Starke Sound SW15 and SW12 Subwoofer Review

[shadyJ]

I have had an awareness of Starke Sound for a few years now, but I wasn’t familiar with their product lines, so when they invited me to review their products, I went to their website to see what they had that I would be most interested in. Among a plethora of intriguing speakers, amps, and subwoofers, a couple that caught my attention was their SW12 and SW15 subwoofers. These were fairly normal-looking sealed subwoofers but were very competitively priced for their specs. I inquired about getting these subs in for review, and Starke Sound gladly obliged. What I wanted to know was how much subwoofer can you get from Starke Sound from the surprisingly modest pricing that they had set. The driver, amplifier, and industrial design all looked solid: at the set prices, what was the catch, or maybe there was no catch and they just have a straightforward good product for a reasonable cost? Let’s dig in these subs to find out the answers to these questions…

READ: Starke Sound SW15 and SW12 Subwoofer Review

 

[rrj]

@shadyJ ,

Great review. How would the SW15 compare to the HSU ULS-15 MK2 (in EQ2)? I know the HSU has more power, but the Starke seems to go deeper. If you had to choose between the two which would you recommend since they are pretty close in price?

Thanks in advance.

 

[NINaudio]

If you compare to the HSU review, the ULS-15 MK2 seems to perform better and have more headroom with 7-8dB more output below 20 Hz.

Edited to add: Also, look at the difference in the compression sweeps. I'd definitely pick the Hsu if it were my money

 

[rrj]

@NINaudio,

Thanks for responding. I was looking at the FR for both (EQ2 mode for HSU for even comparison) so thats why I asked to see what he thought. But you are absolutely right about SPL levels down low.

 

[Reckel]

View attachment 51058​

I have had an awareness of Starke Sound for a few years now, but I wasn’t familiar with their product lines, so when they invited me to review their products, I went to their website to see what they had that I would be most interested in. Among a plethora of intriguing speakers, amps, and subwoofers, a couple that caught my attention was their SW12 and SW15 subwoofers. These were fairly normal-looking sealed subwoofers but were very competitively priced for their specs. I inquired about getting these subs in for review, and Starke Sound gladly obliged. What I wanted to know was how much subwoofer can you get from Starke Sound from the surprisingly modest pricing that they had set. The driver, amplifier, and industrial design all looked solid: at the set prices, what was the catch, or maybe there was no catch and they just have a straightforward good product for a reasonable cost? Let’s dig in these subs to find out the answers to these questions…

READ: Starke Sound SW15 and SW12 Subwoofer Review

Nice review. So what do you think about running 4 of the sw15’s?

 

[shadyJ]

Nice review. So what do you think about running 4 of the sw15’s?

That would be a great system. The SW15s are a solid sealed 15" for the money.

 

[Reckel]

That would be a great system. The SW15s are a solid sealed 15" for the money.

Well this goes back to my thread I started a few weeks ago. Would I be stupid getting rid of my 3 vtf3s for 4 of the sw15’s?

 

[shadyJ]

Well this goes back to my thread I started a few weeks ago. Would I be stupid getting rid of my 3 vtf3s for 4 of the sw15’s?

You would be losing deep bass output, but might gain a slightly smoother response. You would probably break even on mid-bass output. Not altogether stupid if the VTF-3s have to go on account of their size.

 

[XaVierDK]

Thank you for a nice review of, arguably, simpler subwoofers than what most higher-end manufacturers are putting out these days.

They look to produce very decent performance generally, but I notice a significant peak in distortion at 31.5 Hz in your CEA-2010 measurements.
Do you have any idea why this might be? Resonant frequency of the drivers maybe?

Best Regards

 

[Schrodinger23]

Well this goes back to my thread I started a few weeks ago. Would I be stupid getting rid of my 3 vtf3s for 4 of the sw15’s?

Unless you have a buyer or buyers lined up to give you a decent price on the vtf3s, I’d stick with what you have. Or pick up a 4th one if you have a sealed rectangular shaped room, where you know that you will get better seat to seat variation, from day the midpoint of opposing wall or corner placement options.

 

[shadyJ]

Thank you for a nice review of, arguably, simpler subwoofers than what most higher-end manufacturers are putting out these days.

They look to produce very decent performance generally, but I notice a significant peak in distortion at 31.5 Hz in your CEA-2010 measurements.
Do you have any idea why this might be? Resonant frequency of the drivers maybe?

