Any suggestion should for a sub around 500 dollars? (1 Viewer)

[Chriscomo]

Recently smoked the amp on my do sub on New Year’s Eve.... haven’t bought any new equipment in years. Was looking into klipsh wireless 12” k-112sw what your thoughts?

 

[CelestionFanBoy]

Recently smoked the amp on my do sub on New Year’s Eve.... haven’t bought any new equipment in years. Was looking into klipsh wireless 12” k-112sw what your thoughts?

Forgive me, I wanted you to know someone was listening but with full transparency I’m about to pull the trigger on a purchase I’m TERRIFIED will be snapped up if I open my mouth and start telling you everything 3 sub purchases in the last 6 years have taught me! (For the record this upcoming will be my FOURTH sub and I still own the other 3 because they were all “informed purchases” researched and auditions included, and I only consider my FIRST a minor mistake, but only because I focused too hard on the “numbers” and realized it was an HT sub in the end, but made Tom Nousaine (the now deceased “great” tester of subwoofers) top 20 (and damn near top 10) and won a Sound & Vision “sub off” and 119dB @29hz and usuable sound down to 22-26Hz for a 12” sub made it seem like a no brainer considering price.

That neglected its lack of 90%+ efficient Class D amps and instead was a 2006 Class H amp that astounded the world with a 12” sub usings only a 225W RMS Class H amp, combined with a 53oz Magnet and sizable voice coil was hanging with 500W RMS+ 15” subs with a $679 original MSRP that was now still fetching $300-$400. That alone says something, considering you usually see a 60-70% price drops even in the best vintage equipment after 12 yrs. To only drop 30-40% is actually amazing but more understandable when you factor in the people willing to buy $2499 subs usually want new cars vs. $22K 4 year old version of a $65K BMW. When you start low, a 70% drop, for a decent product, also seems like an insult for some reason.

That said, I hate walking around naming my favorite brand after a painstaking 6 year period of building my 60%HT/40% music set up that I wanted to be okay being 100% music being an amateur audiophile, but a picky one. If this wasn’t the only one of this particular model of sub I’ve even SEEN for sale in the last 6 years, I’d be more forthcoming, but once I purchase you won’t get me to shut up and I’ll give you my “take” on sub purchases.

I WILL warn you to steer clear of SVS SB-1000s because even two won’t give you what you want and even a single “slightly” older model 12” SVS NSD-12 with what SEEMS like a great sized w/400W RMS Sledge Amp suprisingly not tight enough, giving that boomy sound you wouldn’t expect from a company that great the praise and following they do, despite them being in your price range of sub $500.

I will hint and say the company I prefer is known for musicality above everything and is most known for their SPEAKERS that are in the sub $10K category (many in the sub $4K) that compete with $100K speakers and hold their own in nearly every way. Ironically I had a similar chance to buy what was another “albitross” that I’d only seem ONE OTHER TIME for sale, in 6 years I’ve been looking “again” but started this audiophile hobby in 2000.

This time they happened to be a MINT pair of not even opened SECOND set of towers from a recently deceased grandfather who liked these $7000 towers so much he bought a second set knowing their would be a time where part sourcing would prove difficult, and he wanted another pair he could immediately put in place. Basically to him as well as me, “The search was over” and he never cared if he owned a different pair of speakers, they were that impressive, especially in 2002-2004 and even won Speaker of the Year by Sound & Vision at one point.

I guess the only thing I’ll ask you for now is quite the “Noobie” question, but do you want a musical sub, or is home theater your primarily desire? To go with that question, have you listened to sealed vs. ported subs and made any conclusions about them. Reason I ask is despite only owning ported subs, it’s proven difficult to find ported subs (to me) that match the musicality you can almost “trust” a sealed sub to bring? I happen to have research my subs well enough to actually GET musical ported subs, but just curious because it’s also a given sealed subs in general, but those below $500 might be much less likely to shake the floor rafters watching movies.

All I know is until my 2nd sub purchase I was questioning if I wasn’t actually after a sealed design. Instead, I discovered a design that is basically too expensive to produce these days and have a decent profit margin for companies, so they are a dying breed. Ironically the original guy to start SVS is CURRENTLY using this sub design to make ones for his new company, but he’s having to charge $1500+ for new subs to achieve.

One thing I will say is he also is using no “tricks” of passive radiators to “trick” small enclosures into TRYING to make it behave like enclosures twice its size. Even “my favorite” company has recently put out these passive radiator designs which have achieved near equal (if not better then ever) musicality, but in reviews their current sealed “flagship” design failed to give the sonic impact in an HT setting that Tom Nousaine’s ACTUAL top 5 subs will give.

In meantime just let us know your intentions for your sub, % musicality vs. % used in HT setting and what is most important to you regarding this question. Sorry I’m being VAGUE! I mean it when I say certain equipment, if it’s good, just gets kept until it breaks and you never see one for sale! I will note I saw the rare “big brother” to my upcoming purchasing pop up for sale, and while 100lbs+ making FREIGHT your only shipping option and already adding $150+, it SHOULD be listing for $700-$900 considering but because it’s such an amazing performer, the owner who paid $2199 still thinks it’s worth $1200+.

(I actually saw it for $400 and nearly couldn’t believe my eyes, so then I tried to move heaven and earth to get owner to ship across the county, but he wouldn’t.) That said, I hope I can help! I’ve seen all sort of pricing and it’s all logged in my brain, but I’ll admit I’m sort of in the “search is over” position where if I can find a certain design, especially by this particular company, outside JL Audio being my “Holy Grail” for subs, this vintage compromise is truly hard to beat for it’s musical focus while still being able to shake floorboards. The sacrifice is cabinet size. You almost have to make it anyway if you want the best of both worlds. Just having the “WAF” (wife acceptance factor) enter because of cabinets that rival sofa end tables can make a woman a little bit upset, especially when you get to owning 3 and are determined to buy a 4th! Talk to you soon!

 

[Chriscomo]

Thanks for the response. To answer you question about what I’m using this for I play mostly music and the occasional movie. I prefer lot of bass after working in the car audio industry for ten plus years and JL Audio subs do rock I still own 2 12” W3. I was looking for a ported box I would think I would get more base for the buck. If memory serves me a sealed box will require more power = more money. But ported boxes tend to be larger and I do have to consider the wife factor. Klipsch s-112sw...? Any thoughts

 

[gadgtfreek]

HSU VTF2MK5
Rythmik L12 or LV12R

Klipsch subs are OK, I came from them in the school of hard knocks. Can't beat internet direct companies.