Room size!

[ericb1975]

Hey guy’s i’m shopping for subs (svs probably) but should i mesure the full basement sq footage or mainly the listening area? Full open space is 30 x 24 x8 and tv area is 15 x13x8 . I have a bar so the pb16 is out
Don’t want all my liquor on the floor

 

[ryanosaur]

You want to look at total open room volume.
On my phone right now, but do a quick search on Bassaholic Room Size, you should find the article that discusses it.

 

[ericb1975]

You want to look at total open room volume.
On my phone right now, but do a quick search on Bassaholic Room Size, you should find the article that discusses it.

Makes a big difference on what size/power i need

 

[Pogre]

A bar means no PB16 Utra..? How does that math work? Lol

You want to look at total open room volume.
On my phone right now, but do a quick search on Bassaholic Room Size, you should find the article that discusses it.

Bassaholic Subwoofer Room Size Rating Protocol

This article outlines our test procedure in determining a subwoofers room size recommendation based on its max CEA SPL output while making room size and subwoofer distance assumptions.

www.audioholics.com

From the looks of it you have a pretty large room. You're gonna want some good subwoofage. I'd recommend a pair, but you can get away with one using careful placement.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

It’s interesting indeed. You definitely need to consider overall room size. Especially if you want to pressure the space, which in a room like that will take a LOT of money. So unless you have unlimited budget, get two of the best subs you can afford and place them in the room to get the best frequency response. Being in a basement with all that concrete will eat bass and tactile response for lunch. So imo I would corner load them and hope audyssey(or ypao or rew/umik/minidsp) can give a nice response. Audyssey xt32 with subHt is pretty good about that by itself usually. If the room was suspended, or smaller etc, you could very likely get better results by trying mid wall placements, or asymmetrical placements. @ryanosaur will no doubt share some good info about that. The point of all that is it’s up to the room how bass will behave. You just have to figure out how to use the room against itself to give you the best results.

 

[ryanosaur]

OK... back on my computer now.
In reverse order:
Power is not a spec you need to pay attention to. As the Sub Driver is not usually discussed in terms of Raw Driver performance, you have no idea the sensitivity of the Driver, therefore no way of understanding the power requirement to get it to hit the SPL necessary for reproducing a movie soundtrack.

Size is important. There is no replacement for displacement... that is the air that the Subwoofer is capable of moving. And yes, a larger space indicates that you would want the ability to move more air.
That said, you don't necessarily have to pressurize the whole space: you can target your immediate listening area, but you can only do so, well, with the understanding that the whole room will still impact performance in the smaller area.

A PB16 Ultra will not knock your liquor off the shelf. A well designed Subwoofer with clean, linear Bass reproduction is much less likely to cause rattles than with a poorly designed Sub or one that is being driven too hard and is distorting. This is not to say that you will not hear some things moving around, but this is not something you need to worry about unless you get into DIY Subs and build yourself a few Devastators.

 

[ericb1975]

my bar is directly facing my listening area so a pb16 ultra will shake those bottles of the shelfs plus the sheer size of those things!!!

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

my bar is directly facing my listening area so a pb16 ultra will shake those bottles of the shelfs plus the sheer size of those things!!!

Well imo, a single pb ultra in a concrete bunker like that might rattle them a little, but won’t knock them off. Maybe a pair of fv18’s!
Or a couple of diy devs that ryan mentioned. My friend added a couple of those to his HT. Pretty amazing.

 

[Pogre]

my bar is directly facing my listening area so a pb16 ultra will shake those bottles of the shelfs plus the sheer size of those things!!!

If your shaking bottles off the shelf then you either have it turned up to dangerous levels or you set it up wrong.

Getting the right sub(s) is half the battle. Proper placement and setup is the other half, and equally as important if you want good clean linear bass, and that's what it's about. Not rattling the walls (or your liquor), unless you get silly with it.

 

[ryanosaur]

my bar is directly facing my listening area so a pb16 ultra will shake those bottles of the shelfs

once again. no.

plus the sheer size of those things!!!

