possibly considering stereo subwoofers... (1 Viewer)

[swervegarden]

ok i know this forum is for home theater but this is a pretty typical question... i just recently recieved (an extra) pair of late 80's/early 90's bose 301 series speakers. so now i have 2 pairs (1 pair is 301 series III and the other series II) and the series II sound a lot better in my opinion. but anyways i have a 200w stereo reciever for 8 ohms so i wired these speakers in series for 16 ohms and they sound great. my only thoughts now are relieving these 8" woofers with 2 powered subs (im a stereo freak) with low pass filters... due to my plans of using a low pass filter, the thought of one sub doesnt appeal to me because i want to hear those low notes in stereo... so i need 2 cheaper powered subs geared towards quality and frequency response rather than power... any suggestions?

 

[Dingiswayo]

From what I've gathered in my reading, low notes in stereo wouldn't matter. Low frequencies have wavelengths so long that the ear cannot distinguish directionality. In fact your ear will attribute to the sound to the nearest higher-frequency source from which it can distinguish a direction.

Aside from that you have to make sure they're both in phase (with each other and your normal speakers) or else the low frequencies can cancel each other out, resulting in less bass, not more. I think what you might gain is the ability to hit higher dB with less input per subwoofer. But as for stereo subs, I'm not sure that would make any difference you'd notice. But I'm curious to know what others think because I've often wondered what benefits there may be, if any, to dual subs.

-mateo

 

[Philip Hamm]

My understanding is that Matt is correct.

If you want great sounding bass you're better off spending more on a single higher quality subwoofer than two running in stereo.

If you want better sound, I'd recommend putting those Blose speakers up for sale on craigslist or ebay and get something better for what you can sell them for.

 

[Lew Crippen]

Both Matt and Philip are correct—and pay special attention to Philip’s eBay suggestion.

I assume that since you are a stereo freak, that you are a music guy. You will probably be better off spending your money on two very good, full-range speakers. Subs are most useful for handling the very low (and often very loud) frequencies found in movies, especially where (usually) the surround speakers and often the center channels don’t have speakers that will handle these sounds well (actually, many of the main speakers found in home theaters won’t reproduce the explosions very well either).

If you purchase two good, full-range speakers your music needs should be met. But if you are planning on building a HT, invest in a sub.

OTOH, if you are going to keep those 301s, you might as well get a sub, because those speakers are pretty deficient in reproducing low frequencies in any case.

But sub or no sub one will be enough (and if you really feel the need for two, co-locate them—don’t place them in different parts of the room.

 

[Dingiswayo]

Does that mean stack them or something to that effect? Is that to avoid interference? How bad is that if they're in phase. I ask because I'm thinking of the Axiom Audio picture you see everywhere, including this forum, that has giant stereo subs in their model home theater. And now that I think about it I think DIY Sub Master Robert J mentioned having like 8 subs in his home theater or something insane like that. Probably half of those are tuned to 10Hz or something. Anyway, just curious about the co-location

 

[swervegarden]

thanks alot for the advice... you pretty much hit it on the head - i had (have) a pair of fisher floorstanding speakers with 15" woofers... but these speakers never sounded great to me, just loud. i always knew id have to recondition the mids and tweeters for them to be good, but the crossover on one of them blew so i set up the 301s, then got another pair of 301s for free (my first pair was 65) so i got basically 4 of them for 65... how much could i get for a pair of these on ebay? im done with the fishers too because the woofers only go down to like 55hz... at one point i had a velodyne 8" powered sub that was amazing but i sold it because it was too much bass at the time with the 15"'s... now it would have been perfect with the bose but ive always loved monstrous 3 way floor standers... always will... i was thinking about cerwin vega? what are both good quality and high SPL? at this point i need both with my hearing being destroyed by drums everyday... thanks again

 

[swervegarden]

BTW frequency response is a big part of my opinion on a pair of floor standing speakers... i dont specifically want a sub because the desire for me to have stereo subs only comes out of having had floor standing speakers with big stereo woofers... it seems to me that smaller speakers can typically get lower? i dunno because the 15"s went down to 40 something but dropped off quick and that 8" velodyne was cranking out 8hz (that i could see, not hear obviously)

 

[Dingiswayo]

Today's bookshelf speakers certainly get low (the NHT Classic 3 claims 35Hz which is impressive if true) but that's nothing to do with their smaller size specifically. The woofers on your Fishers were just woofers, with a much lower excursion, amongst other factors. The Velodyne subwoofer you had was a driver with much higher excursion (along with other factors), thus a much higher air-displacement and was probably in a much larger box - which all equals lower frequencies.

But I have to doubt that it got down to 8Hz. If you plotted that in WinISD or a similar program you'd have to have a box with probably more than 35 ft^3 of volume and gigantic vents (I'm making that up, but trying to build a box with a 15" driver down to a solid 15Hz was getting too large, so an 8" driver down to 8Hz seems impossible). But who knows? Maybe you had an amazing magical subwoofer. If you search the forum you can get some really good suggestions on a pair of floorstanding speakers, or just ask anew and include your price range. I'd start a new thread though with that new question.

 

[Dingiswayo]

And I don't know if you're interested, but if you wanted to read about the workings of speakers and subwoofers then Aperion University is a good place to start. Here's a link to their Technology of Sound "courses."

Aperion University: Learn About Sound Technology - Aperion Audio