Tower with good bass extension vs. stand-mount with a sub?

[highender]

I would think that cabinet vibration induced by the woofer(s) in a full range floorstander has a negative impact on midrange and treble performance when all sharing the same enclosure. Isolating/decoupling the low end by the use of a seperate subwoofer cabinet eliminates/reduces this issue and therefore might be an advantage for the stand-mount with a subwoofer? Not sure though, I could not find much info regarding this topic.

 

[terryforsythe]

I would think that cabinet vibration induced by the woofer(s) in a full range floorstander has a negative impact on midrange and treble performance when all sharing the same enclosure. Isolating/decoupling the low end by the use of a seperate subwoofer cabinet eliminates/reduces this issue and therefore might be an advantage for the stand-mount with a subwoofer? Not sure though, I could not find much info regarding this topic.

It can have a negative impact. It comes down to how well the cabinet is designed. Measures can be taken to mitigate cabinet vibrations, and to isolate the midrange and tweeter from vibrations. Most budget speakers, however, probably don't do much in that regard. KEF seems to do a pretty good job of it, though, with the LS60 Wireless speakers.

My Elac bookshelf speakers have cabinet vibration issues. In fact, in stock form they vibrated more than my LS60s, which are floorstanders. I have taken some measures to mitigate the Elac vibration issues, though, and this definitely has improved their sound.

There are a couple of speaker companies I have heard of, e.g., Acora, that make their cabinets out of granite. I have not heard them, but I suspect that they perform well at keeping cabinet vibrations at bay.

 

[Head_Unit]

benefits to adding a sub:...increases apparent amplifier power by removing low impedance regions of the frequency response from the mains

You'd think, and I preached that for a long time. Until someone posted data showing that the action of the highpass filter results in about the same peak voltage, hence clipping not really reduced. Depends on the music and the filter order and frequency surely. The sub can remove the excursion load as you mentioned, hence why I dislike those recommending high-level sub connection to people who have small woofers.

 

[Yorkshire Mouth]

You'd think, and I preached that for a long time. Until someone posted data showing that the action of the highpass filter results in about the same peak voltage, hence clipping not really reduced. Depends on the music and the filter order and frequency surely. The sub can remove the excursion load as you mentioned, hence why I dislike those recommending high-level sub connection to people who have small woofers.

I know Erin has published distortion measurements before, where a filter at 80Hz or so clearly shows lower distortion than without.

 

[Philipp]

Until someone posted data showing that the action of the highpass filter results in about the same peak voltage, hence clipping not really reduced.

Thats why I integrated my subs high pass filter in the tape loop of my amp, using line level connections (RCA).
Or does that make no difference?

Tape Loop for sub

 

[Head_Unit]

I know Erin has published distortion measurements before, where a filter at 80Hz or so clearly shows lower distortion than without.

Lower distortion of the amp? Or the speaker?

Thats why I integrated my subs high pass filter in the tape loop of my amp, using line level connections (RCA).
Or does that make no difference?

- I no longer expect the highpass filter to magically add huge peak headroom to the amplifier output.
- I would definitely expect it to reduce distortions from the woofer, due to reduced excursion.
- Big systems with large/lots woofers tend to sound really clean in the bass, likely due to very low excursion (and also very low thermal compression).