Hi all. I am still looking at new speakers for my home cinema and have come across a set of kef 3005se satelites at a reasonable price. Reading the reviews on the whole package, it is said that the sound can get a bit tubby at times otherwise the satelites are great. Has anyone used these satelites before with a different sub and does this work well. If so, what sub have you used. Thanks in advance.
-
When should you upgrade your hi-fi? How to control ‘upgradeitis’
Can i use any sub with kef 3005se satelites.
- Thread starter admin_exported
- Start date
Frank Harvey
Well-known member
Yes, you can. Which sub you choose will be up to you, but it's a case of matching the sub to the room. Quite often people will choose a sub based on it's size (meaning small), but they find (or are oblivious) that the sub isn't enough to fill the room efficiently, and can end up struggling, causing distortion, bottoming out, or overheating.
FrankHarveyHiFi said:
So, would this be the primary difference/ability, DF for concrete floor and FF for suspended?
What of the internal arrangement excluding the factors above, are there limitations there, i.e FF has free space ahead of the sound wave, DF has a floor (of whatever material) to contend with maybe just 50/75mm from the cone, what of design criteria to accommodate this structure, are there no issues with this arrangement?
I think the OP's point/question is, as is mine, enlighten us please.
Or is it all smoke and mirrors?
As you've identified and from demo experience the 3005 sub wasn't great, and using a different one is entirely viable. The 5005s had the same sub, and the sound was definitely improved in the demo in terms of agility using a PV1.
As David says, it's more about matching the sub to the room than the satellites, but you'll have to make sure it can articulately cover the higher bass frequencies the satellites may not be good at, as you'll find you'll need to crossover probably between 90 and 120Hz.
I'm no expert but you don't need a massive sub for a reasonably sized room, and the none-ported ones are less sensitive to position I believe.
I have a concrete floor and definitely find my sub is performing better front-firing than it did donward firing, but I also moved it to the centre of a wall instead of the corner when I made this change. The positioning is critical.
As David says, it's more about matching the sub to the room than the satellites, but you'll have to make sure it can articulately cover the higher bass frequencies the satellites may not be good at, as you'll find you'll need to crossover probably between 90 and 120Hz.
I'm no expert but you don't need a massive sub for a reasonably sized room, and the none-ported ones are less sensitive to position I believe.
I have a concrete floor and definitely find my sub is performing better front-firing than it did donward firing, but I also moved it to the centre of a wall instead of the corner when I made this change. The positioning is critical.
Thanks for all your comments and help.
I was looking at the monitor audio R90HD's and R225HD centre, and the dealer suggested that the Velodyne inpact 10 would be big enough for the volume of my living room.
Anyone tried this sub and is it any good.
As mentioned by fayeanddavid, i have timber suspended floors in the house, so should i be going for forward firing sub.
Thanks again.
I was looking at the monitor audio R90HD's and R225HD centre, and the dealer suggested that the Velodyne inpact 10 would be big enough for the volume of my living room.
Anyone tried this sub and is it any good.
As mentioned by fayeanddavid, i have timber suspended floors in the house, so should i be going for forward firing sub.
Thanks again.
Frank Harvey
Well-known member
fayeanddavid said:
Many people find that placing a granite or concrete slab under their subs improve it's control, and although this will be true of any sub, I think most people would prefer a forward firing sub on suspended floors. I think a downward firing sub performs better on a concrete floor. There are so many variables here, mainly the room acoustics, so it's usually a case of suck it and see. Then you can get into whether the floor has a carpet or not - some might get a little more from a forward firing sub if their carpet and underlay are particularly thick. You'll feel a downward firing sub more through a suspended floor than forward firing one.
The size of the sub depends on the depth of bass needed. The bigger the cabinet and bass driver, the deeper the bass, especially sub's that use other technologies like push/pull.
As mentioned, if you're crossing satellite speakers over at a higher crossover point than normal, the sub needs to be able to deal with this higher band of bass. Quite a few subs aren't very good above about 80Hz - the Sunfire subs in particular - they seem to be great at reproducing a small region of sub bass very loudly, but not good at all the other surrounding frequencies. Frequency sweeps will show up a sub's ability in this area.
Sealed subs tend to sound faster. They're less efficient, but will have a smoother frequency response and be easier to place. Ported subs will reach a little lower, but tend to have an erratic frequency response.
David,
I have a concrete floor with carpet and underlay (good quality and fairly new - so reasonably thick), so would I benefit from one of the subwoofer isolation platforms on the market? Or does this depend on downward or forward firing subs for it to be effective, and how much positive effect would it create?
Thanks,
Paul.
I have a concrete floor with carpet and underlay (good quality and fairly new - so reasonably thick), so would I benefit from one of the subwoofer isolation platforms on the market? Or does this depend on downward or forward firing subs for it to be effective, and how much positive effect would it create?
Thanks,
Paul.
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram