I must ask, can you or someone explain why a pair of klipsch rp-280's at 1k a pair and one of those Hsu subs wouldn't be better for 2k?
Also, I feel I am pretty good at detecting distortion, not audibly of course but clipping through the amp. And, maybe I will go deaf, but I have been doing this for 20 Years and so far, so good. So about 2-3 hours a day there is enough bass to hear it 10 feet from the front window. Hell, I hear birds chirping and the nearest tree is 50 feet away. That kinds sums that up. I mean zero disrespect and am sure these polks sound like garbage now... And I think I misinterpreted my research when I first bought what I did. Oh well, it happens sometimes. At least the monitor 60s are still NIB. I have been a member of many bbs forums and never been treated so well so thank you very much. I am a 100% ht newb. Obviously.
So right now the all of the kitchen cabinets are audibly vibrating (not the actual wood, but many of the plastic contents) and it is at 23/34 on the dh550. About 50% of my listening is around here. Maybe 10% at 30-34 on the receiver. 40% less than this volume. Also, maybe for more context, a piece of expensive wood with a large 2x2 foot glass window is the loudest piece of "house distortion" in the house. It's 40 feet from the kitchen. And that's my real distortion problem! I can't put sound deadening on everything, is there a way to solve this?
Sorry I got on a tangent(that really needs answered though!) I was saying that 34 is when the psw505 stars to distort. The f12 at 35, the tsi400s at 39. F12 at 40% 505 at 55%. Crossed at 80hz, speaker size large, so I believe it is internally crossed at xxhz anyway, correct? The f12 sounds better despite the output of the 505. Looking at the spl chart for the hvu made me lol because I knew that chart... I thought it was for the echo 15. It's very impressive!
The Klipsch wouldn't be nearly as powerful. It could handle louder volumes than the Polks, but it would not be in the league of the Behringers. The Behringers are pure bang for the buck, and are using more robust drivers than the Klispch. They will stay much cleaner at louder levels. Producing bass to match their dynamic range is a much more physically demanding task, which is why I recommend two subs. Plus, localization is greatly reduced in a multi-sub setup.
One of the keys to how the Behringers can play so powerfully is that its 15" driver is not tuned to play deep bass at all, and this gives it an advantage in dynamic range. It is a mid and upper bass driver. The B215XLs actually start rolling off at 100 Hz. So to achieve a flat response, you will want to cross the subs over higher than the normal 80 Hz. The problem is, above 80 Hz, subwoofers become localizable, that is to say they draw attention to their placement; their sound becomes directional which makes for a lopsided sound stage. With two subs, placed near the Behringers and crossed over at 100 Hz, that isn't a problem. Plus, in that large space, you will want as much displacement as possible. I don't think one 15" will cut it in there for bass. And you will be running it very hard to get the SPLs you want. That means not-as-clean-sound, shorter life-span, and less efficient use of wattage. Another thing is, you get a little discount for buying two subs instead of one, so it is a better value. Lots of very good reasons to buy two subs. They also make convenient speaker stands for the Behringers, which essentially makes the Hsu/Behringers monster tower speakers instead of a sub and satellite combo.
As for distortion, amp clipping is only one way distortion is generated, and can be an easily-heard clipping. Distortion is much more common from stressed loudspeakers. If you are actually hearing distortion from your speakers or subs, that means you are running them very hard.
Yes, you can hear birds through windows, but their sound is attenuated through the windows, which is to say the windows have stopped a lot of that sound. But a window will do nothing to stop bass, unless the window is really thick.
Vibrating kitchen cabinets doesn't necessarily mean there is a lot of SPL going on. All it means is that you are hearing certain resonant frequencies. A lot of times people will brag about their new subs saying it vibrates their doors or windows or picture frames or something, but it takes relatively little SPL to vibrate things at their resonant frequencies. What you will need to do to address vibrations is to dampen things, brace things, etc. Is there a way you can make a snugger fit of that vibrating wood with some soft foam or fabric or something?
If the Polk speaker is set to large, it may still be trying for deep frequencies. It is better to set it to small, because it does not have subwoofer drivers, and it will distort pretty quickly in deep frequencies. I don't know enough about its crossover network to know what kind of high pass filter it might be using. I wouldn't assume anything.
As for the Hsus, chart, yes, those are high performing subs, and much better than your BIC or Polk subs, but don't expect competition car audio SPL levels. Those are peak burst SPL measurements taken one meter from the sub in an outdoor setting. If you are sitting 1 meter away from it, yes, you can expect that SPL in short bursts. What is so impressive about them is they maintain linearity at relatively high loudness levels, they are high-fidelity subwoofers. There are less expensive subs that can get louder, but I don't know of any subs that will stay as linear at those loudness levels for that price, which is why I recommend them so much.
