I have a pair of Focal Alpha 65’s in my spare-bedroom ‘studio’. The room is full of sonic flaws for a ‘studio’, but it’s the best I have at the moment (certainly better than nothing). I need to add some more acoustic treatment, which may have a bigger impact on what I mention below that I realise.
I bought a JBL LSR310 sub (200W, downward firing 10") to compliment them as a have a bit of a habit of wanting too much bass in my mixes (and overcompensating). But, I’m not sure if it is ‘better’ as a reference sound. What I gain from having an extended low end, I feel I lose with a less linear response from the Focals. It is also a quite subjective sound as it depends where I am in the room. If I step back 3-4 meters back from my mixing position, the sub thunders, but even when running the Focals full-range (no sub) the bottom end is fuller.
So, the question - am I better off without the sub? I have considered trying to run the Focals full-range in conjunction with the sub, or doing some funky crossover sends though Cubase. But, it seems a pretty messed up solution.
I guess the other question - how else do people best to manage the varying frequency responses around the room? I actually like the ‘fuller’ sound 4m back from the monitors, but it’s obviously not the recommended position to be mixing from! Could the problem (the pronounced variations) be mainly due to insufficient acoustic treatment allowing those sub frequencies too much ability to bounce around?
I’d rather sell the sub and be well dialed-in to the sound of my Focals, than to assume the sub is making things ‘better’.