Noob question - So if you have stone henge like floor standing speakers, do you need a subwoofer?

hornetstinger · 25 Feb 2020 at 20:02

Acme said:
You can piece together really quite good hifi systems for incredibly cheap if you bargain hunt.

I got Wharfedale Diamond 9.2s for £80 from a cash exchange shop, an Arcam A75 for £20 from a charity shop, and a brand new Wharfedale Diamond SW150 on clearance sale for £90. Got it all years ago when I was still at school and was annoyed with how crap my Argos catalogue special Sony mini system was, haven't felt the need to upgrade at all since then.

I'll take it all with me when I move out, and will likely continue using it for many more years.

Yeah good bargains wish I never bought my Aiwa midi system what a waste of £500. Got the same sub as you same price. Had diamond 9.0 great speakers for the price and size

Akagi · 25 Feb 2020 at 20:08

I was most happy with the Arcam. I can understand why it was £20, because to the untrained eye it just looks like a generic bland piece of equipment. Arcam stuff is very plain. There was actually a hugely inferior Sony amp from an 80's midi system sitting with it which was twice as much because it looked fancy with its brushed metal front.

hornetstinger · 25 Feb 2020 at 20:12

Arcam a75 probably £600 when new?

NAD gear is probably plainest most boring looking amps

Got a arcam alpha 9 has dirty input selector crackling well known issue, so it only works on tape input (so now it's a single input integrated amp) little bit too laid-back sound

Had couple of alpha 8p amps fora while go again bit safe warm sounding lacking little bit of forwardness and attack

Akagi · 25 Feb 2020 at 20:16

About that I think. Not 100% sure.

SexyGreyFox · 25 Feb 2020 at 20:17

I have these either side of my 24" TV

hornetstinger · 25 Feb 2020 at 20:22

Oh as for buying amplfiiers ive bought second hand

Audiolab 8000sx's (four)
Audiolab 8000px's (four)
Audiolab 8000q
Arcam 9
Arcam 8p

Saved a packet, had a couple of repairs needed doing, free of charge family repair business.

Replaced fet output on two channels
Replaced faulty speaker terminals
Faulty alpha 9

So even though some issues saved a lot about £250 per amp saving each

hornetstinger · 25 Feb 2020 at 20:25

SexyGreyFox said:
I have these either side of my 24" TV

24"????

hornetstinger · 25 Feb 2020 at 20:28

Those makie subs don't go low at all, 36hz +/-10db

That is awful.

Go loud but not low.

hornetstinger · 25 Feb 2020 at 20:50

Wow 47hz. Umm that isn't a sub. My mains go lower. 32hz +/- 2db. Other floorstanders 45hz.

3t3P · 25 Feb 2020 at 21:11

I've been using spectroid to dial in my subs for music, most music doesn't go below 40hz but some songs do.

For films though and LFE you'll want a sub. And building insurance if you do it right

hornetstinger · 25 Feb 2020 at 21:25

3t3P said:
I've been using spectroid to dial in my subs for music, most music doesn't go below 40hz but some songs do.

For films though and LFE you'll want a sub. And building insurance if you do it right

I plugged my sub to 11hz. Quite interesting. Insides wobbling and bones feel funny, but hearing nothing

lucid · 25 Feb 2020 at 21:27

NeilFawcett said:
Basically we're going to be redecorating our ground floor, so looking at improving the speakers attached to my Onkyo amp. I'll have the choice of retaining my Mordaunt Shorts (putting the front 902i's either side of the TV say on a very wide TV unit, or on stands), or upgrading all the speakers - The center one I feel could do with a bit more ooommmph at times!

Centre speaker: The 905c is the obvious partner for the 902i front pair. It's bigger; digs deeper 60Hz vs 100Hz, and is more efficient too. If you scout around you could probably pick up a nice used example for £50. Get some foam wedges or rubber feet to isolate it from the cabinet. Try not to have it sitting inside a box within the cabinet, or if it has to then at least block out the space with foam to kill the chamber resonance.

Front stereo pair - floor-stander versus stand-mount. There's not much in it for how much space either takes up. What does catch folk out though who buy blind is the space that floor-standers need to work properly. They'll upgrade expecting great things, and in the worst cases end up with a horrible boomy mess because the speaker is stuffed in some tight space where the stand-mounter kind of coped, but the space is too small to dissipate the extra bass energy from the bigger speaker.

