I need a new sub on a tight WA budget.

Hide sidebar Show sidebar
S

semrod

Audiophyte
I was on Ebay looking for a sub and found a company called Acoustic Audio, has any body heard of this company? I have a Polk Audio PSW12 which was fine in a small townhouse. I've bought a house since then with very high ceilings in my family room so I need a lot more power than my 125 watt sub.
 
J

jamie2112

Banned
What is your actual budget? It would be helpful in determining your sub choices. Also how big is your room ,lenth,width?
 
S

semrod

Audiophyte
My room size is 13x17 with 19' ceilings my budget is about $200 hundred dollars. My wife likes the cherry finish of my sub so I'm trying to make her happy too. Have you heard of Acoustic Audio? They have a 12 inch sub with an that supposedly pushing 400 watts rms for $200.
 
J

jamie2112

Banned
bandphan

bandphan

Banned
Are you running a sub now? Upping the budget will make a huge difference. If not look into a dayton kit, bic or acculine a sub @ 260. What are your mains?
 
lsiberian

lsiberian

Audioholic Overlord
semrod said:
I was on Ebay looking for a sub and found a company called Acoustic Audio, has any body heard of this company? I have a Polk Audio PSW12 which was fine in a small townhouse. I've bought a house since then with very high ceilings in my family room so I need a lot more power than my 125 watt sub.
Click to expand...
I must ask if you are good with wood. If so and you have the tools. A kappa build with an Infinity 12.1 driver would be doable on that budget.
 
A

allargon

Audioholic General
You don't even have to be "good" with wood. It's just a box with the most basic of joinery. The routing is the hardest part.

Anyone on a budget should look to DIY or used--period.
 
Alex2507

Alex2507

Audioholic Slumlord
I'm going to guess that your ceilings are 9', not 19'. To be perfectly honest with you I think that $200 is not enough money for anything other than another Polk sub exactly like the one you have. The DIY option and $200 doesn't get you much past a driver and a piece of sand paper. :eek::D:p

What are you suppose to drive it with, a golf club? OH !!! :eek::D:p

Seriously, I had a ~$200 sub and wanted more. Another ~ $200 for the same exact sub put me in the dual sub game and improved the low frequency response in my room. Any single sub that I would have been interested in was in the ~ $500 range, would have been considerably bulkier and still would have been a single sub. This may be the first time in the history of AH that a Polk sub has been recommended but you have to consider the source.

I'm gonna strap a helmet on my monkey in preparation for the hurled rocks. :)
 
sholling

sholling

Audioholic Ninja
If those dimensions are correct you're looking at 4200 cubic feet. That's a bunch for a budget sub. A $250 (shipped)TSC T250 would be a huge improvement but borderline at being enough. I think if that's your limit then the T250 is the way to go, and if necessary add a second down the road when money allows. But the better answer is to save up a bit longer and get a really good $550 sub like the Hsu VTF-2 MK3.
 
Nemo128

Nemo128

Audioholic Field Marshall
I say, if you have 19ft ceilings, just build a second floor. Bottom room for theater, top room for champagne room with stripper pole.
 
lsiberian

lsiberian

Audioholic Overlord
Alex2507 said:
I'm going to guess that your ceilings are 9', not 19'. To be perfectly honest with you I think that $200 is not enough money for anything other than another Polk sub exactly like the one you have. The DIY option and $200 doesn't get you much past a driver and a piece of sand paper. :eek::D:p

What are you suppose to drive it with, a golf club? OH !!! :eek::D:p

Seriously, I had a ~$200 sub and wanted more. Another ~ $200 for the same exact sub put me in the dual sub game and improved the low frequency response in my room. Any single sub that I would have been interested in was in the ~ $500 range, would have been considerably bulkier and still would have been a single sub. This may be the first time in the history of AH that a Polk sub has been recommended but you have to consider the source.

I'm gonna strap a helmet on my monkey in preparation for the hurled rocks. :)
Click to expand...
I think the golf club would be more than 200 for a good one.

A Infinity 12.1 Kappa Perfect paired with 100 dollar bash amp form p-e comes to around 180 leaving you 20 for wood, glue and wires. Easily doable if one is willing to make compromises. And I'm sure 200 is a mid budget he could afford the wood, titebond, and some wire. If he has no tools then forget about it.
 
