Honestly I have doubts that the woofer in the swan (both OS-10 and Oasis 140) can compete with a separate sub woofer.
zeos did say
2 Likes
That’s what I thought as well, but I want to see it in the manual. It wouldn’t be the end of the world if you had to output full range to the speakers and sub, but IMO that defeats the purpose of having a pre-out if the high-pass applies to all output stages. I’m probably just being paranoid lol.
Then the sub should help fill out that lowend, but I’m always froggy about subs not hitting low-30’s/high 20’s at a minimum. I’m picky lol. Case in point, at the end of the year I put together a new “mostly-portable” setup for travel and hotels: Vanatoo T1E+ and an SVS Micro 3000
I already had the previous Transparent One Encore model (which my sister is borrowing for her dance groups now and may otherwise go to my old man for a garage setup) and they are ALMOST everything you could want on a desktop. The SVS I’ve been really curious about (big numbers for less than a cubic foot and <30lbs) and for travel purposes and paired with the Vanatoos, it was that or the KEF KC62 which is like 2x the price for not a lot more performance. I’m looking forward to breaking them in a week from Monday, since I have to go ~8 hour drive away for work for the week (Wisconsin to Nebraska, baby! I hope the snow and ice stays off of I80 lol).
2 Likes
I would still need that A5 amp for the passive speakers though but no point in using the high pass filter if it is activated on BOTH the passive AND active sub.
Simpler setup with the OS-10 though.
Dont need a y splitter with the A5 as well.
Haha yeah it would be nice but definitely not possible with the sub size I am trying to stick with (lack of space and budget). A lot of the more famous subs arent available here either sadly…
1 Like
I get it, you have to work with what is available (and within your constraints). I had to do the same with the Vanatoos and Micro 3000; If size wasn’t an issue, I could have gone waaaay cheaper for the performance I wanted. If it wasn’t a pain in the ass to bring them, I have a pair of Buchardt S300mkII and stands that I would have used instead but then I ALSO would need a beefy amp to drive them properly. Actually, Buchardt might be an option for space-efficient subs for you (assuming that Denmark plays well with Sweden for shipping/pricing) with their SUB10 but it’s…not cheap, to put it lightly. I think I paid less for the S300mkII’s (which were admittedly B-stock, but still).
Edit: and even at home, I’ve basically maxed out my desk space for speakers haha (32" curved monitor and ‘standmount’ speakers taking up basically all of the remaining horizontal real estate haha. I think I have less than 3cm remaining on either side.
1 Like
haha that is definitely not an amount I wanna pay lol. And way too big both in size and likely sound, dont wanna disturb the neighbours that much.
I technically could get more room if I cleaned up the desk. “only” have 3 smaller monitors so that helps. 2 at 24 inch one being VA, one vertical which is IPS) and then a third at 13.3 inch being AMOLED.
1 Like
Great sub for it’s size (subs always seem overpriced to me - and Europe is somewhat starved of the middle end sub options available in the US or we have to pay ridiculous import - I think the Micro 3000 is about 30% more here than the US) - I am 100% sure you will be impressed having this as a “portable setup” - though I pity your hotel neighbours 
this whole concept of having a travel sub is excessively immense and I am completely here for it.
I really like SVS performance in general (REL using those 80s shiny piano style designs with the strange base/legs was also off-putting for me personally). I have the micro on my second office setup and two PB2000 for my house AV. Sadly lack of XLR options means I am stuck with Genelec subs (2 x 7050C) for my main office which though meatier are not as clean.
2 Likes
I would echo @Sonofholhorse ideas regarding this sub range v your speaker range. Also given the size of this sub I am not sure the performance would be worth it (hard to judge as not many reviews or measurements - I am always a little skeptical when the main seller is a hifi store that uses this as a nondisclosed semi inhouse brand as they have the same owners) perhaps better saving for a larger 8" or preferably 10" or above. If your determined by the small budget sub route - US based maybe Monolith & Europe maybe Elac as they discontinued a load of subs last year IIRC - so may be some good discounts available. Can always get good Polk & Klipsch used deals but again hard to recommend the performance on those budget subs but there are a range of ones that atleast state they go down to 40 even if the testing was probably done at minus spl to get there
Again I echo @Sonofholhorse comments regarding the importance of getting a sub that reaches low into the 20-30.
2 Likes
Yeah, the gain will be WAY down in hotels for sure hahaha. I may not even use it in hotels, but rather I wanted to have it for instances where we need a portable setup elsewhere; I’ve had friends come to me for setups for wedding receptions and family gatherings before, so I figure why the hell not? Even if I do end up using it in a hotel, I’m usually done with the speakers ~19:00 anyway so I’m not gonna be keeping anyone up, for sure. Also using it nearfield with good positioning will also hopefully allow me to keep the bleed to a minimum, hopefully no worse than someone driving by with their sub banging outside. I’ll find out for sure a week from Monday haha.
