Subwoofers matching ?

[Shivam]

How important it is to match the sound signature of a subwoofer with the other speakers ? Is it as important as matching the sound signatures of fronts, center and surrounds ?

As per George Lucas, it becomes increasingly difficult to localize direction of sound under 80 Hz and lower (which is also the basis of the starwars' sound effects). What then is the use of using different subwoofers for left and right channels especially in discs which do not have a separate LF signal (stereo encoded) ? Is the stereo image affected in any way when a single subwoofer is used rather than two with such discs?

 

[efernand1]

Hi,

The heart of any HT setup is the centre speaker and the subwoofer and hence both these need to be of the best quality. The Fronts and Rear speakers exist in an HT setup to spray sound for effects and runtime of any movie.

A sub which can perform below 80, 60, 50 and even 30hz is good to trap all the special sound effects in any action movie. Front Floor standers will give you a good amount of bass which may be restricted to 100 -80hz.

The AVR plays an imp role and has to have proper settings to adjust the bass frequency and cutoff for subwoofers.

Velodyne Impact 12 is supposedly the best subwoofer which works even at 30hz. Ofcourse the subwoofer cable needs to be of TOP end quality and yes the AVR needs to be good. Everything is related which means the quality of the player playing the movie and the movie quality / movie file being played.

Hope this helps.

 

[Shivam]

What about old movies with stereo sound only? Should we have two subs for better integration with the left and right fronts? Can the sub/subs be of different company than the fronts?

 

[Santy]

Subwoofers need not be matched with the main speakers. Any brand will do as long as there is a seamless integration with the other speakers.

There is not much of stereo imaging possible with the subwoofers unless the crossover is set quite higher (as with small bookshelves). Otherwise, twin subs I think is more for achieving a linear FR in all parts of the room. Two sealed subs will be great for music as long as they do not cancel out each other. However for HT, I would prefer one better/ bigger/ louder/ deeper sub than two weaker subs.

 

[Shivam]

Magnat subs look loud and go really low. I don't know if they are better than others available at that price.

I am using Mordaunt Short FS speakers for my HT front and planning to set the crossover at 60-80 Hz.

 

[Santy]

Which Magnat model you are referring to and what is the landing price?

 

[Shivam]

Magnat Monitor Supreme Sub 301A
16-200 Hz, 100 Watt, 16 KG, front firing, 12inch driver.
It will cost about 29,000.

 

[spirovious]

I feel Sub-woofer should match with front speakers.I know that SW role is to enhance low frequencies,but if it doesn't match with fronts,sound can be less interesting.
Suppose the fronts are soft sounding and SW is very tight,so overall presentation of sound can not be smooth with some frequencies will be dominant.
eg.my Polk DSW550 SW would not match with my old Tannoy Fi speakers well,but goes well with Ca S30 speakers.So you cant make out SW separately.Its a smooth matching.

 

[arj]

How important it is to match the sound signature of a subwoofer with the other speakers ? Is it as important as matching the sound signatures of fronts, center and surrounds ?

As per George Lucas, it becomes increasingly difficult to localize direction of sound under 80 Hz and lower (which is also the basis of the starwars' sound effects). What then is the use of using different subwoofers for left and right channels especially in discs which do not have a separate LF signal (stereo encoded) ? Is the stereo image affected in any way when a single subwoofer is used rather than two with such discs?

Hi Shivam, Bass below 150 Hz is not really directional nor does the tonal quality matter. what is important is to match the slopes of the speaker and the subwoofer such that they hand over to each other seamlessly.
thats the reason why matched Subs/Sats are preferred since they are (hopefully) designed to work optimally
Using L & R subs is not for imaging but when you use multiple subwoofers, the room based nodes are better handled than by 1 sub. also you use the subs at a lower volume rating and hence (depending on the size of the room) better sound.

 

[Shivam]

Hi Shivam, Bass below 150 Hz is not really directional nor does the tonal quality matter. what is important is to match the slopes of the speaker and the subwoofer such that they hand over to each other seamlessly.
thats the reason why matched Subs/Sats are preferred since they are (hopefully) designed to work optimally
Using L & R subs is not for imaging but when you use multiple subwoofers, the room based nodes are better handled than by 1 sub. also you use the subs at a lower volume rating and hence (depending on the size of the room) better sound.

This maybe the reason why some of the good HT that I have heard in small rooms had more than one subs !

Even I am planning for two sealed enclosure subs at low volume because my HT room is problematic.