I have essentially a JBL speaker system(MR825 model) which comprises 2-way drivers for outdoor pro audio use. The 2-way comprises of a horn with compression driver and a 15" woofer. The bass response from the box does not really go very low, -3dB @ 80Hz.I removed the passive x-over and drove the comp. drive and woofer separately using 2 amps via a digital x-over,DCX2496. The x-over freq maintains at around 1.5Khz using Butterworth filter. Overall the sound was much better than using passive driving from a single amp.
I went further by removing the box and put the 2-way on an open baffle(now essentially like a Bastani system) and I found the overall sound did not improve that dramatically, the following was observed:
1. Obviously the bass suffered that was not the point I planned to supplement it with sub-woofer.
2. The sound seemed more disperse as it was now in an open enironment. That sound was not focus, imaging suffered.
I have a small room maybe a box approach maybe better, comments anyone? Wayne, have you tried this before, and what are your observations?
Cheers...