I've got a pair of JM Lab Electra 905 and am wondering what advice we might have about matching one or two subwoofers for enhancing reproduction of large Romantic symphonies (i.e. Beethoven's 9th, Mahler's 2nd, etc.).
The Electra 905s are a 2-way MTM d'Appolito configuration with 5" midrange "W-Sandwich" woofers (structural foam between woven glass fiber skins) and a titanium oxide tweeter, so the sub would need to match tonally. Sensitivity is 91.5db.
Frequency response of the sub would need to extend down into the 40 Hz range, maybe into the 30s, and I care a lot about soundstage and image coherence. I love to hear the space between the instruments and the size of the concert hall.
Do any of these possibilities seem more or less likely to work?
I don't nave any experience with subs and would appreciate recommendations for particular subwoofer drivers and enclosures that would help to maintain a tonal match with the Electras and a good 3D soundstage.
Thanks!
The Electra 905s are a 2-way MTM d'Appolito configuration with 5" midrange "W-Sandwich" woofers (structural foam between woven glass fiber skins) and a titanium oxide tweeter, so the sub would need to match tonally. Sensitivity is 91.5db.
Frequency response of the sub would need to extend down into the 40 Hz range, maybe into the 30s, and I care a lot about soundstage and image coherence. I love to hear the space between the instruments and the size of the concert hall.
Do any of these possibilities seem more or less likely to work?
- A long transmission line doubling as a stand for the Electras, with the woofer at the top to keep it near the other drivers
- A pair of small flanking subs on the floor
- A larger single sub in a corner or wherever appropriate
I don't nave any experience with subs and would appreciate recommendations for particular subwoofer drivers and enclosures that would help to maintain a tonal match with the Electras and a good 3D soundstage.
Thanks!
I'd recommend, first and foremost, a measurement setup. You can pick one up for less than $100 if you shop around. You need a USB preamp, microphone, and a computer running REW or similar.
Rooms do awful things to the sound of pretty much any subwoofer, so being able to measure and correct for that is very useful.
For instance, one listening room I know quite well has a horrendous (>10dB) peak at 40Hz. It makes small speakers sound big, by helping them out with the bass a lot. If anything is flat to 40Hz, however, it's just a mess. The best sound I got was a pair of 15"s in sealed boxes with a lot of EQ. Turned out the room had another peak at 12Hz (~20dB), so the result was a system that was flat to 12Hz and fell very quickly below that. Measuring the cones up close showed a response that was flat-to-20Hz, but the room changed all that.
Some questions before we recommend much, though:
- Budget?
- Amplification? (if you don't have any, is that to be included in the budget?)
- Signal processing available? - crossovers, EQ, etc. What've you got? What are you willing to use?
- Maximum size?
Chances are you can be ambitious and go for lower than 40Hz. 40Hz is wimpy unless you're going for live SPLs. As for tonality, have you listened to music with an 80Hz lowpass? There's not a lot there. What is there is useful, but there's not much tone involved. We'll still recommend sensible, low-distortion designs either way.
Chris
Rooms do awful things to the sound of pretty much any subwoofer, so being able to measure and correct for that is very useful.
For instance, one listening room I know quite well has a horrendous (>10dB) peak at 40Hz. It makes small speakers sound big, by helping them out with the bass a lot. If anything is flat to 40Hz, however, it's just a mess. The best sound I got was a pair of 15"s in sealed boxes with a lot of EQ. Turned out the room had another peak at 12Hz (~20dB), so the result was a system that was flat to 12Hz and fell very quickly below that. Measuring the cones up close showed a response that was flat-to-20Hz, but the room changed all that.
Some questions before we recommend much, though:
- Budget?
- Amplification? (if you don't have any, is that to be included in the budget?)
- Signal processing available? - crossovers, EQ, etc. What've you got? What are you willing to use?
- Maximum size?
Chances are you can be ambitious and go for lower than 40Hz. 40Hz is wimpy unless you're going for live SPLs. As for tonality, have you listened to music with an 80Hz lowpass? There's not a lot there. What is there is useful, but there's not much tone involved. We'll still recommend sensible, low-distortion designs either way.
Chris
Thanks for your reply, Chris. I'd like to keep the budget under $500 USD if possible, but at this point I'm more interested in the principles of what will make a sub match these speakers.
Last year I picked up a measurement microphone that I was planning to use with REW, for some mass-loaded transmission lines that I made, but never got around to using it. I wasn't aware that I'd need a preamp in order to take measurements, so I'll look into that.
I'm a SET enthusiast. Current system is:
* Denon DL-301ii LOMC cartridge in a Rega P3, RB300 tonearm
* Sowter 9570z SUTs
* Sony CA70-ES CD player
* VTA PH16 tube phono preamp
* Tubelab SE 300B power amp (measures distortion free at full power to below 30Hz)
I'm happy to go as low as possible in terms of frequency response, but I'm not looking for room-shaking bass. The idea is to fill in the resonance and air of the concert hall, and the full body of the instruments.
Last year I picked up a measurement microphone that I was planning to use with REW, for some mass-loaded transmission lines that I made, but never got around to using it. I wasn't aware that I'd need a preamp in order to take measurements, so I'll look into that.
I'm a SET enthusiast. Current system is:
* Denon DL-301ii LOMC cartridge in a Rega P3, RB300 tonearm
* Sowter 9570z SUTs
* Sony CA70-ES CD player
* VTA PH16 tube phono preamp
* Tubelab SE 300B power amp (measures distortion free at full power to below 30Hz)
I'm happy to go as low as possible in terms of frequency response, but I'm not looking for room-shaking bass. The idea is to fill in the resonance and air of the concert hall, and the full body of the instruments.
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