What are the best subwoofers to use with Magnepan 20.1s?


Hello all.  Which subwoofers would give the smoothest response/integration with Magnepan 20.1 speakers?  The rest of the system is Audio research Ref 3 preamp, Pass labs 600.5 amps, VPI ref scoutmaster turntable, Pass Labs XP 25 phonostage, UHA Tape Deck.  Thank you in advance for the help.
powerdoctor

Showing 1 response by johnnyb53

I heard Maggie 20.1s augmented by a pair of JL Fathom F212s at a high end store’s annual open house. I had started the night listening to Alexandria mk IIs (or whatever it was in 2006) powered by a chain of VTL electronics culminating in a pair of Siegfrieds.

At a little over 10% of the price and powered by Ayre electronics, the Magnepan/JL rig was hardly a letdown. The integration of panels and subs was seamless--smooth with nothing out of phase to distract the presentation.

A pair of F113 v2s would do the trick and cost less than the 212s.

20.1’s set up properly in most rooms go down to 25Hz.
Why do you need a sub woofer for a measly 5 Hz?
What about Image size of 20.1 bass, and sub woofer bass image size?
How do you handle standing waves, peaks, and valleys?
Why bother with bass below 30 Hz, and the associated problems?

NO SUB WOOFER IS NEEDED!
You can’t do this reading a spec sheet and working a calculator. Bass extension of a dipole is very room- and placement-dependent, and sometimes this 25 Hz never materializes at all. Or it may be measurable--measurably 10-15db below the rest of the response curve in which case it’s functionally MIA. Subwoofers that go waaaay down also reproduce infrasonic energy that’s technically inaudible but on the recording and can be sensed, like when a 16Hz pipe organ pedal tone flaps your pants leg. These soundwaves energize the room and create an ambience that sounds more like a live performance--you know, the kind where there’s a sense of energy in the room even before the conductor drops his baton?

What’s cool about the relatively low cost of the 20.7 is that you can add a serious subwoofer or two and get world-class sound reproduction for a fraction of the cost of Wilson XLFs or Focal Grand Utopias.

Integrating subwoofers isn’t nearly as hard these days as it once was. For one thing, the 0-360 deg. continuous phase control makes it much easier to lock it in with the Maggies’ front wave, and the automated room correction and EQ of the better models does most of the heavy lifting anyway. I’ve always been able to dial in dual subs with my Maggie 1.7s in 2-4 hours or less--without auto room correction, but I find the continuous phase control and crossover point selection essential.