I have a Dayton Sub-100 and I'm not happy with it. This is in a 13x11x10 (LWH) room with hardwood floors but the walls are mainly lined with bookshelves. I have fairly beefy mains and the sub just can't seem to keep up with them. I want a sub that can provide more visceral kick as well as a lot more sound output. I would like to buy once and keep what I buy for a long time so I'm looking for a fairly substantial price increase. Based on reading stuff online I am looking at the PB13-Ultra. I have very little home theater experience (what I have was pretty much all free or a gift) so I've never really auditioned or listened to a range of products before.
There is a JL Audio dealer in my town so I plan on going there this week to try and listen to a Fathom since the two subs are supposed to be similar (or at least more similar than a SUB-100 and an Ultra). But how big a difference should I expect to hear between my Sub-100 and an Ultra/Fathom?
Two totally different class of subs. The SUB100 is the best for it's price - but once you get to Fathom/UltraPB13 class... these are just completely different beasts. They will easily produce 4x or more the SPL, and with no noticeable distortion while doing it.
Depending on your budget, you may be better off doing a semi-diy solution. If you are willing to pay $1200-$1400, you can do better than retail by buying a pair of pre finished sealed cabs from PE, and a pair of JL W7 12" drivers off eBay or a deep discount web retailer, two Ep2500 Behringer amps and a DCX2496. All you have to do is cut a hole in the pre-finished cabinets for the drivers. I can give you the data to program the DCX2496 for the flat, extended output for the sealed cabs. A pair is what I specify, because that will give you the best quality/integrated sound. But you can also do a single if that's your preference.
-Chris
