Please recommend some subs *with line-level outputs*

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GPSpilot

Audiophyte
In the bedroom, my wife listens to her iPod through a pair of cheap amplified speakers. The highs actually don't sound too bad, but the lack of bass drives me nuts, so I want to add a powered sub.

For now, I'd want the convenience of continuing to use the same pair of amplified speakers, so obviously the sub needs to have line-level outputs. (The line-level outputs can be RCA jacks -- I can handle getting the necessary adapters.)

But it's been very tedious coming up with a list of candidates. (Often a sub's specs don't even mention whether it has line-level outputs.) So I'm coming here for advice from knowledgeable people.

Other criteria:
  • Inexpensive. If it's a discontinued model, so much the better... I'm good at getting stuff on eBay for pennies on the dollar. Something like this might be ok, but I have no idea whether that particular model sounds like junk.
  • Size can be pretty big... up to a 15" driver would be ok.
  • Like most people, I suppose, I like bass that sounds powerful but not muddy -- but it doesn't need to be super powerful. I just want to fill a bedroom with rich bass, not a whole house.
Thanks!
 
R

ratm

Audioholic
Damn, I just say your link. Your looking for realllllllly cheap.
 
BoredSysAdmin

BoredSysAdmin

Audioholic Slumlord
S

shadyJ

Speaker of the House
Staff member
GPSPilot, why not just get a Y-splitter and connect to it the sub out jack on your source?
 
G

GPSpilot

Audiophyte
shadyJ said:
GPSPilot, why not just get a Y-splitter and connect to it the sub out jack on your source?
Click to expand...
GPSpilot said:
In the bedroom, my wife listens to her iPod through a pair of cheap amplified speakers. The highs actually don't sound too bad, but the lack of bass drives me nuts, so I want to add a powered sub.
Click to expand...
The source being an iPod, there is no sub out jack. I know the iPod could be connected to a receiver with sub out, but that just seems to cross the line of how much complexity / how many gadgets we're willing to litter the bedroom with. (Someday I'll have a man cave with no limits on complexity!)
 
S

shadyJ

Speaker of the House
Staff member
It looks like you could still use a Y-splitter on the output jack of the ipod, something like this, a stereo 1/8" male to two stereo 1/8" females, then use this at one end of the y-splitter and feed those RCA tips into the sub.
 
G

GPSpilot

Audiophyte
shadyJ said:
It looks like you could still use a Y-splitter on the output jack of the ipod, something like this, a stereo 1/8" male to two stereo 1/8" females, then use this at one end of the y-splitter and feed those RCA tips into the sub.
Click to expand...
Yes I could, but the sub's crossover wouldn't filter low frequencies out of the signal going to the speakers. I.e., I wouldn't be "relieving my speakers of the burden of reproducing bass" -- something that the subwoofer manufacturers imply is vitally important and, in reality, probably helps quite a bit when your speakers are as cheesy as this pair is! :)
 
S

shadyJ

Speaker of the House
Staff member
GPSpilot said:
Yes I could, but the sub's crossover wouldn't filter low frequencies out of the signal going to the speakers. I.e., I wouldn't be "relieving my speakers of the burden of reproducing bass" -- something that the subwoofer manufacturers imply is vitally important and, in reality, probably helps quite a bit when your speakers are as cheesy as this pair is! :)
Click to expand...
What kind of speakers are you running? Many active speakers have switches on the back which can raise and lower the bass extension, so that might not be a problem if bass is being filtered out anyway. Besides, you can also get one of these fmod in-line high passs filters thingies and use it with the y-splitters. From what I have read, they aren't that precise though. If you want absolute precision about the crossover point, there is this Hsu filter, but that seems kind of pricey given your budget. Anyway, if you don't need complete accuracy, I think the fmod in-line filter would be a good solution.
 
T

twoeyedbob

Audioholic
Your going to alot of trouble in order to collect more cheap junk that ultimately ,a few weeks/months down the road
Is gonna end up in your bin/loft/basement.
Why not put the money aside and save up for something that will do the job properly,to your long term satisfaction.

Sent from my HTC Vision using Tapatalk 2
 
G

GPSpilot

Audiophyte
Line-level... no longer mandatory for this cheapskate

shadyJ said:
It looks like you could still use a Y-splitter on the output jack of the ipod, something like this, a stereo 1/8" male to two stereo 1/8" females, then use this at one end of the y-splitter and feed those RCA tips into the sub.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I've decided to drop my insistence that the sub have line-level outputs. It's simply too constraining... the subs that give the most bang-for-the-buck do not have this feature.

ratm said:
Damn, I just say your link. Your looking for realllllllly cheap.
Click to expand...
I am a cheapskate, but not quite as bad as I originally came across. Right now I'm leaning toward getting a BIC V1020. It gets down to 26 Hz, and BICs dominated this shootout. Does anybody here have experience with BICs?

Spending five grand on gear, and ending up sounding like you spent five grand on gear, is not too challenging. If you can spend one grand and it ends up sounding like you spent five grand, then you've really accomplished something. As the man said on the first album I ever played on a "grown-up stereo,"

Don't waste your money on a new set of speakers,
You get more mileage from a cheap pair of sneakers.​
 
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