Connecting subwoofer

[Guest then]

To Rich or anyone out there,

I purchased one of your modified M 1.0t from you two years ago....I have loved it!!!  It is the heart of a nicely revamped semi-audiophile system I have really enjoyed.

 

One question, how would I go about hooking a subwoofer into the system?

 

I have the 1.0t as the stereo power amplifier, the C-1 sonic holographic pre-amp, a Vincent hybrid CD player, a 3Bx-DS dynamic range processor, a Stello DAC and Martin-Logan ESL speakers.....I'm just missing a little bass response.

 

My second question is:  If I can hook a subwoofer into the system, which one would you recommend?

 

then

[RichP714 3,169]

I have no experience with integrating a subwoofer with electrostats; this is probably a question for jazzman53........ ?

[zumbini 6,153]

Well then, check out the Sunfire True Sub MKII or another of it's powered siblings.

The small size, built-in 2700w plate amp and adjustable crossover make integration easy.

Just plug it in and run an RCA cable from one of your preamp outputs to the subs inputs.

You should be able to pick one up used for around $600.

[RichP714 3,169]

I'd ask around at the Martin-Logan electrostat site; I've heard that Sunfire subs don't integrate well with electrostats

[jazzman53 1,280]

I've always found it difficult to integrate subs, even with conventional speakers, let alone dipole electrostats.  

 

I have hybrid flat-panel electrostats, and I originally used a single sealed-box sub, which had a Dayton 12 woofer and a Dayton plate amp with built in adjustable crossover and gain control.  I fed it from the aux ouputs on my C1 preamp.  The sub would bust up dry wall with bass but I never was able to get a seamless blend such that the sub wasn't stepping on the mains if I cranked it up loud enough to get the deep bass that I wanted.  Even so, at low to moderate volume it worked OK to fill in the bottom octave.  

 

I'm now using a pair of homebuilt "Ripole" subs (Ridtahler dipoles) with my system setup for 3-way operation using a DSP crossover.  The subs come in below 40 Hz with a 24db/oct slope and are powered by a TFM-25.  The Ripoles just seem to blend better with the ESL's.  Even so, I'm always hesitant to recommend them to others because many people don't like dipole bass-- probably because they are expecting chest-crushing power, but dipoles just can't pressurize a room like a conventional mono-pole sub, and they also can't take a lot of power before the cones bottom out at max excursion. 

 

For dipoles, Ripoles are very extremely compact and they play clean and don't excite room modes to the extend that monopoles do.  They can also play very, very low (the compression chamber allows them to play as low as 10Hz below the woofers' free-air resonance!) ... just not real loud.  

 

All that said, it's still a challenge to get a seamless blend that works on every recording-- I think some recordings just have a poor or booming mix on the bass.   

 

I doubt I've helped much but I can at least wish you good luck with it.  I think Rich's advice to ask around on the ML forum is a good idea.