Mixing subwoofers? (1 Viewer)

[Kevin Reckelhoff]

Currently have a fairly small sub, and am thinking about getting the Sony SAWM40 that everyone is raving about. If I do, I'm not sure what to do with the old one. It's not going to be worth much as a resale, and I don't have a second system to hook it up to (yet).

Is there any advantage to hooking both the old and new up to the system? I know lots of people run dual subs--do the same concerns about matching speakers (brands, makes, specs) apply to subwoofers?

 

[ian_graven]

Speaking from the car audio world, mixing sub woofer sizes is a very bad thing unless done perfectly. Probably not in option in your case. I'm prety sure the same principals will exist in the home audio world. Hopefully someone with a little more knowledge in the home world will chime in.

 

[Cees Alons]

Although in theory you could perhaps use it to enhance, say, the centre channel (setting that channel to large), I agree with ian.
Use it elsewhere (e.g. in your bedroom). Not together with a much larger (and probably lower going) sub.
You upgraded!
Cees

 

[Jeff Adams]

Mixing two different brands of subwoofers has worked great in my setup. I had a PSB subsonic 3 which blew out about a year ago, it was still under warranty but I had to wait awhile for a new sub to come in, so I bought an aad c-10 sub. I was very impressed with that sub but finally they got in a new sub for my PSB and fixed it. I was just going to sell it but I figured what the heck, I'll throw it in the corner and see if it adds anything to my system. Sure enough it did! My home theater has never sounded as good as it does now. But unlike your dilemma both of my subwoofers use 10 inch drivers and are ported, so they are very similar in performance. I guess the best thing for you to do is try it, if you like the way it sounds, cool, if not then use it elsewhere.

 

[Kevin Reckelhoff]

Thanks for the replies--looks like this is a great excuse to finally start putting together a bedroom system

 

[Robert_Gaither]

If not just simply replace the woofer in your old sub with a woofer that is preferred by the DIY community (note: you may have to reroute the hole so the replacement woofer fits) and throw it onto a second system (bedroom or computer).