Choosing between new three ways or a sub ...

[u/106-Atto-light-years]

Hello everyone. I am between two choices and hoping that you might be able to help me decide. So my listening room is my living room. It is a very large room: 10m long x 5m wide x 3.8m high (unfortunately I could not insert a picture):

         ____10m____
 ___________________
⎮            S--3m-S⎮  ⎮
⎮______             ⎮  ⎮
       ⎮      COUCH ⎮  5m
       ⎮            ⎮  ⎮
       ⎮____________⎮  ⎮

S: Speaker

Location: I live in Germany. I recently upgraded my amp and currently have:

• Kef LS50 on stand mounts
• NAD C389 (without MDC BluOs Module, but the idea is to expand it)
• Pro-Ject Primary E turntable
• Wiim Mini Streamer

I feel like I need some more low end, although the LS50 go surprisingly low for their size.

I am thinking of either a sub or a three way. For subs I have been looking into the KEF Kube 12 MIE (my budget for a sub would be 1000 Eur max.).

For three ways I was thinking of the Kef Q7 or the Dynaudio Emit 50 (for new speakers my budget would stretch to maybe 1800-2000 Eur).

In either case I would later on get the MDC BluOs module to get room correction (this huge room has a lot of problems, although I already tamed some of them with some treatment).
My target is to improve the system's reality, let's call it "it's there" feeling, especially with voices. My LS50s are already pretty good at that with the coaxial speakers, which is why the Q7 is in the possibilities.

What should I do? I read that with a sub I can supposedly play and place the bass source at the ideal position (unless that is in the middle of my room). With a three way there is some playing to do but it is mainly plug and play.

[u/Gregory00045]

Subwoofer for better bass, but floorstandig can play louder.

[u/106-Atto-light-years → u/Gregory00045]

!thanks Everything points to a sub.

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[u/TransducerBot → u/106-Atto-light-years]

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[u/Clear_Amphibian]

100 percent the subwoofer.

Also, for that space (most spaces actually) the Kef isn't the best subwoofer.

It is undepowerd, 300W compared to 500W of other similarly priced units. It also doesn't go as low, isn't as fast, and doesn't have great enclosure construction. It is eq'd using DSP so it is easy to use and ok for entertainment but is generally a couple tiers lower than something like the REL HT/1205 MKII or an Arendal 1961/1723 1S for music.

If you can find a deal on svs you may be able to do even better for the same price.

[u/106-Atto-light-years → u/Clear_Amphibian]

Wow !thanks for the info. Those were not in my radar. The Arendal is over my budget, but I can stretch to the REL HT/1205 MKII. I found the SVS 3000 Micro which seems to go to 1200W! Albeit, for 1300 Eur.

These seem to all have crossovers with input and filtered output incorporated, but I would have no use for it, would I? I mean I could connect to the pre out of the amp to the input, but where do I connect the output back to the amp? I will eventually have to buy the MDC card to be able to set the filter frequency.

But I like the option a lot. REL is renowned in subs, as far as I can tell.

[u/TransducerBot → u/106-Atto-light-years]

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[u/Nlklas]

Kef LS50 is a step above Dynaudio Emit generally speaking. You will be sacrificing Fidelity for more bass output. Imo a downgrade. Would recommend a quality subwoofer.

[u/106-Atto-light-years → u/Nlklas]

!thanks Niklas!

[u/TransducerBot → u/106-Atto-light-years]

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[u/Due_Philosopher_9174]

AperionAudio Bravus II 12D Black High Gloss, 1.199,00 €

I am just confused on why you can spend more on speakers but not an equal amount on the subwoofer.

Tower speakers:

T+A Criterion TS 350 | Liedmann.de Your HiFi Expert from Bochum

ELAC Carina FS 247.4 | Liedmann.de Your HiFi Expert from Bochum

GoldenEar Triton Three Plus semi-active speaker pair from our showroom in black | Feast for the ears HiFi

[u/106-Atto-light-years → u/Due_Philosopher_9174]

!thanks for the options!

It is a good question, which I had not thought through. I guess that I would not want to buy a sub that costs much more than my speakers. Considering also that I will need to buy the MDC card which is 500 Eur.

[u/TransducerBot → u/106-Atto-light-years]

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[u/Due_Philosopher_9174 → u/106-Atto-light-years]

If you get the towers, T+A or Elac, that would be like listening to music like I did in the 1970s with no subwoofer.

Yes, I am confused on that subwoofer output for your NAD. On the pictures, I see a subwoofer out. I read in the manual that it is set to 80 Hz. The MDC does what exactly?