Will I benefit from a subwoofer with 20Hz speakers?


My source is a minidsp shd studio with Dirac going into Denafrips Gaia DDC to Denafrips T+ DAC to McIntosh 601 Monoblocks to Cabasse Pacific 3 speakers. The speaker's published frequency response is 41-20,000Hz. I presume this is achieved in an anechoic chamber. In my room however, it goes down to 20Hz, at least according to the Dirac measurements. In fact, I needed to flatten the curve and  reduce by 5-20 DBs between 20-100Hz due to the room effect.

So, considering I already go down to 20Hz, is there anything else 1 or 2 subwoofers will do for my system?  Would it create a more consistent low frequency field? I see many people adding up to 6 subs, so I wonder what I'm missing. 

Thank you for your insight! 

dmilev73

Showing 3 responses by lemonhaze

@bishop148, did you not read the thread? If you did you would have seen my short explanation and @atmasphere's clear and informative take on the virtues of multi-subs.

Perhaps you do the OP and yourself a disservice with your ill-informed dismissive reply.

@lanx0003, a constant directivity (CD) waveguide and a horn look about the same but behave differently. Generally speaking waveguides do not exhibit any of the annoying traits that gave horns a bad name. A CD waveguide in addition to allowing a wide sweet spot also has extremely low distortion and seemingly unlimited dynamics whilst also providing a believable stage.

They are not bright if correctly implemented and I find superior to any dome tweeter. In a domestic situation they are virtually indestructible.

As I've mentioned before: Pink Floyd don't play through dome tweeters 😎

@dmilev73  Yes you will definitely benefit from a sub or 2 or 3  When this is suggested people think of being overpowered by thunderous bass which if properly implemented is not that at all. Think of the subs as tuning devices. An enlightened poster mentioned a SWARM and I encourage you to read up on this. (aka DBA)

But the thing is that rooms and speakers are random.

This comment displays a lack of understanding. If nodes developed randomly it would be impossible to treat them because you have a moving target. Any given speaker in room will set up a consistent pattern if nothing is added or removed and the doors, windows and drapes are left as they were when first measured. Come back in a week or a month and the room will measure exactly the same.  Nothing random about it.

@lanx0003, Who told you to toe-in your speakers to cross in front of you? This relies on the proximity method and works with speakers that use constant directivity waveguides and a power response that is even.  A 180 degree waveguide, like the ubiquitous dome tweeter will not work which is probably what you have. A CD waveguide toed-in like you tried provides great imaging and a nice w-i-d-e  listening area.