ScottCHI
Screenwriter
- Joined
- Feb 21, 2004
- Messages
- 1,292
well, i'll try to make this long, tortuous story as short as possible.
my most recent ht buying spree started in january with a subwoofer purchase. i won't name the manufacturer, but if you look back at some of my older posts, you can figure it out. why i bought this particular brand has to do with some very positive impressions i had always had about a friend's set-up of this same brand (albeit he had relatively hi-end components pushing them). initially, i thought i might be eventually buying a whole set-up of this same brand. anyway, a few weeks after purchasing the subwoofer at one of the usual local retail outlets, a receiver that i was interested in (which i have also since upgraded, hehe) went on sale there, too. when i went in to pick-up the receiver, i took home a pair of the same brand speakers as my sub, to listen to. frankly, even though they sounded good, they didn't sound great to me, nor did they sound "different" enough from the polk rt1000 towers, that i had had for years, to warrant me getting them. (no surprise, really, as they sorta share a common "lineage".) so i took them back. and just to force myself to listen to something completely different, i took home a pair of klipsch's (the 6.5" towers), since they do have a sound that i consider to be different from the polk's sound. (btw, the polks are great speakers, and have served me very well for years; it's was just time for a change.) i never seriously intended to get the klipsch's, but i wanted to use them as an audio "palette cleanser", if that makes any sense. a fresh and different perspective, so to speak. and even though i did actually like something about the sound of the klipsch's, there was something i didn't like, so i took them back, also, fully expecting to not be able to satisfy my speaker needs at this particular retail outlet. well, a salesperson (who i have since thanked many times) overheard me telling this story to anther sales rep and suggested i listen to the KEF Q-series; speakers that i had just not been considering, for whatever reasons. so i took a pair of KEF Q5s home, listened, and loved them; went back and got the matching center and surrounds the next day.
now, since this is about my subwoofer travails, and not an advertisment for my speakers, that's about all i'm going to say about my main, center, and surround purchase, except that now, in retrospect (and hindsight IS truly 20/20), the sub i had initially purchased is what was actually ruining my sound and causing me to later question these KEF speakers, after listening to my system for a few more days. my subwoofer, i soon painfully learned, was NOT a very musical sub at all, something i absolutely require. and it wasn't really that great at movies, either; it's output became weak below 35Hz and disappeared completely below 30Hz. so, i listened to my speakers without the sub for a week and i came to the realization that the subwoofer was a mistake and needed remedying. it had been about 90 days, so i was in a bit of a pickle as far as returning it. the dealer agreed to take it back as an exchange, though. i knew i could try and sell it on ebay or audiogon, but if the dealer would take it back from me, and they had a sub i would be happier with, i wanted to try and go that easy route. i had already decided that i was willing to "eat" the sub, though, if i had to; i just wanted out of "bad bassville". well, armed with all the learning i've done here at htf in the past couple of months, i whittled their subwoofer selection down to only two subs that i would even consider, based on their specs. but i was still quite wary of them. the online bottom-feeders that get all the praise online here and elsewhere had really piqued my attention, as i knew, just from their huge, enthusiastic, and knowledgeable fan-bases, they've got to be great performers. i had even been in "very-promptly-and-professionally-answered" email contact with one of the usual suspects, and was seriously considering getting one of their products.
now, lets back up a moment; about 12-14 years, actually. i first got a pro-logic receiver years ago, in the very early 90's, when they were the "in" thing, and it was mostly all that the big retailers had begun to sell, anyway (just like dd/dts is, now). being really into music, i did not get it for ht, but considered ht to be a "bonus" feature that i got with the receiver, and i used some old bookshelves as rear speakers and ran a phantom center channel for several years, until i purchased the polk towers 8-10 years ago, and got a free center channel speaker (although puny) with that purchase. but i still continued to use the old bookshelves as my surrounds, and they worked fine until very recently, when this whole saga began. at any rate, having relatively "rinky-dink" center and surrounds never really bothered me, as i listened to music far more than i ever watched movies and tv. about a year ago i had to replace the old pro-logic receiver (with a dd/dts one, of course) but since i was still living in apartments at the time, and was probably about to be moving across the country, i decided to hold off on getting a subwoofer, enjoy dd/dts without it, and continue to happily use my piecemeal setup. well, i did relocate, and once settled in, i decided it was time to get the subwoofer, which brings us to where this starts.
