[Ascari]

I have the Swans D1080mkii 08's...and I absolutely love them.  Had them for almost a year now and am still in awe by how good they sound with so many different types of music.  I've been reading around, and the general consensus on most Swans speakers is that they have tight, powerful bass.  Not bloated or boomy, but the right note.
 
I want to add a subwoofer to these speakers because although they do an amazing job, certain things I desire more bass with (e.g. Dubstep is not even worth playing {yes, I know Dubstep isn't really "audiophile" hehe}, but trance music, and certain cello songs I have listened to could use a bass boost, as well as movies and video games).
 
BUT:  I don't want to just get a subwoofer that is going to make me hear the bass more, I want it to have similar quality to how the D1080's produce bass: tight and powerful (sorry if there are better terms to describe).
 
I read around and saw that somebody has these same speakers and a Polk PSW111 and they seemed pretty pleased, does anybody have any thoughts about this sub with regard to my goals?
 
Also, saw an newegg the Klipsch Reference RW 12d 12" Powered Subwoofer for $350 marked down from $999, was curious to what people thought of that.
 
Ultimately:
-For a smallish room, don't need to get too crazy --> approx 12'x12' room or so (the Klipsch mentioned above probably are overkill)
-Looking to spend around $250-$300 max (Polk PSW111 & PSW110 are on amazon for $150 right now...good deal?)
-Not looking for overwhelming boom/bloated, want more accurate and tight "punch"
 
Specs of the amplifier in the D1080mkii 08's:

Amplifier System
Power rating :	30W for single channel 60W for two channels
Crossover point :	1.7kHz
Bass Adjust :	±3dB (100Hz)
Treble Adjust :	±3dB (10KHz)
Separation :	>52dB
Signal-to-noise :	>75dB
Distortion :	THD<1% (8Ω 1kHz)
Input Sensitivity :	680mV
Input Impedance :	12k

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
I haven't the slightest idea what most of this means, but for those of you who do:
-How do I know if the sub I'm getting is right for this size amp considering it will be powering both speakers and the sub?
 
 
Thanks for any help!!!  Sorry if I overloaded with information I've been dwelling on this for a while now and can't come to many conclusions :/

 

[RingingEars]

Take a look at the HSU VTF-1. It's only a 10" but hits very hard.

 

[trog]

Ya i have heard nothing but good stuff from peeps on those Swans so gratz on your good experience/buy 

For active monitors the easiest way would be to pair it with an active subwoofer with RCA in/out and on the budget end have a look at the Dayton SUB-100?
http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=300-633
Actually acive subs have their own amps and when u go with a RCA in/out active sub + active monitors they will be connected in this way
 

1. 3.5mm to RCA from sound card/DAC to sub RCA in
2. Set crossover frequency on sub
3. RCA/RCA from RCA out on sub to RCA in of active monitor

 

[Ascari]

Thank you both for your response!  Unfortunately, the HSU VTF-1 is way out of my budget range.
 
@trog:
I'm a bit confused / concerned about the Dayton's ability to work with my speakers.  The speakers I have are active and have their own amplifier, and only accept RCA input, with no output.  The Dayton has only a low level output, and then slots to hook up wires for speakers of that type.
 
Will this setup work?  Why?  I don't know very much about hooking up a sub...I don't want to buy something i can't use :/  I just don't know what I can use.
 
Thanks for the help!
 
*Edit*
I guess to clarify, could you please explain the difference between low level out (RCA) and high level out (the wires...official name?) and when I can use them?

 

[trog]

Low level inputs/outputs refer to those RCA type in/out at the back of that Dayton Sub while high level inputs/outputs refer to the speaker out type (spring terminals in this case) and yes the RCA out of the sub goes out to the RCA in of your Swans Using low level output (RCA type) only transfers/passes the audio signal less the stripped low frequencies (as set by frequency crossover) and not power/wattage to your active Swans
 
You use high level input/output in this example:
 
amplifier with no pre out for subwoofer/LFE out, only speaker out so
amp speaker out to high level in of sub, set crossover frequency
sub high level out to passive bookshelf spring terminal/binding post/etc
 
Am no audio guru but hope my explaination was somewhat ok 

 

[Ascari]

Ok I think I understand, but for a recap:
(*) The low level (RCA) input coming from my 3.5mm -> RCA on the subwoofer is going to be receiving the full signal, and then filtering the signal based on the crossover setting I choose
(*) Then the low level output from the subwoofer will take that same full signal and send it via RCA unamplified to my active swans speakers (sending an amplified signal to active speakers would create distortion) ?
 
