Subs

[rickm]

Hello to All,

Got my new Towers (Satin Black Bamboo) last week and couldn't happier! No need to try to describe how good they sound - many, many others have already done a terrific job of that. While waiting for the Towers to arrive, I read the entire 259 pages of this thread. There is great information here.

I'm focused on subs right now I have a Rythmik F12. My listening is almost exclusively music. Binge movie watching for us would be watching two movies in a one or two month period. When the Towers arrived, I turned the F12 off just to hear what the Towers offered. As others have said, I think that for music, a sub isn't needed. My old ears are very satisfied with what bass the towers supply. It seems that the F12 is overkill for me. So, what if I sold the F12 and got a Rythmik L12 for that occasional movie? Am I nuts? Any comments would be appreciated. Thank you in advance.

[racrawford65]

Why bother? The F12 has slightly more output than the L12. For the occasional movie, depending on your room size, you may want to consider going up to a 15 inch or 18 inch sub.

[natetg57]

I'd also agree on keeping the F12. They are similar but the F12 should sound slightly better as well. I'd personally always use a sub with my mains. If it's integrated well, it should only add and not detract from the overall presentation.

[racrawford65]

I use two E15's with my mains, as well..both music and movies.

[jimlucci]

I have my L12 sitting right between the Towers. I went back and forth about which sub to get (the F12 or the L12) for the very reasons you mentioned - the towers sound great even by themselves and I don't have any home theater usage in my setup. I would have rather gone with the F12, but for budgetary reasons, decided to give the L12 a try (I used the savings to make sure I got the RAAL upgrade on the towers). I think if I was doing any Home Theater at all, the more sub the better. The F12 X 2 or the E15 X 2 even. I think racrawford65 is spot on there. For strictly music, my L12 does an admirable job enhancing the towers - I figure I could add another L12 too down the road if I found it lacking.

[Mag_Neato]

I have 2 LV12F's for my main HT in a large open room. They do pretty well but I'm not going to dislodge any pictures on the wall. Wasn't going for that and I had to stick to a budget. For my music system with Sierra-2EX's I had been using a single Rythmik F12 equivalent I built a long time ago from the 12" Direct servo kit before Rythmik became a household name. It has been excellent. I just added a second F12 (Fully built from the website) to better tame some room issues, and got both subs aligned and EQ'd using a miniDSP 2x4 HD after taking measurements with REW and a UMIK-1. I have to say, the bass has never sounded so good!

[jimlucci]

For music only and paired with the towers, the Rythmik L12 does a great job. I thought about getting a mic and doing some room readings, maybe adding another L12, but honestly, it sounds fantastic in my room. If I did any HT at all or played music that was very demanding in the lowest of frequencies, I may have applied more of my budget there, but I am very happy with the Sierra Towers w/RAAL and the L12.

[Mag_Neato]

I was always happy with the bass from the one Rythmik, but thought I could improve it. Over 1 year ago a friend brought his laptop with REW and a UMIK-1 over to see what was going on in my room. Once I saw the response graph I decided that some sort of EQ was definitely needed. With the big dips I was seeing I knew a 2nd sub was an eventuality. The 2nd sub placed properly boosted a major dip in the 30-60hz region and allowed me to EQ the peaks above that down to create a 10db rising response from 100hz to 30hz. The kick in the chest factor is there while playing cleaner with greater detail, no boominess or peaks dominating. Bass has an effortless quality. Learning to set up and use the REW software and miniDSP is a bit of a brain melt, but some informative video tutorials were very helpful.

[davef]

Hello to All,

Got my new Towers (Satin Black Bamboo) last week and couldn't happier! No need to try to describe how good they sound - many, many others have already done a terrific job of that. While waiting for the Towers to arrive, I read the entire 259 pages of this thread. There is great information here.

I'm focused on subs right now I have a Rythmik F12. My listening is almost exclusively music. Binge movie watching for us would be watching two movies in a one or two month period. When the Towers arrived, I turned the F12 off just to hear what the Towers offered. As others have said, I think that for music, a sub isn't needed. My old ears are very satisfied with what bass the towers supply. It seems that the F12 is overkill for me. So, what if I sold the F12 and got a Rythmik L12 for that occasional movie? Am I nuts? Any comments would be appreciated. Thank you in advance.

Selling the F12 used and purchasing an L12 new would likely be a wash and you would then end up with a slightly lesser capable sub. I would just stick with the F12, which is not only a better subwoofer, but also offers more features. In particular, the damping and bass extension controls on the F12 are very useful.

[rickm]

It seems that the jury has spoken and I would be nuts to sell my F12 and get an L12. The good news is my F12 is already paid for! Thank you to all have have offered advice. It is most appreciated!