Fritz Speakers

i am a big fan of fritz and his speakers... they are terrific in absolute terms and excellent values to boot

that said, being smallish standmounts, they are physically limited in terms of bass response, as mostly all are... it is simply physics

some, in smallish listening environments may feel satisfied with the lower range of these fine speakers, that is terrific... our listening satisfaction is a function of our prior points of reference and our expectations

but to be blunt, to add a good sub (and ideally two) well integrated into the system brings the sonic presentation to another whole level to realism, palpability and impact (i say this with no exaggeration)

whether it is worth the cost and the trouble, depends entirely on the specific listener, but there is no doubt the positive return is there and aplenty

Thanks for your insight @jjss49 

Regarding "well integrated into the system", that is perhaps the sticking point I've been having.  I have two fast Omega deep hemp powered subs with 8" drivers.  I've certainly had moments where I felt they were integrated into my system whether the Fritz's were on deck or the LRS's...However, my stereo is traditional and I don't have any subwoofer integration or dsp capability at the moment.  That seems like a big project to embark on.

In your experience, does well integrated mean the mains aren't running full range and are high passed somewhat?  

I know people are using minidsp to do this, but doesn't that preclude one from choosing their own dac?

Perhaps this is best discussed on a new thread 

thanks

JS

@j_andrews Keeping the crossover of the sub as low as possible makes it easier to integrate. If its got output above 80Hz it can draw attention to itself. At 80Hz the waveform is 14 feet long. So below that point, bass is entirely ambient in the room before your ears can even know what the bass note is. For this reason the bass can be mono.

I ran a single powered sub with the Fritz Carbon 7s at the recent AXPONA show. The sub was a Golden Ear X, using dual 8" drivers and I used it for the bottom octave only. I didn’t roll off the Carbon 7s.

Since its a powered sub, I set its controls on the rear panel so that the crossover was at the lowest point, 45Hz. I figured the Carbon 7s were good to that frequency!

Then it was a matter of setting the volume control. That took a bit more work, since a lot of recordings don’t have much information below 40Hz. But I had a few on hand. Even still it took me a day to get the setting right, so it wasn’t until the middle of the 2nd day that I had it dialed to my satisfaction. Once that was done you really couldn't tell it was running until it was shut off.

I angled the sub so its output bounced at an angle off of the wall behind it. I found this got me more evenly distributed bass throughout the room.

I use this same technique at home with my Carbon 6s. As long as you don’t play the system super loud the Fritzs can handle not being crossed over. You’re just playing them as a regular speaker.

So its not a big project!

my 2 cents on sub integration

i use rels (a pair) and their high level inputs, thus the main speakers are run full range, i place the two rels asymmetrically

i follow the instructions carefully on set up and it always works out well, plenty of speed and seamless transitions (meaning you can’t hear it even if you try)

i agree with ralph, keep the xo as low as possible, i would say with fritz’s probably around 50 hz as a starting point, provided the speaker is set a couple feet away from room boundaries

Based on what @atmasphere and @jjss49 stated, I believe I will start with a single sub for use with both my Carbon 7 and LSR+ speakers. Likely purchase the small REL with 8" driver. Run speakers full range with CO set around 50hz for both speakers.