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Swarming!

Hi folks!

Hope everyone is doing well.

I just got my Swarm Distributed Subwoofer Array from AudioKinesis hooked up.

Wow!

Pre Swarm setup:

Office (10 x 14 minus closets):

Amp: Hegel H190 integrated, Bryston P26 preamp, Ampzilla 2000 Second Edition monoblock amps
Speakers: KEF LS 50 non wireless, Ologe 5, Magnepan LRS


So two subs arrived yesterday (Saturday).

With two subs and the Dayton amp, I first hooked up one sub in various positions on the floor.

Listened to a variety of music.
Played around with the gain.
After four crawls and two more "just to confirm" crawls, I located and left Sub 1.

I’m still a newbie here so apologies in advance if the proper terminology escapes me when I try to describe all the ways everything (not just the bass) just sounds a lot better.

While it sounded better than three other subs I tried, the bass got less clear soon after the gain was up enough to hear the sub and especially when I moved around the room.

Now, with Sub 1 optimally (for now) placed, Sub 2 took the rest of the evening.

Sub 2 is ceiling facing (3" clearance from the ceiling) on a long shelf behind the listening position.
Spent a few hours sliding it left and right, flipping it over to fire the port in the opposite direction, etc.

Flipped it three times.
My back was starting to complain when I first got it up on the shelf. These things are heavy and awkward to remove from a high shelf when flipping over, not to mention the heart stopping, lose balance or grip on the sub, close call moments!

Decided to leave it in the corner where the shelf meets the right wall with the port facing the corner and wait for the other subs.

The improvement, though not significant, was more than noticeable at my listening position.
The improvement started to get significant when I rolled my chair around the room or got up and walked around.

Things sounded pretty good in more areas of the room.
I heard more quality out of the newly added quantity of bass.

The other two subs arrived today.

Duke at AudioKinesis suggested varying the heights of the ceiling facing sub(s) if possible as this will affect the vertical plane.

So,...

Subs 3 and 4 are also ceiling facing with a 6" clearance located in the left and right front corners of the room.
They are perched on steel wire shelving units allowing for one inch height increments. The added storage space with the shelves is a huge bonus!

Turned the music back on a little while ago.

What a mind blowing experience!
While the LRS made the room seem bigger, with all four subs firing, the Swarm seemed to add body, intensity and dynamics to the "bigger room".  Just about anywhere in the room.

I can raise the gain much higher and actually enjoy the clarity and evenness in the added bass.
Bass is not lost at low volumes. I can actually hear more details in the bass without needing to raise the volume.

Absolutely love the LRS! Thought the bass was pretty good. Didn’t hit like the LS 50s but seemed more than adequate.
But after a satisfactory gain setting and listening with the Swarm added, I got up and turned the gain all the way down and listened to just the LRS.
The Swarm added such a high quality and intense "kick" to the low end that just went away.

This got me out of my chair again to bring the gain back up.
A remote for the Dayton sure would be great!

I just can’t imagine listening to my system without this really cool subwoofer solution!

Limited to a small room?

Yes, there are four sizeable subs and an additional amp to place.
I thought there was no way that would work in such a small 10’ x 14’room.

Why four subs?
For anyone not familiar with the Distributed Bass Array concept, search through these threads.
There are numerous postings on this by some really knowledgeable people. (millercarbon and noble100, especially)

With three of the subs up high, the fourth sub is the only additional piece taking up floor space.

It’s been only about 2 hours listening with the Swarm in place.
With just the first sub placed via crawling and the other three just put in place, everything sounds like my system had a major upgrade!

It’s actually quite shocking! Seriously.

Excited to experiment with the subwoofer heights, different amps and also with the LS 50s and Ologe 5s.

Kodus to Duke at AudioKinesis for building such an effective, simple and flexible subwoofer solution!

These things actually look pretty cool too! Zero WAF issues!


Stay safe and healthy everyone!

hleeid
noble100's avatar
noble100
2,419 posts
 
Hello lemonhaze,

    You’re correct, that silver unit atop the Oppo is a Lumin D2 dac/streamer.  The black box to the right of the Oppo is a 20 TB Synology hard drive storage unit I use with it along with an IPad, running the Lumin app as the GUI and remote.
     When I walked into a local dealer, I was originally intending to buy a Bluenote but, after demoing both on a Levinson 5805 integrated and Magico A3 speakers, I definitely thought the Lumin’s GUI and sound quality were better.  The Lumin’s a bit more money but l thought it was worth it. it’s been a really good addition to my system.

