Sub selection should be based on listening distance/room size as well. A bigger/lower F3 sub will overpower a smaller space (speaking from experience). Too much of a good thing is not a good thing (in this case can cause resonances at higher frequencies, loss of lease/domestic tranquility, even structural cracks). Also keep in mind that professional subs are more conservatively rated and that with very few exceptions music stops at 30 Hz anyway, so professional subs for music typically are rated down to 30 Hz and ~ 20 Hz for game/movie uses. In a really small space (desktop in an alcove/closet) this speaker, with F3 of 50 Hz, wouldn't want a sub. But in a say 2,000 - 2,500 cubic foot room (and the Adam speakers can do a surprisingly good job of filling a room) a sub would be useful. But by then it'd be best to have a "swam" of subs available (search AC or read Floyd E Toole's "Sound Reproduction" that explains how bass behaves in a room).
How you connect depends too on if you want to run the Artist 5's full range (possibly better blending with sub), or use a low frequency cut off filter (typically in the range of 80 - 120 Hz) to relieve the Artist 5's of "heavy lifting" of lower bass which can help "open up" midrange performance. As the Artist 5 is an active speaker with DAC (built-in amps) you can only input low level analog signals or digital. Possible ways to connect your speakers:
- Low level output from a sub (most subwoofers have this feature, again consider if you want to pass through the full or filtered signal (or best of both worlds have the option for either)
- Low level output from a pre-amp (some pre-amps have separate subwoofer outputs, my upscale pre-amp even has variable filters)
Note that some worry about purity of signal going through a sub to get to your main speakers (IMO only a theoretical issue if cabling/sub are decent quality).
Please let us know what you come up with.
