Ultra-X13 or something else?

[MechanicalMan]

I replaced my speakers recently, and I've decided to also upgrade my subwoofer. I currently have a DIY sealed 12", and although my room is small, I've found it inadequate for HT. The room is cramped, so I only have room for one sub and basically only one spot where I can put it.

Speakers: KEF Q550 front, Q150 rear
Room size: ~1350 cu ft.
Budget: ~$1,200

While researching options, I've become drawn to Claridy's subwoofers. I was originally looking at the Monolith 15" (ported). However, the footprint of the M15 is a little larger than I would like, and it might require that I move some stuff around a little to accommodate it. Also, although I care little about appearance, I feel like the Monolith subwoofers are almost aggressively ugly. So I was happy to find the Outlaw Ultra-X13 when I searched for other Claridy subs. I'm now leaning heavily in that direction. The size of the X13 would work well for me, and I'm much happier with its finish compared to the Monolith. I'm still open to other options, but my current plan is to purchase the X13 during Outlaw's next sale, which I'm expecting to be $999 for b-stock over Memorial Day weekend. So that gives people here a couple weeks to change my mind. Can I follow my gut and buy the X13, or is there something else that I should choose instead? Coming from a sealed sub, I want to continue not worrying about port noise. But my sealed sub is audibly distressed at moderate volume during challenging scenes, and I obviously don't want that either. I want something as clean and trouble-free as possible with pretty good extension, but it doesn't need to have world-beating SPL.

 

[shadyJ]

Looks like the Outlaw is a good fit for you. You might be disappointed if you are betting on a $999 sale on Memorial day. While that might have happened in the past, it isn't guaranteed to happen in the future. Claridy also designs the subs for XTZ, btw.

 

[ryanosaur]

I replaced my speakers recently, and I've decided to also upgrade my subwoofer. I currently have a DIY sealed 12", and although my room is small, I've found it inadequate for HT. The room is cramped, so I only have room for one sub and basically only one spot where I can put it.

Speakers: KEF Q550 front, Q150 rear
Room size: ~1350 cu ft.
Budget: ~$1,200

While researching options, I've become drawn to Claridy's subwoofers. I was originally looking at the Monolith 15" (ported). However, the footprint of the M15 is a little larger than I would like, and it might require that I move some stuff around a little to accommodate it. Also, although I care little about appearance, I feel like the Monolith subwoofers are almost aggressively ugly. So I was happy to find the Outlaw Ultra-X13 when I searched for other Claridy subs. I'm now leaning heavily in that direction. The size of the X13 would work well for me, and I'm much happier with its finish compared to the Monolith. I'm still open to other options, but my current plan is to purchase the X13 during Outlaw's next sale, which I'm expecting to be $999 for b-stock over Memorial Day weekend. So that gives people here a couple weeks to change my mind. Can I follow my gut and buy the X13, or is there something else that I should choose instead? Coming from a sealed sub, I want to continue not worrying about port noise. But my sealed sub is audibly distressed at moderate volume during challenging scenes, and I obviously don't want that either. I want something as clean and trouble-free as possible with pretty good extension, but it doesn't need to have world-beating SPL.

Been super happy with my X-13s... 2 in a 2000'3 space. Very powerful, for that space. They are super solid subs.

Hope they do a sale again for memorial day. I'm not in the market, but at that cost, it's an amazing deal!

Cheers!

 

[CB22]

I want something as clean and trouble-free as possible with pretty good extension, but it doesn't need to have world-beating SPL.

If you want clean and sexy I'd go for the PB-16 ultra in the gloss finish but you may have to keep saving. If you want excellent quality at a reasonable price go for the X-13s. I got mine b-stock and have been very happy with them after getting them positioned correctly. I currently have them laying down so I can fiddle with the setting and ports a bit more easily. Music I prefer 2 ports sealed EQ 2 mode. Movies - 1 or 2 port open EQ1 mode. I'm very happy with them although placement was a big challenge at first. At one point I was thinking about using these as a coffee table and putting a piece of glass over them. My current ideas is to build a little platform so I can put my speakers on top them them in this position. Anyways, these things putout, no pun intended.

but it doesn't need to have world-beating SPL.

