Budget 8" Sub for small-medium room

[wmcjhi]

Hello all. Firstly, it's for a friend of mine.

I used to work at a local hi-end(ish...think Kef through Definitive Technology and James Loudspeaker...also had a Phase Technology dARTS system set up for demos) audio store, but being a full-time student, custom designing systems took up too much time. However, when I buddy of mine came to my door proudly declaring he was going to go buy a Bose system, I put an abrupt stop to that.

He has been assembling the system piece by piece and unfortunately bought a cheap receiver when I wasn't around to save him. It makes noise and hasn't destroyed any speakers yet, so I suppose it's ok. It's just one of the generic, really shallow 12032983201389w Sony 7.1 receivers. It does have component video switching and a decent number of inputs, so it's not all bad.

I got him on some Phase Technology V-4s as front and rear L/R (and since I used to work there I'm making sure he gets VERY good deals on everything) with a V-6 in the center. Sounds great, all things considered, so far, but he needs a sub. That's where my experience (and ear) tend to drop out. I was thinking an FL-8, which is a dual 8" driver (1 active, one down-firing passive radiator) Phase Technology sub at 250w RMS. Not sure on the amperage, but the thing does a pretty good job to a certain point where it starts popping and signaling impending driver death, which worries me a tad. I had gotten a chance to play with it a bit before I left the company and it does sound quite nice from what I can tell.

He'd be looking at about $325 before tax on it, down from $425 floor price.

Linkage to it: http://phasetech.com/products.html?product_id=FL-8

Any other ideas would be appreciated. Needs to be available locally, anywhere in the phoenix (arizona) metropolitan area. Around that price. There's definitely a Showcase (tweeter) nearby, so anything they stock would work. I probably can't get him quite as good of a deal elsewhere, but I know the game, so it shouldn't be too bad.

Any and all advice greatly appreciated.

edit: That 32hz on the low end doesn't impress me too much and I wish I could get a SPL chart, but oh well.
I wish I could find one of these locally, but I can't, I don't believe: http://www.svsound.com/products-sub-box-10nsd.cfm
I've never heard one, but that's an incredibly flat response curve across a pretty broad frequency range for that price.

 

[edmcanuck]

HSU is the most common budget/value recommendation. Energy's S8.3 is an under-rated performer for a great price. HSU is internet-direct, so he could get it no matter where he is.

 

[wmcjhi]

HSU is the most common budget/value recommendation. Energy's S8.3 is an under-rated performer for a great price. HSU is internet-direct, so he could get it no matter where he is.

Thanks for the recommendation...I wish I could hear one locally, but I just can't, I really need something available in town.

 

[Tomorrow]

HSU is the most common budget/value recommendation. Energy's S8.3 is an under-rated performer for a great price. HSU is internet-direct, so he could get it no matter where he is.

I have had a variety of subs, including 3 different Hsu models. I've heard all the Energy subs prior to ~2003. I currently own two VTF-3's for HT and an Energy ES-8 (and last year sold an STF-1). The Energy was picked up specifically as a budget sub for my office setup. The S8.3 may be a big improvement...it would need to be to compete with the Hsu. It's no contest. GET AN HSU STF-1. I wish I'd kept mine! It is huge steps above the Energy in "getting it right"...better articulation, better extension, more slam, etc. The STF-1, for the money, can't be beaten in this class, IMHO. And...they're on sale right now. Shoot, I had a 12", 400 watt JBL S120PII and the STF-1 with it's little 8" driver crushed the big JBL in performance, even SPL's.

Happy sub hunting.

 

[billnchristy]

I was going to reccommend X-sub, but if youre looking in town youre outta luck...unless you find someone for a demo.