This can even be a problem for bigger stand-mount speakers. Much depends on the direction of the bass port and how deep the speakers go. Sometimes a better sub that really cooks is really the most sensible upgrade.

SexyGreyFox · 25 Feb 2020 at 22:45

hornetstinger said:
Those makie subs don't go low at all, 36hz +/-10db

I'll guarantee if you stand in front of them while my band is playing you'll feel it.

hornetstinger · 25 Feb 2020 at 22:52

SexyGreyFox said:
I'll guarantee if you stand in front of them while my band is playing you'll feel it.

They're pa subs. Go Loud but not low. Peaky response also.not flat.

Big driver lot of power but small box, ported too high.

My old ported sub was ported to 16hz, size of a small wheelie bin (16" tube) about 5' tall.

A true low parted Hz sub is big.

47hz response that is woefully bad.

hornetstinger · 25 Feb 2020 at 23:03

Try out bk xls400 or similar trounce those for hifi.

And bk monolith plus for movies again trounce those as ported much lower.

Radox-0 · 26 Feb 2020 at 09:20

A dedicated sub will make a diffrence. Some higher end speakers can do quality bass, but will find for most a dedicated sub will add to it IMO.

Use 4 Tannoy XT8 floorstanders rated for down to 34hz for front and read with centre and did so without a sub for a while. The bass actually sounded pretty solid and deep enough at times, but adding a sub, more so for movies really adds impact and you feel it in your chest more so. Suspect it helps with the sub also having its dedicated amp and assuming your speakers are just coming off the AV and not another dedicated amp.

hornetstinger · 26 Feb 2020 at 12:01

Radox-0 said:
A dedicated sub will make a diffrence. Some higher end speakers can do quality bass, but will find for most a dedicated sub will add to it IMO.

Use 4 Tannoy XT8 floorstanders rated for down to 34hz for front and read with centre and did so without a sub for a while. The bass actually sounded pretty solid and deep enough at times, but adding a sub, more so for movies really adds impact and you feel it in your chest more so. Suspect it helps with the sub also having its dedicated amp and assuming your speakers are just coming off the AV and not another dedicated amp.

Helps with dynamic range too, no way can a avr power all speakers full range.

NeilF · 27 Feb 2020 at 22:45

lucid said:
Centre speaker: The 905c is the obvious partner for the 902i front pair. It's bigger; digs deeper 60Hz vs 100Hz, and is more efficient too. If you scout around you could probably pick up a nice used example for £50. Get some foam wedges or rubber feet to isolate it from the cabinet. Try not to have it sitting inside a box within the cabinet, or if it has to then at least block out the space with foam to kill the chamber resonance.

Front stereo pair - floor-stander versus stand-mount. There's not much in it for how much space either takes up. What does catch folk out though who buy blind is the space that floor-standers need to work properly. They'll upgrade expecting great things, and in the worst cases end up with a horrible boomy mess because the speaker is stuffed in some tight space where the stand-mounter kind of coped, but the space is too small to dissipate the extra bass energy from the bigger speaker.

This can even be a problem for bigger stand-mount speakers. Much depends on the direction of the bass port and how deep the speakers go. Sometimes a better sub that really cooks is really the most sensible upgrade.

It's interesting you mention " horrible boomy mess because the speaker is stuffed in some tight space " because one of my two 902s is on a shelf, right up against the rear of the unit, and there's definately a tiny bit of booming as it has a rear port, with no where to go except the rear of unit... Shame they're not 10cm less deep TBH!

905C - LOL! Just measured up the hole in my hifi cabinet immediately under the TV where my current center speaker lives. The 905C is 165mm high... My space is 163mm at best

DOH!

willhub · 28 Feb 2020 at 11:52

SexyGreyFox said:
I have these either side of my 24" TV

That's just too big, I know size matters but come on that's pushing it, you'd want 3Hz for that size too.

hornetstinger · 28 Feb 2020 at 12:57

willhub said:
That's just too big, I know size matters but come on that's pushing it, you'd want 3Hz for that size too.

If you read the specs of those subs they only go down to 47hz. My rear speakers go lower!

Checkout power sound s7201 for a truly huge subwoofer