2 ch purists: do you use a sub with your B&W?

[tboooe]

Hi, I am setting up a 2 ch only setup which currently consists of the 805S and rotel 1080 amp. I am seriously considering adding a REL sub to help round out the sound. I was just curious if 2 channel purists use subs? I would be interested to see what people's setup is and what sub they use (or not use).

thank you,

[bigburner]

tboooe, I'm a 2 channel music guy and I use the ASW750 in conjunction with a pair of CDM9NT fronts which are driven by a Rotel RC-1070 / RB-1080 combo. The CDM9NT has plenty of bass at low to moderate levels of volume but gets a little stressed at the higher volumes at which I occasionally listen. The CDM9NT has 1x 150mm (6in) woven Kevlar midrange driver and 2x 165mm (6.5in) paper/Kevlar cone bass drivers so you'd think that it would have plenty of bass capability, but obviously not for my demanding tastes.

I would struggle with a pair of 805S speakers alone, so I think that adding a sub is a great idea, even for listening at moderate volume. A good friend of mine has a REL Storm 5 and it sounds very nice. My perception is that it has less grunt than my ASW750 but is a little more detailed, e.g. you can hear individual bass guitar notes a little better. I don't know the 805S but from everything I've read in this forum my friend's Storm 5 would go very nicely with them.

[scottielee]

in my setup, a velodyne dd-12 integrates with signature 805's quite nicely. i am not a basshead, but the dd-12 has shown me how wonderful and addictive true full range sounds. i say go for it.

[ZX10 Guy]

I currently use a HGS-12II with my N804s. I thought I didn't need a sub as I thought the 804s cranked out enough bass. My local B&W dealer talked me into buying a sub to try with the 804s. I was stunned by how much I was missing. I've gone through a couple of iterations with how the HGS is integrated with the 804s. First go round, I had two Carver TFM-25 amps pseudo biamping the 804s. The channels of the amp used to drive the woofers of the 804 were receiving a high pass filtered signal out of the high pass filter of the HGS. I felt the setup was actually pretty good with seamless integration of the speakers and sub. When I got my Bryston 6B-ST, I found that it was better to not run the 804s with the high pass filter output of the HGS. Instead, what I felt sounded better was to run the 804s full range and try to gradually blend in the HGS. So far I'm satisfied with the setup. I may tweak with the settings a bit more. I'm not a bass fiend at all. I just like the added extension the HGS 12 gives the 804s.

With that said, I do have a HGS-15II that I use as my LFE only. I may look into getting a DD-12 to replace the HGS-12II....we'll see.

[Mark_C.]

I'm using a Rel Storm III with my N804s. Great combo. The Rel blends with the 804s extremely well.

[K.K.]

I use a pair of REL Q200Es with my pair of 803S, integrated using BFD. The better lows do help.

[Jonathannk]

Nautilus 802Ns, no sub. Don't need one, and would feel like a sub would distort my music.

[xk8boy]

Yes, if you want to hit those low -floor shaking- rumbers, even with big floor standers. I leave mine on auto, so when the needs call for it, it's there.

[RebelMan]

It's a bit of a hassle with B&W subwoofers if you are going to do it correctly. So for now I don't. My 803S's do a respectable job without one (tonal controls defeated of course), but you need to crank it up a few extra db to get there.

[Stevebez]

DD12 with 803D's ... bliss. Used both for music and HT. Newest soundtracks are produced with so much info in the lower end you need a sub to get the full picture in my view. Also gives amp for mains etc more headroom.

EQ is fabulous, the Auto feature a little less so ... you can really refine the freq response to a very precise degree manually - but takes time.

I often thought a sub would distort my music ... it aint true ... the EQ sound spectrum proves just how much of the full picture you miss with floor standers on their own.

803D takes care of top, mid and high-bottom with with Velo covering low-bottom end ... dunno if it comes any better. YMMV.

Rgds Steve.