Best bass in Earth! Bass that just smells right...


Bass ,room acoustics, attack, delay, headroom, pressurization, and integration with the main speakers. So this has been my quest. Perfect bass that enhances everything yet detracts from nothing...

Over the 25 plus years as a hobbyist (mostly Audiophile/Music lover) yet also a mechanical engineer and Virgo perfection is a must. Once I heard the swarm/distributed bass array done right I was sold. I probably have spent 10s of thousand over the years buying and selling just bass/subwoofers and every gizmo to aid in this process.

I finally find myself with 26 10 inch woofers (only using 20 at the moment)  from four Kinergetics sw 800's in a small 20 x 16 room. 4 towers with 5 10 inch Seas each and 2 of the smaller subs with 3 10 inch woofers each. They are all in great condition given age the drivers are tight and work perfectly. Of all the money I have spent in home audio this has been my most difficult challenge to achieve perfection. I love Stats and Maggies but also like AC/DC and other music that the plannars are not the best at. Dyna Audio and Dunlavy speakers are the fastest coned sealed speakers (I am sure there are a million speakers out there that equal or better them not here to debate speakers) . I personally have always preferred the sound of FAST sealed cone speakers.

Back to the bottom foundation which I feel all speakers need regardless of price and woofer size. Trying to get four Sub woofers correct in a room is not easy. I probably have 200 hours into these SW 800's and now trying different AMPs and configurations. Im close but not there Id give it 88-91 percent but that last 10 percent is the magic.

So for they peeps out there getting into this can of worms. First unless your a sadomasochist like me it's probably best to buy a system like the Audio Kinesis or Debra system. It's just guaranteed results. Second this is for music not HT there is a difference. Although I had the HSU ULS 15's sealed 2 of em and they are darn good, Revel b 15' A's, Muse Model 18's along with several others. These SW 800's are more like actual speakers that require a lot of work to get right. They also use a funky forward distortion feedback Compusound circuitry (Im not an EE but from what little I was able to read it sounds like a forward servo design in their BSC cross overs) tons of pros and cons to the design but the fact they were meant to mate with the original Martin Logan full panel CLS says volumes when it comes to transparency. Although I dont use the high pass just the low pass.

So if you are into real music and enjoy room pressurization with out destroying (actually increasing, presence, timing, and smell of the music) multiple subwoofers are a mandatory.

I am writing this post for all the peeps getting into real bass so you dont make all the mistakes I have made. We all know how expensive mistakes are that is and why we are members of Agon and other groups. I do want to Thank a couple of members on here for their help and wisdom. I wont name them they know who they are. And special Thank you and Happy New Year to the moderators and founders of Agon for giving all of us a place to gain view points, experiences, and wisdom!

-Allgood
128x128haywood310

Showing 1 response by tyray

mijostyn,

With the distributed array techniques with me - as millercarbon would say trying to ’wrap my head around’ how to do it, I too thought of the anthem bass management but I think that system is setup to work with only 2 subs?

Even if you used 2 splitters for the 2 bass pre outs (for a total of 4 subs) that are in the anthem that are in parallel which I think is mono anyway?

And not with 4 subs placed in optimal places in the room? It would probably work better with it off as you could work with each of the 4 individual subs in their own specific locations. As mono is fine with the distributed array technique. If the subs had maybe separate gain, delay, crossover, powered/active and or room size functions.

As I don’t have the 4 subs as yet, I do believe in the viability and high quality of bass sound it could produce for me in my place. It just makes sense.


audioman58 & haywood310

I think there is a misconception that everyone that buys a sub wants it for that ’Home Theater gut busting slam’. That couldn’t be farther from the truth. There are quite of few people that have purchased subs for a better and higher quality of bass reproduction of sound - period. Don’t get me wrong my PSA V1801’s could make my ears bleed. But gut busting decibels at ear bleeding levels ain’t what I’m looking for. And where does it say that the distributed array technique can’t be used for home theater?

I’ve always found it questionable when someone spends thousands of dollars on floor standing speakers and later realizes that the single 10" sub in them just doesn’t do it for them when it come to bass reproduction. Not only questionable on the buyers part but the manufacturer’s too. Hey, but we all live and learn.