Sub recommendation to augment Klipsch La Scala's ???


I have Klipsch La Scala's Heritage Series and love them.  But am looking for a musical sub to augment them in the lower registers.  Must be musical, fast, and dynamic to keep up and give me the visceral kick drums I'm looking for.  I listen mostly to Jaz / Blues / Classic Rock. 

I'm thinking ported in Liew of sealed configurations.  I tried my Revel B15 sub pair and it was OK bot even with significant xover work didn't really integrate well with the speed and dynamics of the La Scala's.

Thanks in advance.

Mark

tinear123
There are a lot of great options for "musical" subwoofers.

What size is your room?  What's your budget?  Do you have a preference in terms of connections (speaker/RCA/XLR)?  Music only or music + movies?  Any placement / WAF issues?

Ported subs can be as good in a music only system, but my first choice would be a sealed sub(s) for music.  Rythmik's servo controlled subs are great for music.  Without knowing more it's hard to say which one would be best.  I have two SVS SB13 Ultra subs in my main music system and am very happy with those and wouldn't hesitate to recommend SVS.  I have two Rythmik F25 subs that I use for home theater.  I would use those (or maybe just one) for music, but I can't due to space/placement issues in my room.  They are too big to fit where I would want them for music.
Fast and small, or like a fretless bass player, who wants speed and nimble in the box. That would be multiple or single 10’s in a single box. You need drivers that can go low, but still have a high acceleration factor (it’s a driver spec). This will not happen with 12" drivers and can barely happen with 10’s.

When I wanted to do stereo with subs -right, and have subs that could work with ANY two way and match up as seamlessly as possible, I went with TWO (one per side) of the Velodyne optimum 10 subs.

High powered, matched to the individual main speaker locations, sealed, nimble, and fast enough. With high enough output. Closest match for the ’best attempt’ I could find on the market, at the time -and available to me. Still regret selling them.

So, some set of "known for their quality of articulation" 10" high powered subs (2 required) is a good place to start looking. 12" is too large, and slow.... 8" too small and struggle to get the tunes out, so you loose dynamic articulation and have a smaller dynamic window of linearity in all areas,...where the klipsh speakers definitely do not suffer dynamic issues.

12" subs would be a better match for dealing with high bass levels for ~full~ dynamic capacity matching with the klipsch speakers, yes, but speed, no. Articulation matching up, no.

A pair of tens for the attempt, it is. This is likely the closest for obtaining satisfaction --for the very vast number of times you turn the system on.

Forget ported subs, leave that to home theater which is about pushing the sub as hard as can be, and articulation is down on the list of requirements, most times.
Importantly, when Doing this, i was only interested in leaving the mains speakers, what ever they might end up being, and being changed out many times..to have them be unhindered and running full rage with no signal degradation from external crossovers or anything.

This means the subs carried all the matching up work. so the given 10" sealed subs had to do all the heavy lifting in the matching up part. maybe multiple 12" in a sealed box. Two subs like that. Under driven subs  can go a long way to help keeping dynamics clean, delineated, and nimble. that's big and expensive (think JL fathom, gotham, etc) and was not my intention at the time.

Thanks for the input guys.  My room is 15x19x9 and this is a music only system.  And yes I like to listen at higher volumes than I most likely should but the live / dynamic experience is a primary driver for me.

I have tried my Revel B-15's (pair) and even dug my old B&W 800-ASW's (pair) out of the closet.  Of course both are sealed designs but do not have the slam / speed needed for the horn La Scala's and tend to smear the lower mid base.  I have used the 5 pole parametric EQ's on the B-15's to limit the xover region with a steep slope and have tuned with my RTA for no dips / spikes.  The RTA tells me that the La Scala's in my room are 3db down by ~40Hz and due to their size I have very limited positioning options AND everything above ~50Hz sounds and measures nearly perfect + good soundstage etc. so moving them is really not an option.

Mark