Phono Stage upgrade to complement Dohmann Helix One Mk 2

The article you quote is about "woofers", not in particular about "subwoofers".  You say there are no negatives.  What about the required electronic crossover?  It needs to be totally transparent in order to do no harm to the signal at all audio frequencies. Is there really such a thing? You need to choose crossover points and slopes that suit the drivers in question, as well.  I also take the point about reproducing 40Hz, but the associated issue is what the drivers do at the crossover, i.e., the highest frequency the subwoofer (woofer in your cited article) is asked to reproduce.  These considerations, especially where one is using a subwoofer to augment the response of a main speaker that can already cover the bass spectrum adequately, should be in play when one decides to use a subwoofer with an otherwise full range speaker, and if the bass augmentation is poorly implemented, then the addition of a subwoofer will be a net negative.  I never met an electronic crossover that was totally transparent.

@rauliruegas

Thanks for your recommendations. What would be the simplest and best way to add subwoofers to the system with ESL’s? I know one guy, Duke, involved tangentially with Atma-Sphere who made a group of four sub woofers, called the Swarm, or something like that. Is there something that I could just connect to the other pair of output posts on my monoblock amplifiers, or is it much more complicated than that?

Thanks.

It needs to be totally transparent in order to do no harm to the signal at all audio frequencies. Is there really such a thing?

One can it in analogue… there is not a requirement to do it digitally.

• If one’s glasses are thick, then the DSP makes sense.
• For people that like solder and capacitors, then analogue makes sense.

Not everyone would want a Vandersteen sub, but some do. And the crossover is a key part of it:
https://www.vandersteen.com/categories/crossovers

Dear @drbond  : The swarm is nothing new and the main problem is that its subs are of low quality because they think that eliminating bass standing waves almost everything is solved and it's not exactly that way in the other side the ones that sale the swarm " scenario " almost always tell the audiophiles that an advantage is that bass is " rigth " does not matters where the audiophile is seated.

Many years ago the Harrrrman Group ( JBL, Infinity, Levinson, etc, etc,. ) made a in deep scientific research ( modeling. ) about subwoofers and they determined that the ideal number in subwoofers in home be 4 subwoofers but that 2 subwoofers were enough in a home system and for one seat position.

Subwoofers mainly is not about how deep goes but before that is the quality level has that reprodutcion bass at least to 16hz. Not all subwoofers give you the same quality level.

One very well regarded subwoofers are the JL Audio that have very good look but that inside mesurements showed at full SPL and obviously at 20hz a THD of around 6%.

The Velodyne's I own measured only 0.5% on THD thanks that the sub is checking over 18K times per second the woofer excursion.

Other quality characteristic that you have to look for is that the subwoofer be a sealed design, it does not goes down to 6hz-8hz as the ported/open-box ones ( well if the sealed one design is the " rigth " one can goes to 6hz-8hz but needs not only a  bigger driver but a big box and very good construction of that box. ).

If you can find out a sealed sub with paper cone drivers the better if bass quality matters for you.

R.

Dear @holmz  :  A subwoofer is a complete solution where the crossover is only an inherent and important part of any sub ( a key like you posted. ) along the box, drivers and the like. The crossover is not a second product but is part of the subwoofer it self that must has a low/high pass filters and several other functions.

Analog or digital are only options and convenience for the audiophiles to choose in between.

The subwoofer bass solution with good integration to the main speakers and room give you huge benefits. We can't talk here of disadvantages in the same way we can't say that a phono stage has the disadvantage of the RIAA eq. because it's part of the phono stage in the same way that creossover is integral part of a subwoofer.

Btw, when we have well integrated subs in our system there is no come back, we learn that we can't listen any more with out it due that helps to lower the distortions levels of not only the speakers but amplifiers too and several other advantages.

R.