vandersteen 2w subwoofer

Hi Dainotto,

You can’t damage a subwoofer by feeding it too much high frequencies. :)

Yes, you can use your own DSP / EQ to act as the HP filter for your main speakers. Vandersteen is a 1st order fanatic, but THX usually uses sealed satellites with 2nd order electrical crossovers as a matter of convenience.

What is most important in my mind is the phase and amplitude matching. If you are going to use an external DSP engine for your mains, you might as well use it to EQ the sub as well.

Having said this, DSP engines use A/D, D/A conversion. If you spent a lot of money on your DAC, this is not the way to go.  For this reason I keep my EQ out of my main speaker path, but feed the sub through the EQ.

Best,


E

Also, I"m not sure what your preamp is. The Parasound P5 and P7 have integrated bass management. That's how I roll. 

Best,


E

The Vandie subs don't care how you achieve the high pass as long as the main amps are crossed at 80hz.

Thank you both! I am using Benchmark DAC2 HGC as preamp (no bass management); DSP is done through Roon (as far as I understand, EQ is applied to a digital signal). I will go ahead with DSP then, since I believe there is something wrong with my X-2 crossovers.

Just remember that the plate amp in the 2Wq has a build in first order boost from 80Hz on down, so for best results you should feed the mains with a first order roll off from 80 Hz on down.  FWIW, Aesthetix makes some amps that have built in crossovers that are intended to work well with the Vandy subs.