I am also a fan of SVS, so great to hear that Micro and PB2000 serve you well. I run an SB3000 in my HT setup and a RSL Speedwoofer 10S in my PC/nearfield setup.
@Kenyon Yeah, if you can get deals on closeouts and used units, there’s always great deals to be had in subs! I’ve had instances before where I have forgone speakers for headphones because I couldn’t get that bottom octave filled without a sub, but to each his own. I am for sure a “build the setup around your desired sound before other needs” kinda guy and everyone has their own priorities.
2 Likes
Lack of space would limit me there. Otherwise I did see something like the Polk Audio HTS 10 being praised.
And I also dont want to stray too far away from my current M10 Plus (5 inch mid-woofer) so the comparison will be more “fair” later. Im ok with the performance I get on it after all, just that I doubt a 2.0 (OS-10 or Oasis 140) setup can compete with having a separate woofer even if it aint that much bigger.
2 Likes
I guess the question now is, if both the aux out and the speaker out are both connected at the same time, will the high pass filter be activated on both?
2 Likes
That’s what his wording would seem to imply (and was my fear), but I think it may be a translation error somehow. Why would an amplifier advertise an output for a sub if the highpass affected both outputs at the same time and DIDN’T have some kind of toggle if you were using it for either a sub or active monitors from the same output?
It could be by design though, that they just don’t worry about full-range signal going to everything. I dunno, it’s weird all-around.
2 Likes
I will ask about it…and for the manual.
1 Like
Yeah, the manual should have the definitive answer, I’d think. I will say that worst-case, you could just run the speakers full-range (high-pass off) and the sub with the low-pass dialed to blend; as long as you don’t hammer the speakers with volume it shouldn’t cause any real issues, it’s just be less thab ideal.
1 Like
WIth that setup though, that is another pro for just getting the active Swan OS-10 instead (cheaper) and skip the A5 amp entirely.
Like that.
1 Like
Well, I’d say that depends on whether you are getting the amp JUST for those passives, or if you want to have it around as an option for other passive speakers down the line as well. If it’s just for these passives and in a small space then I see no reason not to skip the amp and passives entirely. That said, unless you’re auditioning them against the M10+ or think that you’ll use them in a different setup later then I think other active speakers in that price/size range would be redundant in your case (especially if you are size-limited on the sub and speakers). It’s your call though!
1 Like
Haha im trying to be one and done with speakers after this. Like when i used the og M10 for the last decade lol. I do admit that the oasis 140 looks better in ever way and passive speaker + separate amp is definitely a more future proof method (both in terms of repairability and upgradeability).
1 Like
One and done, I’d stay active unless you can’t get what you want with them (low-end extension, output, etc).
2 Likes
but the oasis-140 (at least according to zeos and a random amazon review) is apparently a lot better than the active os-10 version -.-
The most interesting setup to me and for my A/B testing. Would be if the A5 high pass ONLY works on the speaker out (like it should…) and NOT the sub.
That way I have a few different setups I can compare.
1:
M10 Plus vs OASIS-140
2:
M10 Plus vs OASIS-140 + SUB
3:
M10 Plus vs OASIS-140 + high pass filter + SUB
1 Like
Same as with the MB42x (versus the PB42x) and a lot of other speakers that offer both an active and passive config. The active amplification tends to be convenience more than anything (especially when they aren’t utilizing DSP and other filters to get the most out of the internal amp AND the drivers).
If the A5 high pass does indeed work for just the speaker outs, then I would eliminate option #2 there altogether since having the speakers play ONLY the high-passed signal and the sub properly blended will virtually ALWAYS sound better than speakers playing full range (and thus outside of their nominal range) and the sub overlapping that. It’s all academic until you get confirmation (either from the manual, the reps or IRL) but that’s the only reason I see to even HAVE that high-pass output option on the amp itself. I’m kind of excited to see what you find out!
1 Like
Yeah makes sense that the passive version should be better since they dont have that amp board inside it taking up more room which may or may not be detrimental for the acoustics inside.
Its actually pretty interesting since I have read on it and it looks like there are some that prefer not using a high pass filter for the main.
In theory though, I would say it makes more sense for it to sound better WITH high pass filter, since now it doesnt have to output the sub bass (which likely sucks anyway on that 4 inch woofer in the swans) and it should make for a better mid/treble performance. Kinda like how iems have crossovers with multi driver setup.
My guess would be that for the people preferring to NOT have a high pass filter, maybe they picked the wrong setting and it ends up having a bigger dip than expected?
1 Like