Alex2507

Alex2507

Audioholic Slumlord
lsiberian said:
I think the golf club would be more than 200 for a good one.

A Infinity 12.1 Kappa Perfect paired with 100 dollar bash amp form p-e comes to around 180 leaving you 20 for wood, glue and wires. Easily doable if one is willing to make compromises. And I'm sure 200 is a mid budget he could afford the wood, titebond, and some wire. If he has no tools then forget about it.
Click to expand...
Buying used car subs is pretty risky. I'll take your word about the amp being $100 but find a driver with a believable warranty for $80 is a shot in the dark. Of course I know about your drivers but your functional 'test' is pretty suspect. I've bought drivers on eBay before that worked until they got warmed up and turned up. I'm just saying that it's a risk and I'm not bad mouthing you or those drivers. In fact I hope that they perform flawlessly.

$20 for wood might work with a porno magazine but it ain't gonna get you far in the building supply of a hardware store. It might cover the gas money though. Maybe spray paint. Ask some of these guys what the cash outlay is on any of the subs that they have built that are worth building and owning. I would love to hear somebody say that $200 was plenty.
 
lsiberian

lsiberian

Audioholic Overlord
Alex2507 said:
Buying used car subs is pretty risky. I'll take your word about the amp being $100 but find a driver with a believable warranty for $80 is a shot in the dark. Of course I know about your drivers but your functional 'test' is pretty suspect. I've bought drivers on eBay before that worked until they got warmed up and turned up. I'm just saying that it's a risk and I'm not bad mouthing you or those drivers. In fact I hope that they perform flawlessly.

$20 for wood might work with a porno magazine but it ain't gonna get you far in the building supply of a hardware store. It might cover the gas money though. Maybe spray paint. Ask some of these guys what the cash outlay is on any of the subs that they have built that are worth building and owning. I would love to hear somebody say that $200 was plenty.
Click to expand...
We could always turn his budget up.

If they don't work I'm not gonna keep the guys money. If something goes wrong with them. I'll refund the cost.

I have no issue buying used stuff.

Think of it this way.

If I pay half the cost for something then there has a to be a 50% failure rate for me to actually lose money on the investment. Plus some folks honor their sales.
 
lsiberian

lsiberian

Audioholic Overlord
Alex2507 said:
Buying used car subs is pretty risky. I'll take your word about the amp being $100 but find a driver with a believable warranty for $80 is a shot in the dark. Of course I know about your drivers but your functional 'test' is pretty suspect. I've bought drivers on eBay before that worked until they got warmed up and turned up. I'm just saying that it's a risk and I'm not bad mouthing you or those drivers. In fact I hope that they perform flawlessly.

$20 for wood might work with a porno magazine but it ain't gonna get you far in the building supply of a hardware store. It might cover the gas money though. Maybe spray paint. Ask some of these guys what the cash outlay is on any of the subs that they have built that are worth building and owning. I would love to hear somebody say that $200 was plenty.
Click to expand...
Are we including the 200 spent on an eq 200 on the amp. All the jigs, clamps, glues, bits, blades. New tools:D not to mention the lost sheets, fingers, eyes, and teeth. J/K on some of those.

Actually DIY is very expensive on time and money. And when you build a speaker the first time it's pretty much an experiment.

Plus there is the shipping costs, gas, food costs(you can't cook and saw at the same time. Added in the forfeited movie watching time and by the end you are cussing and saying why didn't I just buy a pair of iQ3s and an iQ2.
 
Alex2507

Alex2507

Audioholic Slumlord
lsiberian said:
If they don't work I'm not gonna keep the guys money.
Click to expand...
Are you going to eat the shipping too? Do you trust him? I don't. He's just some guy. Is your time worth nothing? Mine's not. Glad we got that cleared up.:)
 
lsiberian

lsiberian

Audioholic Overlord
Alex2507 said:
Then he ends up with 2 different subs.
Wouldn't 2 identical ones be better?
Click to expand...
Not always. Really depends on the goals. 2 of the same ones will even out better, but some use a speciality ultra-low with a specialty higher sub.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

newsletter

  • RBHsound.com
  • BlueJeansCable.com
  • SVS Sound Subwoofers
  • Experience the Martin Logan Montis

Sitemap

Sitemap

Site Information

Site Information

HTML

audio forum
  • Facebook
  • Youtube
  • Twitter
  • instagram
  • rss
Top