Bass management with stand alone preamps

it’s interesting there hasn’t been a Linux-type standard that breaks the rules within the rules being put out there for others to use.

+1  big fan of Linux

No, I meant with the sub woofer.

Yes- Sound Lab used to make the B1 subwoofer, which was a large electrostatic panel. 

These are the best ESLs you can buy at this time.

Agreed. IMO they are also one of the top five speakers made anywhere.

^^ I don't see the B1 listed there either... Dr West is the designer of the Sound Lab loudspeakers.

They project a large as life sound stage. With woofers set up like this the bass sounds just as big and powerful as the SoundLabs except the SoundLabs become cleaner and are capable of another 10 db or so if you care to crack all your windows.

:)

Dr. West has long been an advocate of such as you probably know. Have you ever tried his ESL subwoofer system?

@mijostyn You are correct in what you say, but if you use a distributed bass array you don't have such profound problems with the bass changing as you move the speakers; much of that is due to standing waves. So this makes getting the bass right a **lot** easier!

The problem that you often run into that makes people think they need bass management is something called a 'standing wave'. This is a bass note that is of such a frequency that when it bounced off of the wall behind the listener, the result is that there is a bass cancellation at the listening chair.
This makes the listener want to turn up the bass, which might come in the form of 'room management' or 'bass management'. If you have a high performance system, both will degrade the sound.


Another issue is when the standing wave is in phase with the incoming bass, creating something called 'super position'; IOW a massive bass output at a certain frequency. Both can occur at the same listening chair.

If you have this problem, room correction might be able to correct the super position but not the null created by the standing wave. No amount of power corrects that and room treatment doesn't work either.

The solution is called a 'Distributed Bass Array'; the best example being the Swarm subwoofer made by Audiokinesis. The idea is that two subs go near your front speakers, the other two are placed asymmetrically in the room boundaries to the left and right of the listening chair (placement is not critical). This breaks up the standing wave and gives you even bass distribution throughout the room.


Problem solved: no need for 'bass management'. Just a second output to drive the subwoofer amp.