The Mighty Magico with the Equally Mighty JL Audio Subwoofers

Posted by Tan

 This home visit stands out as one of the most memorable in my experience at 3 different levels – the sheer size and quality of the system, the meticulous care and attention the owner, Mr. Soo, put into setting it up, especially in the bass region, and its final sonic performance.

When I first saw this system, the question that came to my mind, which would also be the question many audiophiles have, was whether full-range high-end loudspeakers like the Magico M6 need to be augmented with subwoofers, and whether they can integrate successfully, Furthermore, it was with not one but two subwoofers, both being the massive JL Audio G213.

The system owner, Mr. Soo, had done a tremendous job. Before I get into the subwoofer matter, let me first say that the sound performance of this system was beautiful, and I meant this quite literally. The sound was refined, from the first song on, I could detect no graininess anywhere at all. The highs were silky with a smidgen of sweetness, the midrange was pure, together they rendered female vocals rather intoxicating and seductive. Transparency was top notch, the sound was wide open with clarity and high definition details. The soundstage was well formed both in width and depth, aided by  the room size and skillful speaker positioning. There were lots of air and ambiance, likely enhanced by the subs. Image focus and definition were excellent, the kind that you can “look” at and pinpoint.

As a testament to the match between the CH Precision amplifier and the Magico M6 loudspeakers, the delivery was always well in control and well defined. There was a gentle touch and civility in the presentation throughout, letting the listeners enjoy a cultured and relaxing experience.

Now, about the subwoofers: The integration was so seamless that it was impossible for us to tell where the Magico ended and the JL Audio subs began, such was the seamless integration between the two. The subs were working for sure, providing a firm anchor on the bottom end, with good body on the sound and no thinness.

Bass boom is one of the if not the biggest bane for a HiFi system. It diminishes our system’s ability to deliver music enjoyment, limits the kind of music that can be played, and in the worst case makes some audiophiles give up the hobby altogether. Bass boom is difficult to treat, so some find peace with the situation by narrowing their music selection, playing music that won’t excite the room; some switch to smaller loudspeakers with less extended bass to avoid the frequency that causes the boom problem; some may just resign themselves to live with the boom issue; some even take boom as impactful and thunderous bass performance.

Still, many decide to take the problem head-on, taking the route of acoustic room treatment, or go the electronic way by resorting to DSP, or a combination of methods.  

Mr. Soo did face the bass boom issue with his listening space, so he devised his innovative approach to solve the problem, which he generously shared.

Here is where the subs come in. The first point is that the two big JL Audio subwoofers were not there to add more or to extend the bass from his Magico M6 loudspeakers. The Magico M6’s positioning was the best for every aspect of stereo performance already, so loudspeaker positioning could not be used to further address the boom issue. Mr. Soo’s method was to split away the frequency range that caused problem from the main speakers and used the subwoofers to recover it. An active crossover from JL Audio, the CR-1, was used for this, the crossover point was set at around the 40Hz region, with the high pass going to the power amp driving the main speakers, and the low pass going to the 2 active subwoofers.

Once that was done, he had all the freedom to deal with the offending frequency range via subwoofer positioning and tweaking the volume and the phase setting (the crossovers on the subs were not in the signal path, they were set to max). Using two subs, instead of one, allowed him the freedom to find the best position for each channel. Indeed, we saw that the final positions for the subs were not symmetrical. The subs’ phase and volume setting also ensured that they were integrated seamlessly by avoiding cancellation or addition of sound wave.

The 2 subs placed close to the left and right walls with different distance from the loudspeakers and listening position

Mr. Soo did not do all this with only his ears, he did a lot of measurement on REW of his subwoofer setting effort over many months.

This is the most extensive and innovative way of using subwoofers that I ever came across, and the owner’s effort paid off handsomely. The sound was full range with rock solid bass extension, the dreaded bass boom issue was totally banished, and the subwoofers just ‘disappeared’. Bravo to the owner for a job well done!