Thank you for those. What they do is add to what I said. The first says “you get what you pay for,” which at $399 or $499 for a sub these days isn’t exactly the quality level I’m looking for (at a certain point price and sound quality don’t necessarily agree, but at $399 we’re far lower than that). If you look further, note the link to the review of best studio subs at the bottom, where we find Polk, JBL, Cerwin Vega, Mackie, etc. First off, my living room isn’t like a studio booth and, unless something has happened, those brands and probably models are very decent but not at the SQ level I’m looking for with SCM19A’s, a DirectStream dac and a moded Oppo 203, cables and power regenerator aside. The second and third links again appear to be smaller enclosed pro studios. Sound pros are generally looking for something very different than the rest of us home bodies. If the PreSonus T10’s work for your needs, great. If they turn out to be something that could work for mine, hopefully I’ll catch up with them sooner than later. I’d just like to see something from those who have a similar kind of system as mine.
I don’t want to be misunderstood about pro audio. ATC is primarily a pro brand, although my model is a home one by design, and I’ve had some very decent pro speakers on my desktop, such as Adam and Emotiva. However, they fell by the wayside as I constructed my computer audio system because they were not up to the sound quality I was looking for (I no longer focus on that system, feeling sufficiently satisfied with the Quad 12L’s I’ve had there for a few years).
Sorry, I misinterpreted your goal here. BTW I own JBL 708Ps, a modern less polite ($2000 monitor) take on your ATC SCM 19As that brings controlled directivity to the table.
Perhaps better options for you would be PMC TwoTwoSub1 ($4700, transmission line design), the Neumann KH810 ($2700, ported), or ATC’s own SCM0.1/12 SL ($4930). Both the PMC and KH will allow for connection between your DS and ATCs (like the PreSonus T10). In fact the KH810 allows for 7 channel through-puts. Check out SoundonSound.com for more suggestions/reviews.
And getting back to one of your original questions, yes “Y” XLR spliters are available.
In my case I was after multiple smaller subs to produce more even bass across the 2100 cubic foot room. So I have three subs, two T10s (one per channel, each feeding a 708P) and one consumer CSS 10 XBL^2 sealed sub that are “Y” connected to the RCA outputs from my DSJ.
I appreciate your raising the matter and the articles. 2100 cu ft is not a small room. What are its dimensions?
Earlier this year I found a lightly used pair of JL Audio e-110s, which I put off installing until everything else was settled (soon). I got Cardas adapters and anorher pair of MG Audio Design AG2 IC’s, this time unbalanced. However, if I could come up with a pair of comparable subs that take XLR, I’d definitely consider a switch. That’s why I was listening to your T10 suggestion. The other ones you mentioned are beyond my means and size need. My condo has one of those longer living room/dining room areas, so the main listening area is not that large, but its also not like a sound booth.
My basement ‘study’ (audio in front, office in rear) is 8ft x 13ft x 21ft and follows Cardas Golden Cuboid ratios (as does my mid-field setup). Note that this also the Fibonacci ratio - no repeating echos from different room dimensions. When we built 14 years ago it was a move away from my family, kids, and work so I got a ‘my’ room. It’s throughly insulated and has 3 cryogenically treated hospital grade duplex wall convenience receptacles that are each on a dedicated 20 amp circuit and grounded together (mostly a ‘while you’re at it’ move). I’ve also installed GIK 244 absorption panels (4 inches of Owens Corning 703 high density fiberglass) - most treatments are more effective from aesthetics than acoustics.
After having a good room I’m become very sensitive to poor rooms and value the importance of the room (IMO the 2nd most important “component” for any in-room system after speakers). OTOH am too old to be much of a ‘wire guy’ (one advantage of using XLR is avoiding all that marketing hype and controversy).
There is a fairly wide price range of professional subs out there. From my research the stated specifications from professional sources are generally more conservative rated than found on consumer subs. But professional subs are a fairly rare breed, so hard to shop for. JBL tells me that they haven’t come up with subs to match my 708Ps (yet). Other brands I’d look at at more moderate prices include Adam, Dynaudio, and Unity Audio.
Yeah, my room is the opposite of yours. What I’m wondering is why with the kind if effort you put into room design you’ve focused solely on pro subs rather than including a wider range of choices.
Considered a wide variety of subs, but helped a friend out by buying his (nice/little) consumer sub, then thought hard about adding SVS SB-1000 or Rythmik L12 subs. Also considered a “Swarm” from Audio Kinesis (a package of 4 passive subs with amp from Duke LeJeune, a guy who knows his stuff). But the T10s fit the budget I had in mind, went deep (real subwoofers), and allowed for all the connections I was after.
The room was part of our new build and ended up being the cheapest part of the house (note we were after an energy efficient structure which all but required fully finishing the basement). I say cheapest because it cut in half our storage space (that wifey would have spent money to fill with ‘junk’). I also picked the cheapest carpet/pad in the house and exterior insulated fiberglass door with weather strips (cheaper than the cherry doors used elsewhere). All interior walls in the house are insulated and most of the ductwork is insulated/lined flexible duct, so that didn’t cost any more.
Design of the room was free (did my own research) and recently found out that it ended up being very similar (size/shape is almost identical) to Earl Geddes’ HT room! Earl has a PhD in acoustics and has authored in controlled directivity and room acoustics.