To subwoofer or not...?

[Markiii]

been running a monolith downward firing 12" off the high level inputs alongside my floorstanders for years and it works just fine

so well I have a plan to try a couple of passive 12" ones on each channel to see if it gets even better

[Pigmy Pony]

been running a monolith downward firing 12" off the high level inputs alongside my floorstanders for years and it works just fine

so well I have a plan to try a couple of passive 12" ones on each channel to see if it gets even better

I'm thinking that if you like what the Monolith does, you may be better off buying a second one. Give your amp an easier life too.

[Haselsh1]

OK so I have just checked out the big woofers thread as suggested with serious interest. Still thinking/procrastinating. I'll be back

[sq225917]

Sub worked great in old house with kef ref 203, it sucked in new house, square room, shit floors. Measurement, matching and a sympathetic environment are everything ime.

[PhilofCas]

OK so I have just checked out the big woofers thread as suggested with serious interest. Still thinking/procrastinating. I'll be back

I’d say go for it Shaun, we have same speakers and I bought a sub late April, a BK XLS200. So far I’ve tuned mine by ear and it’s 80% there, but even with the odd bit of fatness and boom i’m certainly not bothered much by it, some DSP would help, but I’m in no rush.

Just enjoying the extra bass drive and added realism/believability. I do believe it offers a big improvement all round, not just the bass, it adds meat everywhere. You mentioned you listen to electronic stuff, it’s one of my favourite genres, I find the combo of Spendor and BK to be brilliant, just listening to some Gorillaz and it sounds pretty good to me.

I can’t see me doing without one now going forward, should have got one years ago.

Let us know if you want anymore info.

All the best,

Phil.

[Jimbo]

OK so I have just checked out the big woofers thread as suggested with serious interest. Still thinking/procrastinating. I'll be back

We maybe in a similar position Shaun both having Spendors with little bottom end. I really could do with a bit more bass as it brings scale to a system and enhances midrange and treble. REL have recommended two t/5i or one t/9i. I am very tempted. I am sure you would benefit from a subwoofer as, if I am correct, you like a lot of electronic stuff which has a lot going on in the sub bass area?

[Haselsh1]

Yeah we've just had to come from B&W CM8 S2's to these tiny nearfield's and it is not fun. The big plus though is that the mid and treble of the Spendors leave us wondering why..? Why the hell did we bother with the B&W's..? I am seriously thinking about a diminutive Cambridge Audio Minx 201 because of its size - I'll get back to tell how it all turned out.

We can't really take Quantic seriously at the moment due to around half of the music being completely absent. 5th Exotic is just sounding bloody ridiculous. Also, Quantic and Spanky Wilson we just haven't dared play yet.

[Haselsh1]

OK, just bought and paid for a Yamaha NS-SW200 subwoofer to see if it improves our listening. It should be here in a few days.

[smangus]

I use an MJ Acoustics Pro 50 sub with some Celestion compact As, sounds good in my 3m by 4 m front room parked in the bay window. I have wooden floors so it sounded a bit woolly until I parked a spare floor tile under it which tightens it up no end. Otherwise the bass goes through the floor.

It really helps with the sound once dialled in, which took a bit of experimentation. I did that all by ear with no measurement malarkey so it can be done. I found it works best dialled in to just above the A's lowest frequency response (80 Hz?) and then set the sub volume lower than you might think, makes a huge difference though.

[Haselsh1]

OK guys got the thing yesterday and plumbed it in straight away. Had less than an hour of experience but really struck by the subtlety of it. On Eat Static's latest CD there is some extreme low end stuff that the Spendors were never going to be able to reproduce and on George Michael's CD 'Older' there is now way more feeling to the music due to the extra depth. Playing '5th Exotic' by Quantic was slightly disappointing though. I'm guessing that last years B&W CM8 S2's were just a bit too much in what was then such a large room. I'll add more when I can say more. So far though, love its subtlety.