Dual subs with Maggies

organ

Hello everyone,

A few months ago I sold my Polk PSW650. No matter what I did, I just couldn't get it to work with my MG-12QR. I hated the fact that I could always tell where the subwoofer location was even from the sweet spot. And there was just one location where it gave a nice even respond. There was so much dips and peaks as you move around the room. Finally gave up on that sub after owning it since it first came out.

Now, my Maggies are almost 5' away from the front wall so bass is compromised but I love the mids and giant soundstage at their current location. This kept my listening to jazz, acoustic and many other soft music.
I'm not saying the Maggies have no bass. It's there, very fast and clean just not as visceral as the best I've heard.

Up until recently I've been using a pair of Mirage M-3si for serious rocking. These things can make it sound like there is a live band in your room with incredible bass and impact.

I was not satisfied using the Maggies on heavier rock or metal. It sounds thin and is missing that impact and aggression. So my only issue with my Maggies is the impact and sheer force in music that they can't do on their own and I wasn't able to make my PSW650 work with them. Nobody said you can have everything in audio:).

So the other day I was looking at my Polk RT1000p and came up with an idea. I thought about running them as subwoofers only.
I disconnected the Mirage and put the Maggies on the same spot. Then, I placed one RT1000p tower speaker in the front left corner of the room and the othe RT1000p in the right front corner. The RT1000's are excellent speakers on their own with built in powered subs (6.5") in a band pass design. Cut off is 80Hz between their built in subs and mids/highs. I thought this should work out well. I fired everything up and fiddled with the subwoofers settings. After a few minutes of that the bass started to sound 'right' and it was time for a listen.

I am so impressed by the sound. The blend is seamless and the bass is so evenly distributed throughout the room. It made the soundstage much deeper and a lot bigger. I have serious bass and impact now, it's unreal. It doesn't sound muddy at all. I think a lot of this is the help from corner loading the subs.

Of course, even my easy listening stuff sounds much better now.

I"m very happy now that I can listen to my metal collection and feel like I'm at my favorite venue watching a live show. Maggies absolutely rock with stereo subs!

Have anybody else tried this on their Maggies?

Ricardo

I'll get back to you in a couple of weeks when I finish the mods to my MMG's; I have a pair of micro pro 3000's ready. Can't wait!!

Ern Dog

That's a pretty creative solution. Glad it is working out. I hope to try some dual sub action in my rig at some point.....

rubin

It's always nice when things work out.I have floor standers 5 feet out in front and subs in each of the 2 front corners also,with satisfying full sound.

hoosier21

dual subs are VERY COOL

halo71

I'd just like to score a set of those Mirage's that you have!

gidrah

I've always been on the look out for another sub to match my other. I'm about to give up and got with IB subs.

Hawkeye

I've always found it difficult to blend one sub in a 2 channel rig. It was either too much or too little bass. Once I went to a pair of stereo subs, it was just as difficult to blend them, but the result was much more pleasing after the effort.

I think the key is finding a sub that compliments your main speakers. If your mains are slow, you need a slow sub. If they are fast, like a Maggie, you need a fast sub hence the 6.5 woofers being able to keep up with the panel.

Gordon

organ

Ricardo,
That sounds kick ****. I bet you'll get some serious bass. Just make sure the distance between the speakers and subs are the same. So if your left sub is 5ft away from the left speakers, try to do the same with the right sub. When I was off by almost a foot, it didn't sound as even from the sweet spot. Try crossing the sub at 80hz if your MMG's are far from the front wall. Hope you have a blast:cool:

Ernie,
Oh man, I've always thought you already are running dual subs on your Tyler Acoustics rig. Did you upgrade or something? You should definitely give it a shot if you've had problems with using a single sub.

Rubin,
Cool stuff. Looks like we have a similar set up.

Hoosier,
LOL. yeah man, it's super cool. Up until a few weeks ago, I always thought subs are a no no for 2ch but running dual subs made ma change my mind lol.

Halo71,
The Mirage are great. IMO, they can compete with some of the best I've heard. Bipole gives a very unique sound. Very different than the dipole the Maggies provide.
You should check Craigslist. I've seen many of the M series being sold there this past year in my city.
The only problem is the caps and surrounds due to their age. I got the x-over rebuilt by my dealer and the surrounds on the mids will probably give up in a few years.
The good thing about buying them used these days is the fact that most people hate big speakers and usually sell the Mirage at a good price. I got mine for $600 cdn, so that's like $450USD.

Gidrah,
What are IB subs? Sorry, I took too much time away from audio and feel stupid now lol.

Gordon,
Yeah, I agree. It was tricky for me to get the volume setting right and I had to play around with the phase by reversing speaker wires. But after some tweaking it turned out great.

Now the thing that I find interesting is that the subwoofers on my towers are omni directional. The bandpass design shoots onto a Power Port which are used as the base of each speaker. So that kinda goes along with Maggies when it comes to dispersion. So I guess they kind of compliment eachother. But the weakness in the Polk subs can still be heard. They don't sound as 'tight' as other subs I"ve heard but still very good and musical. Extension is probably strong down to 30Hz but I don't feel the need for more yet.

So yeah, after everything's done, I don't feel the need to get up and fiddle with the controls anymore like when I was only running a single sub.