What subwoofer to use with Maggies?

Tpsonic

Yes, a Sunfire Theater Grand II 5.1 processor and a matching era Sunfire 5CH amplifier. About 70% of listening is 2CH stereo, the remainder is 4.1 as with the Maggies I just don't 'hear' the need for a center speaker. I just don't feel the Earthquake subwoofer blends correctly with the Mag's. For movies it rocks without question, maybe it is just not musical enough or a fast enough sub to keep up.

I suggest calling Duke at "Audiokinesis", He has developed a sub system for Maggies that are quick enough to keep up.I was very impressed when I heard them. He is very knowledgeable and a nice guy to talk to.

Several posts have recommended smaller drivers to better integrate with quick Maggies.

My own experience was that one day spent trying to integrate 8" Velodyne SPLR subs was mostly frustrating. Now, more time (or different 8" subs) may well have yielded better results, but one day never got me to a good result with small Velos.

When the SMS was inserted the next day, integration with the same subs was VASTLY improved in about 2-3 hours. I'm not claiming particular expertise here, but IME proper integration is less a function of driver size or "speed" than it is of getting smooth response near the x-over point. Room analysis and PEq makes this pretty straightforward.

Just one man's opinion.

Marty

PS - You may want to check out the subwoofer tests at Hometheatershack.com.

Has anyone had any experience with rythmic audio subwoofers. The spec sheet reads like that of a $7,500 subwoofer, servo control, killer extension and the cost is amazing when one looks at the performance of other subwoofers costing much much more. My knowledge tells me that the servo is going to address the issue of keeping up with the Maggoes and the low mass driver and overall design of the rythmic at least on paper seem to state this is one killer subwoofer that can hang with the giants.

I do agree that smaller can work but my fear is that to get low extension one is going to need multiple smaller subwoofers to get to a decent level of sound.

The other clear winning point of the rythmic subwoofers is the extreme low distortion. This has always been an issue for me when using other subwoofers, Sunfire, Velodyne and the majority of the big names in sub's all scream about the output and the massive amount of sound, but it seems to come at the cost of huge levels of distortion. Wall moving base is great but not at the cost of 10-15% distortion in the reproduced sound.

Any number of woofers can be used in a series-parrallel arrangement.Using 4 (2 squared) will appear to the amplifier as one 8 ohm,unless you are looking to lower the impedance-ie:4 ohm.