Of course, with subs, choosing one is rather less than half the battle. Integration is the great challenge and that’s down to set up. With enough time, care and experience, even quite modest sub-woofers can make a serious musical contribution – just as it’s easy to destroy even the best sub/system combination with slapdash set up. By far the easiest approach, especially when using a single sub, is to place the unit centrally between the speakers, using the volume and crossover controls together with small forward and backwards movements to achieve proper integration. The secret here lies in the word “small”. Whether you are trimming the controls or shifting the cabinet, tiny adjustments are the order of the day. I also find that, whilst with experience you can dial in a sub pretty quickly, it very often responds to really subtle adjustment over a period of weeks as you play more and more, different recordings.
Alternative positioning – off-centre, rear-wall or to one side – requires a more involved approach that’s entirely achievable, but also beyond the scope of this article, so I’m not going there – at least, not now. What I’m more concerned with is whether a €1K sub can add worthwhile musical benefits to a speaker like the Greenwich, without compromising its remarkable articulation and communicative qualities.
With the Sub 1000F dialled in, I settled back to establish just what it brings to the EJ Jordan party – how much value and just how practical a solution it represents. While you might think that the answer to that question is going to be programme dependent, let’s be honest: if you listen to an exclusive diet of dance music and sci-fi sound tracks at club-like levels, you probably aren’t in the market for the Greenwich anyway. If you like what the Jordan speakers do, in terms of musical timing, clarity and organisation – the sense of pattern they bring to a performance, especially an acoustic performance – then the real question quickly becomes, can a well-integrated sub actually enhance that sense of communication as well as delivering the expected increase in the sense of presence and dimensionality.
The Brecon Baroque recordings are characterised by their poise, intricacy and energy. Their double disc set of the Vivaldi La Cetra is no exception (Channel classics CCS SA 33412). Play it on the Greenwich speakers and the speed, bite and vitality in the playing is obvious, but adding the Sub 1000F also adds another dimension – although not necessarily in exactly the way you might anticipate. The chamber organ that forms a central part of the extensive continuo section (along with cello, two lutes and harpsichord) gains a little extension and a slightly increased sense of tube-y hollowness, but the comparison with and without sub underlines just how well the Greenwich captures this instrument on its own. Instead, the sub’s influence is felt elsewhere, in the overall shape of the instruments, the acoustic and the music itself: phrases are more explicitly shaped and timed, the attack in the bowing is more obvious, as is its graceful flow in the slower movements, instrumental spread and location is more clearly defined. But the really important musical difference lies in the increased sense of focussed instrumental energy. You hear it in the body and presence of Rachel Podger’s solo parts, you hear it in the shift in density between the solo/continuo sections and the ripieno playing. But mostly you hear in the heightened sense of drama and purpose in the playing. This isn’t just better bottom-end: it’s better music on every level. As impressive and insightful as the Greenwich speakers are, the modest investment in and careful addition of a well-chosen sub-woofer elevates them to another musical level.