Would there be any benefit in using Y-splitters and running the signal simultaneously to the subwoofer and the swans at the same time?
*Edit* This would be bad.  My thought process was that there is a slight time delay on when the speakers receive the signal vs when the subwoofer receives the signal.  While this is true, it is on the order of microseconds.  The negative aspect of splitting the signal is that you will get distortion because of the way that a wave is sent through a terminating cable.  By splitting the signal, essentially you increase/decrease the (it was either frequency or wavelength, forget which) and that creates (something...) that then creates distortion on both ends.  No bueno!  This was explained to me, sorry for the patchy explanation...
 
BUT:  I'm buying the Dayton!  Thanks for the help everybody
 
Thank you so much for your replies, I really appreciate it!

 

[JRG1990]

If you want a tight punchy sub, you want 8-10" sealed sub with a stiff cone not a paper woofer ported design.

 

[shrimants]

What I used for figuring out what sub to get was the chart on this page:

http://www.diysubwoofers.org/sbc/sbc1.htm

What it describes is that depending on your type of speaker (2 way, 3 way, mid-treble-mid (MTM)) you will need a subwoofer capable of displacing a proportional amount of air when it generates bass tones. The 5 inch woofer on your swan's is more than enough to generate bass, but for every octave lower you go you need to move like 4 times the amount of air (to hit the same note 1 octave lower) and this is why the subwoofer is necessary in the first place.

I have Audioengine A5's and due to my price constraints and equipment availability, I went a very simple route. I already have a built Gamma2 F++, which can output coax, optical, analog 3.5mm and analog RCA at the same time (no need to select outputs). I also have logitech z5500's available as those were my first speakers. I simply hooked up the z5500's subwoofer (10 inch, ~250 watt, 600 watt peak) and tested it out with no z5500 speakers attached to the back of the sub. This setup is nice because I can control the amount of bass accompanying my music based on what I'm listening to, or just turn the sub off at night to keep the whole house from rattling.

Obviously the z5500 is meant for loudness, not sound quality, but what I found out is that for a tweeter/woofer 2 way speaker such as the A5 and the d1080 you will need a 10 inch subwoofer capable of at least 150 watt output for a wide range of bass capability.

On a different note, you could probably get the audioengine SR8, which was designed to be used with the A5's without overpowering them. You wong get as much punch or boom but you will get a huge range, plus it has way better controls than the z5500's do, like LFE and volume. It accepts a simple unamped analog source as input and uses its own internal amp to do the rest.

hope that helps!

 

[Ascari]

In recap in case anybody is reading this for datamining purposes, the Dayton 10" 125 watt sub works perfectly!
 
http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=300-633
 
I've had the setup for a while now (a little over a year and a half of active listening), and for the size of my room it is exactly what I needed.
 
I would like to thank trog for the excellent explanation of what type of outputs I needed and how to use them, as well as shrimants explanation of what specifications the sub should have.  It's worth noting that shrimants suggests a 150 watt sub; if I were turning the volume up on the speakers near full capacity then this would definitely be necessary.  But as it is, my room is small - 12' x 12' (4m x 4m) - and I never get it up that loud.
 
An added bonus of the Dayton sub (this could be the same for any type of sub with these inputs / outputs, not sure) is that I do not need to have the sub on for the signal to get to the bookshelf speakers.  I have the audio in go 3.5mm -- RCA --> input on sub, then RCA out on sub --> RCA in on bookshelf.  If I don't want the sub (a.k.a. my roommates are trying to sleep), I don't need to leave it on for the signal to pass to the bookshelf speakers

 

[ERR11CC]

Seeing as how the mentioned sub-woofer is now discontinued, what other sub-woofer which has RCA outputs can I use?