DIY guys are ok but not guys that are talking about other manufacturers.......
Sigh. Let me break it down for you.
In the subwoofer purchaser's world, there are many types of purchasers. A few include
1) Unaware people who think bose is best
2) People who get which subwoofer is in the same line as the speakers they bought in a home theater package
3) People who go to Hi Fi shops to listen to subs. They may also read reviews in Hi Fi magazines telling them REL makes the best subs.
4) People who want to maximize the raw performance they get for their money
5) People who want to maximize what they can... but they need a tiny little thing so their wife approves.
6) People who don't quite know what they want, but are flexible.
Are you still following me? If you're not please let me know. Now which category, if one of the above, you fall into, I won't say nor do I really know. I know that most people who visit Audioholics forum asking for advice are usually 4, 5, or 6. The occasional 2 and 3 come here as well, but won't ask for much advice. The 1... thinks bose is best. EIther way, many factors weigh in on their opinions of subwoofers.
In the subwoofer world, there are three types of subs.
1) DIY subs. Financially, after a certainly low end threshold is met (IE below $500 or so) these quickly start to become the best way to maximize your performance for your money. Avaiable OEM sub driver brands include Infinity, JL Audio, Acoustic Elegance, Seas, Peerless, Exodus, CSS, TC sounds, Soundsplinter, Re Audio, Fi Car Audio, and many others. The designer can then do his own design work and really maximize the performance of a sub. Unlike a speaker design, a subwoofer design is very simple and the assembly is really the hard part. If someone is comfortable going DIY, they're literally saving about 70-80% of what they would be paying in a Hi Fi shop. Not everyone is comfortable going DIY, but even then, there's some cabinet makers that can handle the DIY part for you for a cost, and you still get an opportunity to make subs with some of the best drivers and amplification you can get. In that general territory you're usually talking $2000 or above spent.
2) Internet Direct sub brands. These also present an excellent value. For starters, there's no actual work involved. You order it and you get a product. Some of these subs are among the best out there.. yet are a fraction the cost of what you would pay in a Hi Fi shop! A given internet direct sub may only cost $2000 but would handily run with most brick and mortar subs right up to $8-20,000. The business model is one of profitting off of giving people a lot in return for word-of-mouth. Emotiva, Seaton Sound, HSU, SVS, Funkywaves, Rythmik, JTR, and Epik among other will spend relatively little on dealer overheads, marketing, etc. What they'll give you is just great subs. These are the types of subs most discussed on this forum. Above persons 4 and 6, and often 5, want to discuss these brands because they pertain to their motives.
3) Finally we've got Brick and Mortar sub brands. They can be extremely well-engineered, well designed, well-finished, whatever you want to say. But they'll never be worth what you pay for them on a relative scale. For some reason or another it's just the reality of things. Sure, on the extremely low end I can pick up a nice little Infinity 12" sub or something along those lines, but the reality is that persons 2, 3, and 5 are the ones being targetted with these products. These people end up paying huge amounts of money for whatever reason on generally laughable end results. 8" subs with passive radiators and sealed servo boxes with a ton of amplification rule the roost here. It's just plain expensive. We know it is, and we don't really bother with them. they have their market, and we leave it at that - that doesn't mean we hate or disrespect these subs either - just that for what you pay you could have like four internet direct subs each with comparable performance. These include Velodyne, JL Audio, Revel, Paradigm, RBH, Sunfire, REL, PMC, B&W, Focal, Phase Tech and countless others. There's no doubt that good engineering drives most of those brands if not all B&M brands but the reality is that none of them are ever worth what you're paying compared to the above two options.
There's also one last niche..
Internet direct speaker companies that also make what are probably mediocre subs". These probably include such favorite Audioholics gbrands as Axiom, EMP, Aperion, and Salk. Their main target is "2" above - the person who wants the "matching sub" and doesn't put much thought into it. We don't put much thought into these subs either.
So back to the question "Can we suggest other manufacturers in this thread".
Sure. Just put into perspective what will help the topic creator for the money that person has and don't just let "what you own" dictate everything. You may own a paradigm Sub12, and it may be a fine sub, but few people here would seriously think it would win over the HSU in most categories except perhaps "coupling to a room". Hell, I don't think people here would purchase the HSU ULS-15 over the VTF-15. Personally, I like to help people save money - and I may recommend they change their mind from what they initially had in mind. That doesn't mean my goal is to prance around about DIY subs. If someone's got $300 then they probably won't save much money going DIY. If someone's got $2000 on the other hand they will save upwards of double digit money going DIY and get possibly better performance.
For $2000 I can buy one of the better drivers in the world ($800 TC Sounds LMS-Ultra), a high end Pro amplifier, and fund the small stuff IE EQ, Wood, supplies).
For $2000 I can buy a pretty good internet direct sub (Seaton Submersive, Funkywaves 15.2, or SVS PB13 Ultra, two rythmik F15s, two HSU VTF-15s)
In a Hi Fi shop for $2000 I can get a good 12" sub if the dealer gives me a good deal.
