T5
The first time I experienced a home theatre system was at my (then) business partner's house. I remember the movie too: The Red Violin. Beautiful film. And I vividly recall how it felt, as much as the story it told and what it looked like.
Cynthia and I eventually purchased that house. It's where we raised our family, where we still live today. And yes, our various TVs have been hooked up to a home theatre system pretty much since the day we moved in. Fast forward to my recent(ish) return to the stereo world. Here's a bullet point recap in case you haven't followed the journey:
January 2023:
I dust off my old Pioneer turntable, buy a cheap pre-amp, and plug it into a set of unused powered speakers. I'm properly impressed by my old vinyl records.
I buy a still inexpensive but better phono pre-amp (give the other away).
I buy an Audio-Technica headshell, cartridge, and stylus.
February 2023: I find, clean, and fix my old Harman Kardon amp. Move the entire setup to a dedicated space. Buy my first new record in decades.
May 2023: I get an acrylic mat for the turntable.
June 2023: I get a pair of Elac Debut 2.0 b6.2 on sale.
October 2023: I buy a small DAC.
July 2024: I get an Audio-Technica turntable on sale.
August 2024:
The Harman Kardon amp starts glitching (all things must pass).
That's over the course of almost two years, so I've been pretty methodical about the whole process. And I've been happy with the choices: the idea was to not fall down a rabbit hole of constant upgrades, and not break the bank—it's worked out well.
But I recently identified one remaining "hole" in my kit: lows. The kind of visceral lows I'd first known watching The Red Violin. The Elacs sound wonderful but they're still bookshelf speakers. The bass is there but it doesn't wrap you in its wide and loving arms. The solution? Mimic our viewing setup and add a subwoofer. Not a huge beast to shake the foundations, but just enough to round the edges of the audio field and fill out those bottom frequencies. Enough to feel the bass, without overpowering the overall sound.
I've gone with an Edifier T5 (affilifate link). It's a small, 8-inch, 70 watts powered subwoofer which—importantly—includes both volume and crossover controls. The crossover was particularly crucial because the Yamaha A-S301's sub output is fixed at 120 Hz—a bit high for my taste. I knew this when I bought the amp so I was aware I needed a way to restrict those frequencies. Also, unlike our home theatre amp, the Yamaha still sends all frequencies to the mains when a sub is connected. The downside of this is that it doesn't free the main speakers from lower frequencies, which could be beneficial in terms of clarity. But the Elacs are rated at 44 Hz, and they do a decent job with bass already, so I was pretty confident I could find a sweet spot with the T5's controls. I did.
The key was to figure out the proper balance with the main speakers, and that's all about trial and error. Depends on the amp, the speakers, the room, where you sit, where the sub is positioned, etc. Variables on top of more variables. I basically had to play multiple songs, on multiple devices, and fiddle with the crossover and volume until the mix sounded right. Hearing the sub meant I'd pushed too hard, so I'd gently roll it back. Rinse and repeat. I've finally settled on ~50 Hz at 20% volume, and it's made a world of difference. Even though the Elacs are still dishing out the lower range, they feel "airier". The entire soundstage is now much richer and better distributed, across genres, with both digital and analog sources. The Yamaha's Pure Direct mode, which bypasses all internal processing, is now much more interesting as well. Older records—especially classical vinyls—show a lot more breadth, revealing nuances I couldn't hear before (or probably just didn't notice). Zappa's The Grand Wazoo gets downright bone rattling, scratches be damned. Everything I listen to is lifted.
Was this the last brick in the wall? Nah... not going there ;)
