Dual Subs vs Single w/ dual opposing woofers

snake1

Another wonder question. I know the stuff about how having dual subs is a good route to go for several good reasons, but would you get a similar result with a single enclosure sub with dual woofers (ex. psw1200 or psw1000??) Any ideas??

Conradicles

Not a similar result.

It is not a bad idea if it is designed properly.

rpf65

If you buy a sub that uses 2 subs in one enclosure by any manufacturer, you will be buying whatever the specs say. If you use 2 different subs, each with one sub in the enclosure, and stack them on top of one another, you will get somewhere around a 6 dB gain from this configuration. Not a hard and fast rule, but usually pretty close.

Even though there are 2 woofers in a single enclosure, it is still one sub.

chris23120

In my opinion Dual Opposing Drivers do a much better job filling my room than most of the single subs I have put in the same location. I also like that they don't move around. My experience is with the PSW1000 and PSW650 (1200's are quite rare but I plan to get one to mess around with at some point) When you have a sub firing off in 3 directions, especially if its corner loaded it can definitely make it an easier job to even out the bass response in a given room with only 1 sub. Having said that, if moneys not an object I would always go for multiple subs. I currently run 3 at most times. two Micropro4000 in my entertainment center firing at the listening position, and 1 modified PSW1000 down the right wall about 6' from my towers. That gives me a nice even sound across the room, with tremendous headroom without working anything very hard. My room is large, with a vaulted ceiling to my game room, open to the kitchen/breakfast nook, and with a 8' doorway to a two story foyer. In my upstairs tv room 16x12x8 I can get away with 1 correctly placed PSW.

snake1

chris23120 wrote: »

In my opinion Dual Opposing Drivers do a much better job filling my room than most of the single subs I have put in the same location. I also like that they don't move around. My experience is with the PSW1000 and PSW650 (1200's are quite rare but I plan to get one to mess around with at some point) When you have a sub firing off in 3 directions, especially if its corner loaded it can definitely make it an easier job to even out the bass response in a given room with only 1 sub. Having said that, if moneys not an object I would always go for multiple subs. I currently run 3 at most times. two Micropro4000 in my entertainment center firing at the listening position, and 1 modified PSW1000 down the right wall about 6' from my towers. That gives me a nice even sound across the room, with tremendous headroom without working anything very hard. My room is large, with a vaulted ceiling to my game room, open to the kitchen/breakfast nook, and with a 8' doorway to a two story foyer. In my upstairs tv room 16x12x8 I can get away with 1 correctly placed PSW.

Do auto calibration programs like audyssey work better with the dual sub setup as well? I've read that my 809 would better calibrate subs if there were more than one.

snake1

I meant with the dual sub single enclosure.

snake1

Sigh, sorry guys I can't type clearly today for some reason.

Chris23120,
What I meant to ask was does the dual woofer sub autocalibrate better with audyssey than a single woofer sub? I know a dual sub setup is supposed to calibrate better. Have you tested this yet?

ps I wish there was a way to delete my posts that make no sense!

zingo

Dual subs can help with room peaks and nulls, a single sub with multiple woofers can provide higher output and lower distortion than a single woofer.

chris23120

I'm not really sure, I would have to test. Some subs, like the micropros have there own calibration so after you run that the audyssey doesn't seem to do as much.... I do think the latest auto calibrators are great. When I upgraded from my 10year old Onkyo to my current one it was a huge upgrade in my sound quality... I wouldn't worry about deleting posts, helps you get your post count up... I need to work on mine so I can start trolling the classified ad section....

snake1 wrote: »

Sigh, sorry guys I can't type clearly today for some reason.

Chris23120,
What I meant to ask was does the dual woofer sub autocalibrate better with audyssey than a single woofer sub? I know a dual sub setup is supposed to calibrate better. Have you tested this yet?

ps I wish there was a way to delete my posts that make no sense!

Geoff4rfc

snake1 wrote: »

Sigh, sorry guys I can't type clearly today for some reason.

Chris23120,
What I meant to ask was does the dual woofer sub autocalibrate better with audyssey than a single woofer sub? I know a dual sub setup is supposed to calibrate better. Have you tested this yet?

The two single driver subs I had before my current ones were crap subs to begin with. My 807 set them up the best they could be but I was always cranking them up trying to get more out of them than what they were capable of, so they never sounded very good.

I upgraded to the Epik Empire, dual driver enclosed sub. The 807 set it up great. I got a second one and the 807 set them both up great.

Regardless of a single driver or dual driver sub, like rfp65 said, it's still just one sub. And as others have mentioned, the second sub smooths out the bass response in your room.