G-Fab's iPod Speakers

Okay, I think I may have told a few of you that I don't use my iPod as an iPod very often. It's actually a 6G hard drive for my car stereo. I have it hard wired into the GM factory deck in my 2004 Chevy Impala. But if I listened to my iPod outside of the car, here's how I would do it.

Here you see the speaker system of my teenage years: a matched pair of Polk Audio Monitor 4 satellite speakers and a Polk Audio LF-14 passive subwoofer. The M4s have been my personal reference speaker for my entire adult life. I have always had these hooked up everywhere I have lived; they've received near daily use since I purchased them with lawn-mowing money back in 1983/4. The LF-14 was a Christmas gift from my Dad & Marti (it was my Dad's partner, John Voepel, who told them what I wanted to complete the system). The LF-14s are actually quire rare now; they could be operated in pairs or as a center channel sub. This was many years before subwoofer systems became popular. The amp pictured there is a new eBay purchase, the small yet mighty NAD 310, which is the perfect little computer music amp: no tuner, no phono stage, micro plug in the front panel, and absolutely no frills (they didn't even install the little chip that keeps the amp from sending a "thump" to the speakers on power up).

The NAD 310, which is now my at-work computer music amp, is home for the holidays (I didn't want to leave it in the building over break). In my at-work setup it currently powers a pair of late Polk M4s (not nearly the same build quality as these early models I've had at home all these years, and the newer tweeters on those late jobs are not as nice--still, can't beat 'em for $40 on eBay). I also use the TotalBithead DAC between the wicked-noisy Gateway computer on my desk and the NAD. That TotalBithead is a dream.

Sounds sweet.

More on the Polk Sat/Sub System:

The driver used in all 3 of these cabs is the same--a powerful little 6.5" woofer. Each of the sats has one, and the sub has two. In the sats, the woofer is matched with a really nice tweeter; in the sub, the woofers are wired in stereo--one fires R channel, the other fires L. Unlike the sats, the sub is a sealed cabinet. The other element of the sub--apart from the switchable crossover--is a 14" passive radiator. The sealed cab works this way: as the combined L/R signal fires from the woofers, the raditor moves in the exact opposite fashion based on vacuum pressure. You can actually see this happening during play. It's a very subtle effect.

My dilemma is this: the passive LF-14 has always been a little meek for loud stuff. It's a very subtle effect. Recently I have read of guys modding the LF-14 and other 80s-era passive subs by adding modern plate sub amps. This could easily be done for uner $100. Why not go for it, you ask? Well, the main reason is that I'd have to loose the cool crossover. Might be worth it to get the LF-14 booming in the living room, eh?