Great article AKG! ....
Everything comes at a price, and the price you pay with most subwoofers
is that when you add them and their built-in amplifiers to your system,
they don’t tend to blend or integrate well with the sound of your power
amp and speakers. This is especially true if you own a tube amp, because
the character of your amp is nothing like the character of the big
solid-state amp that is built into most subwoofers. The result is that
your system sounds split in half. You can hear where one part of the
system leaves off (namely your amp and speakers) and where the other
part takes over (the sub and its amp). This is a HUGE problem for
audiophiles who aren’t willing to destroy their system’s coherence for
additional power and bass extension. Fortunately, Vandersteen has the
perfect solution for this problem that is, again, so simple, I wonder
why nobody else thought of it first. His solution is to build a very
powerful 300 watt amplifier that strictly provides the huge current
needed to drive the subwoofer. You can think of this amplifier as only
half of an amplifier; or just the power portion of an amplifier. The
release of this power is controlled by the signal that is provided by
your power amp. Vandersteen’s amplifier needs a voltage to modulate its
current output, and what better place to get that voltage than from your
main power amp? This way, your power amplifier is directly responsible
for the sonic character of the deep bass coming from the subwoofer
because it provides the necessary voltage signal. This voltage signal
contains the unique and characteristic sound of your main power
amplifier and insures that that character is maintained in the sound of
the subwoofer itself. The beauty of it is that your amplifier is only
providing a voltage reference and no actual current, so it is not taxed
with the burden of “driving” the subwoofer in any way. As a matter of
fact, your amplifier doesn’t even know that the sub is connected to it.
The 2Wq’s potential is almost unlimited given that it will ratchet up
its performance as you improve your power amp. Remember that you always
want your subwoofer to sound just like your power amp. No better, no
worse. NO DIFFERENT!
This is exactly why I bought a REL? Funny this is a plug for Vandersteen. lol.
Matt M
