More Bass....

hi all,
ever since i heard merlins pro-ac d100's i've been bothered by the lack of bass impact from my current speakers. sure they go pretty low and are nicely controlled (except for a couple of room modes). however that fundamental low frequency information is missing which is what i want to achieve.
as i see it i have 4 options.
1) buy the best sub i can afford.
2) buy 2 lesser subs (one for each speaker)
3) buy some larger speakers.
4) make some new speakers.

now i realise that i'[m not going to get d100 quality without spending d100 money (which i don;t have) but there have been a number of cheapish subs mentioned over the past week which have piqed my interest. budget would be about 500 quid which kind of rules out 3 and 4 at present as speakers that could do the job come in at about 1.5 - 2k 2nd hand
this leaves the sub options at present. now i've heard all sorts of conflicting opinions about how easy / difficult it is to integrate with speakers / rooms etc. so any advice or suggestions would be welcome.
cheers


julian

 

Julian

Check these out for a serious bargain

Not exactly domestically acceptable but guaranteed to provide oddles

 

Give the REL Stampede and the Strata 5 a go, very good for music.

 

Crusty,

not wishing to sound disrespectful, I just don't think those Rels are going to cut it here.

Do a comparison on specs with the Quested. This uses the top Volt 12" (not even employed in the flagship Rels), a 400w amp, and costs half the price. It's only drawbacks are aestetics, and the need to bypass the internal crossover should you wish to run them higher than 38hz.

For those who don't know, Quested are one of the world's top studio monitor manufacturers, their products typically competing with rangetoping products from ATC, Dynaudio and the like.

To be honest, to get anything approaching the D100's, I think Julian is going to have to think out of the box on this one, given budget constraints. Come on Jules - build a real motha

 

Woah - it's FREE!! I'm going to order one at £0. What's going on there???

If you can find me a sub for under £400 that'll keep up with my Epos ES14s, I'm interested. The only reason I play LOUD is to get the bass... A sub'd improve quantity and quality and allow me to play lower...

AAAAH.... Just added the thing to my cart and it's £374. Now if only I *had* £374

 

Julain,

you don't want more bass surely?, I mean you normally give me grief over this very subject, may I recommend a pair of atc's best in known universe (and beyond possibly), go on you know you want too, it'll be eating you up otherwise

 

Julian,

adding one or two subs to any speakers could also cause new problems. Lots of people had for example acoustical problems or frequency overlapping.

I'm not saying that it wouldn't work but take in consideration that very mostly you will have to invest something in the acoustic of your room. But merlin who has experience in this field will certainly be able to guide you and tell you what else has to be considered in order not to get a big disappointment.

 

Titian,

having visited Julian's country residence, the main bass modde is around 70hz at the listening position so I suspect filling in the bottom octave will not cause too many issues.

I do wish he'd move the listening position though

 

Well, see, I knew you have a better overview about the situation than anybody else (unless other people saw the room and have experience in subs).

Give Julian a punch between his eyes: maybe he will change his listening position then.

 

Regarding subs, I'd certainly suggest that 2 "lesser" subs are generally better than 1 amazing one, allthough obviously there are limits to the price differential where this is true.

I'm starting to think the solution to these kinds of issues lies with digital x-overs and separate amplification for the 20-200Hz range and the rest. With 2 subs and a digital x-over complex room correction like Tact RCS may not be so necessary.

Michael.

 

I trust you have met Julian

 

Actually, no. The solution lies here

 

Joel,

will you please stop posting provocative links like that one

My girlfriend is starting to dislike you intensly

 

Thought you'd like that

 

o0o speaker p0rn

 

Is that volt 12" the same bass driver used in the PMC MB2?? If so then :O indeed! Although maybe it wouldn't be anything like the bass on the MB2's without the transmission line, but it is still a good driver.

Where can you source the Volt 12" or 15" drivers? I am very tempted to build a sub now! Or when I have the money.. How about building a transmission-line (would need an effective line length of 3m) sub with a Volt 12" driver and a 525W Tripath TA3020 based amp in bridged mono mode Lookie Here Alltogether it would be about £450 I recon but it should sound hugely better than a commercial one at that!

Just thinking aloud

 

Hi tenson,

the Volts are available from Wilmsolw, although the 12" costs about £350 by itself. The Quested is a serious bargain provided you can bypass that crossover.

Joel,

I am currently looking at the service manual for a very well known JBL and imagining all kinds of things Anyone out there good with crossovers?

 

hi,
thanks for the suggestions the quested looks nice but i'd be a little concerned about connection options - the only ones that are listed are xlr's and none of my kit is balanced so it may require a bit more than my usual bf&i methods to get it to work with my kit.
the japanese speaker looks mental but as i don't read japanese at all i have no idea what the specs are and i'd also like to try before i buy if i go that route.

i must admit to liking the idea of 2 smaller subs rather than 1 large one in that it logically should provide a punchier sound closer to what i heard with the d100's and it also affords better options with positioning etc. it just seems that smaller subs are quite low powered which may cause problems however i guess i'll have to have a look about and see what i can find to have a listen to.

keep the suggestions comming - i may indeed look into moving my listening position but it would require investment in some furniture. which is nowhere near as fun as a f*ck off big 15 inch driver
cheers


julian

 

How bout one of these: http://www.velodyne.com/velodyne/products/product.aspx?ID=11&sid=837s857s

Dunc

 

Ju,

Prehaps a blag of Merl's current Beau, would help you decide, failing that, 5 atc 150's and 2 subs, Oh I forgot they lack punch!