Bill's gone and done it now!

Scott W

Well-Known Member
Apr 20, 2010
336
163
1,600
Texas
www.suprahifi.com
Bill(Rutgar) purchased the upper woofers for his MM2's from me and we are just blown away. Bill will let everyone know what he thinks when he gets back from vacation.

 

JackD201

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
12,308
1,425
1,820
Manila, Philippines
'twas just a matter of time....... ;) ;) ;)

Congratulations Bill!
 

MylesBAstor

Well-Known Member
Apr 20, 2010
11,236
81
1,725
New York City
Congrats-know you'll enjoy them :) Now how many hrs you got to put on those suckers to fully break them in??? :)
 

LL21

Well-Known Member
Dec 26, 2010
14,411
2,509
1,448
I knew it! Congrats to Bill (actually to both of you!)...look forward to reading about how they sound. Bet they're amazing from everything i have read about them.
 

Rutgar

New Member
Apr 20, 2010
212
2
0
Dallas Area
mysite.verizon.net
Thanks Everyone,

Since adding the upper woofers, turning my MMTwo's into MMThree's, I wanted to add my 'subjective' impressions on the differences.

First, a little history. As I had mentioned in previous posts, I wasn't happy with the quality and amount of bass I was acheiving in my 16 x 22 x 10' room. Feeling that I had a room mode issue, I pushed the speakers and listening position around for months, in an effort to to get a smooth response across the spectrum, and to get a nice large soundstage, without spreading individual singing voices too wide (Scott refers to this as the 'Wizard of Oz, Big Head' effect). I eventually found a place that was simply magic in the mid-bass, through the high end. The sound stage was nice, and individual singing voices were spot on. But, no matter what I did, I just simply found the bass lacking. I could easily add in my Velodyne DD-18 into the mix, which as far as frequency goes, did add some of what I felt was missing. But the Velo made the low end sound disconjointed from the rest of the system, and killed the dynamics of the upper end. I finally decided that I really needed to add the upper woofers, and that is what I persued.

During all of the above, one thing that I had completely overlooked, was that the bass module on the MMTwo, have nearly a half dozen controls on the built-in amplifier (five to be exact). During break-in and positioning I delieberately left this at the factory settings, except for the volume control. After so much time, I literally had forgotten completely about them (it's tough to get old). It wasn't until after I had already ordered the upper woofer modules, that while listening to the system, I suddenly remembered that there were all of these other adjustments available on the bass amplifier. In the long run, I believe not playing with all of these controls turned out to be a good thing. It forced me to spend all of the necessary time and effort on getting everything else right first.

I quickly pulled out the manual for the MMTwo's, and brushed up on what the different controls all do, and what effect they have. To make I long story short, I mainly focused on just 3 of the 5 controls; Bass Filter, Bass Extension, and Bass Volume. The one control which brought in the majority of what I felt was missing, was the Bass Extension. This control added the deeper, feel-it-in-your-gut, bass. I enhanced these added lower frequencies with the additional volume. Although I liked the added lower extension, from this adjustment, the draw back was too much bass in the throats of the singers. Especially female vocalists. I was able to compenstate for this by lowering the crossover point of the Bass Filter control. The MMTwo's were now sounding more like I was expecting them to sound when I made the choice to purchase them. In fact, after 'rediscovering' all of these controls on the bass amplifier, I was so much happier with the sound, that if I hadn't already ordered the upper bass modules, I believe I may not have bought them... However, I now know what a huge mistake that would have been. After receiving and installing the upper bass modules, these speakers, were instantly catapulted into a much higher level of performance.

Bass is now smooth, robust, relaxed, and flows with ease. Which is what I expected. But I never expected how the overall sound of EVERYTHING would improve from just adding two 15" woofers, completely changing the overall personality and characteristics of these speakers. The soundstage is bigger. And not just a little bigger, but HUGE compared to what it was previously! The highs have smoothed out, with more detail and 'air' around the individual instruments and vocalists. The mid-range is organically palpable, and is simply sweet! (am I using enough subjectivist terms?:D) These are not the same speakers I had been living with for the last year! Some of the more strident recordings I have, are now actually listenable. And stuff with bass, litterally now shakes the walls! Needless to say, I am very happy with this purchase. And I would suggest to any MMTwo owner, who is considering upgrading to the MMThree, that it is worth every penny.
 

c1ferrari

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
May 15, 2010
2,162
51
1,770
Excellent, Bill...

...enjoy and have fun ;)
 

Bruce B

WBF Founding Member, Pro Audio Production Member
Apr 25, 2010
7,006
512
1,740
Snohomish, WA
www.pugetsoundstudios.com
I recommend to anyone to just skip the MMTwo and go with the MMThree. You won't regret it...
My MM3 still has the controls set at default. I haven't felt the need to touch them... but I wonder what that last 1% sounds like???
 

TheAudioAssociation

Member Sponsor
Jul 10, 2010
141
21
1,575
Anaheim Hills, CA
Congrats Bill!

I guess I'm going to have to take the leap too! If Bruce says go big then I gotta go big! I'll talk with Jonathan soon and get my order in.

Happy listening!
 

Rutgar

New Member
Apr 20, 2010
212
2
0
Dallas Area
mysite.verizon.net
I recommend to anyone to just skip the MMTwo and go with the MMThree. You won't regret it...
My MM3 still has the controls set at default. I haven't felt the need to touch them... but I wonder what that last 1% sounds like???

Bruce, do you think the reason you able to leave the controls at the default levels, is due to your finely designed room? My room is a basic stock room, with some added absorption, and diffusion. Also, as you can see in the above photo, I have an alcove in the front right corner. There is also a similar alcove in the back right corner of the room which leads to one of the bedrooms. But, I will also admit that I'm a bit of a bass-aholic. So I have the bass tweeked probably a bit more than some people might like.
 

Bruce B

WBF Founding Member, Pro Audio Production Member
Apr 25, 2010
7,006
512
1,740
Snohomish, WA
www.pugetsoundstudios.com
Bruce, do you think the reason you able to leave the controls at the default levels, is due to your finely designed room? My room is a basic stock room, with some added absorption, and diffusion. Also, as you can see in the above photo, I have an alcove in the front right corner. There is also a similar alcove in the back right corner of the room which leads to one of the bedrooms. But, I will also admit that I'm a bit of a bass-aholic. So I have the bass tweeked probably a bit more than some people might like.

Yeah, I contribute a lot to the room. I've always said if you have a good room, you can get by with more modest equipment.
I'm a bass fanatic too, but these things can still flap my pant legs. When some of Winston's chinese bass drums hit, not only can you hear it, but feel it in your chest.
 

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