Greetings everyone!
I'm going to take a break from my normal barrage of dry wit and backhanded sarcasm to pose a rather deep inquiry. As we all know, this is a hobby where the sky is the limit. It's also a hobby of more then one way to get the job done. Over time and using the scientific approach of measurements and listening tests (blind), we can determine what products are good, and what products are worth the money (from an objective POV). Ultimately, given a budget and requirement, this would narrow down the choices if you were to look at it in that objective light. Have 5-700 bucks to spend on a subwoofer? SVS PB-2000. $1400 or so? SB-13U. Yes, all well and good. And like anything we do it life, it makes sense. These are the best choices given the guidelines and end result. Marry the safe girl that has a good job and doesn't eat babies.
If you're still with me at this point, my next question should seem normal. That question is, what subwoofer interests you? Like the safe girl, there is a smart choice. One that has the minimum cost for maximum performance. But what about the not so ideal choice? What if the baby eater is smoking hot, and you've always wondered what babies tasted like? I'm going to stop saying that now (apologies to the offended - not really though). Lets to refer to her as the Bat Sh*t Crazy one. Yeah, settling down with her would be a bad idea. Your parents would disown you, and her parents would pick your pocket at Sunday dinner. But in the back of your head, you can't help but wonder what a romp in the sack would be like. Okay, sorry, no more double entendre. A subwoofer that doesn't have the objective guide lines to back it up. One with a crazy design, and no 3rd party testing. Something that is different, and interesting. Something you want to like.
I've always been checking craigslist ever since I sold my Velodyne DSP-12 and picked up the acrylic Velodyne SPL-800. It was a decent move, albeit probably an unnecessary one given the DSP-12 and SLP-800 perform nearly the same. But the SPL-800 was special. I'd always wanted an SPL Velo (not the 8, but the acrylic made up for that). Ideally, I'd like a very powerful subwoofer, but I'm not of the mindset for building 6 cu. ft. boxes and buying Pro audio power amps to get the job done. I like the silly subwoofers that people come up with to try to get around the immovable wall of physics. I recently saw a Paradigm DSP-3400 for sale for $400, same price I paid for the SPL-800. 14 inch driver, 19Hz lower point, 300WRMS, 900wPeak. It's definitely more capable then my current sub, rather large, but less powerful (SPL-800 has 600WRMS, 1200WPeak), but the identical price made me wonder.
Enough rambling on my part, I want to hear from you. What is a subwoofer that you've always wanted to own, but reality came back around and said "Blank, you're being an idiot. Go buy the SVS PB-1000".
SheepStar