If you get two you can easily have "world-beating" SPL.

 

[lovinthehd]

Good luck on getting your b-stock sale price wish! Nice pair of subs for the money! But if you don't care how they look...diy?

 

[kini]

I replaced my speakers recently, and I've decided to also upgrade my subwoofer. I currently have a DIY sealed 12", and although my room is small, I've found it inadequate for HT. The room is cramped, so I only have room for one sub and basically only one spot where I can put it.

Speakers: KEF Q550 front, Q150 rear
Room size: ~1350 cu ft.
Budget: ~$1,200

While researching options, I've become drawn to Claridy's subwoofers. I was originally looking at the Monolith 15" (ported). However, the footprint of the M15 is a little larger than I would like, and it might require that I move some stuff around a little to accommodate it. Also, although I care little about appearance, I feel like the Monolith subwoofers are almost aggressively ugly. So I was happy to find the Outlaw Ultra-X13 when I searched for other Claridy subs. I'm now leaning heavily in that direction. The size of the X13 would work well for me, and I'm much happier with its finish compared to the Monolith. I'm still open to other options, but my current plan is to purchase the X13 during Outlaw's next sale, which I'm expecting to be $999 for b-stock over Memorial Day weekend. So that gives people here a couple weeks to change my mind. Can I follow my gut and buy the X13, or is there something else that I should choose instead? Coming from a sealed sub, I want to continue not worrying about port noise. But my sealed sub is audibly distressed at moderate volume during challenging scenes, and I obviously don't want that either. I want something as clean and trouble-free as possible with pretty good extension, but it doesn't need to have world-beating SPL.

Monoprice now has the Claridy based subs in sealed cabinets. Footprint should work and I would have a hard time believing that the sealed 15 in that size room wouldn't be awesome for HT. You should have tons of room gain.

 

[MechanicalMan]

Monoprice now has the Claridy based subs in sealed cabinets. Footprint should work and I would have a hard time believing that the sealed 15 in that size room wouldn't be awesome for HT. You should have tons of room gain.

Perhaps my current sub is just poorly designed (I bought a prefab cabinet from a liquidator after the M&K bankruptcy a decade ago and then just dropped in a driver and amp myself after making a larger cutout for the amp), but the fact that it is reaching its limits during movies has really scared me away from sealed designs. I feel safer getting something ported and still having the option to seal ports if that works better. It would be nice to have something a little smaller and lighter, but there's not even a price break for choosing the sealed Monolith subs, and I'm really scared of spending this much money and then running into more problems with excursion limits or whatever at lower frequencies as I have with my current sub. I've heard other people in forums complain of the same problems when trying to go sealed, although that might be mostly in larger rooms. If I'm willing to accommodate the larger footprint, is there a major downside to putting a ported (variable tuning) sub in a room this small? I really just want to have headroom where it counts and don't care about trying to be high at 10Hz or whatever.

 

[shadyJ]

Perhaps my current sub is just poorly designed (I bought a prefab cabinet from a liquidator after the M&K bankruptcy a decade ago and then just dropped in a driver and amp myself after making a larger cutout for the amp), but the fact that it is reaching its limits during movies has really scared me away from sealed designs. I feel safer getting something ported and still having the option to seal ports if that works better. It would be nice to have something a little smaller and lighter, but there's not even a price break for choosing the sealed Monolith subs, and I'm really scared of spending this much money and then running into more problems with excursion limits or whatever at lower frequencies as I have with my current sub. I've heard other people in forums complain of the same problems when trying to go sealed, although that might be mostly in larger rooms. If I'm willing to accommodate the larger footprint, is there a major downside to putting a ported (variable tuning) sub in a room this small? I really just want to have headroom where it counts and don't care about trying to be high at 10Hz or whatever.

Claridys' subs are all well-protected from over-driving. You can not drive them to bottoming out, so don't worry about that, their limiters are very powerful.

As far as placing a ported sub in a small room, the good news with the subs that you are looking at is that they have the option to run in sealed mode, so if you do get too much room gain in the low end, you can used the sealed operating mode to tame it.

