subwooferability ???


This thread is an off shoot of the crossover debate in the Hometheater forum.
Do you think that consumer grade subwoofers are able to handle the signals produced by the LFE channel AND five to seven other channels of bass.This has only been addressed by one manufacturer,whise (profunder).What are your thoughts ?
kgveteran

Showing 2 responses by plugged

A TRUE reference LFE channel is hard to find. The best is the PMC XB-3. This is the sub most truly serious mastering and recording facilities use. Most of the recent large scale movies are recorded and mastered with the big PMC systems and the XB-3 is the LFE channel of choice. Nothing else really comes close. It is big, it is expensive at about $11.5K with a Bryston monoblock amp, it takes about 2 months to have one built...but it is without parallel and has credentials that no other LFE speaker system has.

Beyond that...the James EMB-1500 is damned impressive in our showroom, besting all comers below the big PMC's.
Very doubtful you could build something that would "put it to shame". I've heard countless home builts and while they are usually very good...they all miss critical elements such as the transient snap. Keep in mind...this thing is not only capable of deep bass...it is also squeaky clean up into the 350hz range since it can also be mated to the big PMC BB-5 reference monitors as an additional woofer section. Try putting a 350hz signal thru most really large subwoofers and watch them absolutely fall apart. Think that doesn't make a difference? You would be wrong. The amount of tuning required to build this big transmission line monster would take the average builder months. It took PMC several years of development to get every element right and produce a piece capable of 124 db of clean, fast, tight, tuneful and fist of god powerful bass from 14hz to 350hz. Keep in mind, that price also includes a $3000 power amp to go with it. While you could spend less, I've found there is nothing better to mate with it.
More to discover