I am looking for a decent sub for a mid sized room around the $200-300 range. Currently I am considering the HSU STF-1 for $299, but I must confess I am not too crazy about the looks. I am planning to use it as replacement for computer speaker so magnetic shielding would be a good idea, though not absolutely necessary.
Currently, most HSU Research subwoofers are shielded, although extreme proximity of a subwoofer to a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) television may produce streaks of colors. More and more TVs are not sensitive to magnetic fields, so this gets to be less and less of an issue. If you have a plasma, LCD, or DLP based TV, you do not have to worry about magnetic shielding.
It is relatively easy to connect a HSU subwoofer to certain computer sound cards. These sound cards have a dedicated subwoofer output. Without a subwoofer output on the card, it is still possible to hook up a VTF or STF-3 subwoofer, since these subwoofers have stereo inputs. Use a Radio Shack splitter/adapter (one 1/8-inch stereo male to two 1/8-inch stereo female). Take the stereo 1/8-inch output from the computer sound card. Then feed one set to the computer speakers and another to the subwoofer using an adapter (1/8-inch stereo male to two RCA male). Please be aware that connecting a HSU Research subwoofer to computer speakers (as opposed to computer sound cards) may be impossible.
