SG Acoustics Airedale 800 Series Sub

[synsei]

http://i1019.photobucket.com/albums/af316/Sgtgrash/Hifi%20Stuff/AiredaleFront.jpghttp://i1019.photobucket.com/albums/af316/Sgtgrash/Hifi%20Stuff/AiredaleBack.jpghttp://i1019.photobucket.com/albums/af316/Sgtgrash/Hifi%20Stuff/AiredaleBackplate.jpg

Hi all. I've just bought this from eBay for £21 plus £10 p&p. I've not heard of the company before and can find very little about them on the web, although the label states they were based in Bradford. It measures 22" x 14" x 10" and as you can see from the pics, it has all the necessary facilities other than auto on/off. The seller informed me that the cabinet houses two 8" drivers and a 120w amp, although I'm certain he misidentified the power consumption figure on the label for power output.

I've fitted the cabinet with adjustable floor spikes and set it up and it does sound rather good. Because of the poor acoustics in my listening room, my Rogers LS55 speakers don't deliver the bass response for which they are renowned. The Airedale has definitely fixed this. I've set the cut-off frequency to 80hz (it was set to 120hz before and sounded dire) and now my system digs down deep and the bass is well controlled too.

I am now wondering whether I really need large, floorstanding speakers in such a modestly sized listening room (15' 4" X 12" 4"). Any thoughts on this?

I was also wondering if anyone has any knowledge of the company and the product that they might want to share with me? :)

[Reid Malenfant]

Hi Dave, i notice that the sub has no control over phase other than the 180 degree switch, this won't help it integrate with your main speakers in all honesty. What you really should be looking for is both the phase switch & a variable 0 - 180 degree phase shift control to properly integrate the main speakers ;)

On the subject of speaker size :D My listening room is smaller than yours & yet i have speakers capable of much more air movement, it's not just about what appears to be needed.. Just figure it out, a speaker or speakers that can move more air than is ever going to be needed will produce vastly less distortion than any setup that needs to use all the drivers capabilities ;)

That doesn't mean bigger is better, but it means less distortion at the end of the day, which must be better :)

It also means you can fry your brains with the volume level if so required :eyebrows: As i'm apparently doing right now :cool:

[synsei]

Hi Mark. Actually, integration seems pretty much perfect to me with no nasty holes in the overall frequency response. I'm getting accurate and extended bass with great slam and tone, which just wasn't happening before. The improvement is marked and demonstrable, and frankly for £31 all in, I'm absolutely stoked with the improvement.

The need for a sub has been dictated by the room acoustics and speaker placement. At present, because of the room layout, I can only place the speakers so they fire across the width of the room, there really is nowhere else to put them. Although I wouldn't pretend to understand the math and technicalities involved in room acoustics, gleaning information from what I've understood about the subject from previous posts on here, I'm guessing I have a huge standing wave issue in this room. I can qualify this. When I drove to Bedford to pick up the LS55's, I took the Audiolab and Hafler with me so that I could hear the Rogers using my own amplification. The chaps listening room was smaller than mine, and less sparsely furnished (my listening room is my bedroom after all, and is full of soft furnishings and a king-size double bed). He had the Rogers positioned about a foot from the rear wall and about 3 feet from the corners (as have I), and facing down the length of the room and the sound was bloody fantastic (source was an Arcam 7se cd player). I have that sound now using the sub. In fact, most of the stuff I listen to now, and specifically the lossless albums, sends shivers down my spine, and that's how it's meant to be, isn't it?

Now, my point about using two way bookshelf speakers with or without the sub, rather than the Rogers, stems from when I hooked up the damaged Celestion County's. Even though the cabs are cosmetically damaged the drive units are in perfect condition. Upon hooking them up I listened to several albums, on both vinyl and CD and I was stunned. They were so open and natural with a gorgeous soundstage, pin sharp positioning and plenty of depth. Shockingly, they also provided a tuneful and natural bass response. That got me wondering if the Rogers might be just a wee bit too much for the acoustics in this room.

This is why I am so keen for you to work your magic on the County's, because once they are done and back here, the proof of the pudding will be in the eating, so to speak. I have a feeling they are going to beat the Rogers to a pulp in this room. I'll have to be patient for that Big Fight however. Once they are done though, you are welcome to come over to hear for yourself. I think the results are going to be interesting, to say the least... :stalks:

[Reid Malenfant]

Hi Mark. Actually, integration seems pretty much perfect to me with no nasty holes in the overall frequency response. I'm getting accurate and extended bass with great slam and tone, which just wasn't happening before. The improvement is marked and demonstrable, and frankly for £31 all in, I'm absolutely stoked with the improvement.
That's great news, you are lucky it dropped into place so well :) Rooms can be a pain in a lot of cases i'll admit, i'm pretty lucky with this room as there appears to be only one major room mode & it centres around 40Hz. I should be able to minimise this with a notch filter but in all honesty it doesn't often make itself known thankfully ;) No idea how come as 90% of the music i listen to have prodigious amounts of deep bass :scratch:

It does appear to be of very narrow bandwidth though so this might be why it doesn't often get excited.

Actually i'm glad you brought this up, i'm off to investigate variable Q notch filters using gyrators :cool:


Oh yes, if music is making hairs stand on end you are doing something right, or the system is...