I should receive a full set of Nordost Valhalla 2 cables :
Ethernet
USB
3x Power cables
Interconnects
Speakers cables
Subs can be very nice for a home cinema, but not for music replay, imo. I don’t have a TV.
Placing them is like squaring the circle. In fact, I tend to believe it’s not possible. So, subs aren’t on the list. And I’m not a huge fan of house shaking bass. I like it dry, precise, fast, just like the real thing.
What is on the list, is room treatment modifications.
But not for now; I’ve been a bit overboard with gear purchases…
I was of exactly the same opinion until I tried a Velodyne DD10+ omg…that is fast…and with its built in dsp it slips in without you knowing it… I would think a pair of these would be incredible. On my system you just could not detect the sub working it sounded as if the extra bass punch was coming from the main speakers… The only thing that would give it away would be over zealous use of sub volume (being silly) or sub 25hz vibration…
It’s not unsolvable: It’s simple to solve it acoustically. All you need to know is the group delay just below the crossover point; then you move the sub closer to the listening position by the amount necessary to compensate for that delay.
Seriously I thought it would be an issue … but in practice it is not the big issues for subs is room integration and matching the main speakers roll off. With dsp in the sub this can be achieved very well. The bass you get is tight and very fast…the driver design on the Velodyne is amazing the magnet and motor structure is gargantuan…there is not a chance a std speaker motor would compete at low frequencies sub 35hz… But like all things you pays your money and makes your choice … there allot of good ones out there Fathom, SVS…etc.
How important time integration is varies from listener to listener.
Unfortunately for me it’s critical to the correct integration for a sub; if the time integration is off I can easily identify the position of the sub and the sound-fields of the sub and the mains don’t merge.
That is indeed a way to do it. But it is, I believe, not as straightforward as it seems. Having all woofers in the same encloser is cleaner in terms of setup. That’s also something I’m after.
The Magico M2 provides incredibly clean and precise bass. That’s all I need.
Not as deep or powerful as most subwoofers (if not all), but it is by a large margin the tighter, cleaner and more precise low end (down to ~35Hz) I have ever heard. Only the Magico M6 does a better job (in terms of scale).
More importantly, bass drivers blend sooo well with the mid driver and tweeter… it is a beautiful engineering job
In an integrated speaker design such as the Magico, it’s incumbent on the speaker designer to get the phase integration of the drivers right. When integrating a sub, it’s the installer’s job to get it right.
I really do understand how people with larger listening spaces can very justifiably prefer large ‘full range’ speakers to mains & sub setups.
At this point, I gotta have some 15 inch driver equivalent of bass on ACDC, loud. Not wooly bass… deep, visceral tight bass. DBL sealed box’s kinda bass… Never took to sub-woofers as good as they could be, they just took up floor space and were detached from the main speakers… visually not for me in the listening room.
I haven’t been more interested than now, in room acoustics and treatment. But less is often more, and in the right places for this to work.
Actually I agree in a way - however, my approach with the sub (this is only my opinion found by fiddling around)…is to leave the speaker alone…and just gently roll sub it in to supplement…you do not want to mess with the upper bass… in the case of your speaker you may have all you want…however, the extreme low end is not about shaking the house (its fun to sometimes!) but to subtly augment in a way that is not really that apparent - I found that this gives music another dimension and strangely increases the feeling of space air and depth…don’t ask me how…
Thomas, I need to sound proof and treat the room carefully as I intend and want to occasionally have head banging AC/DC sorties at 2am without having to wake the neighbourhood….
I dislike being limited by what I can play in the dead of night… lol
That said, classical is beginning to insidiously creep in into my veins and ears the more mature (never older) I get…. But I hope I will headbang right into my golden years….
So, further to my previous (and also posted in the System pics thread), I recently replaced existing wall panelling with thicker versions and installed a couple of corner bass traps.
The results were astonishing. It sounded like I’d splashed a four-figure sum on a box upgrade instead of €234 on some sticky-back styrofoam.
Trust me - if you haven’t treated your listening room, you really don’t know yet what your system is really doing!
DIY acoustic panels nearly ready to be installed. 6mm laser cut ply glued to 50mm acoustic foam. pattern drawn in Rhino. Material cost is about £12 each. I have four up in the living room already, which have made a nice difference considering they are small panels in quite a large room.
Freshly lasercut ply stinks (a strong burnt smell, surprisingly enough), so I sanded and finished them with danish oil (which also smells pretty strong), then left them outside for a few days before gluing on the foam. The glue is a cheap generic ‘no nails’ type acrylic adhesive.
I would recommend this approach if you have access to a laser cutter, don’t want to pay for commercial panels or want to create your own designs. I drew up some patterns I liked based on phyllotaxis, but these were rejected by the interior design committee.
ATB Peter
Not wooly bass… deep, visceral tight bass. DBL sealed box’s kinda bass… Never took to sub-woofers as good as they could be, they just took up floor space and were detached from the main speakers… visually not for me in the listening room.
