Monitor Audio Silver RX6 2.0 system - Should I get the Sub?

Just depends on how much bass you want. Personally I would add a sub but I think you could get a better sub for the money. Spend some time in
the subwoofer forum doing some research. There are some better options.

Sub woofers aren't just for deep bass. Their addition usually cleans up the mid bass and lower midrange as well. They also generally greatly reduce the power demands on your AVR to the extent that they can reduce the need for additional cooling when components are placed in an enclosed cabinet.

Your speakers seem to be pretty typical - 6 inch drivers for the bottom end. IME good 6 inchers can be pretty clean down to 80 Hz, but below that you're probably trying to find hens teeth.

+1

Greast explanation.

I have had and listened to several subwoofers, and the best I have found for my application (medium-sized room and medium sized floorstanding speakers) is the NHT B12D.

It is a sealed subwoofer, which takes extra power, but it has a 500-watt amplifier built-in and is exceptionally clean and realistic.

It runs $699 from most retailers, and is an exceptional value at that price IMO. I personally think it is better than the one you mentioned, which is fairly good but way overpriced and not as good IMO as the NHT.

I think it will work very well with those speakers (which I think are excellent, BTW). Your speakers alone are not going to give you the full range of bass needed for large drums, string double-bass, tuba, electric bass etc.
Edited by commsysman - 12/1/12 at 9:46am

If you're able to spend that much on a subwoofer I would recommend Rhythmik, SVS, HSU Research, or Outlaw.

A subwoofer can help things out, however that Monotor Audio does have
decent bass, and it is good, clean and tight > and does not fall off quickly
below 80 hz. Bass is about 6db down at 40 hz > overall, the bass is good
for both music and movies. Do a door-knock test on the side of the cabinet,
it is a well built speaker.

You can get a good subwoofer, for half the price of the Monitor A subwoofer.
Edited by zieglj01 - 12/1/12 at 10:19pm

Here's what we can expect in terms of SPL at 1 meter from that 6" driver. These estimates are based on 6" cone diameter, a truly SOTA driver with 8 mm Xmax and an unvented enclosure. Because the Woofer is vented there might be up to 3 dB more output. Overall an optimistic view.

Hz Max SPL
20 78
30 85
40 90
60 97
70 100
80 102
90 104
100 106
130 110

I would hope for at least 100 dB clean SPL from a speaker that is used by a critical listener. This speaker might be counted down to do that down to 60-70 Hz. The need for a good subwoofer should be clear.
Edited by arnyk - 12/2/12 at 5:07am

Yes, people are being made to think that a 6.5" driver is "large" when it's really close to the minimum to operate cleanly at 80Hz. When I first built my speakers I had 6.5" Eton mid-basses and they could not do 80Hz cleanly in a .5cf enclosure. I replaced them with ScanSpeak 7" and they do 80Hz quite well.

In case it's being overlooked, the RX6s are 2 1/2 way, meaning both 6 inch drivers are operating in the bass range.

If you have a large room and/or like to listen loud, and/or like true deep bass (lowest octave), then a sub is very helpful with these speakers.

If, like me, you don't have a large room, don't listen loud, and don't care about the lowest octave, then you can get by without a sub.

Arny is right about the benefits of a sub, but I also agree with Jim Z that the RX6s have pretty good midbass (at "reasonable" listening levels, at least my definition of "reasonable").

Doubling the cone area of a too-small woofer can't overcome those nasty old laws of physics.

Here's the same info as posted above for 2 x 6 inch drivers that are perfectly coupled to each other:

Hz Max undistorted dB @ 1 meter

20 84
30 91
40 96
50 100
60 103
70 106
80 108
90 110
100 112
130 116


We are still in trouble below 50 Hz.

Here is 3 x 6 inch

20 87
30 94
40 99
50 103
60 107
70 109
80 112
90 114
100 115
130 120

Here is 4 x 6 inch

20 90
30 97
40 102
50 106
60 109
70 112
80 114
90 116
100 118
130 122


Here is 6 x 6 inch

20 93
30 100
40 105
50 109
60 113
70 115
80 118
90 120
100 121
130 126

This is the first configuration that looks the least bit attractive to me.

The counterpoint is that a single SOTA 12 inch driver can do this:

20 99
30 107
40 112
50 115
60 119
70 121
80 124
90 126
100 127
130 132


Go figure! ;-)

I think that the SOTA 12 inch would cost about the same as the 6 high quality six inchers. It will outperform them quite nicely, thank you! ;-)

And that's why people who are serious about building subs use larger drivers.
Edited by arnyk - 12/3/12 at 6:33am

I think that we all understand, that the Monitor Audio tower, will not give
subwoofer bass performace. It all comes down to how much bass, that
the OP really desires >>> and what the OP is really going to use them
speakers for. All in all, there are a lot of people who do not listen above
the 90 db mark. The OP did not give a lot of info to begin with.