What's involved in adding a Subwoofer?

[Paolo]

Greetings all,

I would like to add a subwoofer to my existing setup but I’m not sure how to go about it.

My setup: a RMX Fireface Audio/Digital interface’s output going to a ColemanAudio three button speaker selection switch which has three 1/4″ outputs for connecting directly to: 1) powered genelecs 2) amp/ yamaha NS10s 3) small amp / crappy radio shack boombox speakers.

Where would the subwoofer be inserted /how would it be connected? Also, any specific subwoofer you would recommend?

Much appreciative of any help/advice you can share.

[Paolo]

bump

[Art Munson]

You would need to use two of those outputs. One for your regular speakers and one for the sub woofer. I have an old Tannoy and it has a separate volume control so I can set the volume of the sub separately from the main speakers.

You would also need to be able to select two of those outputs at the same time.

[Paolo]

thanks Art 🙂

Just to confirm what I’m to do:

1) use one of the three ColemanAudio (CA) stereo outputs for the subwoofer. For example, I’ll use output 3. So I would need to disconnect the speakers in this case, connected to CA’s output three. Is that correct?

2) a subwoofer is mono (yes?) so I would only use the left or right output (either one?) of CA’s output three. Is that correct?

3) finally, i need a subwoofer with a volume control as there would be no other way to control the subwoofer’s volume. Is that correct?

Art, do you have a feeling about which one of my three speaker pairs woudl be best paured with the subwoofer? I have the ability to turn on all three outputs simulataneously.

[Paolo]

which one of my three speaker pairs woudl be best paured with the subwoofer?

Ooops – meant:
…which one of my three speaker pairs would be best paired with the subwoofer?

[Art Munson]

Just to confirm what I’m to do:

1. Yes
2. Sub is mono so either one should be fine.
3. Yes

which one of my three speaker pairs would be best paired with the subwoofer?

You might not need on the Genelecs depending on their frequency response. Maybe on the NS10s but that kind of defeats the purpose of having different speakers to preview how your mix sounds.

[woodsdenis]

2) a subwoofer is mono (yes?) so I would only use the left or right output (either one?) of CA’s output three. Is that correct?

Not really, the sub is the summed signal below a certain frequency. So if for example you had a very wide stereo bass sound, that setup would just give you one side . Some subs take the whole stereo signal and do the crossover internally, then feeding the stereos . Ideally you would want to be able to turn it off ? Yamaha used to do a sub that was specifically for use with NS 10s, pretty good actually.

[Paolo]

thank you Art – I appreciate you confirming how I would approach this

@woodsdenis

if for example you had a very wide stereo bass sound, that setup would just give you one side

Ahh, thank you -I hadn’t thought of that possibility. So I’ll use both left and right stereo outputs to the subwoofer.

[Alan]

Subwoofer location and room characteristics will likely have a huge impact on what you hear too. Bass frequencies will bounce off room barriers creating nodes and anti-nodes, aka standing waves.
I used to teach live sound reinforcement. Here is a fun experiment that will demonstrate standing waves in a room.

Play a 50Hz sine wave VERY SOFTLY. Walk around the room. You should find places in the room there the sound drops to near nothing and places where it gets much louder. Check room corners, high and low etc. Try it with an SPL meter too. I have measured 10dB+ differences in level of a bass note in a within 5 feet of each other.
Now change the frequency to 55 Hz and all those standing waves will have moved to a different location because the wavelength is shorter.

The point here is that, with a subwoofer, what you hear in your mix position may be very different from what is actually happening. If you add a sub to your studio, don’t send any new tracks out until you’ve played them on several other sets of speakers. Play them in the car, a cheap portable device, etc. and compare your bass level commercial music.

I spent 6 months trying to get used to a sub in my studio. I built and bought several bass traps and moved it all over the room. I finally gave up, the room beat me.

I invested an pair of Genelec 8040A’s. They are 48 Hz – 20 kHz (± 2 dB) which is all the low end I need.
Good luck with that sub!

[Art Munson]

@woodsdenis thanks for keeping me honest! 🙂

I invested a pair of Genelec 8040A’s. They are 48 Hz – 20 kHz (± 2 dB) which is all the low end I need.

I should add that I abandoned my Tannoy sub a few years ago.

[MichaelL]

I should add that I abandoned my Tannoy sub a few years ago.

LOL! I’ve had a Tannoy sub for years. Never used it for most of the reasons that Alan mentioned. I just took it a music store that sells used gear.

[Michael Nickolas]

Just yesterday I gave away a subwoofer to a friends son. Haven’t used it since I changed my monitors to the Mackie HR824’s which go down to around 35 Hz.

[Antari]

Just a thought…

Have you considered using headphones, in addition to your studio speakers?

I recently purchased Sennheiser HD 800s, a Dangerous Source Amp, and the Waves NX Stereo plugin to overcome the limitation of stereo imaging problems with headphones.

These go down to 5hz! Easily check low frequency material, accurately.

Extremely comfortable to wear for extended periods of time. I can mix anywhere with my laptop.

Anyway, just thought I would toss that out there.

[Paolo]

@Antari

Thank you for adding the headphone suggestion. I’ve used Sony MDR-7506 and other headphones but any low end problems aren’t audible to me until I hear the mix through a subwoofer. Then after some tweaking the mix sounds good everywhere.

Those Sennheisers look like a nice pair of headphones though 🙂

[Author]

Posts