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In Reply to: RE: Need HELP with Subwoofer Choice posted by airtime on December 31, 2016 at 18:15:02
Now that I have direct-servo, I wouldn't want to live without it. It really improves bass performance. There is a sensitivity switch to reduce servo control and the difference between hi and low sensitivity is quite noticeable. The servo tightens bass very noticeably.
I would recommend sticking with Rythmik and having the subwoofer replaced under warranty. That's exactly what warranties are for. Sometimes good products break. My first TASCAM DA-3000 DSD recorder was dead on arrival but I didn't give up on TASCAM. I simply had it replaced under warranty.
Good luck,
John Elison
Follow Ups:
The one consistency I have noticed about subs is their plate amps tend to die easily.
I myself am in the process of setting up stereo subs and I am trying to plan ahead for that future problem. I'm investing a reasonable amount keeping that in mind for future plate amp replacements.
Wow! I didn't know the amps failed. My 20-year old Cambridge Soundworks subs are still going strong. I just got tired of them and I wanted to try Rythmik servo subs. They gave me a 10% discount presumably for buying two. That was a nice surprise.
My Rythmik servo subs have been turned on for four months and they are still going strong. I hope they don't fail. I wonder if the high failure rate is because people try to play them too loud. I have always tried to maintain a natural balance in the loudness between my subs and my main speakers. I don't want exaggerated bass; I just want deep, tight bass when the music calls for it.
Best regards,
John Elison
Come on don't be that critical. Yeah, I also have been using one Keiger for something like 10 years now. I have two 12 year old Paradigm subs. One plate amp blew while the other has been on daily for over 12 years in my HT. So what?
What I am saying is I don't have much faith in any of those amps. I'm only taking the stance that amp replacement is something that should always be considered when buying a sub.
Well, I've never considered it and I don't plan to now. I already bought my subs so I'll deal with it if and when the time comes. If you're concerned about plate amplifiers failing, buy a passive sub and buy an external amplifier of your choice. I'm not concerned about it.Good luck,
John Elison
Edits: 01/03/17
Ahh, buying a new plate amp every few years if needed gives me something to do now.
As I get older I'm not as critical of my system. I seem to be in more of a listening mode now and not a collecting and tweaking mode.
Tell me again what subwoofers you own that you need to replace the amplifier every two years. If I ever need to buy new subwoofers, I will steer clear of those.
Thanks,
John Elison
John,
Which amp did you get with your F12s? I have the Class AB 'XLR3' amp and it doesn't have any control over the servo. It would be interesting to measure the distortion spectrum at the two settings.
Dave
Yes, good products do break. However, it's kind of scary when it does so a little over two weeks in. After looking at various other makes, both Chinese manufactured and those made here, I decided to go with the JL Audio e110. Yeah, it's quite a bit more than I expected to pay initially, but it seems I rarely have had good luck with Chinese made audio gear or Motorola cell phones. I just don't know wny. So, I'll give this a shot ... bought it from Crutchfield with a 60 day return/$10 return shipping charge. Worse comes to worse it goes back and I move on. We shall see.
JL Audio is a smart choice. The Fathom F113 is the best subwoofer I've ever heard by a long way. I drooled at the prospect of stereo F113s but just couldn't justify paying that much for just an octave and a half of sound. I very briefly heard one of the E-subs at a dealer and it sounded great, but I was auditioning speakers so I didn't listen long before asking them to turn it off. Rythmik offers a fair bit more performance per dollar, but size for size I think JL Audio offers more performance.
Hi Dave,
My F12SE servo subs have the A370PEQ3 amp. It has three sensitivity positions for servo control. I keep my subs set to a low frequency extension of 14-Hz with servo damping set to Hi just like the picture below. It responds to very deep bass in this position. In fact, it performs like a ported speaker. If I set the servo to low damping it performs like a sealed enclosure and doesn't respond to the very low frequencies. Sometimes I use the rumble filter to eliminate the low frequencies instead of changing the servo damping. For example, I sometimes need the Rumble filter to prevent woofer pumping with my AT-ART7 high-compliance cartridge. I don't get any woofer pumping with my medium compliance DL-S1 cartridge.
I have those switches too. They control the bass extension filter, which is a HPF used to trade off extension vs. max output. The switch labeled 'FREQ' changes the corner frequency of the filter and the switch labeled 'DAMPING' changes the Q of the filter. "LOW" = high Q, "HI" = low Q. Low damping/high Q gives you a couple dB more output and a faster roll-off, high damping/low Q gives you flatter output with a slower roll-off but less peak output. You can see the response curves of the nine different combinations at the link below.
In my room, 28Hz and HI damping measures the best, because it matches the room gain. But 20Hz and MED or HI damping sounds best. With the filter set at 28Hz, some of the very low frequency ambient information is lost on some recordings. And with the 14Hz setting it can be a little too much due to room gain.
I don't think these controls affect the servo at all.
Dave
Okay! Thanks! I don't know why I thought they were servo sensitivity controls. I've been playing mine at 14-Hz high damping and they sound good like that.
Thanks!
John Elison
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