Best Regards

The peak in distortion is just the driver getting stressed. It's certainly not a resonance- if it were a resonance, there would be a big reduction in distortion, not increase. The reason why you don't see higher distortion in lower frequencies is that the low-pass filter is kicking in and limiting output. The distortion at 31Hz is relatively high because the filters haven't really kicked in hard yet, although it's still a pretty deep frequency and tough for a sealed sub to play at a high level.

 

[XaVierDK]

The peak in distortion is just the driver getting stressed. It's certainly not a resonance- if it were a resonance, there would be a big reduction in distortion, not increase. The reason why you don't see higher distortion in lower frequencies is that the low-pass filter is kicking in and limiting output. The distortion at 31Hz is relatively high because the filters haven't really kicked in hard yet, although it's still a pretty deep frequency and tough for a sealed sub to play at a high level.

The more you know.
Thanks for the detailed reply.

 

[utopianemo]

Those drivers look an awful lot like the Dayton Ultimax drivers…..I’ve got two UM18’s and they’re destructive.

 

[shadyJ]

They are not the Dayton drivers. They only have that same type of cone. Everything else about them is different.

 

[CajunLB]

These subs are on Black Friday sale for 489/629 for the 12/15” models.

 

[Reckel]

Unless you have a buyer or buyers lined up to give you a decent price on the vtf3s, I’d stick with what you have. Or pick up a 4th one if you have a sealed rectangular shaped room, where you know that you will get better seat to seat variation, from day the midpoint of opposing wall or corner placement options.

Don’t have any buyers lined up, haven’t listed them to sell yet. Although my area is rectangle, the left side of it opens up to the rest of my basement

 

[shadyJ]

These subs are on Black Friday sale for 489/629 for the 12/15” models.

Somehow I missed this before. $629 is a ridiculously good price for the SW15. They really should be flying at that price. It's a good basic sealed 15".

 

[shadyJ]

The 15" is now marked down to $539! That is a massive discount and well worth the money for that sub. That has to be the best deal going for sealed subs at the moment.

 

[Eppie]

The 15" is now marked down to $539! That is a massive discount and well worth the money for that sub. That has to be the best deal going for sealed subs at the moment.

The free shipping applies to Canada too, which is a nice bonus.

 

[Boomzilla]

With a Starke Sound SW-15 on order, I'm wondering if the DSP-LF unit from Parts-Express might be able to flatten the sub's frequency response? Obviously, Starke has used some built-in, plate-amp DSP already to obtain the curve they're producing from this sub but my use of the DSP-LF wouldn't be anything extreme. What I'd want would be to remove the bulge in the frequency response curve between 90Hz. and 20Hz. I don't feel any need to raise the curve below 20Hz. It would seem to me that, in theory at least, such DSP would possibly reduce distortion and make the response more linear?

I also have a question on where to locate the DSP-LF in my signal chain. My preamp offers bass management, so the sub signal will be attenuated at 12dB/octave above 90Hz. I could insert the DSP-LF immediately after the analog output of the preamp, then feed the signal to my wireless transmitter, and then run the wireless receiver directly into the sub. Alternately, I could run the preamp output directly into the wireless transmitter and insert the DSP-LF between the wireless receiver and the sub. Regardless of location, the DSP-LF will introduce another set of A-D / D-A converters between the preamp and the sub. So questions:

1. Will the improvement in frequency response achieved with the DSP-LF unit be worth the added distortion added by the unit's A-D / D-A converters?

2. Is there any advantage to locating the DSP-LF between the preamp and the wireless sub transmitter vs. between the wireless sub receiver and the sub?

Factoids that may inform potential answers:

I do not play loudly. Average listening level is from 60-70dB.
My room has acoustical treatment including absorbers, diffusers, and although there are no traps, every corner of the room is vented to other areas of the house
There are no prominent standing waves, and those that do exist, the DSP-LF unit has successfully attenuated
I primarily listen to music, not movies, and want my system balanced for music first
Associated equipment:

Mac mini running Roon
Emotiva Big Ego+ DAC
Emotiva PT1 preamplifier
Emotiva PA-1 mono power amps or Crown PSA-2 power amp or Black Ice Audio F22 tube amp or Heathkit SA-3 modified tube power amps
Klipsch RP-600m speakers (modified with internal damping materials)