Best Subwoofer for $300-$400?

[ronoz56]

PLEASE HELP! I am looking for a new sub to go along with the system listed below. My room is approx. 14' (W) x 28' (L). The wall that my TV and components are against is only about 10' wide with a large opening to the kitchen on the left and a doorway size opening to the foyer on the right. Right now, I have an old sub from an Infinity satellite surround systen running with this system and it is also positioned along that 10' wall next to the TV, components, front and center speakers. Should I place the sub in the back corner near the seating area for better sound? I'd love to be able to afford an SVS or HSU sub but am looking to find something a tad bit less expensive.


Yamaha RX-V750 (no HDMI)
Infinity Beta 50's (front)
Infinity Beta 20's (rear)
Infinity Beta C360 (center)

 

[allargon]

Your dimensions are off. What are the dimension of your kitchen and foyer including ceiling heights? Your volume needs to include the other rooms. My great room is about 30x15x10. However, it also opens to my kitchen, dining room, foyer and another hallway for about 10k cubic ft.

You ask this BTW after all the Black Friday sales have passed. Fully built cabinets, drivers and amps will eat you alive with shipping costs from online merchants. (I know from very recent experience.)

Occasionally, one can score an AV123 MFW-15 for less than $500 on E-bay or Audiogon. (assuming you aren't one of those people that insists on everything new) Other possibilities (used) are the Dayton Titanic MK III kit/assemblies,

You might still need to DIY for any serious bass. I'm thinking a couple of tubes with 12-15" (Infinity, Dayton, JBL, eD) drivers with a Europower or Audiosource AMP for now with an EQ added later. (You won't get a Maelstrom within your budget.) If you want to go the box instead of the tube route, you can opt for a plate amp from eD or Dayton/Parts Express.

BTW, one thing to opt for is patience when you have a limited budget. #1, you don't have to purchase everything at once. #2, you can definitely shop around and be patient for deals. If you get outbid on E-bay or Audiogon this week, you might win something within your budget next week!

 

[ronoz56]

Your dimensions are off. What are the dimension of your kitchen and foyer including ceiling heights? Your volume needs to include the other rooms. My great room is about 30x15x10. However, it also opens to my kitchen, dining room, foyer and another hallway for about 10k cubic ft.

You ask this BTW after all the Black Friday sales have passed. Fully built cabinets, drivers and amps will eat you alive with shipping costs from online merchants. (I know from very recent experience.)

Occasionally, one can score an AV123 MFW-15 for less than $500 on E-bay or Audiogon. (assuming you aren't one of those people that insists on everything new) Other possibilities (used) are the Dayton Titanic MK III kit/assemblies,

You might still need to DIY for any serious bass. I'm thinking a couple of tubes with 12-15" (Infinity, Dayton, JBL, eD) drivers with a Europower or Audiosource AMP for now with an EQ added later. (You won't get a Maelstrom within your budget.) If you want to go the box instead of the tube route, you can opt for a plate amp from eD or Dayton/Parts Express.

BTW, one thing to opt for is patience when you have a limited budget. #1, you don't have to purchase everything at once. #2, you can definitely shop around and be patient for deals. If you get outbid on E-bay or Audiogon this week, you might win something within your budget next week!

The entire room is 14'(W) x 28" (L) with a 12' opening into the kitchen and a 30" opening into the foyer. In between those two openings is where I have the wall where my TV, components, speakers and subwoofer are located. Ceiling is standard 8' high.

 

[Matt34]

If you have the tools or know someone that does, this will give you the most bang for your buck. You can get the subwoofer for around $175 and the amp for $300.

http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=45528

 

[allargon]

The entire room is 14'(W) x 28" (L) with a 12' opening into the kitchen and a 30" opening into the foyer. In between those two openings is where I have the wall where my TV, components, speakers and subwoofer are located. Ceiling is standard 8' high.

What is the square footage of the kitchen and the foyer?

 

[ronoz56]

What is the square footage of the kitchen and the foyer?

