Ordered Custom Rythmik/Salk Sub

[Chops]

I ordered a custom Rythmik/Salk F15HP Satin Dark Cheery with 3/4 MDF & 3/4 bamboo today. As I receive updates on the progress I'll let you all know how it is going.

Chops

[MusicHead]

Congratulations! Beauty and brawn... What a combination.

[Chops]

The cabinet is finished and waiting for the 3rd sealer coat.

[sludgeogre]

Wow, quite the saga. Hope you get to hear it soon. Please post pictures when you have it set up!

[Chops]

Finally some good news. My custom rythmik/salk is being shipped next week.
Now I'll need a few strong backs as it weighs about 160 pounds

Chops

[billy p]

Wow...6 months....why the extended wait. What lead time was given by JS. I explored going this route prior to buying my PSA sub a few yrs back.

Sure hope my new Funk arrives on time as expected...I'd love to see some pictures of the new sub...what finish did you chose.

[Chops]

I had to wait for the order for the bamboo to come in.

Also bamboo is made up of strips of bamboo which expand and contract with changes in temperature and humidity. But the glue seams between the strips do not. So what was once sanded flat becomes less flat with the seams between the bamboo strips showing through the finish.

So in order to insure that this has a minimal effect on the final finish, Salk let the sealer cure longer between coats. Normally, sealer continues to cure for about 30 days. This is normally not anything to be concerned about. But with the way bamboo moves, the more the sealer cures, the less is will tend to shrink over time and this helps keep the natural movement of the bamboo less noticeable.

Chops

[mikesiskav]

Have you tried adjusting the phase setting on the subwoofer? You may be getting some cancelation between the sub and the towers.

[billy p]

My plan will be to implement a higher xover to help offset localization issues for music... Anthem allows for separate eq setting. I'd think the sub should be equal to or better the bass response of the towers...as described to me even xover in the 120-200 Hz range are acceptable with the TSAD drivers.

[MusicHead]

From Rythmik FAQ:

Do I really need a flat response down to 14 Hz for music?

The simple answer is yes. The more accurate, more complicated answer is that it depends on the music you are listening to. On dance mixes and music with extremely high bass contents, one does not need 14 Hz extension because of what is called the "masking effect". The masking effect occurs when a high amplitude signal is present simultaneously with other smaller amplitude signals. The perceived loudness of the smaller amplitude signal is drastically reduced. In addition, human ear's sensitivity decreases in the lower frequencies. Therefore for this type of music, one may even want to set the extension setting higher with lower damping factor setting (in our A350/A370 amps). That will make the bass sound clean (by removing ambient information) and punchy. It essentially allocates more amplifier power to the signal that we hear and care about most. On the other hand, when no such signals are present (for example, in jazz, solo and other types of music) and masking effect is not strong, one can clearly hear the difference that a 14 Hz extension makes (vs say 28 Hz extension). It is not a difference that will have you jumping out of your seat say "there's the bass". Rather it is an improvement in two areas: ambience and dynamics.

Ambience: good recordings normally capture a lot of ambience information which is predominantly low frequency signals. It is generally agreed that the lower the sub plays, the deeper, taller, and wider the sound stage becomes (or one may say open and spacious).

Dynamics: during musical transitions, a lot of the non-harmonic content is produced. Most of this content is in the very low frequency band, which will be filtered out if the bass extension is not low enough.