Using a sub woofer with the passive radiators in my monitor 10's

[patanneflick]

Can anyone recommend a sub woofer for use with my polk monitor 10's that have passive radiators?
I have a Yamaha RX 770 about 85 watts rms per channel.

Thanks for the help

Pat

[Face]

A passive radiator serves the same function as a port, and affect bass frequencies the same above the radiator's FS.

Polk does make a few subs with passives though: http://www.polkaudio.com/homeaudio/subwoofers.php#dsw

[Tour2ma]

Welcome to the Club...

For music or HT? What size room?

EDIT: Just checked your Yammie, so I'm guessing music.
If that's the case and you are just trying to lighten the burden the 10's are placing on your Yammie, I'd think small, 10" sub. Maybe the PSW10 or 110.

But before I laid out $150+ a sub, I'd consider a used receiver with more power.

[patanneflick]

I have a set of polk monitor 10's and they have passive radiators.

What powered sub woofer would work best to add a little more clean light bass to these monitors 10's for 2 channel stereo listening of rock and classic rock

Thanks Pat

[Face]

See above.

[Syndil]

Your Polk Monitor 10s have a specified -3db lower limit of 37Hz. Considering your primary purpose is 2-channel music, I would recommend a sealed (not ported) subwoofer with a lower limit somewhere below 37Hz.

Speaking in general terms, a sealed enclosure gives you tighter, cleaner bass, whereas a ported enclosure gives you lower bass extension and more output. And again, speaking in general terms, music is usually much better suited by tighter, cleaner bass, whereas home theater demands lower bass at higher volumes.

All of Polk's current subwoofer offerings are ported, so I would look elsewhere for your sub. Of course there are many possibilities and you have not specified your budget, but at least now you should have a better idea of what to look for.

[Face]

Since his speakers are ported(via passive radiator), a radiator or ported sub would blend better. Ported subs can be very musical too, it's all about placement, gain, and phase.

[FMK]

My recommendation is to forego the subwoofer. My Monitor 10s have plenty of bass, and I'm a basshead. I've tried running them with and without a subwoofer (Mirage LF100) and they sound better, cleaner, and more musical without- and this is listening to classic rock, jazz, and classical music at fairly high volumes. The dirty little secret of getting maximum bass out of the Monitor 10 - and I know this flies in the face of conventional wisdom- is to place them directly on the floor without using stands. Once I moved them off the stands, they started to sing in the bass. Moreover, you'll get smoother frequency response in the bass, midbass, and low mids without using a sub. Another key, as Tour2ma noted, is to give them plenty of power. I use an Adcom GFA555 (200 watts) so I've never lacked for power to drive them. Depending on your receiver, your room, and your listening habits, you may want to look into a more powerful -or at least a higher current- receiver or amp.

[alla4]

good post

[Face]

My recommendation is to forego the subwoofer. My Monitor 10s have plenty of bass, and I'm a basshead. I've tried running them with and without a subwoofer (Mirage LF100) and they sound better, cleaner, and more musical without- and this is listening to classic rock, jazz, and classical music at fairly high volumes. The dirty little secret of getting maximum bass out of the Monitor 10 - and I know this flies in the face of conventional wisdom- is to place them directly on the floor without using stands. Once I moved them off the stands, they started to sing in the bass. Moreover, you'll get smoother frequency response in the bass, midbass, and low mids without using a sub. Another key, as Tour2ma noted, is to give them plenty of power. I use an Adcom GFA555 (200 watts) so I've never lacked for power to drive them. Depending on your receiver, your room, and your listening habits, you may want to look into a more powerful -or at least a higher current- receiver or amp.

Placing them on the floor will kill imaging and reinforce not only the bass, but the midbass and lower mids, making them sound bloated in most cases. There's nothing wrong with adding "quality" sub and setting it up properly.

[FMK]

That's not been my experience. The Monitor 10's seem to blossom in the bass without really affecting the low mids, and the imaging is as detailed as it has ever been. I have to say I was surprised to find out that I could put them on the floor without the bloat- I had held off putting them there because I had read too often that they needed to be on stands. But I can't argue with the sound. My theory is that floor-positioned bass bloat occurs with acoustic suspension speakers but not passive radiators, perhaps because their lower mass helps to keep the wavefronts time aligned with the mid drivers. (That's just a guess!).

I would say give it a shot and see if it works. At least it's easy to test out and doesn't require buying extra gear. I'd be curious to find out if it works for anybody else besides me. I'd check it out before investing in a subwoofer- good ones aren't cheap, and they take some work getting them to mate smoothly with the main speakers, especially if the mains already have a fair amount of low end extension.

[Syndil]

I have found that experimenting with different floor couplings will produce different results, and not always in the ways you would expect. With my RT12s I found they sounded fine without any spikes or feet on them at all (both options were provided), placing the Power Port platform directly on the carpet.

There is certainly no one-size-fits-all wisdom to it. I think the largest influencing factor would probably be your type of floor. For example, I would not expect to get the same results placing a speaker on a concrete slab as I would placing it on a suspended wooden floor.