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Subwoofer matching

I was all set to pull the trigger on a pair of REL subwoofers.  These would be used with my Avangard Duo’s and Pass Labs XA 60.8 monoblocks.  My main music is Rock, Jazz and Blues.  I have been given advice by a few people now saying the 107 efficiency of the Duo’s will make it very difficult to find a matching paint odd subwoofers.  Feed back I have been given is “... it will take a powerful subwoofer to be able to match the output levels of your speakers“ and “The only REL model that may work for this application will be the 212/SE, which has a very powerful amplifier that will allow it to blend well with your speakers.”  A pair of REL 212/SE is a budget breaker for me.  I am in not position to judge if the advice is correct or not.  Does anyone have experience negating a pair of subwoofers to a highly efficient speaker?
chilli42
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cleeds
5,700 posts
 
mijostyn
... From a measurement and functional standpoint subs are better off in corners and against walls. They are up to 6 dB more efficient in these locations and there is less room interaction.
@mijostyn I have to believe that some of the LF problems that plague your system can be traced back to some your fundamental misunderstandings, of which this is just the most recent example. Subs placed in corners have more room interaction, not less. That’s how they produce higher gain from the corners, which certainly yields more bass, but not necessarily better bass. You seem to be a member of the "more bass is always better club," which explains your flapping woofers and need to use a rumble filter.
erik_squires
15,877 posts
 
A thoughtful and nuanced explainer on subs and the corners:

https://www.axiomaudio.com/blog/subwoofer-corner-placement/


kevemaher's avatar
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kevemaher
71 posts
 
Room treatments are not for everyone. They are usually not very pleasing to the eye. But they do work. I have corner traps. I tried the "clap" test with and without them. The echo disappears using the corner trap. It is truly amazing. You cannot remove room echo (modes) without some form of room treatment. Curtains or wall hangings (canvas art?) will help suppress the mid and high frequency modes. But to stop the lower frequency room  modes, the resonant frequencies must be absorbed at one wall, preventing back reflections.from happening.
DSP will not fix this problem. since they do not stop room modes. Only physical objects placed in the room at appropriate locations will suppress room modes.
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