Q Thanks for the standard of your opinions and articles. I stay in France and I learn your web site at the least twice every week. I’m writing to you with a follow-up to a earlier query from considered one of your readers: What’s the easiest way to attach a subwoofer to a stereo receiver?
By studying a number of boards and articles about subs, I perceive a subwoofer can present a transparent profit in a stereo system. Nevertheless, it must be arrange correctly, in any other case the listening expertise may very well be badly impacted. So my query is: as soon as a sub is accurately linked, how do you make certain it’s set as much as be absolutely built-in into the system?
What are the steps to comply with to ensure the subwoofer offers the phantasm that it’s an extension of my audio system as a substitute of a further a part of the system that sits subsequent to my audio system and gives boomy sound (which I wish to keep away from)? I personal a Cambridge Audio CXA61 built-in amplifier and B&W 606 S2 audio system and I’m considering of getting a B&W ASW610 sub. —Benoit Blond
A Ben, this can be a nice query! A subwoofer can undoubtedly improve your bookshelf audio system by including vital impression and low-end extension, and there are a few common options for single subwoofer setup that may assist it mix in along with your system. Whereas a sub’s output is usually “non-directional,” I discover it blends finest when positioned on the entrance of the room — and beginning in a nook will assist to finest energize all of the room modes. Nevertheless, you may have to experiment with the situation to attain the most effective ends in your room.
Your built-in amp doesn’t seem to supply any bass-management settings so the bookshelf audio system will likely be fed full-range indicators whether or not the sub is linked or not, which can produce some overlap between them and the sub. Additionally, your amp’s sub output is attention-grabbing in that it has a low-pass filter “of roughly 2.3 kHz” as a substitute of the much more frequent crossover level of 80 Hz. Due to this, you’re going to wish to set the low-pass filter in your subwoofer at 80 Hz to start out.
I might additionally recommend buying a calibrated microphone just like the UMIK-1 and downloading the free Room EQ Wizard (REW) software program. (There’s a huge quantity of on-line help for utilizing this terrific software program!) With this you’ll be able to run some sweep tones to measure and see precisely what is going on at your listening place. This can make it easier to fine-tune quantity ranges, section, crossovers, and site to attain the most effective sub integration in your room.
Some subwoofers from SVS and Rythmik have built-in parametric equalizers that may make it easier to tackle drawback frequencies in your room or you can buy one thing just like the miniDSP 2×4 HD digital audio processor, which can present an array of changes to get the most effective efficiency out of your B&W speaker system!
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