I've been intrigued by the concept of a mid-bass module for that extra punch in both music and movies. I briefly read the link on the MBM-12 module above. Thanks for that Dean.
I’m also intrigued by the concept of these and have been looking into them for some time. What got me started was the move from my apartment where my M80s were 6-8 feet away to the house where they are now 11-12 feet away. In the apartment the punch I got from the M80s at that distance was scary. But now farther away it’s not the same. There’s still a lot of kick coming from them but it’s just at the farther distance room modes are interfering with the feeling in all but my EBM styled music.
My question is... because it is designed to work in the 50 to 150 Hz range, would the upper range o the 150 Hz mark become just a bit less non-directional than a normal 80Hz and lower sub configuration? It recommends a near listener position and shows an example of being situated behind the listener.
Though I haven’t used one IMO the bass would be to localizable if the MBM was placed anywhere but in front of the listening position since most things producing it would be on screen. I base this on having tested my EP500 in various location behind my seating. It just never feels right back there.
One of the reasons I keep my M80s crossed at 40-50Hz is to get more of that directional punch than I feel with higher crossovers. Problem is I like having them under the screen for imaging and soundstage across all my seats but that puts them to far away for the near field punch they can give. So the only real solution I see is to place the source of the midbass closer and in front of me. Both are doable since no one but me has veto power on where things go.
MBMs do have there detractors and some of the issues are brought up in this thread:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=768725Some people just see it as a gimmick. Some people also see the QS8 design and more apropos the Buttkicker as gimmicky but IMO neither is. Specifically the by having the Buttkicker very near field (touching the seating) it can provide a rumble that no subwoofer can w/o overpowering the rest of the LFE.
Another concern is that using a MBM requires integrating another set of drivers and crossovers into the mix which I think is a valid point. I don’t have a problem integrating my Buttkicker but then it’s crossed at 40Hz and below which I think might be a litte more forgiving than 50Hz and up potentially to 150Hz (though I thing it can be cut out lower). Also I don’t use my Buttkicker for music as it adds nothing the EP500 can’t already do. If I get a MBM it would be for movies since the M80s are fine even for the most intense EBM I listen to.
I have no doubt that I will something like this eventually it just depends on how soon I get my butt in gear and start doing tweaking again. Right now I’m just to busy enjoying things and tweaking speaker possitioning to tackle the joint issues of evening out my rooms bass and increasing my bass punch. It might turn out that room treatments might help bring out more of the punch or I may decide to pull my M80s out again though that’s not very likely.
I’ll post anything else I find and hope that anyone else who gets a chance to experience one of these would also.
Cheers,
Dean
