when using vandersteen2wq powered sub...

thanks.....the bottom end is so important to give strenght and a foundation for all the other freg...or music to sound correct or musical. now...where is a good placement of a sub woofer? typically...a pair is understandable..but..financial concerns can only allow one..so ..since recordings typically record everything under 100 cycles in mono..then ..why two subs...which i am hearing is correct...i say place the sub in the middle of front speakers....and correct if necessary the contour of the sub ..for the room size,etc......to many listeners..i believe the twin sub could be a selling issue to sell more subs...when doing other things such as isolation or equipment...cables, etc....that money on a second sub could buy many a good cable..power cables..isolation..etc...any responses are accepted..thanks...dwhitt

Dwhitt: your second post raises a topic that deserves further discussion on this site. To make my point at the outset, I personally believe that many young listeners have a totally unrealistic notion about bass reproduction. Car audio is somewhat responsible for this: witness the phenomenon of hearing thumping low bass coming from a car that is 3-4 blocks away and yet discernable through heavy traffic. That is not bass reproduction -- it's manufactured bass that has virtually nothing to do with realistic, natural reproduction of musical instruments.

The Vandy 2Wq sub, and its companion HT model the V2W, do an excellent job of reproducing the lower bass frequencies that are actually found in recorded music (or DVD tracks). Good subwoofers should NOT be discernable when there is little or no audio signal in the low and mid-bass range (typically in the 20-60 Hz range). The acoustic upright bass produces notes down to about 32Hz, and an acoustic grand piano may produce notes down to around 24Hz. The only musical instrument that produces lower frequencies is the pipe organ, which may have frequency response down to 16Hz or so.

A really good sub should integrate with the main speakers. One of the design characteristics of the Vandy 2Wq sub (and other good subs) is their frequency overlap with the main speakers. The Vandy sub and crossover are intended to be used with full-range speakers, so there is substantial overlap between the speaker and the sub in the critical 60-80Hz range. Without this overlap, you may create a dip in the upper-mid bass, which makes the deeper bass notes sound over-emphasized.

thanks....im going to use one with my 2ce sig...because i use tube pre and power and don't want to give up the tubes anywhere because they do such a super job on the mid and highs...espeically listening to cont. jazz. the ss. amp in the sub is then doing what it needs to do with those low octaves......it's subtle but i believe correct in getting the presence of bottom end..even though the pounding of certain freq. aren't there because i believe it is used all the time in speakers where the freq.are boosted too much to allow a lower end that sounds good but isn't correct...especially in stand up bass...thanks gang...if anyone has futher details concerning this sub..please let me know...i am using a cary audio cd..cary pre and power into the vandy 2ce sig..and i am very pleased...the sub is subtle and i believe that is correct...please feel free to respond...thanks...dwhitt

To expand on Bigtee's answer just a bit: you leave the bi-wire speaker cables on the main speakers, as the low-frequency driver will still continue to reproduce frequencies in the upper bass. The crossover for the subwoofer is connected between the preamp and power amp, and its function is to roll off the response to the main speakers below 80Hz. The built-in amplifier in the 2Wq sub has a compensating frequency curve, so it picks up the frequencies below 80Hz. The 2Wq is a true subwoofer, handling the bottom two octaves (20-40Hz, and 40-80Hz), while the main speakers reproduce the frequencies above 80Hz.

No, you still use both speaker inputs on the back of the speaker and insert the high pass filter in line between the preamp and power amp.