Add a Subwoofer or New Speakers

Would I get better performance by adding a Subwoofer (Rel T7) to my 2 channel hi fi or sell my existing pair of speakers and use the money to buy better speakers. I am very much into listening to music and not so much into AV.

I have a pair of ProAc Tablette 2000 speakers, my guess is if I sell them I would get at best £300 for them. The cost of a Rel T7 is about £700 . So the choice I have is keep my ProAc and add a Rel T7 or Sell my Pro Ac and get speakers under £1000.

I am looking to add greater scale and to retain some of the strengths that the ProAc's provide in terms of soundstage and imagery.

Room size is about 4.75M L x 4.25M W , amplifiers are Naim with Naim CD player and Linn LP12 Turntable.

 

Depends on how attached you are to the ProAcs. If you really love them and hate the thought of parting with them, I would keep them and add a sub. Otherwise, I'd swap them out for something new.

 

Of course, ditto to dat56 too.

I've used 3 piece 'sat/sub' systems for many years now (over 2 iterations), I like listening in the nearfield with the standmounts ... assuming you like the ProAcs, adding a sub can be rewarding or frustrating (or both, I guess!). You'll need to feed it a variable out from your preamp or integrated amp (hopefully there is one on whatever you're using, otherwise maybe forget it ... but you CAN connect parallel wiring to the 'speaker level' input on the REL - it won't load down your amp at all). The REL doesn't seem to have a speaker output, so putting it 'in series' with your ProAcs cannot be done. (Edit: I guess you could connect to your ProAcs, then string speaker cable from them to the REL (have it at the 'end of the line') but this isn't usually how it's done ... you could also (with a custom plug) connect to the speaker level input on the REL then to the ProAcs, but again ...).

Placement and dialing in of the sub can be problematic (setting crossover frequency and phase) but is relatively easy, using test tones. There's lots of 'tutorials' and of course opinions on the best way to do this. I just plopped the sub where it fit to the side against the front wall, used some tones to set the level and phase, and haven't been bothered by 'lack of integration' etc. that seem to plague some folks. Guess I'm just lucky/not sensitive to their problems ...

The sub should not even be heard as a separate sound source, only turning it off should 'truncate' the low bass. If you can 'hear' it and where the sounds are coming from, it's turned up too much, OR the crossover f is set too high. I'd say keep it below 80Hz, probably.

The other thing you can possibly do is get some ~60Hz high pass filters to put in-line with your main preamp outs to the amp(s) - if you have that arrangement. Relieving the main amp(s) and speakers of low bass (even tho the speakers don't go much lower than this, the amp will put out power at those frequencies) can clean things up elsewhere in the spectrum.

I experimented with this and returned to the 'augmented' bass arrangement, driving the main speakers full range. YMMV etc. ...

If you've kept the ProAcs close(r) to the wall for bass reinforcement, now you would be free (assuming your wife/SO lets you!) to pull them out a couple feet and get more open/deep soundstages. This plus the sub filling in the low bass will make quite a difference IMO. I'd say go for it! but give the new 'system' time, for it and your ears to 'settle in'.