now, mind you, one thing that has become even more glaringly apparent throughout this ordeal, even though i already knew it, for the most part, is that i am NOT that much of a ht buff. i like music. lots of it. i really don't watch that many movies and when i do they're usually not the kind that really benefit the most from a ht setup. so i was never so concerned that all my speakers didn't match perfectly for ht, i just wanted some decent front speakers. and, of course, eventually, i always wanted a subwoofer. like i said, watching an occassional movie in surround was just a "bonus" feature to me, with music overwhelmingly being my primary use for my system. i realize that this is not the case with many of you. but that's me and my particular system needs. so, after getting to know my all-new speakers and sub, i began to really dislike my subwoofer for music, and actually thought i had made an incorrect purchase on the speakers, as well. with music (and my money!) being extremely important to me, i was literally loosing sleep over my bass dilemma. if any of you have read some of my other posts, you may have indeed seen me struggling with my system's sound.
so, anyway, i read and researched the sub offerings that the local retailer had, that i was willing to consider. it turns out they're considered to be awesome subs, only slightly bested by the most monsterous of the bottom-feeders, and are considered to be some of the best subs for "music listening". hmmmm, interesting. having told you of my music versus ht needs sounds like something i should consider, no? so i went in a few days ago to have a listen, and was able to listen in a relatively decent ht listening room, off to the side, and was quite impressed with the 15" offering. it was very pretty, too. but very expensive. too expensive. for what it was going to cost me above the subwoofer i was returning, i could get any number of the usual beasts that are raved about here. in fact, 2 of some models, even! so, i backed-off and let it simmer a few days. in the meantime, i read some more very favorable stuff about this subwoofer and decided that it might, indeed, be for me. so i went and obnoxiously bothered the dealer yesterday for a couple of hours until i got them to come down on the price (fairly considerably for a retail outlet, but still too expensive, damnit), rushed home to pack-up the "old" sub, and traded it in, with a considerable additional contribution, on the new one.
i absolutely love it. it sounds so so smooth with all my different music it almost makes me giddy. i know that i never heard any of the other oft-sited heavyweights, and perhaps if i did, i would join the legions that yearn for an SVS or HSU. but right now, for the time being, i'm in bass bliss. and my KEFs, which i had begun to have reservations about, sound incredible again; the way they did when they first caught my attention. after listening for hours last night, i slept so soundly that i can already tell the additional expense is going to be worth it.
SO, WHAT SUBWOOFER DO YOU THINK I ENDED UP WITH?
EDIT: ugh, sorry if you had to read this the way i initially posted it
my most recent ht buying spree started in january with a subwoofer purchase. i won't name the manufacturer, but if you look back at some of my older posts, you can figure it out. why i bought this particular brand has to do with some very positive impressions i had always had about a friend's set-up of this same brand (albeit he had relatively hi-end components pushing them). initially, i thought i might be eventually buying a whole set-up of this same brand. anyway, a few weeks after purchasing the subwoofer at one of the usual local retail outlets, a receiver that i was interested in (which i have also since upgraded, hehe) went on sale there, too. when i went in to pick-up the receiver, i took home a pair of the same brand speakers as my sub, to listen to. frankly, even though they sounded good, they didn't sound great to me, nor did they sound "different" enough from the polk rt1000 towers, that i had had for years, to warrant me getting them. (no surprise, really, as they sorta share a common "lineage".) so i took them back. and just to force myself to listen to something completely different, i took home a pair of klipsch's (the 6.5" towers), since they do have a sound that i consider to be different from the polk's sound. (btw, the polks are great speakers, and have served me very well for years; it's was just time for a change.) i never seriously intended to get the klipsch's, but i wanted to use them as an audio "palette cleanser", if that makes any sense. a fresh and different perspective, so to speak. and even though i did actually like something about the sound of the klipsch's, there was something i didn't like, so i took them back, also, fully expecting to not be able to satisfy my speaker needs at this particular retail outlet. well, a salesperson (who i have since thanked many times) overheard me telling this story to anther sales rep and suggested i listen to the KEF Q-series; speakers that i had just not been considering, for whatever reasons. so i took a pair of KEF Q5s home, listened, and loved them; went back and got the matching center and surrounds the next day.
