Subwoofer pairing for Sonus Faber Elipsa SE

Hello doitwithlife,

       As I'm sure you know, the Elipsa SEs are very high quality performers. However, they each have only a single 10.25" woofer in each cabinet and the bass extension is only rated down to 35 Hz.  I don't know your budget or anything about your room, but my suggestion is you'll get the best results using subs or a bass system that is similar in quality to your Elipsa SEs.  I believe an excellent solution, that performs extremely well in virtually any room and with any pair of main speakers,  would be the Audio Kinesis Swarm bass system at about $3,000 for the complete system.  Here's an Absolute Sound review of the system from a few years ago followed by a link to it also being awarded a 2019 Golden Ear Award by The Absolute Sound:

https://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/audiokinesis-swarm-subwoofer-system/

http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/2019-golden-ear-awards-robert-e-greene/

     The owner of Audio Kinesis, Duke Lejeune, has stated that two subs perform twice as well as one, Four subs perform twice as well as two and eight subs are good grounds for divorce.  The Swarm system is based on the 4-sub distributed bass array concept (DBA) pioneered by a couple of PHD acoustical experts, Dr. Earl Geddes and Dr. Floyd Toole.

       I've used the almost identical Audio Kinesis Debra 4-sub DBA in my system, with a pair of 6' x2' Magnepan panels that are considered notoriously difficult to seamlessly integrate subs with, for about the last 4 years.  I've been so thrilled with the results that I started a couple of threads describing my experiences. Here's a link to my most recent thread that you may find useful:

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/anyone-else-using-an-audio-kinesis-swarm-or-debra-distributed...

Good luck,
    Tim

I used a pair of REL S3's with my Elipsa SE's.  They were a good addition to my system.  I then sold those and bought a pair of REL Carbon Limited subs.  My what a change those make in the system!  They blend extremely well with the SE's and contribute heartily to the bottom end without drawing attention to themselves if you have them set up correctly.  You won't even know that they are there until you turn them off.  They add so much atmosphere to the listening experience.  I consider them essential in my system, and would not be without them.  A pair of REL S5's should also work well in your system. Good luck and enjoy the music!

rdoc,

I'm hesitant to recommend much of anything anymore, but I agree with your statement about REL Carbon Limited subs. I sold a single JL Audio F112 v2 and replaced it with Dual REL Carbon Limited subs. My speakers are Monitor Audio PL500 ii, but the results are the same. They don't draw any attention to themselves, but they add to the overall sound like no other sub I've owned. I don't think they "hit" as hard as JL subs, but in my system they provide more shades of bass. 

Hello doitwithlife,

     I have no doubt that rdoc and ricred1's suggestion of a pair of REL Carbon Limited subs would work great with your speakers but, if a pair of REL S812s at $6K/pair was too expensive, I don't know why they thought a pair of these at $7K/pair are going to be an acceptable option for you.
    In terms of bass quality and bass integration with your main speakers, I can tell you with certainty that a pair of subs will perform twice as well as a single sub and 4 subs will perform about twice as well as a pair of subs.  This is based on scientific research done by PHD acoustic experts, Dr. Earl Geddes and Dr. Floyd Toole among others, and my personal experience over many years of attempting to incorporate subs in my own system.     
     It's useful to consider the number of subs utilized in terms of good, better and best with the quality of the subs employed also being an important contributing factor.  

Good-a single good quality sub is capable of providing good bass response at a specific single listening position if the sub is positioned properly in the room in relation to the listening position.  I recommend using the crawl method (google it) for optimally positioning the sub.  I've found that the quality of the sub is more important when a single sub is used than when multiple subs are used.  

Better-the multiple benefits of using multiple subs first becomes evident with the use of 2 subs. The bass is noticeably, smoother, faster, more detailed, more effortless, more natural and blends better with the main speakers.

Best- the bass benefits of using multiple subs in a given room only increases as more subs are employed up to the scientifically identified optimum threshold number of 4, beyond which additional subs only have smaller and more marginal benefits.  This is why the Audio Kinesis Swarm and Debra distributed bass array (DBA) systems utilize 4 subs.  Using either of these bass systems will outperform any pair of subs available, no matter their quality level or price,  in your room and the total cost is a relative bargain at $3K.  Either system will provide the best quality bass as well as the most seamlessly integrated bass with your Sonus Faber Elipsa SE speakers.

     If $3K exceeds your budget, I'd recommend buying a pair of very good quality SVS SB-1000 subs brand new for $950/pair (on a free in-home trial basis) that would provide very good quality and well integrated bass to your system right away.  Then, if you liked the results, you could add a 2nd pair and create your own custom 4-sub DBA system when you're ready.  Here's a link to the SVS SB-1000 sub:
www.svsound.com/pages/subwoofers#1000-series

Tim