Subwoofer pairing and Crossover with Mirage Nanosats (1 Viewer)

[anthony_b]

I recently picked up 5 Mirage Nanosat speakers, and I'm building a 2nd HT room and looking to get a sub with it (Most Likely the BIC f12) - I've never owned speakers this tiny before and I know that I have to cross them over at about 100 or 120 hz, so my question is , does anyone have experiance with these type of speakers blending in with a 12 inch sub and crossing them over that high ?

The setup is going to be 75% HT and 25% music

 

[schan1269]

What AVR are you going to use?

I would almost suggest an MBM as well(HSU makes a dedicated MBM, to give you an idea).

 

[gene c]

As long as the subwoofer, regardless of how large it is, can reach as high as the crossover setting they should work together. The F12 has a frequency response of 25-200hz so a crossover of 120 or 150 would work (100 might be too low for the Nanosats). Blending the two isn't the problem but having the subwoofer play that high is the drawback of small satellite speakers. But sometimes compromises have to be made. Hopefully you can position the sub close to the front speakers and far away from you. This will at least help a little to reduce the localization of the sub.Just for fun I've set the crassover as high as 200hz (the upper limit of my 10" sub) and for the most part it was acceptable but there were times when the location of the subwoofer was very noticable. But 100 (with very capable front speakers) is the highest I like to set a crossover. Some prefer 80, others say 120 and let the sub do most of the work.Edit:An MBM would be a great idea. But I really don't know much about them and it would add considerably to the cost.

 

[anthony_b]

Thanks for the replys. The sub will be placed next the nanosats, hopefully there will be no sub localization and also hoping for it to sound someone musical with the sub crossed over that high.

 

[schan1269]

My idea would cost you...

An 8" subwoofer
The 12" you are already planning
An external crossover.

IE, you'd feed the sub output to the crossover...

You would set it at 80hz, it would pass off 80-"whatever" to the 8"...
The 12" would play where it is supposed to. And at that you could tweak the external crossover to 60.

http://www.amazon.com/MartinLogan-Dynamo-300-Theater-Subwoofer/dp/B004LRPXAU/ref=pd_sim_sbs_e_1
http://www.amazon.com/Behringer-CX2310-Stereo-Frequency-Crossover/dp/B0002Z82LM/ref=pd_sim_sbs_e_7 (you could even get two 8" subwoofers and put them "near" the Nanosat)

 

[Tom Vodhanel]

I recently picked up 5 Mirage Nanosat speakers, and I'm building a 2nd HT room and looking to get a sub with it (Most Likely the BIC f12) - I've never owned speakers this tiny before and I know that I have to cross them over at about 100 or 120 hz, so my question is , does anyone have experiance with these type of speakers blending in with a 12 inch sub and crossing them over that high ?

The setup is going to be 75% HT and 25% music

Use at least 120hz, and experiment with 150hz if you plan on loud playback levels. If the sub is placed within the front soundstage it may minimize the tendency for the bass to be directional. Also, if the sub has a crossover control experiment with activating it(cascading crossovers) and setting it in the 120-150hz range. This will double up on the typical 12dB/octave lowpass slope many receivers put on the subwoofer signal. Steeper slope may also help with localization.

Lastly, careful with the sub choice. The speakers will be down quite a bit by 150hz (imo)...so you don't want a subwoofer that shows a sharp drop at 150hz (compared to 60-80hz). This will just exaggerate the inevitable "mid bass hole". I don't know how closely related they are but this bic model is down 10dB from its peaky output

 

[anthony_b]

Thanks for the detailed responses gentlemen. The sub should be here in a few days and I'll post my findings. I was using in the mean time the mirage s8 crossed over at 120hz and it was still quite musical. That's my biggest concern with this sub. My previous sub before it died was a velodyne ct 10

 

[schan1269]

So you already have the sub to fill the 80-150 hole.

 

[anthony_b]

update - My F12 arrived today, as I mentioned before it's paired up with 5 Mirage Nanosats. I'm crossing the sub @ 120hz and I think the combo sounds really good. I still have to play around with some channel volume settings, but overall I can't think of a better bargain for a 12 inch sub that sounds this good. Thanks everyone for all the advice.