now, since this is about my subwoofer travails, and not an advertisment for my speakers, that's about all i'm going to say about my main, center, and surround purchase, except that now, in retrospect (and hindsight IS truly 20/20), the sub i had initially purchased is what was actually ruining my sound and causing me to later question these KEF speakers, after listening to my system for a few more days. my subwoofer, i soon painfully learned, was NOT a very musical sub at all, something i absolutely require. and it wasn't really that great at movies, either; it's output became weak below 35Hz and disappeared completely below 30Hz. so, i listened to my speakers without the sub for a week and i came to the realization that the subwoofer was a mistake and needed remedying. it had been about 90 days, so i was in a bit of a pickle as far as returning it. the dealer agreed to take it back as an exchange, though. i knew i could try and sell it on ebay or audiogon, but if the dealer would take it back from me, and they had a sub i would be happier with, i wanted to try and go that easy route. i had already decided that i was willing to "eat" the sub, though, if i had to; i just wanted out of "bad bassville". well, armed with all the learning i've done here at htf in the past couple of months, i whittled their subwoofer selection down to only two subs that i would even consider, based on their specs. but i was still quite wary of them. the online bottom-feeders that get all the praise online here and elsewhere had really piqued my attention, as i knew, just from their huge, enthusiastic, and knowledgeable fan-bases, they've got to be great performers. i had even been in "very-promptly-and-professionally-answered" email contact with one of the usual suspects, and was seriously considering getting one of their products.
now, lets back up a moment; about 12-14 years, actually. i first got a pro-logic receiver years ago, in the very early 90's, when they were the "in" thing, and it was mostly all that the big retailers had begun to sell, anyway (just like dd/dts is, now). being really into music, i did not get it for ht, but considered ht to be a "bonus" feature that i got with the receiver, and i used some old bookshelves as rear speakers and ran a phantom center channel for several years, until i purchased the polk towers 8-10 years ago, and got a free center channel speaker (although puny) with that purchase. but i still continued to use the old bookshelves as my surrounds, and they worked fine until very recently, when this whole saga began. at any rate, having relatively "rinky-dink" center and surrounds never really bothered me, as i listened to music far more than i ever watched movies and tv. about a year ago i had to replace the old pro-logic receiver (with a dd/dts one, of course) but since i was still living in apartments at the time, and was probably about to be moving across the country, i decided to hold off on getting a subwoofer, enjoy dd/dts without it, and continue to happily use my piecemeal setup. well, i did relocate, and once settled in, i decided it was time to get the subwoofer, which brings us to where this starts.
now, mind you, one thing that has become even more glaringly apparent throughout this ordeal, even though i already knew it, for the most part, is that i am NOT that much of a ht buff. i like music. lots of it. i really don't watch that many movies and when i do they're usually not the kind that really benefit the most from a ht setup. so i was never so concerned that all my speakers didn't match perfectly for ht, i just wanted some decent front speakers. and, of course, eventually, i always wanted a subwoofer. like i said, watching an occassional movie in surround was just a "bonus" feature to me, with music overwhelmingly being my primary use for my system. i realize that this is not the case with many of you. but that's me and my particular system needs. so, after getting to know my all-new speakers and sub, i began to really dislike my subwoofer for music, and actually thought i had made an incorrect purchase on the speakers, as well. with music (and my money!) being extremely important to me, i was literally loosing sleep over my bass dilemma. if any of you have read some of my other posts, you may have indeed seen me struggling with my system's sound.
so, anyway, i read and researched the sub offerings that the local retailer had, that i was willing to consider. it turns out they're considered to be awesome subs, only slightly bested by the most monsterous of the bottom-feeders, and are considered to be some of the best subs for "music listening". hmmmm, interesting. having told you of my music versus ht needs sounds like something i should consider, no? so i went in a few days ago to have a listen, and was able to listen in a relatively decent ht listening room, off to the side, and was quite impressed with the 15" offering. it was very pretty, too. but very expensive. too expensive. for what it was going to cost me above the subwoofer i was returning, i could get any number of the usual beasts that are raved about here. in fact, 2 of some models, even! so, i backed-off and let it simmer a few days. in the meantime, i read some more very favorable stuff about this subwoofer and decided that it might, indeed, be for me. so i went and obnoxiously bothered the dealer yesterday for a couple of hours until i got them to come down on the price (fairly considerably for a retail outlet, but still too expensive, damnit), rushed home to pack-up the "old" sub, and traded it in, with a considerable additional contribution, on the new one.
i absolutely love it. it sounds so so smooth with all my different music it almost makes me giddy. i know that i never heard any of the other oft-sited heavyweights, and perhaps if i did, i would join the legions that yearn for an SVS or HSU. but right now, for the time being, i'm in bass bliss. and my KEFs, which i had begun to have reservations about, sound incredible again; the way they did when they first caught my attention. after listening for hours last night, i slept so soundly that i can already tell the additional expense is going to be worth it.
SO, WHAT SUBWOOFER DO YOU THINK I ENDED UP WITH?
EDIT: ugh, sorry if you had to read this the way i initially posted it
