Subwoofer for music, how low?

Maybe I missed, but didn't see the size of your audio room. With base, the size and shape of room, along with budget, will determine what to do - one good sub or a swarm of subs. 

I have a medium/large room (14' x 27'' open to an additional 11'x13' adjoining room) and a single ADS Sub loads the room from 60Hz down to 20Hz incredibly well. In general, the smaller the room the more need of multiple subs to load the room with convincingly deep base. 

If your room is a bit smaller - say 12'x20' (3.5m x 6.5m) for deep full base I would think you could do very well with a pair of good subs that will go down to 20 or 23 Hz (you might check the used market) and set them to operate below 60Hz.

Keep in mind, quick and punchy base is not deep base. Quick and punchy base (at and above 60Hz) and deep base, getting down near 20Hz, should integrate and augment each other and even after getting the right subs - that will take some time, work and patience.

Best of luck......Jim

Denmark? Did you say Denmark? The country of ScanSpeak? Their 'Revelator' series is wonderful for DIY.

Add Bryston for amplification and you have it all, except DSP, which can be obtained from an audio processor (digital doesn't matter for low frequencies). Bryston has a factory-refurbish program for older units, and they come with a 5 year guarantee. SST series is older but plenty good.

Good luck!

 

 

Thanks for the feedback!! I have learnt a lot and would like to thank you all and wish you a happy new year.

 

I would especially like to thank millercarbon, oldhvymec and physics for their out of the box approach to solving the bass problem.

 

My takeaways

• Room, Power, Bass could not agree more
• A sub should not excite the floor. So no T9 to me.
• Servo is good
• 4 subs are needed to address room modes. Especially in small rooms 

 

This is what I wrote to Rytmik Audio

 

 

To Rythmik Audio

 

I am looking for a solution for uneven bass in my room.

 

The room is 26m2 and the walls are thin plasterboard. Wood floor with concrete half a meter under the floor. Ceiling goes from 2.3 to 3.8m

 

I have been looking at getting a bass array like the SWARM but think servo sealed subs is the way to go.

 

This is what I hope I can get from buying 4 F12G

• A sub array using MiniDSP 2x4 HD. This will be a mono array.
• Ability to try only two in a stereo setup using high input like on REL.
• I hope it will be possible to use the plate amps and the drivers to build a GR research dipole sub.
• I would also like to add the subs to my HT system. So a separate connection to HT and music. Is that possible?

 

As you can see my hope is that I should newer need any other bass solution than I can get from buying four of your subs.

 

Please correct and enlighten me. I have newer owned a sub.

 

I live in Denmark and hope we can find a better price for transportation. I will have to pay 33% on top of the total invoice. That's right also tax on transportation.

A subwoofer that meets all your criteria has a new home in Germany. Audio Reference purchased California based Velodyne Acoustics. Now marketing some new models and assembling a world wide sales and service network.

While it may be more than you’ve considered for your budget The Velodyne Digital Drive Plus can serve as an incomparable master control for less expensive slave subs in an array. The Plus has the ability to control a daisy chained system of units regardless of their inputs. The Plus offers one of, if not the most uniquely easy to use and remotely controlled, subwoofer dedicated Room Optimization / Equalization programs.

After Auto EQ has completed, on pages 10 and 11 of the DD Plus Interface Manual describes how to use the Frequency Response and Parameters Screen. This is a simple drag and drop control of multiple parameters that are visually and audibly made at the listening position to closely match or augment your main speakers basic presentation from 200Hz on down. https://www.velodyneacoustics.com/pdf/digitaldriveplus/DD+UserInterfaceManual.pd

Compare the flexibility the rear panel offers to other subwoofer panels in the User’s Manual below

http://velodyneacoustics.com/pdf/digitaldriveplus/DD+Manual.pdf

I assembled a four sub asymmetrical array in my largest 26’x 35’ room and they did eliminate ALL the rooms modes. I later settled on two asymmetrically located slaved Plus’ which allowed a noticeable mode in an unused corner of the room. The room loading and intensity has been easily maintained with just two subs ever since. Point being you may not require as many subs as you may think you do. What ever you decide on take it slow but keep it low.

FWIW, ["Virtually no music is down in the 20-40 Hz range"]?

Whether my Bass playing skills would be deemed musical is certainly subjective. Depending on my tuning and without the OctaBass on my Lakland’s stainless low B rings significantly at 31Hz which most 10" subs can easily output. Those B and E strings are bread and butter for a Bassist.

Contrary to what has been said to the OP on the topic of implementing a distributed bass array (Swarm), the positioning of four subs should not be symmetrical, but asymmetrical.

Symmetrical positioning of subs only increases the chance that room modes will be accentuated instead of reduced. Asymmetrical positioning increases the number of first reflection points, which should result in a smoother overall low frequency dispersion.