Do I Need a Subwoofer - Please suggest

[Tanoj]

Hi Friends,

Although Many of you might already aware about my setup, but still i have listed it below for refrence,

Stereo Steup:
Source : Nakamichi MB2- CDP, sansui Lenier Trakking TT, Sony PS11 TT
Pre-amp : Pass B1
Power-amp: Sansui B2102, 200w/Channel
Speakers: Aucoustic Portrait Bookshelf speakers

i felt that i may be missing the lower Bass extensions and Mid Bass and started thinking i may need a subwoofer, although iam not sure.

I listen to all kind of music and my taste is mix
Hindi- old 80's Bollywood to latest, anything from Movie songs, Jagjit sing Ghazals etc
English - Audiophile voices, alice in chains, norah jhones etc

so my question is

a) How to find out that if i need a sub or not
b) if i need sub which sub will suit my setup

Thank you & Happy New Year to Everyone

Regards

Tanoj

 

[Amitkg]

Hi Friends,

Although Many of you might already aware about my setup, but still i have listed it below for refrence,

Stereo Steup:
Source : Nakamichi MB2- CDP, sansui Lenier Trakking TT, Sony PS11 TT
Pre-amp : Pass B1
Power-amp: Sansui B2102, 200w/Channel
Speakers: Aucoustic Portrait Bookshelf speakers

i felt that i may be missing the lower Bass extensions and Mid Bass and started thinking i may need a subwoofer, although iam not sure.

I listen to all kind of music and my taste is mix
Hindi- old 80's Bollywood to latest, anything from Movie songs, Jagjit sing Ghazals etc
English - Audiophile voices, alice in chains, norah jhones etc

so my question is

a) How to find out that if i need a sub or not
b) if i need sub which sub will suit my setup

Thank you & Happy New Year to Everyone

Regards

Tanoj

-----------------------------------------------------------------

If your preference is pure stereo listening, you don't need sub-woofer. Since you have Sansui B2102, all you need is a pair of good floor-standing speakers, like- Dali Zensor 7 or anything of that sort. Believe you me, that a pair of good FS will/can produce enough bass for your music as you have very capable Sansui power amp.

Happy New Year
:clapping: :clapping: :clapping:

 

[Tanoj]

If your preference is pure stereo listening, you don't need sub-woofer. Since you have Sansui B2102, all you need is a pair of good floor-standing speakers, like- Dali Zensor 7 or anything of that sort. Believe you me, that a pair of good FS will/can produce enough bass for your music as you have very capable Sansui power amp.

Thank you for suggesting me for speaker upgrade, i somehow love he AP speakers, and i feel it sounds very natural although there is some lack of lower bass etc

so my thinking is to continue with the same AP speakers however fix the bass concern by adding a sub, i wish i could audition my setup with a sub before i decide

Regards

Tanoj

 

[mpw]

How big is your room ?

Normally western classical music has lower notes which one can miss but to supplement your main speakers and assuming your room is not too big. Consider the REL T0.

Do post a PIC of your setup..

If you do have a larger room then a nice floorstander or sub woofer depending on your budget.

Regards

 

[musicbee]

Going by your musical preferences I'd think not.

Believe me I know when you feel you are missing out on the lower frequencies, I listen to a lot of hip hop, trance, etc. and if wishes were horses... and budget permitting, I'd be lining up for a pair of Emerald Physics.

I'm also in agreement about a speaker upgrade rather than adding a sub, I've not heard many setups with subs, but the couple I heard were all over the place and overpowering the vocals and instruments, like it was very hard for them to play nice with the rest of the setup.

 

[Shivam]

I don't think that you need subs with that setup with the kind of music that you listen to.

 

[vnmathur57]

A good floorstander will do the trick. Old hindi songs, ghazals etc, even otherwise, do not have heavy bass sound. One needs a subwoofer only to get a disco-ish thump in music or, to enjoy the scenes having heavy artillary fire in action movies.

 

[Hari655]

hmmm for old hindi bollywood and gazals no bass required.

But you have to do a small trail and error here...

Borrow some one's sub, add it to the set up and listen to what you hear the most and if you think sub adds any good sound please go for sub else...just give back the sub to the owner.

Finally you yourself is the best judge..!! What your ears like...

 

[bhagwan]

AudiogoN Forums: Tidal + AM Hiend + Meitner + Velodyne + 2 Comps.

I use a Sub;

I am very happy with it.

I would suggest / recommend the same product to you & to everyone else.

It is a Velodyne SPL 800i
Super Product.

This is the Sub I use.



