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Subwoofer recommendation and wisdom

So I have a relatively difficult room 19' x 19' x 9'. I have made a bunch of sound absorbing panels which made a massive improvement. I have worked on speaker placement and landed on the 5/8 ratio......5x from the back wall, 8x from the side walls. I use Harbeth 30.1 speakers on appropriate stands, driven by a Luxman L505 xII integrated. I am very pleased with the sound but sometimes wish I had a bit more foundation on the bottom end. I will listen mostly to classic rock and jazz. I would like to consider adding a sub, but not sure where to start. I don't want sledgehammer bass, I just want a nice, blended bottom end on my music. I think that is one of the only improvements I can reasonably and cost effectively make. Looking for recommendations on a sealed sub that would have a good chance of integrating well in my room.

My preference would be for a single sub solution. Thanks
 

stuartbmw3
kuttler
17 posts
 

I cannot compete with the technical knowledge here, but I just went through this on another thread.  For my trials I ended up with a REL T9x for a room that a little bigger and I am astounded at the ease and sound stage it brings to my room.

System is luxman 509x With Bryston Model T's  and a Benchmark Dac.

Good Luck

  Dave

feliks
17 posts
 

First, you’ve had a lot of excellent advice here, particularly with regards to mapping the acoustic profile of your room and careful placement of multiple subs. I’m curious about one thing, and it’s mere seconds to resolve: you have a long, narrow room, and it’s common for sidewall interference in long, narrow spaces (esp with closer speaker placement) to cause attenuation the lower midbass leading to that sense of lost lower register richness. Definitely different from that visceral slam of sub 40 frequencies, but does impact the perceived “weight” of the music. Hence the 2 minute test: try extreme speaker “toe in” i.e. toe in so that the axes actually cross near the midpoint of the length of the room equidistant between your listening position and the speakers (most easily accomplished if you can visualize with a pair of laser levelers) If you can discern more of that “weightier” sense, it points to the room geometry not the speaker range as primary. Not saying subs won’t help, but it’s an easier and more natural sounding fix if you’ve optimized speaker position first.

feliks
17 posts
 

…oh, scratch that. I was looking at deep_333’s diagram and misread your room dimensions…

 

 

saurabhgarg
37 posts
 

Buy used dual carbon specials and be settled for life. Performance across both low and high dB ends is truly amazing. 

orthomead
208 posts
 

As others have said, two or more subs is preferred.  When my sub went bad and had it repaired, my dealer said I would likely be better off without it.  When I got it back it turns out he was right.  Multiple subs will cancel the room nodes which will improve your mids as well.  I currently have 4 subs with DSP and the sound is amazing.  Consider the "swarm" by audiokinesis.  4 smaller subs which will fix the bass nodes and improve your overall sound.  The price is reasonable and the service excellent.

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