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Pairing Planar Speakers With A Subwoofer (Eminent Technology)

What do you think of pairing the Eminent Technology LFT 8-B planars with a pair of Rythmik F25 subwoofers?

Please check out my room on my system page. I am attempting to emulate a set of Infinity IRS Betas.

System page: https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/876

Eminent Technology LFT 8-B: http://www.eminent-tech.com/main.html

Rythmik F25 subwoofer: http://www.rythmikaudio.com/F25.html

128x128mitch4t
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,414 posts
 

Mitch, the F25 is indeed an excellent sub, and will work quite well with the ET LFT-8b. I have a pair of F15HP’s (DIY version---I made my own 4cu.ft. enclosures), which have a single 15 woofer to the F25’s dual 15’s. Same sq, but the F25 has greater maximum spl. Both the F15 and F25 are being used successfully with magnetic-planar (mostly Magneplanars), ESL, and ribbon loudspeakers.

For reference, I am a former owner of Infinity RS-1b’s, and I consider the ET LFT-8b a superior loudspeaker. However, the LFT-8’s single 8" woofer is no match for the RS-1b’s servo-feedback woofer column, with it’s 6-8" woofers. Any of the Rythmik servo-feedback subs will be a great partner for the LFT-8 (used in place of the ET’s woofer), creating a very full-range, high-output hybrid. But for the ultimate version of such a design, there is an even better sub for use with dipole speakers, one also available from Rythmik’s Brian Ding, in a collaborative effort with Danny Richie of GR Research: their Servo-Feedback OB/Dipole Subwoofer, the only such design in the world! You can read about it on the GR Research AudioCircle Forum---there is too much to it for me to post here.

$1500 for a pair of the sub kits (a pair of 12" woofers with the Rythmik servo-feedback plate amp per side), another $500 for a pair of the H-frames they are installed in. $2500 for the ET LFT-8b’s, $2000 for the subs (plus the cost to finish the H-frames)---$4500 for performance far exceeding what you expect at that price point imo. The ultimate magnetic-planar/dynamic sub hybrid! Imagine---a dipole planar speaker with a dipole/OB sub---a perfect pairing!! I can say all this not just hypothetically and from theory, but from practice---this hybrid is my creation! As far as I know, I am the only ET LFT-8b/OB-Dipole Sub owner in the world. But the OB/Dipole Sub s being used with lots of other high-performance speakers, mostly ribbons. Ric Schultz of EVS has designed and is selling such a design, using the Rythmik/GR Research OB/Dipole Sub.

icanskate
36 posts
 
Hi I have Magnepan 1.7s... originally I had a Rel T7 sub paired. Honestly, IMO it was just ok and I was wrestling with a love/hate relationship with the Maggies. Then my Rel blew a Diode.. so while it was down I quick picked up PSB subwoofer cheap. Crazy as this may seem.. the PSB pulled everything together. My sound never sounded better.. for all genres of music. I fixed the Rel, sold the PSB and immediately regretted it... bought a new PSB and have been happy ever since & it keeps sounding better and better as it broke in. It matches so good with my Maggie’s that I’ve actually considered starting a thread on it... I think other Maggie owners may be interested. Just another thing to consider.
good luck!
martykl
3,578 posts
 
I use a pair of 12" Rythmik subs with little Maggies and they integrate seamlessly (to my ear, anyhow).  I use Audyssey to effect the xover and add room correction

The hybrid LF8 presents a different (lesser)  challenge given the cone bass driver, so I don't see why it would be tough to pair with a sub.
clio09
3,343 posts
 
I don't know much about the Eminent speakers but they have always intrigued me. I currently have two sets of ESLs. Quad ESL 57s and Music Reference ESLs. I shied away from subwoofers because I thought they made things a bit too complex and I never could get used to the idea of bass being driven by plate amps. So I listened to my ESL 57s with my OTLs and enjoyed what bass they could muster, which quite frankly was more than I expected. Then Roger Modjeski introduced me to his Airspring woofer system that he uses with his ESLs, which by design only go down to 100 Hz, so they require something to provide the bottom end. He fixed up a Class A/B solid state amp with a low pass filter for me and I made two of the woofer boxes myself. Once I put that in my system there was no going back.

Today I use a Beveridge RM-3 as the crossover with 100 Hz boards, my OTLs on top driving the ESL 57s or the MR ESLs, and a Luxman M-02 driving not 2 but 4 woofer boxes spread asymmetrically around the room. This has done more to improve the sound in my room more than anything else I have ever tried. So for me biamping was the ticket and I imagine you can attain the same effect with good subwoofers. In fact I'd recommend checking out the Audiokinesis Swarm which is a nice little system that would play well with the LF8s.
m-db's avatar
m-db
930 posts
 
What happened to the DD-18 on your list? 

If you still have it I'd slave it from a 10" or 12" DD Plus for a sort of modular 1812. I had one brief experience a few years ago setting up a pair of DD-10 Plus with a receiver equipped with Audyssey (I don't recall which level or the setup details). In that room the Velodyne Manual Room Optimization procedure did a noticeably better job of the basic integration than Audyssey not to mention the two custom movie presets.

I'm sure there have been Audyssey upgrades since then. I found it to be so useful with the rest of the system in this particular room I wouldn't dare dismiss its capabilities.    

  
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