earthquake subs


I have a piar of earthquake 15" subs and totem model one and links in the rear (7.1) I know I dont like the combination but what is it that I am not liking ???I am looking at geting the totem thunder any comments?
briangold

Showing 1 response by shadorne

Assuming there is no room acoustics problems then perhaps the Totem Ones, although great speakers, are just too small and not dynamic enough...I suspect they are in compression long before the two 15" subs would. This means it will be hard to get a good match except at low volume levels. (Your extreme LF will simply not integrate with the bass/mid and tweeter.)

I have used a 15" sub with a small bookshelf speaker (6.5" woofer) and the sub's 118 db SPL rating did indeed begin to outrun the speakers 108 db SPL at extremely high output levels, roughly above 98 db at the listening position. (These were continuous ratings not peak db's)

Judging by Totem's website your Totem Ones run out of juice or headroom at peak of 103 db SPL levels ( so you will start to get compression at a modest 86 db SPL at the listening position assuming you sit nine feet back, both speakers giving you a combined max of 106 db SPL uncompressed at 1 meter, and accounting for about 10 db for headroom )

The abundant LF energy from teh earthquakes may also tempt you to overdrive the Totem's, which will then sound harsh and give an overall poor impression of integration.

Depending on how loud you want to be able to go, I suggest you evaluate what size mains you need...the specs on the earthquakes are actually pretty good. I would only be wary of too much harmonics from the passive radiator when playing music with some 20 HZ energy (not that common).

All of the above assumes you are certain it is not a room acoustics problem. Most extreme LF problems are room related.