Has anyone added subwoofers to M Audio SP5B monitors?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Miggs6
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Thanks, jeffree. I'm actually gonna tweak the room, etc, tonight. Just had to test it out & make sure everything was working.
 
Yo Miggs! Yep, I own a set of SP5B's and mixed with them for a year before I added the SBX. I've had zero trouble with the unit. I used to get my head blown off by the bass when I listened to my mixes in the car, and then I found out the reason the SP5B's are ported in the back is because they were always intended to work with a powered sub. For music production, I set the crossover at about 120hz and my problems are gone. Plus, it adds some power. I didn't have a PA for my release party (about 150 people), so I ran my Roland VS1824CD into the 2 SP5B's and the sub, and was able to do the whole room, with a mic for announcements. The SBX really transforms the whole monitoring system. Well worth the money. I talked GC out of it for $300.-Richie
 
I took Richie's lead and picked up the sub for the SP5Bs about 8 months ago. Yes, it really improves the sound. You get better balanced mixes and translation definitely improves. Overall it's a much better world.

The down side, you really need to have your room together bass trap-wise and acoustic foam-wise to accurately use a sub. I scoped my room the other day and found all kind of drop outs in the 100-150 range, regardless of the crossover settings. So, you may improve certain frequency ranges in the low end but you also get considerable nulls without room treatment.

All that said, I would much rather have the sub than not have it. Once you get it balanced correctly you can mix under 150 much more accurately. I got the matching M-Audio sub by the way.
 
subways

thanks Richie- your inputs are always so well stated.

the more i hear on the added subs is making more sense.
another plus comes to my mind, is the "histroy of nearfield" articles.

Auratones to do the AM car radio sht, then as home stereos improved to
"stereophonic!!" NS10 type crap....

so "subs and satellites"....for the current consumer listeners market is probably right-on,
and common in most homes and even cars these days. Low/Low bass.

and as Middleman said...here comes the room.

always a new weak link or improvement area!!! :)
 
A couple of related questions for Richie and Middle...

The BX5s, the newer version of the SPBs, has HPF settings at 80 and 100Hz. Besides the room itself, would there be other reasons for choosing one or the other with a sub?

The BX5 manual explains that the 80Hz setting provides "normal bass response" (not extended), so that would seem to be the best general setting. I'm wondering if there's really a drop-off, though, between 80 and 100Hz that would suggest a 100Hz setting might be better.

I know that ears are always the best judge, but I'm just wondering if there's anything technical that I should consider when choosing a HPF setting.

Thanks,

J.

(The other day I shut off my sub for a while to compare the sound, and whoa, what a difference... these BX5s really come to life, across the entire freq spread it seems, when I carefully dial in the missing low end. I can remember when--pre-sub--I used to spend hours, literally, trying to set the bass levels. Fortunately, those days are over.)
 
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I doubt wether much is happening on the satellites below 100, maybe nothing at all. I mean 5 inch speakers??? I would opt for 100 and let the sub do the rest. If I did not have a sub, then I might set it for 80 hoping to squeeze some low end.

I have not scoped it however. Prior to having the sub, I don't remember hearing much below 150.
 
Sorry, I can't tell you much about the BX5's, I've never used them. Just make sure the crossover frequencies on the mains match the settings on the sub. And yes, only your ears are going to really answer your questions.-Richie
 
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