As you've said before, "everything matters." One thing that you have that others of us don't have is a distributed bass array. The question is how much of your results related to bass in this review do you think would be happening without a bass array?
Why, all of it, of course. The bass resonance Townshend cleaned up was always there. The DBA didn't make it worse, rather it actually alleviated it somewhat. I would say this was one of those deals where, you know there are always all kinds of problems only you have to pick your battles. Sometimes one that was pretty far down your list, after fixing enough stuff it works its way to the top.
Your answer to that question will help me (and perhaps others) know the degree to which the effect you describe might occur in our systems, which is the main takeaway from a review. Because in a limited budget, why drop $$ on podiums if one would be better off devoting that money toward a DBA?
Okay, I get it now.
They both go together. That is not to say you have to do both together. I will try and explain so you can figure out for yourself what will be best in your situation.
The great thing about a DBA is it allows you to get more and better bass, but by putting less bass energy into the room. Duke explains this much better than I ever can. Basically, lots of small subs in multiple locations produces lots of small peaks and dips. One big powerful sub can do this, but only with lots of EQ, and that means turning up the sub output in order to overcome cancellation in some areas. But that energy is still going into the room as a whole.
This is one of the main reasons a DBA has faster more articulate bass. The more bass energy you put into a room the more it causes walls and floor and ceiling to vibrate with energy, and the longer it takes for this energy to dissipate. This is why so many guys run to tube traps. They suck up the excess energy. Also one reason why you have less need of tube traps with a DBA. Since less energy is wasted exciting the room less needs to be done to suck it up.
Hopefully you are already seeing why the Townshend stuff works so well. Not all of the bass energy comes from the air. It also propagates directly through the speaker into the floor and the room. Less room excitation equals less resonance equals clearer sound.
That's with Podiums or Pods. With the cables themselves, they made me aware the same sort of sound as this is coming from resonance modes in our cables. It has to be treated differently. In this case you treat cable resonance with less resonant cables. But the final result or character of the sound is the same: tighter, cleaner, more articulate.
They both cost about the same. Depending on what exactly we are talking about, in broad terms it is around $3k for either a good DBA or Podiums. The DBA can be built for less, or you can spend a lot more. Likewise the Podiums could be less or more depending on the speakers. All in the 3k ballpark, give or take.
Which is better is hard to say. If you want to play louder with nice clean deep powerful bass, Podiums will not do this for you. They will clean up the bass you do have, a lot. You will probably sense a little more extension, like the same speakers play deeper now. But they will not create more. Not like a DBA. What they will do is make the speakers disappear, greatly improve detail and hugely improve the natural timbre or sonic signature of instruments and voices.
With the DBA this is all sort of flipped around. They will give you much more deep, powerful and articulate bass, and once set up right there is a sense of greater envelopment and ease, but these areas are not improved nearly as much as with the Podiums.
I don't like to simplify, but if what you want most is more and deeper then DBA. If what you want most is clearer more real then start with Podiums. Make sense?
