Hey Terry,
I am surprised you even considered going subless I tried running my ascend Towers without my Rythmik full range and for movies and even some music, they just dont reach low enough for that extra low material. In room my towers are putting out solid SPL's around 30hz but with the new soundtsracks on some blu-rays, its just not enough without the Rythmik. Ever since you opted for the preamp without the HT bypass option, it seems like you have been struggling with the sub integration. I am glad I kept my 2100, without the HT bypass, things get quite tricky. Like Nuance mentioned, keep the submerssive, I heard Patricks (the one you have now) and its a great sub! Based on what the boys have told me and your posts, I am not sure a different sub is the answer for you but rather the way it integrates into your specific setup, again just my opinion:)
I am hoping to try and narrow down a date for all of us to GTG. I do want to hear your setup or at least the HT2-TL's one of these days too!
Brandon
My story is much more complicated than I have time to type out. I'll tell you all about it when we have our GTG.
I'm struggling with sub integration, yes. But the issue is not my preamp. The preamp I'm running does have HT-bypass (I'll NEVER go without that!), but it doesn't have any bass management or high-pass filter. I have used a few different high-pass filters, but they all seem to degrade the sound to some level. The one that degrades the sound the least (which actually sounds very good) has a very shallow slope that is not enough to pull a bass peak I get with my HT2-TLs completely out of the equation. I'm working on that...
The Submersive is my problem. I don't completely understand why, but it doesn't work well or measure well in my favorite spot. My previous SVS's measured and performed great there, with my PB13-Ultra working so great that I didn't have to use anything more than it's built-in single band parametric to get a flawlessly flat response.
This is when Patrick loaned me his Submersive so I could try duals. This did not work well at all. The subs work together and EQ pretty well, but they collapse my sound stage and make the overall tone seem thick. Dual Submersives is pretty damn fun for HT when running them hot.
However, I'm a music first guy, so I don't care how fun HT is if the music isn't sounding its best.
In desperation I moved the Submersive behind my listen position (very close). Now this thing sounds freakin' perfect for music. As a matter of fact, I can't tell it's back there at all. The bass is very defined and punchy. The sub also measures perfectly there and I could go without any EQ if I wanted. The problem is that you just can't sit 2 feet from a sub that powerful!!
Two 15" drivers and 2,400wrms is just too much that close to you. I don't like my couch moving around that much!
So I'm moving on from the Submersive. I'm hoping that going to at least a single 18" LMS with some serious power will measure as good as my previous PB13-Ultra did. My theory is the front firing driver gets located in a good position to sound and measure well vs. the dual opposed design of the Submersive. I've seen many people get them to work perfectly in their rooms, but I sure can't do it unless it's near-field.
I hope I'm not screwing up by selling it as it does perform fantastically behind my listening position. So well, that I'm wondering if ANY sub on my front wall will touch the sound quality. Once you hear something "better", it's always so hard to settle for anything "less." I guess I may be about to find out.
(This is the short story...I have more...
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