 

[InTheIndustry]

Phase Tech dealer here.... the new FL subwoofer line is great. I usually am dissapointed in 8" subs but the FL-8 is excellent. It's a relatively small cabinet but it really does put out an enormus amount of bass. No, you can't turn it up all the way because it will waffle. If you need to turn it up that loud your room is too big and you should go with the FL-10. For most small to medium rooms, the FL-8 is impressive. I like the FL-10 better, but it all depends on budget. You will feel the bass out of these little cubes. To me, not turning it up all the way isn't a draw back. It's been incredibly clean and powerful at 1/4, 1/2, and nearly 3/4 volume on any material I've tested it with which was mainly Star Wars: Phantom Menace and U-571.

One thing about the FL-8... it dances. Yes, it moves enough air that it litterally can jump around. I tested one our on my hardwood floors and when turned up it took off like a rocket and litteraly pulled its own plug out of the wall. No BS. That little thing pounds. My customer had carpet and a smaller room, so we didn't have a problem on site. I called my Phase Tech rep and told him about the dancing and he said he'd mention it to them.

Low and behold I got a call back a week later thanking me for the input and after more testing they agreed with me that the subs needed more weight. They are adding 8 lbs. to the FL-8 and (if I remember this part right) 12 lbs. to the FL-10. I did not ask about the FL-12. They also told me they found that since more weight was added they get better extension and thus the sub plays even lower. Really, the biggest negative to me is that they paint the driver this silver color that looks silly. With the grill on you can't see the driver, but if you like to leave the grills of of your gear it's ugly looking (to me).

The FL series stands for Frickin' Loud and it's true. I innitially planed to offer these as an entry level piece but after trying a few out they really perform better than their price point would suggest. I highly recommend them.

On a side note, how do you like the Phase Tech dARTS?

 

[wmcjhi]

Phase Tech dealer here.... the new FL subwoofer line is great. I usually am dissapointed in 8" subs but the FL-8 is excellent. It's a relatively small cabinet but it really does put out an enormus amount of bass. No, you can't turn it up all the way because it will waffle. If you need to turn it up that loud your room is too big and you should go with the FL-10. For most small to medium rooms, the FL-8 is impressive. I like the FL-10 better, but it all depends on budget. You will feel the bass out of these little cubes. To me, not turning it up all the way isn't a draw back. It's been incredibly clean and powerful at 1/4, 1/2, and nearly 3/4 volume on any material I've tested it with which was mainly Star Wars: Phantom Menace and U-571.

One thing about the FL-8... it dances. Yes, it moves enough air that it litterally can jump around. I tested one our on my hardwood floors and when turned up it took off like a rocket and litteraly pulled its own plug out of the wall. No BS. That little thing pounds. My customer had carpet and a smaller room, so we didn't have a problem on site. I called my Phase Tech rep and told him about the dancing and he said he'd mention it to them.

Low and behold I got a call back a week later thanking me for the input and after more testing they agreed with me that the subs needed more weight. They are adding 8 lbs. to the FL-8 and (if I remember this part right) 12 lbs. to the FL-10. I did not ask about the FL-12. They also told me they found that since more weight was added they get better extension and thus the sub plays even lower. Really, the biggest negative to me is that they paint the driver this silver color that looks silly. With the grill on you can't see the driver, but if you like to leave the grills of of your gear it's ugly looking (to me).

The FL series stands for Frickin' Loud and it's true. I innitially planed to offer these as an entry level piece but after trying a few out they really perform better than their price point would suggest. I highly recommend them.

On a side note, how do you like the Phase Tech dARTS?

Thanks for the input, we did go with the fl-8 and it sounds as good as I'd remembered (I got them to sell it for $325 instead of the marked $425, which is just a tad under the thinnest margin they're really allowed to sell at). I like the dARTS quite well, but I think even with the full setup, it needs some touching up. Low frequencies are a bit hot, to my ear, but we fixed that ourselves in the store through the pre-amp's setup.

 

[KC23]

In town? No clue.

If it were me I'd be going for the HSU and get a lot more for your buck. Clearly the wiser choice IMHO.

 

[farscaper]

I have a HSU STF-1. I expected good things from this sub. Very happy with it. My room is roughly 14'x14'. Far superior over my other sub, Athena 10".