What is best sub to match with Magnepan?

I have used Rel subs with my MG3.7s with some success. I think one key to a successful pairing of any dynamic sub with Maggies is what Johnny b said above--Don't try to do too much! If you allow the subs to just provide a little foundation at the low end and don't try to achieve + 6 dB at 20 Hz (don't laugh, this is what a few people want) you can make it work with the REL R series subs. Yesterday I played a few minutes of music through the sub without the 3.7s playing. It is amazing how little in an absolute sense is playing, yet how much it adds subjectively. Getting a good integration is easier with two subs in a stereo arrangement than with one blended mono. Also, if you set up the Maggies to do all they can at low frequency (out 4-5 ft from the back wall for instance), it will make the task easier. CWs advice on room set up is excellent, though I respectfully disagree with his absolute avoidance of subs with Maggies.
Finally, I suspect (but haven't heard in my system) the Fathom subs may be superior to the RELs, but at the cost of the Fathoms, you would do better moving up to the 3.7Rs. While they aren't particularly strong below 40 Hz, they are much, much better overall than the 1.7s.

Brownsfan and others,

If you enjoy subs with your Magnepans, that's great and I wish you happiness with your system. And I agree with the observation that yes, you would want them to be as unintrusive as possible or as Brownsfan puts it to not try to do too much!

I am not a bass freak and have generally had bass challenged speakers throughout my life. I do think imaging is one of the greatest things for an audiophile and my understanding is that very low bass can add space, ambience and room size to imaging?

Nonetheless, the reason I am stubborn on this point is that the unique magic of Magnepans comes from their amazing cohesiveness, which is unmatched by most coned speakers.

In my experience, no matter how fast a dynamic speaker is, it will never keep up with a panel or an electrostatic, so there is inevitably some smearing and blurring of the qualities that you might have purchased planar speakers for in the first place.

I had a pair of Martin Logan SL3s years ago where obviously the manufacturer would go to great efforts to blend the woofer and the panel. I sold them because it wasnt even close.

So if you want to use subwoofers, I would first go to the end of the earth and every conceivable effort to extract the best full range, top to bottom, sound that you can from your room and from your Magnepans.

Then and only then I would add your subs back in and as Brownsfan points out, dial them out of the conversation as much as possible.

Finally, those of you who have been doing this for a while may recall an audiophile classic do it yourself speaker in the 70's / 80's as touted by the Absolute Sound: The Infinity QRS - Magneplanar Tympani 1D.

In that case, the best bass in the world was derived by splicing the Mangeplanar BASS panels onto the Infinitys.

So I would definitely also check out the new woofer panels - combined with 1.7s they could be a new giant killer.

Cheers,

i am not a maggie owner but i would ask around to see if anyone has paired the tbi subs with your speakers. this is a unique sub with very fast subjective sound. id guess that a large or pair of tbismwith the min dspeaker correction unit would be killer

Thanks guys for all the info. I've been playing around with the Sunfire sub I have. Changing positions, fine tuning and level adjustments. It's getting better, now that the Maggies are about broken in.(after 6 months)
Also looking at getting some MYE stands, which will stiffen the panels and I understand helps increase the bass response. I'm just trying to get the best blending of sound I can between the sub and the Maggie 1.7s.
Still tweaking......

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Oak244, VMPS went out of business a year ago when the owner of the company died. There are no more new products from that company anymore.
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