Spending $500 on a sub, right direction?

[bmccord]

Hello all, I am farely new into the upper end of home theater. I am finally to the point in my life where I can justify spending some decent money on a home theater system. I am somewhat of a Yamaha fan and I know that seems to be a topic in tepid waters...My system consists of a Yamaha HTR-5990 receiver, NS-777 fronts, NS-555 side and rear surround (overkill but they look fabulious), NS-444 center and NS-333 presence. I am looking for a sub that will fill an 18'x24' theater room. I have heard the SW-1500 in person and it is a pretty mean piece for the money. My question is this, is there something better than it for the money or is the YS-1500 about as brute and loud as they come for the money (and I know that is not exactly a good thing). I searced around for a bit and thought I would post a quick question.

Thanks in advance.

Brett
ZCBR

 

[krzywica]

This might ring your bell

SVS makes some of the most earth shaking stuff out there. Also check out HSU!!!!!!!!!


http://www.svsubwoofers.com/subs_pb10_isd.htm

 

[hadalgo]

infinite baffled sub

personally id look into an infinite baffled sub... i was asking the same question not long ago, and after doing some research found the website called "cult of the infinitely baffled", if you have the ability to build an enclosure, you cant beat the performance with your 500 bucks..

james

 

[furrycute]

Since you have an all Yamaha system, why not go with the Yamaha sub? Yamaha makes some pretty impressive stuff.

My whole system is almost all Yamaha (the NS777's weren't on sale when I was shopping for speakers, otherwise I would have bought them).

 

[j_garcia]

IMO, as a former owner, Yamaha's subs don't quite cut the mustard. SVS and HSU are solid recommendations, especially at your price point. When it comes to subs, the internet direct companies are nearly impossible to beat, and you really can't go wrong with them.

The Athena AS-P400 is on sale at Amazon right now for $200: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002H4YQW/104-3656685-8001511?v=glance&n=172282&_encoding=UTF8&v=glance.

 

[MacManNM]

The performance you are going to get from a $500 sub isn't much more than what you are going to get out of a $2-300 unit. If $500 is your upper limit, I would go with the Acoustech H-100 sub or maybe even a Cadence XSUB. For 500 you can get 2 of each of them. If you can jump up in price a bit I would go with an SVS or HSU.

 

[jcPanny]

Low end SVS and HSU performance

At less than $500, the 10" SVS sub will produce LFE in the 20 Hz range. I don't know of any other products in that price range that come close. The 10" HSU doesn't go as low but is praised for fast, musical base.
While these subs won't knock you over with LFE, I wouldn't put them in the same quality or performance category as the cadence and other budget subs. Any SVS or HSU sub will also outperform the Yamaha in question.

 

[MacManNM]

At less than $500, the 10" SVS sub will produce LFE in the 20 Hz range. I don't know of any other products in that price range that come close. The 10" HSU doesn't go as low but is praised for fast, musical base.
While these subs won't knock you over with LFE, I wouldn't put them in the same quality or performance category as the cadence and other budget subs. Any SVS or HSU sub will also outperform the Yamaha in question.

Measurements made on the AVS forum tell a different story. You can do a search on the XSUB if you wish. The Acoustech sub was designed by Dr Hsu, and performs very well in it's price class. All I'm saying is that for a factor of 2 in price you aren't getting anywhere near that in performance from the more expensive units

 

[fergusonv]

It's all about trade offs and what you will be using the sub for. SVS subs are tuned very low at the expense of overal spl above 30hz. If your into music it might not be the best option. If your into HT, they are hard to beat for the money.

 

[chefboyrlee]

i am also looking for a sub in the $500 range. how do the svs and hsu subs compare against the dayton titanic kit?

the 12" kit is priced at $536.70
http://www.*****************/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=300-762

and the 10" kit is priced at $349.80
http://www.*****************/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=300-760

 

[j_garcia]

I've owned the HSU VTF-2 an compared it directly to the SVS PB-10. The VTF-2 is tuned higher and is very good for music, but the PB-10 doesn't give much up to it. The PB-10 clearly extended lower than the VTF-2.

If your into music it might not be the best option. If your into HT, they are hard to beat for the money.

I don't know what you are basing your comment on, because the PB-10 has one of the flattest response curves under $500, and as was mentioned, I believe is one of few, if not the only sub under $500 that have that much output at 20Hz. I can say for sure that it is equally at home with music as with movies.

 

[fergusonv]

I am making no arguement that for 500 dollars the SVS will get you the best low end extension. As you yourself said the HSU seemed to be slightly better for music indicating there are better options if music is a priority. My point is that the SVS sacrifices output above 30hz to get the output around 20hz that makes them so popular. SVS makes some of the best subs available at thier price points and this can not be argued but there are subs that will perform better above 30hz with more output for the same amount of money.

 

[bmccord]

Damn, thanks for all the posts. Just out of curiosity, i borrowed a buddies SW315 and hooked it up and I need WAYYYYY more than that. The NS777 make almost as much noise and you can hardly hear that sub filling in what they cant get. I am looking into SVS and HSu. THanks all.

 

[Sheep]

Jees, I don't know what's left to say.

If your looking for extention, and output, the PB-10 is the only thing I can think of in the $500 range. The STF 2 and 3 are also highly regarded. Jaxvon likes his STF-1 and RJbudz has some experience with it but I don't know how it would fare in a room that large. I recommend nothing less then a PB-10 or STF-2.

Sheep

 

[furrycute]

The NS777 already has two 8inch woofers in each tower. So a 10inch sub is not going to cut it. Even 12inch might not have enough output to match these towers. Ever thought of a 15inch inch sub? That might just be what you need.

 

[Sheep]

The NS777 already has two 8inch woofers in each tower. So a 10inch sub is not going to cut it. Even 12inch might not have enough output to match these towers. Ever thought of a 15inch inch sub? That might just be what you need.

Just because it has 2 8inch subs per tower, doesn't mean is the equivilent of 4 8inch subwoofers. Those towers go to 35hz at -10dB, if they are keeping with yamaha subwoofer specs. An 8inch subwoofer will make a difference, a 10 and 12 even more. Besides, you run the bass to the subwoofer anyway... or aleast you should.

Sheep

 

[bmccord]

exactly, the NS777 are rediculously loud, but they do not dip that low into the frequency area (and the receiver will not even sent that low of a frequency to that channel). I thought of a 15, but that is way more money than I want to spend. However I may just need to. In short, I just need something that will be loud enough to hold its own with those towers and not sound like the voice-coil wants to eat itself

 

[ducker]

The NS777 already has two 8inch woofers in each tower. So a 10inch sub is not going to cut it. Even 12inch might not have enough output to match these towers. Ever thought of a 15inch inch sub? That might just be what you need.

it's not ALL about size...

 

[mulester7]

it's not ALL about size...

.....I'll say this....if you've noticed, 12 inch subwoofer elements, is where the research has been for at least a double handful of years....lots of makers still offer 15's for the die-hards, but 12 inch elements sound better as to simple extension of the main's regiment down, thinking clean, in modern applications, imo....(sense incoming spear from a 15 owner soon)......

 

[df4801]

for slightly more ($579 incl. shipping), you may want to consider the velodyne DLS5000 15" sub. Its a bigger sub (over 80lbs) that may fill your large room better.