What's a good replacement for my beloved Energy C-6s? (1 Viewer)

[Mike Up]

I had a velodyne 1215 for a few years back in the day. 12" front firing with a 15" down-firing passive radiator. It was a pretty nice little sub at the time. I went through a ton more after that including making a few, but that was a nice one for what it was.

Yes for sure. My Velodyne CT-100 was considered the bargain of the year back in the late 90s. It could actually dip down in the high 20s. That was unheard of as most big name subs were only doing mid to high 30s in it's price range.

Things are better now as even a budget priced subwoofer as my Klipsch R-120sw outperformed the old Velodyne with more punch, less muddy bass for music, and the same if not better low bass peformance. I paid $300 for the Velodyne CT-100 back in the late 90s and I paid $300 for the Klipsch R-120sw over 20 years later. For what it's worth, the $500 I paid for my SVS would had cost over $1000 back in the day for the same performance. That's $1000 in late 90s money is equivalent to over $1,800 today.

 

[Sam Posten]

I wanted the lowest extension to sub bass for the money when I bought my VTF-15h, loudness wasn’t the spec I wanted. Looking at the SVS line I’ll note that between the 16” the ported is $600 more and is capable of reaching 13hz where the sealed is rated to 16.

Maybe it’s only important for a few recordings like Saintsaens’s but It’s not as black and white as you want to make it to be.

I think I could be happy with either of them based on my experience with my other SVS subs but I’m not running out to replace any time sooon

 

[JohnRice]

I wanted the lowest extension to sub bass for the money when I bought my VTF-15h, loudness wasn’t the spec I wanted. Looking at the SVS line I’ll note that between the 16” the ported is $600 more and is capable of reaching 13hz where the sealed is rated to 16.

Maybe it’s only important for a few recordings like Saintsaens’s but It’s not as black and white as you want to make it to be.

I think I could be happy with either of them based on my experience with my other SVS subs but I’m not running out to replace any time sooon

You will always get the most bang for your buck with ported subs. I've really tried to emphasize that point. Hsu is the perfect example of that. They offer the greatest value in subs that I know of. PowerSound also used to, but their prices have gone up significantly in the last 4-5 years.

My frustration is that even for people and situations where sealed should be seriously considered, due to their compact size for example, most of the time I find they flatly refuse to even give it a thought. Quoting that single solitary aspect, as though that's the only factor to a subwoofer.

 

[Clinton McClure]

For over two years I've been trying to encourage people to simply consider a sealed model when they are looking for a new sub in the higher end. Four out of five times, they abjectly refuse to even give it a possibility, quoting the "output" line, and often actually getting rather outraged by it even being suggested.

Truth! When I went from a ported 12” sub with an enormous enclosure (that was loud… not good, just loud) to a sealed Paradigm Servo-15 v1 over 20 years ago, I decided that I’d never go back to ported subs. They are usually louder at the same price point as comparable sealed subs, however, the port chuffing is annoying and they don’t sound nearly as good as powerful, well designed and built sealed subs.

In the end, it’s a question of price vs performance. Do you want something cheap and loud, or something expensive that is a little quieter but actually sounds good? There are markets for both. I was once in the former and now I’m in the latter.

If I had my HT set up today and had the disposable income, I would, without hesitation, replace my Servo-15 with dual SVS SB16-Ultras.