Which sub should I go with for a dorm setup?

[crypticph]

I'm looking for a subwoofer to go with my dorm room setup of a pair of Athena AS-B2.2s powered by a Sherwood stereo receiver. There is no sub/LFE out on the receiver, so I'm expecting to hook it up through the existing speaker outs. So far I've been looking at the Energy ESW-8 and the Polk PSW10. Any opinions on either model? Or new suggestions? Also any advice on configuration/low pass settings would be appreciated.

 

[bandphan]

if your budget is low, which im assuming based on your selections so far...
the Dayton is an excellent value to performance sub.

 

[Exit]

Being in a dorm room, I would not get a subwoofer that goes much below your main speakers in frequency response. In this case it probably wouldn’t be worthwhile to get a subwoofer at all right now. If you get a low frequency response subwoofer (i.e. down to 20 Hz or lower), the bass will go through the walls, ceiling and floor and you will probably get complaints from your neighbors and have to keep it barely audible, which is no fun. Other Audioholics live in dorms and apartments and maybe they can best advise you on subwoofer candidates for your dorm.

 

[phlakvest]

What price range are you looking at?

My roomate in college had a dayton 10". We only ran into a few complaints of it being too loud.
It gets my thumbs up for dormroom applications.

 

[WINGNUT4772]

Being in a dorm room, I would not get a subwoofer that goes much below your main speakers in frequency response. In this case it probably wouldn’t be worthwhile to get a subwoofer at all right now. If you get a low frequency response subwoofer (i.e. down to 20 Hz or lower), the bass will go through the walls, ceiling and floor and you will probably get complaints from your neighbors and have to keep it barely audible, which is no fun. Other Audioholics live in dorms and apartments and maybe they can best advise you on subwoofer candidates for your dorm.

+++++++++1

 

[skers_54]

I had a 12" sub in my dorm room and I only got a couple complaints. It really depends on how receptive your floor and RA are to loud music. Actually, the people who were affected most were those living directly below me. My dorm had concrete floors, so there was significant structure-born resonance that rattled the cheap ceiling-mounted lights. So, if you have anal neighbors, it might be more trouble than its worth.

From a sound quality perspective, dorm rooms are about as bad as you can get. Limited placement options and highly reflective surfaces. You should take some time and figure out placement options before you purchase. Lofted beds give you a lot more flexibility. If you level-match your sub and keep the volume sane (especially at night and during finals) you shouldn't have too many problems. Keep in mind that not everyone agrees what volume is reasonable, especially if you don't know them well.

 

[crypticph]

Thanks for the input guys. I'm usually not one to blast music, and I have several neighbors that I would bet get more complaints than I ever will. I also agree that dorms are very limited for sound equipment, but I'm a senior so this is a future investment as well.

 

[skers_54]

Thanks for the input guys. I'm usually not one to blast music, and I have several neighbors that I would bet get more complaints than I ever will. I also agree that dorms are very limited for sound equipment, but I'm a senior so this is a future investment as well.

In that case, I'd suggest getting something larger than an 8" since the place you move into after graduation will probably be bigger. The Dayton Bandphan recommended should cover that. Obviously, you can spend more and get better, but it's the leader in its price class. If you don't mind used, check out Audiogon for some good deals. This one's a pretty good performer for a small sub.

http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?homesubw&1232153386&/Energy-S8.3