Is it possible to run a single 2W/q sub “remote”, or, without being inline with the speakers?

[Ross B.]

Analyzing my room acoustics, I want to place a single sub opposite my main loudspeakers. Normally I would simply run a long interconnect from the preamp, but the Vandersteen subs are designed to be placed inline with the speaker level signal.

Can I run a single speaker level wire from my amp to the sub as a “third” connection? I don’t want my main speaker cables running back and forth across the room!

[Ross B.]

Update: I should have read the manual, that answered my question! So, new question:

Does the M5-HP replace the WX-2 when the 2W/q are used with Quatro’s?

[stratocaster]

5 minutes ago, Ross B. said:

Update: I should have read the manual, that answered my question! So, new question:

Does the M5-HP replace the WX-2 when the 2W/q are used with Quatro’s?

I would think so assuming you are connecting it to the same amp and are running an extra set of wires connected to the speaker outputs.

Edited July 31, 2023 by stratocaster

[Ross B.]

15 minutes ago, stratocaster said:

I would think so assuming you are connecting it to the same amp and are running an extra set of wires connected to the speaker outputs.

That's what I thought looking at the diagram on the back of the 2W/q. It shows the WX-2's where I have my M5-HP's.

[stratocaster]

10 minutes ago, Ross B. said:

That's what I thought looking at the diagram on the back of the 2W/q. It shows the WX-2's where I have my M5-HP's.

You are good since you don't need both. It's more of a preamp-amp connection that the M5/WX2 comes into the picture. When I first hooked up my Quatro's, I had both my subs connected as well and had to switch them off due to excessive bass. They are still connected, just not powered up.

[stratocaster]

@Ross B. just out of curiosity, how big is your room. I haven't even tuned the Quatro's yet and am getting more bass from the two speakers than what I was able to squeeze out of the dual subs. With my experience with 2WQs and various homes/rooms that I have shuffled them in, you might not get the desired effect that you are looking for. If anything at all, the blending might be more seamless with the Sub3 with it's 11 band eq than the 2WQ. In any case, eager to hear how things sound when you are done with this experiment.

[Ross B.]

37 minutes ago, stratocaster said:

@Ross B. just out of curiosity, how big is your room. I haven't even tuned the Quatro's yet and am getting more bass from the two speakers than what I was able to squeeze out of the dual subs. With my experience with 2WQs and various homes/rooms that I have shuffled them in, you might not get the desired effect that you are looking for. If anything at all, the blending might be more seamless with the Sub3 with it's 11 band eq than the 2WQ. In any case, eager to hear how things sound when you are done with this experiment.

My room is ~14' deep by 11' wide. The length is 1/2 wavelength for 40 Hz, which means I have a standing wave in my room. Placing a sub on the opposite wall, tuned for 40 Hz seems to be the most effective solution, even considering the adjustable bass controls on the Quatro's (the 30-50 Hz range is 5-10 dB higher than everything else, no matter what I do with the controls).

[Richard Vandersteen]

One disadvantage of making a speaker which requires measurements for setup is we will obsess over them.  In room response with a 5 dB bump centered at 40 Hz is not bad when you consider many speakers won't do that in an anechoic chamber.  Do the best you can and always leave a bump where there was a bump and a dip where there was a dip when first plotting the room response without any correction (column 1).  I promise you it will sound better with correction and sound better than it measures.  Our brains are very sophisticated and will not believe it is in a room with problems that have been corrected by any method to 0 dB.  If it could talk it would ask if you were also trying to sell a bridge in Brooklyn.  RV

[Holmz]

3 hours ago, Ross B. said:

My room is ~14' deep by 11' wide. The length is 1/2 wavelength for 40 Hz, which means I have a standing wave in my room. Placing a sub on the opposite wall, tuned for 40 Hz seems to be the most effective solution, even considering the adjustable bass controls on the Quatro's (the 30-50 Hz range is 5-10 dB higher than everything else, no matter what I do with the controls).

If tuned tympanic absorbers were not so fiddly, then that might be the most optimal.

I doubt that there are impulses at 40 Hz, but I suppose some drums can look like it.
If it was more of an impulse, then an absorber should lessen the overhang.

[Ross B.]

9 hours ago, Richard Vandersteen said:

One disadvantage of making a speaker which requires measurements for setup is we will obsess over them.  In room response with a 5 dB bump centered at 40 Hz is not bad when you consider many speakers won't do that in an anechoic chamber.  Do the best you can and always leave a bump where there was a bump and a dip where there was a dip when first plotting the room response without any correction (column 1).  I promise you it will sound better with correction and sound better than it measures.  Our brains are very sophisticated and will not believe it is in a room with problems that have been corrected by any method to 0 dB.  If it could talk it would ask if you were also trying to sell a bridge in Brooklyn.  RV

"One disadvantage of making a speaker which requires measurements for setup is we will obsess over them."

Haha, yes! I like the way the manual describes procedures. It avoids giving people things to obsess over.

"In room response with a 5 dB bump centered at 40 Hz is not bad when you consider many speakers won't do that in an anechoic chamber."

Many, perhaps, cannot... but YOURS can! I've experienced this issue with both the 3A and my new Quatros.

My plan is to leave the final tuning loose, as you say, and as is described in the manual. I have experienced an artificially-flat in-room response, and hated it (and it wasn't even done with DSP!)
 

6 hours ago, Holmz said:

If tuned tympanic absorbers were not so fiddly, then that might be the most optimal.

I doubt that there are impulses at 40 Hz, but I suppose some drums can look like it.
If it was more of an impulse, then an absorber should lessen the overhang.

I experience the 40 Hz issue on some modern songs with synthetic bass tones. A passage will be going along perfectly fine, and then the bass will dip into the "problem region" and everything will vibrate for a second or two, then they move up a bit and things clear up.

I have five 2" absorbers in my space, all 4'x8' rectangular panels. Two at first reflections, one centered behind the listener, and two on the front wall, all the way in the corners (but still flat on the wall, tests showed this was superior). I was researching 6" corner traps, but the shipping was going to be more than the product 😕

Currently having loads of fun playing with the 11-band EQ's 😄

[GdnrBob]

15 hours ago, Ross B. said:

I experience the 40 Hz issue on some modern songs with synthetic bass tones. A passage will be going along perfectly fine, and then the bass will dip into the "problem region" and everything will vibrate for a second or two, then they move up a bit and things clear up.

Yes, I have this issue, too, with modern 'Pop' music. It really grinds my gears.-Almost as much as the '60's pop music putting a right track with vocals and a left track with instruments and calling it 'stereo.'

B

[stratocaster]

@GdnrBob @Ross B. that brief second that you talk about where things hanging on the wall look like they are going to fall is exactly the moment that brings a great relief to know that the 2wqs are in fact working 😅