[rec.audio.high-end] subwoofers or alternatives

kim@uunet.UU.NET (Kim Letkeman) (01/04/91)

I'm finally tiring of the lack of a bottom octave on my Dayton Wright
LCM1's. The cruncher was Chris Rea's Road to Hell disc. It sounds
great, but I know what I heard in the store and part of it's missing.

My budget for audio is very limited, but I may be able to scare up
enough to do one of two things:

1) Upgrade to new speakers (trading or selling the DW's), or
2) Add a subwoofer.

So, I need info/advice.

First, I must say that I am extremely pleased with the sound of these
speakers and since they sound really nice in my house, I would
consider going to a completely new set of speakers a last resort.

Can anyone tell me if they know of a good subwoofer match for the
Dayton Wright's? Or if you know of no specific match, how about some
general info on what is available in subwoofers today (I'm sure that
my budget is going to force me to go for a passive setup.) In fact, a
short summary of the state of the art over the last 5 years would be
useful since I might be forced to get used equipment.

As for the alternative, I've noticed that there seem to be quite a few
relatively inexpensive systems based on a subwoofer with a couple of
small satellite speakers. Examples are Design Acoustics, Cambridge
Soundworks (I think that's the name), and BOSE Acoustimass. Any
comments on the sound of these? Are they worth a look?

Any other recommendations or info? (For example, are completely
integrated speakers significantly better than adding a subwoofer to an
existing pair of speakers? Or is this one of those issues that is
completely subjective?)

By the way, I use a Music Fidelity A1 class A solid state amplifier.
It's only 20w per side, but it packs a lot more punch than my old
Hafler DH200 ever did, so I'm pretty sure it can handle some extra
load.

Now, a related question. For a number of reasons, I feel that it's
probably time to say goodbye to my turntable and LP's. Anyone have any
ideas on what I may be able to get for:

1) Logic DM101, Rega RB300, Grado Signature 8MR. Sounds good, but
   there's a new spring set in it's future.

2) 375 LP's, Mostly 70's, some 80's

3) 50 high fi LP's, including a number of Sheffields (Lincoln Myorga,
   Dave Grusin, Amanda McBroom, Harry James (2), #10 - the classical
   guitar one, the drum record), Proprius (Jazz at the Pawn Shop,
   Cantate Domino), 8 or 10 Opus 3 - original Swedish editions
   including both test records, Fresh Aire III, several from Crystal
   Clear records, several Telarc, etc.

Any help and/or info is much appreciated.

Kim
--
Kim Letkeman	kim@software.mitel.com
		uunet!mitel!spock!kim