I talked to James Romeyn this afternoon and here's how he described the differences between his Debra and the Audio Kinesis Swarm bass systems:
They're basically the same systems and perform about the same. James' company sells the Debra system under a licensing agreement with Audio Kinesis.
The Debra subs are a little wider and a little less deep than the Swarm subs. His cabinets are made at a different facility than the Swarm's cabinets. Both are constructed using braced MDF particle boards but the Debra's cabinets use a solid piece of wood for the tops.
He didn't think the sub weight difference between the two (67lbs vs 45lbs) is accurate He thinks the Debra subs weigh less than 67 lbs. and the Swarm subs weigh more; he wasn't certain of the exact figures.
He thinks the difference in system price (Debra at $2,990 and Swarm at $2,800) is due to the differences in the cost of sub construction.. He said he'd probably price match if requested.
He also told me some interesting related information:
He said each room has a unique modal response, similar to a fingerprint, that is based on the configuration and dimensions of each room. It is further complicated by the fact that a room's bass modal response is different than the same room's mid-range/treble modal response. The very long sound waves produced by bass frequencies result in peaks and nulls in different physical room locations than the much shorter sound waves produced by mid-range and treble frequencies. Because of this, he thinks it's best to treat them as separate systems; a multi-sub bass system that eliminates bass frequency peaks and nulls in the entire room that establishes a solid foundation along with a mid-range/treble system that consists of a pair of speakers positioned for optimum performance at the 'sweet spot'. A distributed array sub system will provide very good bass for all listening positions in a room but providing very good mid-range/treble beyond a single optimum listening position 'sweet spot' is much more difficult. He also stated that both the Debra and Swarm systems provide good bass for ht and 2-ch music with no detrimental affect on the sound stage. I can verify this is true in my system/room. In my opinion and if anything, the Debra has improved my 2-ch sound stage illusion for music by making it seem more like live music in my room.
He said he'll read this thread and join in if he has something to add to the discussion or wants to clarify.
Tim
.
They're basically the same systems and perform about the same. James' company sells the Debra system under a licensing agreement with Audio Kinesis.
The Debra subs are a little wider and a little less deep than the Swarm subs. His cabinets are made at a different facility than the Swarm's cabinets. Both are constructed using braced MDF particle boards but the Debra's cabinets use a solid piece of wood for the tops.
He didn't think the sub weight difference between the two (67lbs vs 45lbs) is accurate He thinks the Debra subs weigh less than 67 lbs. and the Swarm subs weigh more; he wasn't certain of the exact figures.
He thinks the difference in system price (Debra at $2,990 and Swarm at $2,800) is due to the differences in the cost of sub construction.. He said he'd probably price match if requested.
He also told me some interesting related information:
He said each room has a unique modal response, similar to a fingerprint, that is based on the configuration and dimensions of each room. It is further complicated by the fact that a room's bass modal response is different than the same room's mid-range/treble modal response. The very long sound waves produced by bass frequencies result in peaks and nulls in different physical room locations than the much shorter sound waves produced by mid-range and treble frequencies. Because of this, he thinks it's best to treat them as separate systems; a multi-sub bass system that eliminates bass frequency peaks and nulls in the entire room that establishes a solid foundation along with a mid-range/treble system that consists of a pair of speakers positioned for optimum performance at the 'sweet spot'. A distributed array sub system will provide very good bass for all listening positions in a room but providing very good mid-range/treble beyond a single optimum listening position 'sweet spot' is much more difficult. He also stated that both the Debra and Swarm systems provide good bass for ht and 2-ch music with no detrimental affect on the sound stage. I can verify this is true in my system/room. In my opinion and if anything, the Debra has improved my 2-ch sound stage illusion for music by making it seem more like live music in my room.
He said he'll read this thread and join in if he has something to add to the discussion or wants to clarify.
Tim
.