Best bass in Earth! Bass that just smells right...


Bass ,room acoustics, attack, delay, headroom, pressurization, and integration with the main speakers. So this has been my quest. Perfect bass that enhances everything yet detracts from nothing...

Over the 25 plus years as a hobbyist (mostly Audiophile/Music lover) yet also a mechanical engineer and Virgo perfection is a must. Once I heard the swarm/distributed bass array done right I was sold. I probably have spent 10s of thousand over the years buying and selling just bass/subwoofers and every gizmo to aid in this process.

I finally find myself with 26 10 inch woofers (only using 20 at the moment)  from four Kinergetics sw 800's in a small 20 x 16 room. 4 towers with 5 10 inch Seas each and 2 of the smaller subs with 3 10 inch woofers each. They are all in great condition given age the drivers are tight and work perfectly. Of all the money I have spent in home audio this has been my most difficult challenge to achieve perfection. I love Stats and Maggies but also like AC/DC and other music that the plannars are not the best at. Dyna Audio and Dunlavy speakers are the fastest coned sealed speakers (I am sure there are a million speakers out there that equal or better them not here to debate speakers) . I personally have always preferred the sound of FAST sealed cone speakers.

Back to the bottom foundation which I feel all speakers need regardless of price and woofer size. Trying to get four Sub woofers correct in a room is not easy. I probably have 200 hours into these SW 800's and now trying different AMPs and configurations. Im close but not there Id give it 88-91 percent but that last 10 percent is the magic.

So for they peeps out there getting into this can of worms. First unless your a sadomasochist like me it's probably best to buy a system like the Audio Kinesis or Debra system. It's just guaranteed results. Second this is for music not HT there is a difference. Although I had the HSU ULS 15's sealed 2 of em and they are darn good, Revel b 15' A's, Muse Model 18's along with several others. These SW 800's are more like actual speakers that require a lot of work to get right. They also use a funky forward distortion feedback Compusound circuitry (Im not an EE but from what little I was able to read it sounds like a forward servo design in their BSC cross overs) tons of pros and cons to the design but the fact they were meant to mate with the original Martin Logan full panel CLS says volumes when it comes to transparency. Although I dont use the high pass just the low pass.

So if you are into real music and enjoy room pressurization with out destroying (actually increasing, presence, timing, and smell of the music) multiple subwoofers are a mandatory.

I am writing this post for all the peeps getting into real bass so you dont make all the mistakes I have made. We all know how expensive mistakes are that is and why we are members of Agon and other groups. I do want to Thank a couple of members on here for their help and wisdom. I wont name them they know who they are. And special Thank you and Happy New Year to the moderators and founders of Agon for giving all of us a place to gain view points, experiences, and wisdom!

-Allgood
128x128haywood310
@millercarbon --

When Duke says "My understanding is that true stereo below 80 Hz is actually quite rare" what he means is unicorn rare. Something people talk about but never quite manage to find. There is no stereo bass information down low. Even if there were we’d never hear it.

If that's what Duke truly means I don't see how his recommendation to connect my subs in stereo (in proposed diagonal setting) would be of any consequence. That is, his recommendation wouldn't be wrong as such, but why opt for stereo if it's rooted in the conviction of being moot to begin with? 

Even so, arguing in absolutes on stereo vs. mono bass doesn't come from you preemptively knowing about this field to the bottom of the matter, but rather your wanting to be right about it; pragmatically I'm sure you speak for many, but what you're doing with it is just being overly reductive.
I was sold on the feedback sub woofer design of Thrax when I heard it the first time. The design feeds the position of the cone to the DSP to achieve very accurate bass.  http://audio-union.com/audio-union/thrax-audio/basus/
Decoupling bass frequency from mains allows for smoother room response using multiple subs, but I wonder how anchored in the soundstage 40-80Hz notes from stand up bass would sound
They would sound great.
Duke, how do you handle the adjustment of phase at -90 degrees between the two (or four) passive subwoofers while using only one amplifier in the Swarm system? Does this approach require two or more amplifiers each with a separate phase control? 
Kalali asked, "Duke, how do you handle the adjustment of phase at -90 degrees between the two (or four) passive subwoofers while using only one amplifier in the Swarm system? Does this approach require two or more amplifiers each with a separate phase control? " 

In a Swarm system, the 90 degrees apart adjustment calls for a second amplifier.

The amp that I use has a 0-180 degrees continuously-variable phase control. It’s the Dayton Audio SA-1000, available from Parts Express, in case anybody wants to "roll their own" passive multi-sub system.

Duke