My system comprises of a
Rega Brio R amplifier, Audiolab 8200 CD
Player and Monitor Audio RX1 speakers.
I felt that it would be nice
to be able to reproduce the lower bass notes, the options to do this were to
either invest in some very expensive floor standing speakers or a subwoofer.
With the floor standing
option the cost would be very high if I wanted to reproduce low bass notes in
the same way that a powered subwoofer would, so I decided to investigate the
subwoofer route. In addition I should add that I am very pleased with the RX1
speakers and would prefer to keep them.
I visited a number of hi-fi
stores and received conflicting views, in some stores I was told that a
subwoofer should only really be used in a cinema system and it was not really
that good for a stereo set up.
I was not put off by the
negative comments and purchased a BK XLS200 sub woofer. This was a slight
mistake as it was not quite powerful enough for my room size.
I would add that this is a
very good sub and I would not hesitate to recommend it except in my case the
room was a little too large for it.
Having read glowing reports
of the B&W ASW610 I purchased one but made the classic mistake of not
auditioning first, it was only marginally better than the BK sub but really
that was because it had e.q. settings that it enabled it to go lower other than
that I felt in my opinion that there was no improvement over the BK XLS200
which was less than half the cost.
After much investigation I
built my own sub woofer using an RE Audio 10 inch car driver unit (model
SR10D2) and a BK BSBPV500watt amplifier.
This proved to be the best
thing I could have done other than spending a fortune on a readymade unit.
Sound quality and power are top notch.
So now I have a great small
but powerful sub woofer.
Going back to the question
of integration I initially set the subs up by ear but after reading articles
decided to purchase a cheap sound level meter and test disc with tones. After
setting up with the disc and tones I found the controls were in almost
identical positions to those when I set up by ear, just goes to show that your
ears are the best judge.
My sub is near one of the
stereo speakers and I find when in my normal listening position that you cannot
tell that the bass is coming from the sub and that it appears to come from the
main speakers.
With
the sub the bass is now well extended. I assume that if your stereo speakers
crossover at a high frequency that the integration would not be as good. But to
all those who doubt that a sub is worth having I say yes it is and in fact if I
were without it now I would not enjoy listening to music so much.
Rega Brio R amplifier, Audiolab 8200 CD
Player and Monitor Audio RX1 speakers.
I felt that it would be nice
to be able to reproduce the lower bass notes, the options to do this were to
either invest in some very expensive floor standing speakers or a subwoofer.
With the floor standing
option the cost would be very high if I wanted to reproduce low bass notes in
the same way that a powered subwoofer would, so I decided to investigate the
subwoofer route. In addition I should add that I am very pleased with the RX1
speakers and would prefer to keep them.
I visited a number of hi-fi
stores and received conflicting views, in some stores I was told that a
subwoofer should only really be used in a cinema system and it was not really
that good for a stereo set up.
I was not put off by the
negative comments and purchased a BK XLS200 sub woofer. This was a slight
mistake as it was not quite powerful enough for my room size.
I would add that this is a
very good sub and I would not hesitate to recommend it except in my case the
room was a little too large for it.
Having read glowing reports
of the B&W ASW610 I purchased one but made the classic mistake of not
auditioning first, it was only marginally better than the BK sub but really
that was because it had e.q. settings that it enabled it to go lower other than
that I felt in my opinion that there was no improvement over the BK XLS200
which was less than half the cost.
After much investigation I
built my own sub woofer using an RE Audio 10 inch car driver unit (model
SR10D2) and a BK BSBPV500watt amplifier.
This proved to be the best
thing I could have done other than spending a fortune on a readymade unit.
Sound quality and power are top notch.
So now I have a great small
but powerful sub woofer.
Going back to the question
of integration I initially set the subs up by ear but after reading articles
decided to purchase a cheap sound level meter and test disc with tones. After
setting up with the disc and tones I found the controls were in almost
identical positions to those when I set up by ear, just goes to show that your
ears are the best judge.
My sub is near one of the
stereo speakers and I find when in my normal listening position that you cannot
tell that the bass is coming from the sub and that it appears to come from the
main speakers.
With
the sub the bass is now well extended. I assume that if your stereo speakers
crossover at a high frequency that the integration would not be as good. But to
all those who doubt that a sub is worth having I say yes it is and in fact if I
were without it now I would not enjoy listening to music so much.
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram