Rythmik Subwoofin' - 1st Take

My subwoofer odyssey started about 10 months ago when I bought a pair of Velodyne SPLR 8" subs and an SMS-1 controller. I planned to use them in HT apps, but tried the set-up in my new (and very difficult) listening room - just to see. The results were so astonishingly good that I posted on an A'gon thread something along the lines of "It (bass) just doesn't get much better than this".

Members Bob Reynolds, Shadome, and Drew Eckhard quickly pointed out that it does get much better. A wealth of info came my way, including data demonstrating that the SPLRs were...uhhh...unexceptional performers (that is, they suck). It was hard to reconcile the data (bad) with my listening experience (great), but I set out to do so. I wanted to find superior subs, just to get a handle on what (if anything) was missing.

The distortion/clean output and speed/tightness data (group delay)suggested lots o room for improvement, but priorities needed to be set. The big SVS subs and the JLs are impressive in both regards, but I was unsure whether I'd hear any improvement, and the $3500/pr tag on the SVS struck me as more than I wanted to ante for this experiment (The JLs are more expensive). I elected to prioritize group delay and chose Rythmik 12" subs (which also provide 100db of very clean output down to 35hz) which came in at app $1600/pr with the shiny black box upgrade accounting for $200 of that.

First: There is a difference. Instantly audible.

Second: Set-up was totally different. The SPLRs needed extensive EQ to dial in their performance. Without it, they are...uhhh..unexceptional. Once the Rythmiks were positioned for smooth response (ie, replaced the SPLRs), they were remarkably flat right to the 20hz subsonic filter. The only EQ tweaking was to optimize around the x-over point and a couple of shallow dips down below.

Bottom line: these are obviously tighter, more powerful subs which demonstrate that it's hard to judge performance in a vaccuum. The SPLRs sounded great - until these guys point up their (obvious by comparison) shortcomings. I'm tempted to say that it can't get much better, but I'm reminded what happened last time I tried that.

Marty

PS - Minimizing group delay isn't necessarily the trick to best performance. These subs (like the SVS Ultra) have variable damping(maximum damping minimizes GD) and allow the user to trade maximum clean output for "tighter/faster" bass. I started with max damping and quickly acheived ruler flat response, but there was a "mismatch" in character near the x-over point. It was only a day later that I started screwing with the damping controls and I found that the middle setting provided a better blend with my Ohm 100s. Don't know why - but that was the case for me.