Subwoofer options for Magnepan with crossover betwen pre and amp?


I'd like to offload the bass below 50hz to a subwoofer through a crossover placed between pre amp and amp; believe this will (a) help with stabilizing the Prima Luna amp by eliminating low bass clipping (b) remedy the lack of weight in the low bass with Magnepan 1.7's. Has anyone found a combination they liked for around $2k? I've seen Vandersteen 2WQ's mentioned, I suppose separate amp/crossover TBD with Magnepan DWM panels are another path. My main concern is a clean merge of the subwoofer with the SQ of the Magnepans
davide256

Showing 6 responses by bdp24

@michel1980: Head over to the GR Research website (and their AudioCircle Forum) and check out the OB/Dipole Sub. THE sub for use with Tympani’s (and all other dipole loudspeakers, for that matter), unless you have room for a pair of Tympani T-IV to use as subs ;-) .

Brian's quite a guy. Danny too. Brian found the OB/Dipole sub to be too lean sounding, without the weight he expects from a sub. But that leanness is one reason it works so well with dipole speakers. And their dipole figure-of-8 radiation characteristic matches that of dipole speakers, one reason for that leanness. OB's excite fewer room modes than do omnipoles, resulting in less "room boom", the "overhang" in bass notes some people blame on subs when the real cause is the room itself. Without the low bass reproduced by a sub, the room won't have it's lowest modes excited by the loudspeaker (which doesn't produce very low bass), hence the room's ability and tendency to boom remains unrealized. Add a sub, and that ability and tendency becomes apparent and audible. Fat, "slow" bass (overhang) is always blamed on the sub itself, whether justified or not. 

I'm about to set up both my OB/Dipoles and Magneplanar Tympani T-IV's in my new room---I'm interested to see the similarities and differences between the OB sub and the T-IV bass panels.

Your in Austin, ay limniscate? Check out an ol’ pal of mine from San Jose, Cornell Hurd. He fronts a Western Swing Band, and plays around town regularly. Cornell’s a great songwriter---Junior Brown for one has recorded a song of his.

Regarding calling Rythmik, for the OB/Dipole sub you want to call Danny Richie at GR Research. He and Brian Ding at Rythmik collaborated on the sub, but it’s Danny’s baby. He’ll tell you all about it; Brian Ding sells the DIY kit, but recommends his own sealed and ported boxed subs in preference to the OB/Dipole. You probably already know the G in your F12G refers to GR Research. The G woofer has a paper cone, the standard F12 an aluminum one. Danny feels the paper-cone woofer provides more resolution and a more natural timbre than does the aluminum.

limniscate, you're a perfect candidate for the Rythmik/GR Research OB/Dipole sub. Details on the GR website and it's AudioCircle forum threads.

Here’s a post Paul McGowan made on the PS Audio website, in one of his blogs:

"There are many great subwoofers available today. Perhaps my favorite is REL out of England. But even as good as REL subs are, they don’t quite live up to the Nth degree afforded by a properly designed servo version. That’s always been a mystery to me, why servo subs aren’t more prevalent".

Having owned the Infinity RS-Ib (six 8" servo-feedback controlled woofers per channel), and now owning a pair of Rythmik F15HP sealed subs and a pair of GR Research/Rythmik OB/Dipole Subs (both of which include the Rythmik Direct Servo-Feedback circuit), it is to me as well.

If you have the room, and are patient, another option is the bass panels of the old Magneplanar Tympani bass panels. Both the T-I and T-IV models consisted of three 16" wide x 6’ tall panels, two of which were for bass only, and they make great subs for modern Maggies! I say patient because they have become pretty desirable, more people looking for them than are selling them.