Kitchen is approx 14'(W) x 20'(L) w/ 8' ceilings and foyer is approx. 12' x 14' w/ 18' ceiling open to second floor including stairway.

 

[Matt34]

FYI-

http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=51039

I had one of these are they really are decent subs for the money. Dr. HSU had a hand in designing them.

 

[westcott]

The best subwoofer under $400 with a selection of finishes is the Infinity SW12.

I recently bought one for my master bedroom.

Here is a shootout of subwoofers tested by Sound and Visions editor, Tom Nousiane to support my claim.

Subwoofer Shootout

 

[minuccims]

I may have an open room layout that is similar to yours. I'm a new sub owner, took about eight months to resolve enough questions and curiosities to make a decision. I initially spent a lot of time a BB, CC, and Tweeter trying to make a selection. My choices were to find a balance of musical accuracy and low base extension for HT that could physically fit in my awkward room. Over time, it became apparent that subs in the $400 or less category (what I wanted to pay) and many more expensive subs push out low quality (distorted) sound and don't have the legs to reach low enough to clearly resolve low notes on a bass guitar or piano. The physics of sound rule! Any sub that tries to cheat the laws of physics ends up with inferior sound reproduction. Period.

Research brought me to several companies including SVS. I sent SVS a room layout and they provided recommendations. All technical questions were quickly answered. I looked to buy used but my final choice was to save up and get new. I settled on the SVS PC12-NSD - the cylinder format permitted me to get faithful sound reproduction for music with HT lows that the physics deny with a smaller box setup that would have to fit in same physical space. It’s been a month now and I can say that this sub has made an incredible impact. The equivalent in scale is the transition from the 25” TV to the 42” HDTV. the inventory of music and movies are new again. I just got a Blu Ray. It’s great, but the PC12-NSD has had a huge impact on HT experience over the Blu Ray.

A sub selection may be a twisted mess of what you can afford vice what you would like vice what physically can fit in your space, vice placement, vice WAF. These forums are an incredible source of information. First suggestion is to make the choices yours - use everyone’s inputs and their great advice as a tool to assist in your decision making process. Second you can’t listen everything suggested so find a balance of the technical specs referenced to what your needs are for music and HT. Good luck in your selection process.

 

[allargon]

The best subwoofer under $400 with a selection of finishes is the Infinity SW12.

I recently bought one for my master bedroom.

Here is a shootout of subwoofers tested by Sound and Visions editor, Tom Nousiane to support my claim.

Subwoofer Shootout

Hmm... Is the SW12 a different sub than the PS212? The PS212 is noted as being a worse value than the Dayton (not on your list) and doing nothing below 25 Hz.

 

[westcott]

Hmm... Is the SW12 a different sub than the PS212? The PS212 is noted as being a worse value than the Dayton (not on your list) and doing nothing below 25 Hz.

Not the same. The PS212 is in a smaller cabinet, no CMMD technology, no bass optimization system, and costs $100 less. I do not even see the PS212 on Nousiane's list so I do not know what its performance is. Same for the Dayton.

 

[Tomorrow]

Here's something you probably don't want to hear, but it's also something that virtually everyone who has been into home theater audio for awhile will tell you.....save up until you can buy a sub that does a GOOD job in your room. IMHO, there is no more important piece of audio in an HT than the sub. You do not want to scrimp on it. You'll just end up losing money when you decide you really need to upgrade to something more adequate later on.

HSU or SVS offer great subs that would fill your rather large great room. Wait for a sale...typically 10-15% off at HSU. Used or B-stock are other ways to get into a good sub at a more affordable price.

Good sub hunting to you.

 

[westcott]

Here's something you probably don't want to hear, but it's also something that virtually everyone who has been into home theater audio for awhile will tell you.....save up until you can buy a sub that does a GOOD job in your room.

I agree. Another game plan is to buy what you can afford now and upgrade later when you can afford it.