Later,
Tim
hleeid OP
219 posts
 
@noble100  - Hey Tim!  I just reviewed the Swarm experiments you shared with me.
I faced the 3 ceiling facing subs towards their respective walls in accordance with Experiment #2. I also slid the sub on the shelf away from the corner and faced it against the wall.

Can't put my finger on it but can definitively hear increased clarity (probably from pulling one sub from the corner and facing it and the other two towards the walls) on some bass heavy tracks.

Also, I have experimented staggering the vertical heights of the ceiling facing subs.  

FWIW - in my 10' x 14' minus closets space, lowering the front left and right ceiling facing subs to about 6' and 4'  respectively yields greater ambiance, balance and coherence in a larger soundstage.

What a remarkably simple, straightforward solution to achieving SOTA bass augmentation!

I have had nothing but excellent results Swarming with 3 significantly different main speakers (Magnepan LRS, Ologe 5 and KEF LS 50s).

Detractors - detract all you want. But I will bet just about anything that all it takes is an honest listening session to convert you or any detractor to hear and appreciate the logic of a properly set up DBA. 

Stay safe and healthy everyone!
jtcf's avatar
jtcf
1,620 posts
 
@hleeid congrats!The swarm system really is amazing in my room also.Like Tim,I also have room treatments and am expecting more panels via GIK tomorrow in order to add some diffusion.My room is small also,16x17.Anyways,good to hear you took the chance and are enjoying your music more than ever:-)
noble100's avatar
noble100
2,419 posts
 
Hello Hans/hleeid,

     I’m really glad you, with Duke’s assistance, were able to implement the AK Swarm system in your small room and that you’re enjoying its performance so much.  I was so stunned by the excellent bass produced in my room when I Initially installed my 4-sub DBA system that I felt a responsibility to spread the word about how well this concept actually works in practice.
     I’ve always found it difficult, however, to accurately describe how amazingly well the DBA concept actually works without sounding like I’m exaggerating, a shill with a hidden agenda or a fan boy who just polished off the entire contents of the DBA Kool-aid punchbowl.  I agree with you that just a single DBA demo would be sufficient fo convince most individuals of its remarkable effectiveness.  The reality is that it does sound too good to be true, no pun intended.
     I believe the biggest obstacle to more widespread use of the 4-sub DBA concept is that there seems to be very few audio shops that offer demos of it.  In my experience, I’ve never heard, or heard of, a single demo and we both know it just takes a brief demo to be convinced.       The only other method of experiencing the DBA is by learning of it and then taking the initiative, and having the good sense, to try one out in your own room and system.  Apparently, neither of these methods being very common explains the lack of usage and enjoyment.
     I’m also glad you tried out the different configurations I suggested.  I only have experience using 1-4 subs on the floor in my room.  I’ve learned that placing subs in corners provides more bass but that keeping them a couple feet away from corners provides the highest quality bass without sacrificing too much bass quantity, power and dynamic impact.
     However, I have no experience positioning subs on the vertical plane.  So, the positioning experiments I suggested were just based on my limited knowledge, experience locating subs on the floor and reasoning.  I’m glad you took the time to try them out and found some further improvements.  Very interesting.

Thanx,
 Tim



lemonhaze
442 posts
 
@noble100  Hi Tim, thanks for the info. I'm doing a lot of research to educate myself regarding this mysterious, to me, streaming. Much of it is rather confusing but I'll get there in the end.

The DBA system deserves wider exposure but I think retail outlets are reluctant to acknowledge this and demonstrate its worth because they need to make a profit and the bigger and the more expensive the pair of main speakers they can sell the customer, the bigger the profit.

I can see the crafty salesman, when questioned about a DBA, saying "Sir if you buy this monster pair of speakers here you won't need subs, besides I'm sure you don't want all those big ugly boxes cluttering up your room, do you?" all the while shaking his head from side to side with the hapless customer  also shaking his head from side to side in agreement.





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