A quality subwoofer capable of reproducing the full range of modern movie soundtrack mixes and the amplified baselines of percussion and synth music, is a the FOUNDATION for appreciating the artists original intent. And worth a long term "investment"!
A good subwoofer will last a long time and provide a great deal more depth to reproduce the carefully created sonic sound stages that already exists on much of our current music and soundtracks.
Finding speakers that can reproduces all these frequencies, with a certain level of accuracy, is worth spending a bit more money on.
Since the most expensive drivers and largest "boxes", as well as most of the amplifier power is required for playback of the lowest frequencies, it's obvious that good equipment won't be cheap.
Ideally you should be listening to these speakers, before you buy them to directly experience, what spending more or less money will mean in terms of sonics. Learning what to listen for is also lost when one goes buy recommendations from others. If you get a chance, try to listen to the best subwoofers, and those slightly above your price range, just to get some perspective on how the better stuff sounds, and if it's even worth any gains.
I'd recommend getting higher quality subwoofers. You may not need speakers that go low and play loud, like in a very large room or studio sound stage.
A good subwoofer should last a very long time, if not overdriven, especially by an underpowered amp, or abused. It should continue providing great clean bass and more enjoyment spread over many years.
Despite all the sophisticated digital equipment and digital storage media, used in recording today, subwoofers and most other playback speakers are the same basic desig... a 100% analog motor, made from wire coils sliding around a magnet, pushing a piece of paper back and forth, in a box, just like the bass reflex speakers from 1930! Were just a lot luckier with our "state of the art" than they were
Anyway, buy a good sub, that is well recommended, and I would vote for a subwoofer that is smaller, sealed and more accurate if the choice is with a cheaper sub that is open and less accurate and boomier.
A big speaker in a sealed box, with a big amp would be ideal, but that might cost more. Generally a sealed box is more accurate but has less sound output, which is preferable where a well defined bass sound is appreciated, like music use.
Much of the loudness from a cheaper subwoofer design, can be distortion, since these sonic byproducts/distortion is the range more audible than original low frequencies, which start to be felt, at very low frequencies, more than directly heard. Without training or knowing how the original music version sounded, one might think a more accurate subwoofer was puting out less sound, when it just is not putting out the high distortion we are used to hearing.
These are just generalities, since good subwoofers come in all shapes and designs and prices.
Try looking at what the professionals use, the people who actually make the original recordings of movies and music that we listen to...then copy it with a scaled down version. It's fun to look anyway...
http://www.mkprofessional.com/studio_installations0.htm
The Logic Behind Bass Managmenthe Logic Behind Bass Management
O B S E R V A T I O N S **by **Ken Kreisel
http://www.mkprofessional.com/bass_mgmt.htm
Also, at low frequencies, the room becomes part of the subwoofer system. My 15 inch, 400 watt sub, just makes my old wooden house vibrate more, obscuring a nice tight, low end. If I had a cement floor and heavier walls, the sound would be very different. Kind of like the guy with his super car stereo turned up so high, that every part of his car, that can vibrate, is making some kind of noise
One thing that the 15 inch sub does better, than the 12 inch 100watt sub, is shake the couch and walls more when "the spaceships" are fighting etc.... along with shaking everything else not bolted down!
If you crank up bass heavy music, a bigger sub, with a bigger amp, can probably play louder and longer without over heating, where smaller subwoofer's amp can get very hot, when pushed hard...say playing a heavy metal concert DVD! Lots of cooling fins on the backs of subs with internal amps, are useful!
-
Dave
