Subwoofer illiterate

[KLR]

For a subwoofer I am presently using a pair of old AR3As powered by an old Carver M-500 stereo amp connected to the subwoofer jack on a Pioneer Elite 91TXH. On the receiver I set the sub X-over at 100hz. Other front and surrounds are bookshelf style.

The AR's spec sheet shows they start falling off at about 40 hz. I'm mainly interested in getting tight clean bass in music. Would a powered subwoofer be significantly better than the ARs? The ARs(the original acoustic suspension speaker) have good bass, but I've had no experience with powered subwoofers so don't know if my old technology is making me miss something worthwhile.

Thanks for any advice. K

 

[j_garcia]

For movies you are likely missing a LOT, but for music you are probably OK as is. SVS sells passive subs that you would still be able to use the stereo amp with and get a lot more bass for your buck than the ARs.

http://www.svsound.com/products-sub-cyl-cspas.cfm

 

[jamie2112]

SVS or HSU or Epik would be good choices for a new sub...As J Garcia said already, all of these companies make passive subs so you could still use your amp you presently have...

 

[Exit]

I agree with the above posts, but I thought you might like to see that there is not much music below 40 Hz, except some pipe organs (like in a church) and some organs/synthesizers.

http://www.greenmountainaudio.com/music-frequencies-chart/

You can Google for music frequencies charts and you might find more information. So, except for a couple of exceptions, almost all music is in the range of your speakers and you would gain very little with a subwoofer for music. Also, you would need to find a subwoofer that goes down to at least 20 Hz to play low enough for the exception instruments.

 

[j_garcia]

I have plenty of music that goes below 40Hz, but it isn't from instruments, so it depends on what you listen to.

 

[KLR]

Many Thanks

Thanks to all for the advice. The AR3A spec sheet shows the base rolls off 10db from 40 cps to 20 cps. I connected an old Audio Source equalizer, added 8db boost at 32cps, found a DVD with lots of heavy low end that the Carver amp handles nicely. AS you said, the 32cps boost doesn't affect music noticeably, but on a couple DVDs it was obvious that some movies have plenty clean, solid bass in the subsonic region.