Yes. They are big, heavy, and quite arguably overbuilt to a fault. But they are good Subs.

If you want to learn about Subwoofers, then open your mind and learn. If you want to insist that your bar is going to topple, my only question is:
Did you build it out of old cobblestones and twisted 2x4s"

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Also, nearfield placement can make up for TR loss on concrete.

 

[ericb1975]

once again. no.


Yes. They are big, heavy, and quite arguably overbuilt to a fault. But they are good Subs.

If you want to learn about Subwoofers, then open your mind and learn. If you want to insist that your bar is going to topple, my only question is:
Did you build it out of old cobblestones and twisted 2x4s"

lol no

 

[ericb1975]

Thanks alot guy’s, for sure dual pb16 would be great but i won’t be able to enjoy them when my wife kills me ‍. Here in Canada, they go for like $3300 each

 

[Pogre]

Thanks alot guy’s, for sure dual pb16 would be great but i won’t be able to enjoy them when my wife kills me ‍♂. Here in Canada, they go for like $3300 each

There are other options too. Paradigm make some very competent subs and bang for buck they're not as expensive as SVS. I'm not sure what the pricing for Rythmik is like in Canadia, but they're another really solid brand. Monoprice's Monolith subs are very good also.

 

[ryanosaur]

in Canada

This limits your options...
Hsu and Rythmik become prohibitively expensive.

Perhaps Monoprice Monolith 15s? SVS PB 3000 or the PB/PC 4000. Paradigm Defiance x-15 gets some props.
Frankly if you can get them at a reasonable cost, I would look hard at the Monolith 15s.

 

[ryanosaur]

There are other options too. Paradigm make some very competent subs and bang for buck they're not as expensive as SVS. I'm not sure what the pricing for Rythmik is like in Canadia, but they're another really solid brand. Monoprice's Monolith subs are very good also.

jinx
Rythmik is a b!tch for shipping out of country. Just like Hsu.

 

[Pogre]

I think this bad boy can hang with the PB16 for a fraction of the price.

Products no longer Available

 

[Pogre]

This limits your options...
Hsu and Rythmik become prohibitively expensive.

Perhaps Monoprice Monolith 15s? SVS PB 3000 or the PB/PC 4000. Paradigm Defiance x-15 gets some props.
Frankly if you can get them at a reasonable cost, I would look hard at the Monolith 15s.

Jinx again! Ha ha! Great minds... lol.

Yes, I think the Mono 15 one serious subwoofer. A pair of those will fill a big room.

 

[ryanosaur]

If I weren't building my 15s soon and were returning to the market to buy Subs, I think the Monoliths would be the way I go.
I don't know if they are just sold out, but Outlaw does not seem to have X13s available right now. Sad: these are great Subs! I hope they get it back together soon. *fingers vrossed

Planning on scoring some MDF in the next couple days to build my sealed test cabinet... perhaps this weekend? I still don't have an Amp, but I can get the basic construction done. I plan on testing that and the ported build against each other before I choose which I want. Then will use Baltic Birch Plywood for the real builds.
MDF is still significantly less expensive than BB.

 

[Pogre]

If I weren't building my 15s soon and were returning to the market to buy Subs, I think the Monoliths would be the way I go.
I don't know if they are just sold out, but Outlaw does not seem to have X13s available right now. Sad: these are great Subs! I hope they get it back together soon. *fingers vrossed

Planning on scoring some MDF in the next couple days to build my sealed test cabinet... perhaps this weekend? I still don't have an Amp, but I can get the basic construction done. I plan on testing that and the ported build against each other before I choose which I want. Then will use Baltic Birch Plywood for the real builds.
MDF is still significantly less expensive than BB.

If I were starting over I just might go with Monolith over HSU. Those Mono subs look really heavy and overbuilt, and damnit, I just like how they look! If I was in Canadia and HSU isn't an option then a pair of Mono 15s would be at the top of my list, that is if the shipping doesn't kill it.