which 1

[snig300]

set up as of now
denon 2309
B&Ws 686s
Blu ray player

just got a bonus from work and was going to spend it on a pair of 685s but there is a long wait for them ,so looked at other speakers like the quad 12l2s but as these are £499 need a bit more money so I had a brain wave...get a sub

but would a sub be over the top for the 686s(untill i can upgrade them to 685s-quad -12l2s or 21l2s)

I was looking at the BK xls200 or maybe the gemini ?my room is about 13/13feet
I'm also thinking front or down firing(does that matter)?
I will use it mainly for TV/films but some muisc

in the long run im looking at a good 2.1 or 3.1 set up so cant work out if it makes sense to get the sub first followed by the better speakers or save for the better speaker?

all help greatly needed

 

[Tranquillity]

set up as of now
denon 2309
B&Ws 686s
Blu ray player

just got a bonus from work and was going to spend it on a pair of 685s but there is a long wait for them ,so looked at other speakers like the quad 12l2s but as these are £499 need a bit more money so I had a brain wave...get a sub

but would a sub be over the top for the 686s(untill i can upgrade them to 685s-quad -12l2s or 21l2s)

I was looking at the BK xls200 or maybe the gemini ?my room is about 13/13feet
I'm also thinking front or down firing(does that matter)?
I will use it mainly for TV/films but some muisc

in the long run im looking at a good 2.1 or 3.1 set up so cant work out if it makes sense to get the sub first followed by the better speakers or save for the better speaker?

all help greatly needed

Overall i think that getting a BK sub would make the biggest impact for your system, and it would tide you over untill you can get the 685. If you enjoy movies you will love having the better bass extensions which the 685 can only dream of. It depends if you want to have more impact in the bass, and whether you can accomodate having a sub (will it disturb neighbours etc)

If you wait and get the 685's you will then have the 686's to use as rear speakers, you just then need to get a centre and then you are all set It seems you were set on getting the 685's so i don't see why it would be necessary to deviate to the quads unless you are really unhappy with the B&W sound.

As for which sub to get, it does not really matter too much if you go for DF or FF, it is a matter of which looks better to you and as to whether or not you have kids etc (df stops sticky fingers pocking the driver etc). There may be slight differences depending on what floor type you have. I have had a ff and df sub through the years and there is no major difference in my ears. If you live above someone then the df may be worse than a ff though, but you could get a slab or granite to put underneath it and that would help isolate it from the floor. I have a bk xls 200 and love it, it is musical, tight and fast and is far superior to my ported 12" paradigm subwoofer. The sealed enclosure is wonderful, ok it won't go as loud as a ported sub, but it sounds far more controlled in my ears so music / films are far better.

If you are not fussed on too much bass, but want better bass in general for your system, go for the Gemini 2. it is very similar to the xls but a bit less powerful and much cheaper. But if you want the best you can for a small enclosed sub then a 200 is wonderful piece of kit which is tough to beat for value for money. Many people have raved about Epos subs as well, if you are not too fussed again about having a sub why not look at a cheaper sub from richer sounds or something.

 

[snig300]

cheers for that detailed repy,think I'm going for the xls200 the thing that sung it was I read a post that said the gemini has a hum coming from it on standby so that would do my head in,it would be the first sub I will have so maybe I would have been happy with the gemini but there are so many good things said about the xls200,I've just got to pick the finish now.thinking of going for the cherry if anyone has any pictures of one to get a good idea of its colour would be good?(the BK site picture looks a bit missing leading colour wise)

 

[Tranquillity]

cheers for that detailed repy,think I'm going for the xls200 the thing that sung it was I read a post that said the gemini has a hum coming from it on standby so that would do my head in,it would be the first sub I will have so maybe I would have been happy with the gemini but there are so many good things said about the xls200,I've just got to pick the finish now.thinking of going for the cherry if anyone has any pictures of one to get a good idea of its colour would be good?(the BK site picture looks a bit missing leading colour wise)

For your first sub the xls 200 is a beast for such a small cabinet and i am sure you will love it. I read some posts about the humming on the gemini, i have had no humming from my xls 200 which is great. But in general some subs will encounter this problem, it could be caused by many things though (badly shielded cable, bad mains, interference etc etc). My old paradigm sub hummed badly, but i later found out it was caused by using the high level inputs for it. After switching to a dedicated sub cable and connecting it to a different power outlet it dissapeared.

The only downsides to the xls i have found is no auto on off feature, but i don't really care i switch it off if i do not use for a while so no probs. The only problem i found out of the box is that i had to turn the gain to about 1 or 2 o clock before i had a noticable strength in bass (3 o clock seems a tiny bit overpowering, but this is on my setup it could be completely different on yours. It is just a little tip in case you get the sub and it is very low volume wise, just switch the gain up untill you hear it well, between 12 and 3 o clock and it should be great, but try not to set it too high or it could damage the speaker in the long run played at high volumes.

Anyhow hope you enjoy your bk if you order it, lol you should go for a monolith for your first sub hehe

 

[snig300]

just order a xls 200 in light oak (hope I picked the right colour was looking at black gloss but felt I had just a bit too much black)