There I was, listening to Mozart's Requiem, just waiting to be completely engulfed in music during the crescendos, excited at the prospect of almost floating on the sheer density of music that was filling the room. But, alas, it didn't happen. And why would I be surprised? My speakers each sport a single tiny 4.5" driver (Omega Super 3 XRS), and are driven by a 5w/channel SET amp from Music Reference. It was always bound to disappoint me on this kind of music. Yet, on almost everything else I listen to, the music is truly appealing, with that compelling, seductive midrange, and no horrible crossovers sucking the life out of the music (or at least that has been my rationalization).
So I decided to experiment - I wanted to generate the density of sound and dynamics that I sometimes felt lacking without losing the "magic" that I enjoyed most of the time.
My plan took the following shape. First, I wanted to relieve the little 4.5" drivers from heavy lifting in the bass department, allowing them to play more cleanly where they work really well. This really meant adding both high-pass and low-pass filters, and adding some bass augmentation. But I needed something for the lower octaves that would be fast enough to play well with my sensitive single driver speakers.
Eventually, I found the perfect combination of components to run my experiment. I picked up a swarm of Audiokinesis subwoofers (four subs, each with a 6" driver, designed to be distributed around the room to allow smoother frequency response in the bass regions), and an RM3 active crossover (designed by Roger Modjeski, originally for use with an old Beveridge speaker system). The RM3 does not have a user adjustable crossover point, but the crossover is customizable by inserting specially designed circuit boards for the high and low pass filters. I had Roger fix me up a pair of boards that would crossover at 100Hz, using 4th order slopes for both the high and low pass filters.
I'm powering the subs in stereo, through a Rotel RB981BX amp, which gives me something like 130w/channel into 8 ohms and 300w/channel into 4 ohms.
It took me about nine months to assemble all the pieces to run my experiment, but finally I had everything in place, and set it up last night.
I'm not sure what I should have been expecting. But I know what I was hoping for: a more dynamic presentation, more heft in the bass department, a more dense soundscape, cleaner, more lively midrange and treble presentation, and maybe an improvement in imaging.
And what did I get? Well, who really knows. My perceptions are just as likely to be influenced by my hopes and expectations as anybody else. But right now,to this impressionable music lover, things sound great! I don't think I've lost anything in the intimacy and immediacy of the midrange presentation, but on demanding passages the music seems less confused. To a great extent the added bass is all gravy at this stage...but it's really nice. Just a second ago I almost jumped out of my seat when some never-before appreciated deep drum whack emerged from Casandra Wilson's Poet, on the thunderbird disc.
The really eye opening change for me, though, has been in imaging and separation. I feel like the musicians are spread over a wider stage now, and their positions are more clearly defined.
I tested the system late last night, after the kids were in bed. I was constrained to keeping the volume very low, but I was thrilled with what I heard then. The added weight in the lower registers made the music much more substantial at the very low volumes, and the presentation was much more dynamic and involving than I'm used to in the late evenings.
Perhaps most importantly, my wife also seems to appreciate the upgrade. At least she finds it sufficiently appealing that she hasn't complained about the four subwoofers that have been moved into our rather small living room.
Obviously, I still have some experimentation to do. And who knows, maybe this will be a short honeymoon, and I will find new deficiencies emerging in the future (in my audio system, not in my wife). But right now I'm pretty happy with the results of my experiment.
Chad
