Subwoofer Question


I’ve decided to try a sub in my system but without much experience with subs I bought a Definitive Sub Pro 80. This is for 2ch audio. It had great reviews and for the price I thought I might give it a try. I have a pretty small listening room, so I don’t think I need anything much bigger. There is certainly more bass to the system now, and I kind of like this; however it through my system off balance. Stage is much more difficult to control it seems like. Now it sits on the left side near the speaker. My question is… do I need to get a second sub? Different sub? Maybe, position it differently?

Thanks.
moganes
Agree. A 2nd sub is best but you need to make sure the sub blends with the output of your main speakers. Don't be tempted by the urge to make the sub heard. Try to blend the sub so that it's only adding an octave or 2 to the bottom end when the music plays it. The key is being judicious with the added bottom end extension.
Totally agree with both of the above posts. In one of the threads (Velodyne Digital Drive in Stereo, or something like that), one versus two subwoofers is hotly debated. I came away with this: Below 60 hertz or so, subwoofers are non-directional to the human ear. Don't know if that's true but it makes intuitive sense. My sub has the crossover set at 27 hertz and blends seamlessly with the mains, both in terms of sonics and in terms of seeming to be non-directional. It sits in a corner but the deep bass sounds like it's coming from between the speakers, or sometimes just to the left of center (towards that same corner, but still only a foot or so off center).
Another contribution. I lived with a single sub (powered Genesis Servo 12) and do, or did, hear some lop-sidedness. I use Outlaw ICBM Base Management (an active x-over unit) to filter the lowest HZ to the sub, and away from the low-mid drivers of the main speaker pair.

A second sub (powered REL Q 200e) was brought in by another audio friend and connected at the stereo subwoofer outlet of the ICBM. Mode switch set to stereo, and the blend (combine) to off, and spl level of each sub set as equally as possible.

As I roamed the room, the bass was coming from the left arena and bass was coming from the right arena, so far good. Sitting in the "sweet spot" or SPOT about center and each sub pointing to about the SPOT and spaced fourteen feet, I quickly realized that the bass was centered and not lop-sided. Very noticeable, very blended, very balanced, very different from only one sub. In a nutshell, it is bigger-bolder-better. Important to this is the sound levels of each sub is adjustable. Also, I do not have access to and use of corners like some of you have. My sound room is also owned and used for sitting by my wonderful wife.

I bought a second sub (used Genesis) after one week of listening, yet would have after the first thirty minutes. Never any regrets, extremely happy. Difference to me was between 5% and 8% improvement.

Sound level of entire system with two subs is simply controlled by me at the preamp (First Sound Reference, a dual mono design). ...Lower frequencies may be less directional, yet in a larger room size, you have to fully fill a room with sound. One sub just doesn't quite cut it, as the room size enlarges. My space is 18 x 22 x 16 (lwh).
Thanks all for reading....

Chelan313,
For what it's worth, in my opinion that was an excellent and very informative post. I'm considering going to a double sub set-up myself. Thank you for providing some very helpful information for making that decision down the line.
-Bill
Moganes, here is a suggestion I got from Mapleshade Audio that did work for me. I was having just a little too much highs from a front firing sub causing the "balance" to be off a bit. I ended up turning the sub sideways, as suggested in the catalog. It worked pretty good by eliminating most of the highs from the sub. Give that a shot, seeing it would cost you nothing about placement.