Big night for me tonight...

[Lawrence001]

I've had a pair of Audio Physic Sparks for a couple of years and while I've loved almost everything about them more than any other speakers I've owned, I've been ultimately unsatisfied by their performance in the nether regions. Anyway tonight I finally get to hook them up together with a little MJ Acoustics sub I've bought to see if it solves the problem. If it does then I'll have an amazing set up that will hopefully last me for many years to come. So big night!

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[brian2957]

Enjoy yourself Lawrence ....fingers crossed :cool:

[blackstar]

Yeah, you'll be setting that up, tweaking it, tweaking it, tweaking it all night long.

[Macca]

Not sure a single evening will be enough to get it absolutely right but good luck with it.

[Lawrence001]

Enjoy yourself Lawrence ....fingers crossed :cool:
Thanks Brian

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[Lawrence001]

Yeah, you'll be setting that up, tweaking it, tweaking it, tweaking it all night long.
I wish I could but the volume level required to blend a sub is not conducive to a quiet evening for my wife and neighbourly relations so it's a quiet listening session tonight and a day of tweaking tomorrow. I'm also picking up an Olive 04HD media player tomorrow to rip my CD collection to, so quite a big change in more than one department..

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[Lawrence001]

Not sure a single evening will be enough to get it absolutely right but good luck with it.
Totally agree! I made sure I bought one with a variable phase knob to help blend it but that is one more (major) variable to tweak.

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[Lawrence001]

So far so good! Looks like I won't be bidding on the big floorstanders I'm watching on ebay..

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[Macca]

Don't know if this is any help but what I do is play stuff with a lot of mid-bass and if it sounds overblown start backing off the level and the cut off point until it sounds natural. Snoop Dog's 'Doggystyle' or similar is good for this. It isn't infallible but it gets you in the ballpark.

[walpurgis]

In my opinion, the principle to adopt with sub-woofers is much the same as that with super-tweeters. If the output is obvious, something is wrong. Its effect should be subtle and only discerned by a negative impression in its absence.

In other words, if it sounds better with it on but you can't pinpoint the sound it makes, you've probably got it about right.

[Macca]

In my opinion, the principle to adopt with sub-woofers is much the same as that with super-tweeters. If the output is obvious, something is wrong. Its effect should be subtle and only discerned by a negative impression in its absence.

In other words, if it sounds better with it on but you can't pinpoint the sound it makes, you've probably got it about right.

Agree but it depends on what music you use to set it, something quite flat, Dire Straits, say, you think you have it right. Then you put on something properly bassy and Hey Presto! - you've got a Bose system! It's fun for about 5 minutes and then you miss your hi-fi.

[alphaGT]

Blending a sub can be tedious work, as pointed out different recordings call for different settings. A happy medium is all we can hope for, best of luck!


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[Lawrence001]

Had a quick play this morning while the kids were stampeding around, the settings from last night were a bit bassy at higher volume (I guess it's like a loudness control quite handy in fact) but toned down it sounded very good indeed. Yes I agree it should sound natural and subtle. I have placed it to minimise phase effects, the only thing is as you adjust crossover you have to also adjust volume to maintain a balanced not overblown (or conversely too subtle) sound.

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[Lawrence001]

Also, I would guess its harder to blend infinite baffle speakers with a sub as the roll off at the bottom end is much slower and they might crossover too much of the frequency range, fortunately mine have small front(slot) ports.

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[Macca]

What is the frequency response of the sub you have got?

[Lawrence001]

Its15-240hz (no db rating but I'd imagine -6db at 15hz, I wouldn't want much more), 8" woofer with a 50w Rms amp in a. dinky little cherry box about 12" cubed. Just right for my small AP towers to give them a bit more range. No point in anything bigger for my needs.

http://www.superfi.co.uk/p-5897-discontinued-mj-acoustics-pro-50-subwoofer.aspx



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[Macca]

When they don't quote any level then it usually means what is euphemistically called 'useful output' i.e 24dB down at the bottom rating.

But you don't need to go anywhere near that low unless you are very serious about pipe organ recordings. :

[Ali Tait]

I use the same with a Yamaha sound bar on the telly. Decent bit of kit.

[Lawrence001]

When they don't quote any level then it usually means what is euphemistically called 'useful output' i.e 24dB down at the bottom rating.

But you don't need to go anywhere near that low unless you are very serious about pipe organ recordings. :
Yes that sounds possible with an 8" woofer in a sealed box. But then I just want to get an extra 10hz or so out of the bottom end.

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[walpurgis]

Most folk wouldn't notice if there was no bass below about 50Hz. In fact most don't own equipment that can do 50Hz.

I do enjoy a bit of solid deep bass myself, which is why I used to build transmission line speakers.

[Lawrence001]

Most folk wouldn't notice if there was no bass below about 50Hz. In fact most don't own equipment that can do 50Hz.

I do enjoy a bit of solid deep bass myself, which is why I used to build transmission line speakers.
I'm not sure about that I would have thought 42-45hz would be the cut off. Depends on the music of course, acoustic jazz and chamber/baroque music yes. Later orchestral and well recorded rock I think its quite apparent. Sometimes its more the ambience of a large venue (classical) as much as anything except big drums and maybe large forces of double basses.

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[Macca]

Agree. Flat down to 40Hz and then 'useful output' down to 20Hz and it will do justice to most recordings.