Cesar Rubio Subwoofer Integration

"The subs are integrated perfectly and have illuminated the pace and rhythmic quality of the music...I was missing much more than I had ever imagined"

Services provided by Acoustic Frontiers: acoustical diagnosis, acoustic treatment design and subwoofer integration

In Cesar's words: "My audio evolution has led me to the world of low power SET and single driver, high efficiency speakers. It has rendered my musical experience with the most clarity and focus to date, which has had many rewards but some pitfalls, mainly in the realm of sound bellow 70hz, in other words, the bottom fell out.

My speaker is a back-loaded horn design by RL Acoustique using a driver made by AER, model MD3B. it can produce what is considered full-range in the right settings but my room is not ideal for pressurization. For one, it has a large opening to a hallway and a stairwell; secondly, there are single pane windows on one side, both of these factor lead to sound leakage; and lastly, the room is 16 x 23 feet with 9 foot ceilings.

After much consideration and research I came upon JL subs as an addition to my system, basically creating a 2-way out of a single driver. JL has a reputation for speed which is ideal since the AER is a very fast and accurate driver. Since all things in stereo are better in pairs I bought 2 JL F-112 subs which have a myriad of controls; looking at the panel was a little intimidating but not unsurmountable.

After a few days of monkeying around I decided to get help, it didn’t sound bad but it also didn’t sound right. The good people at Music Lovers Audio recommended Nyal; he was tuning the main listening room at the San Francisco store at the time.

He came to my place armed with a laptop, mics, cables and a laser measuring devise for the diagnostic as well as samples of room treatments options. The process was interesting and informative, kind of an acoustical lesson really. We moved the subs and the mains a few times, took readings, examined the graphs and adjusted the cross-over settings. After a few hours we were done.

All the changes made to the cross-overs and phase controls were marked so if I wanted to experiment I could always go back and re-establish the original settings. This way I had freedom to experiment, set new levels for action movies, etc. Nyal also provided a report which had all the readings and recommended acoustical treatments, some of which I have implemented and some I can’t afford quite yet.

The sound in the room has changed considerably; not only is the center image much stronger but also the soundstage is much wider and more encompassing. The subs are integrated perfectly and have illuminated the pace and rhythmic quality of the music...I was missing much more than I had ever imagined.

Long ago, a friend in the world of audio had expressed the importance of the room; to paraphrase, the room is the speaker since all the sound is coalesced and interacting with the six surfaces which make up the listening environment There is no perfect room but one can, with some help from Nyal at Acoustic Frontiers, get much closer to a better place."