Disclaimer

Set up & tune is a very 'really difficult' task. So be prepared to go through a long process to get it going [correctly]

 

[bhagwan]

http://www.hifivision.com/av-lounge...s-bhagwans-set-up-part-ii-july-2014-a-12.html

Some pics are posted there.
Will give you an idea of what can be used.

I am a 100 % supporter of 2.1 [Main Speaker + Sub] for Stereo.

I particularly also advocate Floor Standers + 2 Subs in a Room if space permits. :indifferent14:

 

[Srinath_seshadri]

Does your Sansui has the option of connecting to two sets of speakers? Like old amps have A B and AB selector.

If yes, buy nice FLs and you would be happiest. Yes, you got to have good space for them, else sub is the only way out.

Though I never liked subs.

No surprise - I agree with yogibear (we're both altec fans).
Sansui 2010 - you need a speaker with a woofer the size of a car wheel, and no maruti style 10" either, OK make it Lorry wheel.

We have a simple rule in my life - If you can lift it by yourself, dont buy it. It requires 2 adult men, minimum. LOL.
Sound quality is important too, so post some models you cant lift and we'll go from there.

Cool.
Srinath.

 

[jls001]

A pair of good bookshelves + a fast subwoofer = bliss, provided you take the time and pain to integrate them well. Advantage over the oft-suggested 'buy floor standers' is two-fold. One, most large floor standers can easily over load our small audio rooms, and none but the best really go down below 32 Hz. Most bookshelves are limited by physics to about 50-55 Hz. They will be hard put to overload even smaller rooms. Meaning you get cleaner upper bass. Quantum will be lesser, but what it does give won't be bloated. Second, you can control the amount of bass to suit your taste, and more importantly, your room, when using a sub. And a sub will do below 32 Hz easily (if that's important to you). Standing bass, tympani, pipe organs, etc will come to life. Caveat: as Bhagwan mentioned, integrating a sub in a stereo environment is no small task.

 

[doors666]

everybody needs a subwoofer.

 

[jls001]

everybody needs a subwoofer.

LoL Good one

 

[Srinath_seshadri]

everybody needs a subwoofer.

OK The sansui 2101 makes far better and cleaner power than most subwoofer amps. Yea you can get a decent sub from a velodyne or B&W etc etc, but really you wont match the 2101.
I'd get a proper full range speaker.
Probably cheaper than buying a sub.

All I can say is - man he has a 2101, let it rip.

Cool.
Srinath.

 

[Srinath_seshadri]

I LOVE Mac. Just a click and here comes the screen-shot.

Problem solved. Your Sansui does have a speakers connections for A and B. Here:

Man, its really heavy at 18 kgs ! A real back breaker ! But with 200 watts RMS what do you do with it ! Buy two nice Floor Standers and you are up for a Treat ! You may be under-using it till now using two bookshelves.

I missed out on picking up a dead 2101 about 6 months ago.
Picked up a 1/2 dead nak PA 7 though about that same time.
Cool.
Srinath.

 

[Srinath_seshadri]

The lowest frequency that can be produced is governed by the longest room dimension and is governed by the rule:

f = 560/D where D is in feet.

The 560/d formula determines the freq that will resonate in the room.
However we put things on the walls etc etc to absorb it, and hence not get any resonance. Even so it still resonates a little and hence enhances those freqencies.
Worse yet, it will also reflect itself in the perpendicular direction as wel las if you have hard furniture it will reflect between that and the wall, and the back of that and the back wall.
Anyway, I'll guarantee you, you play a test tone from a smart phone and play it through an amp into some speakers, you will hear all the way to about 27-28 hz regardless of your room size. Room doesn't affect the sound from the speaker to you ear. Compressions and rarefactions, they will go, they just wont hit the wall and come back as well if its the wrong frequency.
Cool.
Srinath.

 

[doors666]

Further, any notes produced below 40Hz are inaudible to human ear. The lowest bass note produced by any orchestral instrument is piano which goes down to 27.5 Hz.

Thats not correct. Set your avr's hpf to 40hz vs 20 hz and hear the difference.

 

[Srinath_seshadri]

What is the lowest audible frequency produced by which instrument? Is it a tympani?

I have heard that you can hear even down to 1 hz, but you just need enormous power expended in the device to do so.
There was a recent article, I dont remember where I saw links to it, that was about some speakers that cost $24,000 that will reproduce audible 1hz sound.
I want to hear low freq, but I am also interested in keeping most of my porcelain and silverware in the shevles, not to mention the fishes on the table and pictures on the walls.

Cool.
Srinath.

 

[doors666]

What is the lowest audible frequency produced by which instrument? Is it a tympani?

Or contrabassoon?

as per - Audio frequency - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

16 to 32 1st The human threshold of hearing, and the lowest pedal notes of a pipe organ.