the JL audio but I would have to go to two dealers then.

They have a series, new I think - called the "R" series.

nottop

A few years ago, I went over to a friend's house to hear his relatively new MG-20's. After a few tunes I noticed a couple boxes behind and to the far right and far left of each Maggie. I asked, "are those subs"? "Why with those big panels would you need subs"?

My friend smiled and said, "you be the judge". So, we listened to a tune with the subs still on. Everything sounded wonderful as it had when we first started listening. Then he turned them off. To my complete surprise, the whole soundstage shrunk and the music lost much of it's weight and power and those little nuances and spatial cues that were so obvious before were now greatly diminished.

Those subs were REL Stadium 2's and I was so impressed with them that I ordered a pair of the newer Stadium 3's the very next day. They turned out to be one of the greatest upgrades ever.

I love the fact that you can take the signal right off your main amplifier's binding posts rather than having your main speakers go through the sub's crossover and they have all kinds of adjustment for gain, phase and frequency.

One last thing, whatever sub you decide on, don't let anybody tell you that bass below 100Hz is non-directional and you can get by with just one. If you're gonna do it, do it right and buy two!

Thank you Teajay

I will check out the review (have to rush to work now).
I also did check on the MyeSound stands and there might be a problem in fitting them as the ceiling is only 84" high.
He also has a "stealth" stand that would fit better and which some people love and some don't.

Nottop,

Take a look at my review here on the GON on the ML subs I use with my MG-20's for details on setup and why they brought my whole system to a higher sonic level.

Also, do you have your MG-20.1's on MyeSound stands, if not you really have not heard what your 20.1's can really sound like.