Forums https://www.decware.com/cgi-bin/yabb22/YaBB.pl SPEAKER FORUMS >> Betsy Open Baffle >> Placing on top of subwoofers? https://www.decware.com/cgi-bin/yabb22/YaBB.pl?num=1614750123 Message started by lordvader on 03/03/21 at 05:42:03

Title: Placing on top of subwoofers? Post by lordvader on 03/03/21 at 05:42:03 Hey all, I'm Betsy curious, so have a question about placement. My current setup has a pair of floorstanders (fostex drivers, in a TL enclosure), and they are coupled with a pair of subwoofers. I was wondering if the Betsy's can be placed on top of the subwoofer (with appropriate isolation)? Most images I've seen have them on the floor, but space is a premium, so getting them off the ground is a bit of a necessity.

Title: Re: Placing on top of subwoofers? Post by Randy in Caintuck on 03/03/21 at 15:03:36 Hi lordvader, The Betsy baffles that I build and offer to the public are designed to sit on the floor ..... which reinforces the lower midrange and upper bass frequencies. Some Betsy baffle owners have them sitting on low stands and are happy with the sound ..... your mileage may vary ..... Your subwoofers might very well be able to compensate for the frequencies reduced by raising them above the floor, but I can't say for sure. If anyone else has tried this, please chime in ..... Best wishes, Randy

Title: Re: Placing on top of subwoofers? Post by Steve Deckert on 03/03/21 at 15:31:56 I don't understand how they would take up less space setting on something vs setting on the floor unless you are talking about setting them on other furniture.

Title: Re: Placing on top of subwoofers? Post by lordvader on 03/04/21 at 04:04:13 The subwoofers are already there - so sitting them on top of them won't take up additional horizontal space. My current floorstanders are fairly narrow - about 20cm, so with the Betsy's being twice as wide, I can't just drop them in.

Title: Re: Placing on top of subwoofers? Post by Emre Manav on 05/06/21 at 17:13:26 This I believe is very enticing to experiment on. After some great advice from Randy, I have been using an affordable 10” Elac subwoofer to complement the Betsy’s. I run speaker wires from Betsy binding posts to the subwoofer’s with no issues whatsoever. After experimenting a bit with the subwoofer settings and placement, very happy with the result. I previously thought a subwoofer would diminish the Betsy magic a bit, but Elac so far achieved what I could not achieve with Rel or Yamaha or SVS somehow. Now that I started believing in subwoofers (thanks Randy), I have been thinking about adding a second one and placing them both under the Betsy’s. As suggested by Randy, you’ll lose some Betsy bass, but subwoofer will be there to compensate, right? After all, Cube Audio’s 8” drivers seem to resemble the Betsy’s in performance, and they have been employing this 8-incher-on-top-of-subwoofers apparently to a great degree of success. Of course Betsy’s love to be distant from the front wall while the box design subs might not, but let’s go for it for the sheer fun of experimentation! I will report back with highly non-scientific impressions and photos next week. ;)

Title: Re: Placing on top of subwoofers? Post by Emre Manav on 05/13/21 at 01:18:53 Here we go. Alas, my impressions on the top-bottom setup for the past three days have been neither sonically nor visually positive. Betsy’s lost their midrange magic and got somewhat dry, lifeless. So I do not see the point of carrying on any longer. Betsy’s are back on the floor now, sitting on some basic isolation foams as usual and sounding as beautiful as ever with a little help from a single subwoofer friend. Incidentally, I did also try to place two subwoofers separately, which was certainly better than the top-bottom setup, but was not audibly any better than the single sub solution. Maybe a little more tweaking would work, but as I said, I am very happy with the single sub.

Title: Re: Placing on top of subwoofers? Post by Randy in Caintuck on 05/13/21 at 03:12:05 Hi Emre, Many thanks for sharing your experience ..... The proximity of the driver to the floor is an important factor in the tonal balance of the Betsy baffles. The subwoofer will add "low bass", but some frequencies in the lower midrange will be lost if the baffles are not "coupled" to the floor. Your input will certainly be valuable to other Betsy baffle owners who are considering adding a subwoofer to their system. Best wishes, Randy

Title: Re: Placing on top of subwoofers? Post by Emre Manav on 05/13/21 at 15:03:24 :) Always a pleasure Randy.

Forums » Powered by YaBB 2.2.2! YaBB © 2000-2008. All Rights Reserved.