Two subs vs two towers. (1 Viewer)

[Chris PC]

If placeing two subwoofer in two different locations is not optimal because of cancelations, then what about my two towers that go down to 32 hz -3dB? I know I've asked this before but now its bugging me. Sometimes I hear the bass notes well, and other times not. I guess i should experiment with placement?

If two subs in different locations has drawbacks, then why get towers that go so low? Aren't I dealing with the same problems?

 

[Michael R Price]

This is why it's usually best to set your speakers to small and produce the bass from one place. Yes, there will be bass interactions between your towers.

People don't just buy towers for the bass. But that's another story which has been argued to death lately.

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Aren't I dealing with the same problems?

Yup. The location for the best bass response is never the location for the best imaging and soundstage.
Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[Chris PC]

Fair enough. And I know I have been responsible for arguing this two. The point is, I often listen to my towers without my subwoofer. This means that people who own tower speakers but do not own a subwoofer will always have less than optimal bass. I find that goofy because tower speakers are always sold in pairs with two sources of bass.

To me, this conflicts at least partially with the argument that you should have towers which have low bass response, those towers will have potentially ragged response down there because of their different locations.

Can you use an EQ to smooth out the sound of a pair of towers? Are there any thing worth looking at to try to minimize the affect of the less than ideal bass response of two towers?

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Can you use an EQ to smooth out the sound of a pair of towers?

Don’t a lot of these have provisions to feed the built-in sub via an RCA signal jack? It would be easy to insert equalizers in this case. Equalizing two separate bass sources is time consuming, but it can be done.

If there is no line-level sub input, the only way to connect equalizers is between pre-out and main-in jacks. In this case the EQ would be patched across the entire operating range of the speaker, so you must use a high-quality equalizer. Expect to spend $250-350 minimum for a decent used two-channel pro EQ.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[BruceD]

To take a slightly different tack than Wayne, you could use an active electronic xover just before the main L&R amp inputs that splits the signal into two parts, 1) the high-pass to the main L&R amp inputs, and 2) the low-pass to a Parametric EQ and then on to the sub(s).

I've been doing this with my main speakers - Dynaudio Contour 2.8 towers - and an M&K sub for the last 3 years with great success. This works great for both 2-channel music and HT.

 

[Chris PC]

Lets assume a system with no subwoofer. I am curious mainly about a pair of towers alone and no subwoofer. I guess I should have stressed I am talking about towers alone that go low. NO SUBWOOFER. I already know the way to EQ the subwoofer, as I asked you folks those questions many times and you've all given me more than ample suggestions and I thank you for that
Its just that I listen to my fronts alone sometimes and quite frankly, I am just generally curious about how towers are supposed to work alone. We'll use my towers for example, PSB Image 6T. If they are rated down to 32 hz -3 dB but you place them as most people place a pair of speakers, you really aren't getting the best bass because of the cancellations and interference of the two towers at, say, between 30 and 100 hz etc. So I guess regardless of whether or not your position options are limited, you should still try to experiment with your towers.
So with that in mind, I am just wondering how best to flatten your in room bass response from a pair of towers such as mine.

 

[BruceD]

Chris,

My Dynaudio's have the same -3dB at 32Hz and the reason I use the sub is because you can't get great bass and imaging simultaneously from the optimum main speaker location for imaging.

As a benefit, the xover helps increase the clarity from the main's mid-bass/mid-range driver because it reduces IM distortion from the bass/mid-bass driver by filtering out the low bass.

 

[AntonS]

Why do you think the low waves that the towers produce would be cancelled? The waves are coming forward from the same plane. There is no way they can cancel themselves. You got cancellations if the waves are reflected (let's say from the back wall) and will be coming the other way towards the speakers in the opposite phase. But you can have the same effect with a single bass source (subwoofer).

 

[Chris PC]

There is no way they can cancel themselves.

The very nature of bass frequencies shows that two speakers located at different places producing sound from 30 to 100 hz will result in some cancelations in the room. Because of the wavelength of the bass frequencies, they interact in the room more complicatedly than your idea of simply propogating straight forward to meet at the listening position. In fact, that alone will result in some differences in the listening position frequency. The point where the sound meets depends on the distant between the speakers and the distance to you, not to mention the room interactions. Anyways, to learn more about two sources producing bass from different locations, just do a search here and dive right in. Its not as "straight forward"(excuse the pun) as it seems