This site isn't called Audioholics for nothing. Once you start down this road, you will be amazed how the rest of the rooms in the house become wet bars for surplus audio/video intoxicants!!!

 

[croseiv]

Here's two possibilites:

eD A3-250

or

HSU STF-2

 

[ronoz56]

Thanks for all your advice everyone. After reading through the forums and doing some research, I decided to give the SVS PB10-NSD a try. I really wanted to go with the SVS PB12 but the thing is HUGE and would limit where it could be placed in my room. I figured that, since I'm currently running an older, 100 watt Infinity BU-2, the PB10-NSD would be a considerable upgrade. Hopefully it will do a nice job otherwise, it will go back and I'll be doing this all over again. I also considered the PC12-NSD at $549.00 but really have no experience with these cylinder subs and was skeptical.

 

[WmAx]

Too bad you don't want to do some cabinet building. That money could get you literally, 3x the performance with the right driver and cabinet design. Commercial/retail subs ; you are paying an awful lot for the convenience of a pre-assembled product.

-Chris

 

[croseiv]

Thanks for all your advice everyone. After reading through the forums and doing some research, I decided to give the SVS PB10-NSD a try. I really wanted to go with the SVS PB12 but the thing is HUGE and would limit where it could be placed in my room. I figured that, since I'm currently running an older, 100 watt Infinity BU-2, the PB10-NSD would be a considerable upgrade. Hopefully it will do a nice job otherwise, it will go back and I'll be doing this all over again. I also considered the PC12-NSD at $549.00 but really have no experience with these cylinder subs and was skeptical.

Good choice! I'm rather fond of SVS myself as you can see.

 

[westcott]

Thanks for all your advice everyone. After reading through the forums and doing some research, I decided to give the SVS PB10-NSD a try. I really wanted to go with the SVS PB12 but the thing is HUGE and would limit where it could be placed in my room. I figured that, since I'm currently running an older, 100 watt Infinity BU-2, the PB10-NSD would be a considerable upgrade. Hopefully it will do a nice job otherwise, it will go back and I'll be doing this all over again. I also considered the PC12-NSD at $549.00 but really have no experience with these cylinder subs and was skeptical.

The PB12-NSD (105dB average and 96dB @ 20Hz and the Infinity SW12(107dB average and 84.5dB @ 20Hz) are fairly close in performance. But, I can not see the PB10-NSD doing as well as either of these subs and it cost more than the SW12! So, what made you decide to go with the SVS?

 

[croseiv]

The PB12-NSD (105dB average and 96dB @ 20Hz and the Infinity SW12(107dB average and 84.5dB @ 20Hz) are fairly close in performance. But, I can not see the PB10-NSD doing as well as either of these subs and it cost more than the SW12! So, what made you decide to go with the SVS?

Yeah, the PB12-NSD would be better for sure, but for more $. He did say he really wanted SVS/HSU in his OP. I mean it's an SVS!

 

[westcott]

Yeah, the PB12-NSD would be better for sure, but for more $. He did say he really wanted SVS/HSU in his OP. I mean it's an SVS!

I guess the engineer in me throws branding right out the window when I see a product that performs better for less money.

ronoz56

I do not think anyone addressed your question about subwoofer placement. There is no location that anyone can honestly tell you where to place your subwoofer. It takes trial and error with an SPL meter to properly place a subwoofer. Just stuffing it in a corner is not the right answer. Yes, you may get a few dB more through corner loading/reinforcement but it may be at the expense of a flat frequency response or a muddy bass response across the listening area. Radio Shack has a very inexpensive SPL meter that will allow you to do some testing. I see a LOT of systems out there that you can tell that no effort was made in determining what the best location is. Try the corner and slowly move it across the back or side wall. Try moving away and closer to the wall just to see what happens to the frequency response. This is a very time consuming effort but will pay off in the end with a flatter frequency response across the listening area. If you want to learn more about subwoofer placement, here is a link(s) to a site that will help you get started in the right direction.

Harman International White Papers on Speaker and Subwoofer Placement