Should I go subwoofer?

Cascais

Well-Known Member
Nov 5, 2012
257
2
150
Portugal
I am currently using a pair of Sonus Faber Mementos, wonderful speakers that go down to about 40 Hz with decent bass. Lately I've been getting a case of full-rangeitis and am considering using a subwoofer with these elegant little two-ways. I've always been reluctant to do this but am told of the benefits as well as the drawbacks in terms of coherence, tonal balance etc. Since I have a relatively small room a monstrous sub wouldn't be necessary, just something to catch the impact of a bass drum, low brass and percussion, and take some pressure off the mid-range drivers. Any advice would be gratefully received.
 

Ron Resnick

Site Co-Owner, Administrator
Jan 24, 2015
16,017
13,347
2,665
Beverly Hills, CA
I think that is a great idea! Many people will have different suggestions but a pair of the smaller JL Audio subwoofers or a pair of REL G-2s are good places to start.
 

Purite Audio

banned
May 28, 2013
417
1
0
www.puriteaudio.co.uk
I am currently using a pair of Sonus Faber Mementos, wonderful speakers that go down to about 40 Hz with decent bass. Lately I've been getting a case of full-rangeitis and am considering using a subwoofer with these elegant little two-ways. I've always been reluctant to do this but am told of the benefits as well as the drawbacks in terms of coherence, tonal balance etc. Since I have a relatively small room a monstrous sub wouldn't be necessary, just something to catch the impact of a bass drum, low brass and percussion, and take some pressure off the mid-range drivers. Any advice would be gratefully received.
Good idea but use something like a MiniDSP processor to integrate them perfectly.
Keith
 

DonH50

Member Sponsor & WBF Technical Expert
Jun 22, 2010
3,947
306
1,670
Monument, CO
I like my Rythmik (F12) subwoofers. They are a servo design; I am biased that direction since decades ago I found I could design a servo sub that outperformed most anything else available, and it integrated with my panel speakers much better than conventional subs. The biggest benefits were less ringing that muddied the bass and the ability to go lower with a smaller box size.

Very few are the speakers that do not benefit from a sub. The vast majority distort heavily when driven by large lo-frequency signals. A sub also provide placement flexibility to optimize the in-room response, desirable since the main L/R positions are often not optimal for LF response.

FWIWFM - Don
 

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