 

[lovinthehd]

Perhaps my current sub is just poorly designed (I bought a prefab cabinet from a liquidator after the M&K bankruptcy a decade ago and then just dropped in a driver and amp myself after making a larger cutout for the amp), but the fact that it is reaching its limits during movies has really scared me away from sealed designs. I feel safer getting something ported and still having the option to seal ports if that works better. It would be nice to have something a little smaller and lighter, but there's not even a price break for choosing the sealed Monolith subs, and I'm really scared of spending this much money and then running into more problems with excursion limits or whatever at lower frequencies as I have with my current sub. I've heard other people in forums complain of the same problems when trying to go sealed, although that might be mostly in larger rooms. If I'm willing to accommodate the larger footprint, is there a major downside to putting a ported (variable tuning) sub in a room this small? I really just want to have headroom where it counts and don't care about trying to be high at 10Hz or whatever.

What driver did you pop in there? Did some homework for appropriate box size for it?

How about simply updating the driver now? Or is it just time for a new one?

 

[ryanosaur]

Perhaps my current sub is just poorly designed (I bought a prefab cabinet from a liquidator after the M&K bankruptcy a decade ago and then just dropped in a driver and amp myself after making a larger cutout for the amp),but the fact that it is reaching its limits during movies has really scared me away from sealed designs. I feel safer getting something ported and still having the option to seal ports if that works better. It would be nice to have something a little smaller and lighter, but there's not even a price break for choosing the sealed Monolith subs, and I'm really scared of spending this much money and then running into more problems with excursion limits or whatever at lower frequencies as I have with my current sub. I've heard other people in forums complain of the same problems when trying to go sealed, although that might be mostly in larger rooms. If I'm willing to accommodate the larger footprint, is there a major downside to putting a ported (variable tuning) sub in a room this small? I really just want to have headroom where it counts and don't care about trying to be high at 10Hz or whatever.

Though I can't yet say on my own that ported is better than sealed, or vice versa, I do completely agree with Shady's post 8!!! These subs are solid. Nothing wimpy about them.
However, if you were to explore sealed subs... for your room size, you could easily pursue 2 smaller, high quality sealed... or three... or four. The kicker with room gain and sealeds, as I perhaps only partly understand it, is that sealed sub performance will really enhance as you add more.
(As always, I'm inviting correction if I misunderstand something.)

 

[MechanicalMan]

What driver did you pop in there? Did some homework for appropriate box size for it?

How about simply updating the driver now? Or is it just time for a new one?

I don't remember my estimate for the box volume, but the driver is an Exodus Shiva-X, and the amp is a Dayton HPSA500.

ETA: It looks like my estimates were ~66 L total and ~48 L with displacement, but I have no idea how accurate those estimates were.

 

[MechanicalMan]

You might be disappointed if you are betting on a $999 sale on Memorial day.

You were right. I've had to wait for Labor Day just for it to fall to $1,300, so I guess that was too optimistic. There were better and more frequent sales on it last year. I assume it will go lower before the end of the year, but I think I'm going to bite now in case I'm wrong again. I don't like the price, but I'm still enamored with this model. I'm no longer considering the ported M15 because of its size, and I'm still not very comfortable getting something sealed. It's tempting to save some money and get a VTF-3 MK5 HP or something, but I really want the Outlaw. I'll take a couple days to think it over.

 

[j_garcia]

There are a few SVS SB4000s in Black ash for $999 in their outlet right now.

 

[Hetfield]

There are a few SVS SB4000s in Black ash for $999 in their outlet right now.

That is an insane price! Wow that is a good deal.

 

[CB22]

I really want the Outlaw. I'll take a couple days to think it over.

So far I still have 0 complaints about the outlaw. The HSU is also a super sub. I used to own an MKII sealed sub and loved it. Outlaw, HSU, and SVS are all reputable brands. I'm sure with what ever you go with you'll be very happy. The AH review of the X-13s was what pushed me to buy mine as well as the fact that they were on sale. Also here my review of the X-13s if you have not see it on here.
https://forums.audioholics.com/forums/threads/outlaw-x-13s.113902/

Decisions decisions. Good lucking in choosing.

 

[j_garcia]

That is an insane price! Wow that is a good deal.

That's why I ordered one myself lol.

 

[Hetfield]

That's why I ordered one myself lol.

Good job!