[boots n cats]

I've had a pair of A5+ speakers for years and in those years I had been 100% satisfied with the sound I was getting from them. But things have changed and maybe my heart desires more sub bass now. I'd like to spend as little money as possible on a subwoofer. However, I know that if I get a crummy subwoofer it could just muddy up the crisp sound that I've loved about these speakers. So my question is: What is the cheapest subwoofer I could get that would fill in the bottom end without making my system sound worse?

This is for listening to music by the way.

 

[cel4145]

What is the cheapest subwoofer I could get that would fill in the bottom end without making my system sound worse?

I do not know since that's a personal evaluation. I tend to spend as much on my subwoofer as I do my speakers to get great SQ. But you might be happier with less.

Is this for a computer desktop setup or in a bedroom? Or do you use your Audioengines in a living room or other larger room?

If for a desktop setup, the Outlaw Audio M8 is a good 8" ported sub: http://www.outlawaudio.com/products/m8.html

 

[ProtegeManiac]

  I've had a pair of A5+ speakers for years and in those years I had been 100% satisfied with the sound I was getting from them. But things have changed and maybe my heart desires more sub bass now. I'd like to spend as little money as possible on a subwoofer. However, I know that if I get a crummy subwoofer it could just muddy up the crisp sound that I've loved about these speakers. So my question is: What is the cheapest subwoofer I could get that would fill in the bottom end without making my system sound worse?

This is for listening to music by the way.

 

Driver size is crucial in terms of deep bass response, and in some cases manufacturers push the box design past the driver's distortion limits with deep bass by boosting that response, or they boost the upper bass. Either way, it's not linear. As much as you can get a large sub to get more deep bass, sometimes positioning can be problematic. Most people have no issues having a large sub under the desk but there are some cases where you might end up hearing and feeling the bass coming from below, disjointed from the upper range of the same notes they're supposed to reinforce, so in some cases an 8in sub in a properly tuned box that can more easily be mounted at the same level as the speakers will have enough deep bass response at nearfield distance anyway without affecting the balance.

 

Look up the physical dimensions and see if this one can fit on your desk, that way you can experiment whether it's find to have it under your desk or in case it doesn't, you can put it above and see if the bass response is acceptable to you.

http://www.parts-express.com/dayton-audio-sub-800-8-80-watt-powered-subwoofer--300-627

 

[boots n cats]

Is this for a computer desktop setup or in a bedroom? Or do you use your Audioengines in a living room or other larger room?

If for a desktop setup, the Outlaw Audio M8 is a good 8" ported sub: http://www.outlawaudio.com/products/m8.html

This is for a computer dekstop setup in my bedroom. I noticed on the specs for the M8 that it has a lowpass that can go from 40 to 220 hz. Is that the same thing as the crossover frequency? Also, let's say I get this sub. Because the frequency response of the A5+ speakers are 50hz-22khz +/- 1.5 db, would I set the lowpass of the sub to 50 hz?

 

[cel4145]

Just to clarify, crossover is so you can take an incoming signal, split it, and send one signal with a low pass filter and one signal with a high pass filter to different drivers or speakers. But yes. You would probably set the low pass filter to around 50hz or so, whatever sounds best to you though. Could be your room and placement might excite the bass from your speaker at 50hz or so, so you would need it lower. Could be the opposite.

 

[boots n cats]

On another website someone with A5+ speakers posted a thread asking for recommendations for a sub and someone recommended the STF-2.
http://hsuresearch.com/products/stf-2.html

It's not that much more expensive than the M8 (at least when it's on sale). Do you or anyone have any thoughts on this sub compared to the M8?

 

[cel4145]

On another website someone with A5+ speakers posted a thread asking for recommendations for a sub and someone recommended the STF-2.
http://hsuresearch.com/products/stf-2.html


It's not that much more expensive than the M8 (at least when it's on sale). Do you or anyone have any thoughts on this sub compared to the M8?

It would be a step up.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

  This is for a computer dekstop setup in my bedroom. I noticed on the specs for the M8 that it has a lowpass that can go from 40 to 220 hz. Is that the same thing as the crossover frequency? Also, let's say I get this sub. Because the frequency response of the A5+ speakers are 50hz-22khz +/- 1.5 db, would I set the lowpass of the sub to 50 hz?

 

A lowpass is one kind of crossover, meaning everything above that is attenuated. A highpass does the opposite. If you're setting the lowpass with those speakers, you should try 50hz and below. Crossovers just attenuate, they don't precisely slice at that frequency. You can use lower frequencies because the A5+ is still making sound below 50hz, it's just that it has dropped sharply below that.

 

This is a lot easier to understand if you're looking at a good car audio processor that can set the crossovers for 3-way if not 4-way systems, as they usually show a visual representation of what the signal looks like as far as its DSP is concerned, so you can see how the roll-offs overlap and where the gain is. Of course, an actual measurement of the system's output will differ from that, in the sense that the goal of the DSP settings is to have the flattest response  for the system.

 

[boots n cats]

The A5+ has RCA jacks in the back for output to a sub. It looks like the M8 can take RCA while the STF-2 doesn't. I don't know what the other ways of hooking up a subwoofer are. If I got the STF-2, how would I hook it up?

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Actually it has one RCA input, literally - it's designed for LFE output from a receiver, and along with its speaker input and output, it's basically designed with passive speaker systems in mind.
 

 
 
You could probably use just one of the outputs on the A5+; AFAIK very low frequency sounds are recorded in mono in most cases. I'm not sure if it would be advisable to use a 2RCA to 1RCA cable splitter backwards.

 

[PurpleAngel]

  I've had a pair of A5+ speakers for years and in those years I had been 100% satisfied with the sound I was getting from them. But things have changed and maybe my heart desires more sub bass now. I'd like to spend as little money as possible on a subwoofer. However, I know that if I get a crummy subwoofer it could just muddy up the crisp sound that I've loved about these speakers. So my question is: What is the cheapest subwoofer I could get that would fill in the bottom end without making my system sound worse?
This is for listening to music by the way.

 
You might consider selling off the Audio Engine A5+ and getting Monoprice's 5" studio monitors ($171) and the Monoprice 10" sub-woofer ($220)
They will easily work together.
http://www.monoprice.com/Category?c_id=115&cp_id=11504&cs_id=1150401
 
The A5+ looks like it comes with ether one or two amplifiers built into the "main " monitor, which also powers the second monitor.
Where as each Monoprice 5" studio monitor comes with two amplifiers built into each monitor

 

[boots n cats]

Thanks everybody for the suggestions and info. I think I will go with the M8.

 

[cel4145]

Outlaw is having some kind of secret sale that you have to get registered somehow to get access. Might be worth looking into. AVS forum has an Outlaw owners thread.