Turning this into a general advice and progress thread for myself
So inbound are some ls3/5a speakers and I have a very strong hunch I’m going to want a sub or two, leaning heavily towards stereo.
I spoke to REL and Rythmik. REL suggested 2 T/5i’s and Rythmik suggested 2 F12’s for my room which is roughly 150 sq ft. Rythmik also suggested I get an A370PEQ amp so I can have speaker level inputs.
What do you folks think here? My initial thought is 2 12’s might be too much and REL’s seem a little easier to work with.
Personally I would say rythmik but the rel would be easier to work with, you could make 2 f12s work but it might be a bit much for your room if you don’t set them up properly (but if you have correct placement and set levels properly I actually think you would be just fine), the rel wouldn’t really have a chance to overwhelm the room unless you really try to get them to lol. But from a quality perspective personally I do kinda prefer what the rythmik here, imo more linear sounding, more precise and accurate, better extension and impact as well overall. I would say that the rel might sound a tad more organic though but the rythmik just has more to offer for a similar price imo.
I have one L12 and it can slam the hell out of the room it’s in, open on both ends 15 x 15. Granted the main speakers go low with decent authority down to 35, but two in a 150 sq ft is insane IMO. I will say sealed servo is the way to go.
Ah I was going to mention that in my post but forgot lol, you should go L12 and not F12 (since you can get 2 for much cheaper and also it’s going to be a bit less likely to overwhelm)
I do think you could make it work if set properly, and it also depends on other aspects of the room like if you have proper treatment in the room, if you are really going to go for subs, having 2 subs is very beneficial
3-0 for Rythmik. Okay. So what about the amplifier that was suggested to me? If I go the Rythmik route is this something I should consider?
As far as room treatment goes I think the room sounds pretty good imo… curtains, rugs, a few wall treatments… no bass traps though. Rectangular shaped.
So you would have to look if they will add in an amp module with speaker level in, but it would indeed be wise to get something that can limit the bass going to those ls3/5a since those can blow if you push too much bass through them depending on how you set things up. You could also try and find like a parasound preamp to match the a23+ (like a p5 or p6) and not have to worry about speaker level in on the sub but then you would lose the tube features of the freya since the p6 would replace that. Realistically you could just get the normal amp and use the rca pass through of the a23, but I would try for the peq with speaker level in
I would perhaps consider some bass traps, but you could always hold off until you get a sub to see if you need some
That amp is matched to the speakers at the manufacturer so it’s a good option. The PEQ version of it makes sense - having the speaker level input is a great option and from what I can see on their site it costs only $1 more than the base version. I personally would go speaker level to the sub from the speaker amp.
Looks like you received plenty of +1s, but I also use a Rythmik F12 in my BBC setup. It works fantastically. Super clean, super tight, the sound disappears in the music if you can set it up right.
Also since you are in canada, also look at funk audio, as they have some pretty solid subs (edit, they are more expensive than I remember lol, and would most likely be too much for your room)
Yes that would be good
Honestly it’s not really harder, it just means you have to do setup twice. I actually think positioning for dual subs is easier since you typically want to place them more like speakers, while with a single sub you might want to experiment where they go in the room more (like perhaps in a corner, or in other more unusual places)
Also I should note that my rythmik with harbeth is pretty damn nice combo to me lol
Awesome. Thanks for the input everyone. I’ll talk more with the Rythmick guy (excellent customer service btw, same goes for REL) and decide on one or two. You’ll most likely see me in here asking more advice again when I’m setting these up lol
Also imo stereo is good since you get more low level spatial information that most speakers can’t recreate, so it actually does tend to improve time domain things vs a single sub (which imo really doesn’t), so more benefit there
