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Cutting below 80 HZ on my mains, so subwoofers handle deep bass?

Sorry in advance if these are obvious questions.

I recently picked up two Rythmik L12 active subs to go with my Tekton Lore towers (10" full range driver with super tweeter). The Lores do an admirable job with deep bass (down to 30 HZ) but the L12s destroy them in quality and depth of the low-end.

The towers and subs use separate pre-amp outputs, but share one volume control. The subs are set at 80 HZ and below. Because the towers and subs currently share a lot of the same frequencies (which can potentially cause the bass to be overwhelming) is it possible to add an external crossover style device to cut 80 HZ and below from the main towers? It may improve the mids and highs if the tower drivers aren’t working as hard? And the sound may seem cleaner with greater instrument separation?

Thanks!
128x128pts
yogiboy's avatar
yogiboy
5,505 posts
 
@pts
Here ya go!
http://www.hsuresearch.com/products/high-pass-filter.html
pts's avatar
pts OP
42 posts
 
Thanks for the link, it's good to know external high-pass-filters are out there and fairly inexpensive.

To anyone who's cut lower bass to their mains, did it effect how the main drivers reproduce upper bass, mids, and highs? I don't want to mess with the overall sound signature.

chayro
2,936 posts
 
I don’t use subs at home, but I did when I did pro-sound. Once you take the frequencies from 100 or 80 out of the mains, it allows them to play much louder without strain and the load on your amplifier is considerably diminished as well. But the tonal balance will be changed somewhat and that’s why it can be difficult to integrate a sub into a high-end system unless you know what you’re doing and what you’re hoping to achieve sonically. Some believe a sub should not be noticeable except where very low bass is present and some prefer it to cut in a bit higher to make the low end more cushy. That’s up to you. The problem is that every room is different and your results will vary depending on how the sub reacts with the room. Just as an aside, the old Janis sub, considered the best in its day, had a fixed crossover at 100 hz.  For what it's worth. 
rcprince
3,062 posts
 
Virtually every review I have read remarks on how the mids and upper bass from the main speakers are improved when you add a subwoofer.  I have found this to be the case as well in the past when taking the woofers and crossover out of my four piece system and running the mains full range by themselves.  You might want to play with different crossover frequencies (and, if possible, different crossover slopes) to see which might work best with your particular speakers and in your room--remember that there will probably be some overlap of frequencies, depending on the crossover slope you use, and there might be room nodes that are in play (I have a nasty one now in my room at about 50 Hz) that might be activated in the frequency range where the subs cross over with the main speakers... 
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