Use a sub with your hi-fi system?

That's exactly why I do use subs. My main speakers are in position where they image best, but the bass goes MIA in this location. The subs pick up the slack. My main speakers go down to 35 Hz, but sound light weight when pulled out into the middle of the room where they image best. I use Audio Tools ( http://www.studiosixdigital.com/audiotools/ ) and Dspeaker ( http://dspeaker.com ) to adjust the subs.

I think we're on the same page here, mostly......

Maybe I should have said, "In a perfect world, but the world's not perfect".

 

You cant really do it with a "low end"spectrum analyzer either. That will more than likely be using a division of 1/3 octave, totally useless in testing the low end. Thats a tool of the 70's. Much better and cheaper options available today.

 

Subs? me?

No, not needed here for my taste, in room I get a good low response for my liking.

Also, to integrate a sub correctly (PITA. IMO) and have one that is articulate.... would cost me a bomb!

 

Exactly. My B&W Nautilus 805 speakers drop off around 45 hz so I use two B&W 608 powered subwoofers to fill in the missing frequencies. Works, and sounds IMO, great.

 

Is Dspeaker difficult to use?

Thanks!

 

Not at all.
You just plug in the included microphone and press two buttons, it does the rest. It does a fine job of eliminating modes. It can not eliminate nodes, so you'll still have to do some legwork there. That's where the Audio Tools app comes in handy.

 

Thank you, one last question: What do you do for active subwoofer settings such as crossover freq, volume etc. I have the same KEF R400b subs that you do.

 

Why?

 

Do you mean the settings when I'm running the Dspeaker set up?

During the Dspeaker set up, you turn the subs volume to 25% & adjust the crossover as high as it will go.

Durring normal play with my Medusa amp the volume is at 28 clicks from the bottom, and the crossover at 21 clicks from the bottom. A little over 60Hz, according to the dial.
With my modified Moscode, the volume is at 34 clicks.

Different amps, main speakers, room size, speaker placement, and siting location would make these numbers all different of course.

 

That's exactly what I was asking. Thanks!

 

I sometimes eat subs when listening to my sound system, does that count?

I have never wanted one. I think I would use a few HSU mid-bass modules before using subs.

 

I have a sub in my porch system. I love it. If you don't have good full range speakers a sub is a great alternative.

 

(Sorry for the late reply!) Just a 100/watt channel amp driving an older 12" Realistic (Radio Shack) acoustic-suspension passive sub.* But I've also helped set-up several friends' sub+sat systems, using subs of much higher quality.

* man I wish more companies sold acoustic-suspension subwoofers - IMO they sound better for music than most bass-reflex types I've heard.

 

For now im stuck with my 5.1 surround sound from my home stereo smart receiver/ Bluray player.
i sold all my components many moons ago. Wish i kept them now

 

The 5.1 system obviously needs one, but the separate 2-ch system is good without. Mind you, those decades-old speakers measure down to 25Hz. If they didn't, or if I was to buy new speakers (I could never afford new full-range floorstanders), I wouldn't hesitate a minute to add a pair of sealed subs.

This is a do-what's-needed household. I listen to umpteen different music genres, and some of 'em go way down. And I want all of it. I can't short-shrift the low end in pursuit of some perceived Magic Midrange. Compromise isn't fun, but it's real.

I can't afford Magic Midrange in any event.

 

No subs.

 

Yep. I have a SVS SB2000. Thinking about adding another one. I'm not a bass nut but I do like the extended low freq.

 

I've got a 5.1 system driving my towers and sub and love the sound

 

Yeah i have the 4 small satelite speakers, center channel, and sub.
Great for watching the game not so much for music. Dont get me wrong, it wasnt cheap, just not made for music so much

 

There are plenty of ways of doing this without a sub out on the preamp. I bought my first sub in the late 70s, long before sub outputs on amps. I have only heard a couple speakers that perhaps wouldn't benefit from a sub. I haven't heard all the speakers out there, but my opinion is that a vast majority of them could use a sub.

I have my 5.1 preamp configured to as 4.0, telling it there is no sub on the LFE channel (and no center), thus it routes the LFE channel to the four remaining full range channels. The Velodyne ULD-15II is then cabled to the front channels as you would with any two channel preamp. I also have a sub under each rear speaker (DIY isobaric affairs). I did this so I could enjoy the sub with 2.0 sources as well as 5.1 sources. Had I put the Velodyne on the preamp's sub out, it would only be active on 5.1 sources, and be useless with 2.0 material. To answer one of your questions, I don't use the dedicated sub output, but I don't really feel it is a trick, just a logical hookup.

Going further, I also have another sub (a DIY acoustic wave cannon) driven by a sub-harmonic synthesizer to add extra deep whuuumps and thuds. Due to oddities of the acoustic wave cannon, I use an additional 3-pole low-pass filter on the synthesized bass.

On my outdoor systems, the larger one has an E-V S-181 sub (single 18") on each channel, and the smaller one uses a Community CSX-40 sub (dual 15") on each channel. Really, subs, in my opinion, are a means to help us grasp a fuller range system. Threads like this make me wish some one would start a thread titled "Use a tweeter with your hi-fi system?" I wonder how many people would say, "naw, I don't really need the top octave and a half, so my system that goes to 7kHz is just fine for me and the music I listen to." I doubt anyone would. Really, why do people care for the top octave, but can live a happy life ignoring the bottom octave? Beats me.

 

Thanks for the reply. Good stuff.

 

Alittle crazy but agree fully. I never meet a GOOD sub I didnt like. Like I said the sub(Subs) for the bottom octaves and to fill up the room is a necessary evil and one when you hear it done right is amazing.
I wire to repeat again like a REL sub even if its not a REL. My two KEF subs are wired one with the speaker taps and the other from the pre-amp out. The one sub is between me and the main speakers and the other is much closer to but between me and the main speakers on opposing walls.
I used to wire each sub in the previous years one for each channel and now I have the subs doing both channels each, mono in other words.
Subs can sound like howling crap if they are crap. They have to go where your mains are unable to do well. Dial the subs in correctly so they are only doing, in my case, around 60 hertz and below fully and I cant live without them. I just sense them and feel them but no interference with the mains no matter what anybody posts here. If they dont like subs they havent done them right, or like me for a long time, cant afford very good ones. Not insulting just truth. Its like children who cant get what they want and say"I dont want it anyway".
Take care, John M.