Kenny: I'll share my thoughts, though I don't know your main speaker (which, I gather is a modified Lowther-type driver augmented with woofers and depends on corner reinforcement):
1. If I had to choose between a coherent speaker that was optimized for its full range vs adding on subwoofers to augment the bass, I'd probably do everything I could first to optimize rather than add. I know you said you have no options, but looking at that room, the side facing the system looks like it has "corners" (I assume there are windows behind the blinds, so you might have to deal w/ inserting some kind of rigid panel behind the "corner" blinds when listening). Perhaps with cabling, power outlets and the like, it's too much of a pain.
2. The notion of feeding the woofer amp from your main amp isn't crazy- my Avantgardes are set up that way and though their woofers are driven by their own internal solid state amp, the thinking is that they take on the behavior of the main amp feeding them (in my case, a SET amp). The cables to do this made a difference- I went through various "jumpers" before I arrived at one that sounded better than the others.
3. The woofer design may be less important than placement and dialing in- read some of the other threads here- about swarm woofers, about dipole kits to match the behavior of panels.
4. I've been messing with subwoofers for a long time for music and was never happy, having had various Quad loudspeakers (electrostats) and then horns. (I didn't even bother trying to sub-woofer my Avantgardes until quite recently). Right now, I am achieving some improvement using an unmatched pair of subs, crossed low, no roll off of the main woofers, and have been fiddling with DSP. I didn't want the discontinuity typically associated with subs and planars or horns, and didn't want to muddy the midrange. I've managed to get it 'just so'- more foundation without screwing up the mids---
5. Your system looks like it came from Jeff at High Water, who has very good ears, and is a cool guy. Even if he doesn't sell subs, does he have any advice for you?
1. If I had to choose between a coherent speaker that was optimized for its full range vs adding on subwoofers to augment the bass, I'd probably do everything I could first to optimize rather than add. I know you said you have no options, but looking at that room, the side facing the system looks like it has "corners" (I assume there are windows behind the blinds, so you might have to deal w/ inserting some kind of rigid panel behind the "corner" blinds when listening). Perhaps with cabling, power outlets and the like, it's too much of a pain.
2. The notion of feeding the woofer amp from your main amp isn't crazy- my Avantgardes are set up that way and though their woofers are driven by their own internal solid state amp, the thinking is that they take on the behavior of the main amp feeding them (in my case, a SET amp). The cables to do this made a difference- I went through various "jumpers" before I arrived at one that sounded better than the others.
3. The woofer design may be less important than placement and dialing in- read some of the other threads here- about swarm woofers, about dipole kits to match the behavior of panels.
4. I've been messing with subwoofers for a long time for music and was never happy, having had various Quad loudspeakers (electrostats) and then horns. (I didn't even bother trying to sub-woofer my Avantgardes until quite recently). Right now, I am achieving some improvement using an unmatched pair of subs, crossed low, no roll off of the main woofers, and have been fiddling with DSP. I didn't want the discontinuity typically associated with subs and planars or horns, and didn't want to muddy the midrange. I've managed to get it 'just so'- more foundation without screwing up the mids---
5. Your system looks like it came from Jeff at High Water, who has very good ears, and is a cool guy. Even if he doesn't sell subs, does he have any advice for you?