Best sub for sub-$400 (1 Viewer)

[Chris Elm]

At the title states.
'Preciate it.

 

[Jason_Me]

You cant do much better then the Adire Audio Rava

http://www.adireaudio.com/home_audio...eries/rava.htm

 

[Victor Chan]

I second Jason's recommendation for an Adire Rava subwoofer. Been running mine in a 5.1 setup with some Ascend Acoustics CBM-170s and have been in music and cinema nirvana for the past month. Wonderfully accurate bass and blends in seamlessly with my monitors for 2 ch. and multichannel music.

Some have said movies is the Rava's weak suite as the sealed design and relatively small enclosure precludes it from plumbing the absolute depths (in my room, -3db is about 24 Hz or so). But from my experience, been more than happy with its performance for HT, and the its unparalleled performance in music compared to anything less than $800 is such that I can't imagine you doing better than the Rava for the price, regardless of whether it be for music or HT.

 

[Frank Carter]

If $400's the budget the Rava is an excellent choice.

If it's more geared for HT use, you might want to look for a used Hsu VTF-2, it will have a higher output down low due to it being ported and the Rava's not.

At a little cheaper price point, I've found the Infinity Interlude subwoofers to be excellent performers. They have strong output down to 25hz and they also have a single band parametric eq built in. You can find the IL120 refurb'd in different finishes(cherry, maple, and black) from ebay seller: harmanaudio around $300 plus shipping. Since it's straight from Harman, you get the warranty. I feel these subwoofers are a "hidden gem".

 

[Chris Elm]

Yes, the sub will be for Home Theater use only. It will be used for the everyday television more than anything, and the occasional DVD. My dads two channel system and my Home theater in the basement will get primary Music/DVD action.

To give a little background:
I am getting this for my dads birthday, as he just got his new TV. This will be his first venture into _.1 format.
How will these subs compare with the Sony SAWM40 or 500, as I understand these are the under $200 subwoofer kings.

One other side note...
He's got some old (old) Klipsch speakers as mains, but they have it seems at least 12" maybe 15" rear firing drivers in each speaker cabinet. Could it be that the stone age reciever hes using has the speakers defaulting to small, as their is little to no action these huge woofers are seeing.
I am not sure of the model number, but if anyone is familiar with these specific speakers and how the bass is supposed to be from them that would be great.

Thanks for all of the replies guys. The Hsu sub was one that I was cross-shopping when I bought my sub, so it might be interesting to compare if he ended up with that one.

EDIT:just found out the Klipsch are Forte II's. This is more than likely a problem with the reciever, no?

 

[CurtisSC]

One other side note...He's got some old (old) Klipsch speakers as mains, but they have it seems at least 12" maybe 15" rear firing drivers in each speaker cabinet. Could it be that the stone age reciever hes using has the speakers defaulting to small, as their is little to no action these huge woofers are seeing.

First...those rear firing drivers are probably passive radiators...they are not powered and Klipsch used them a lot in their speakers. The Klipschs that I knew with those passive radiators had pretty good bass.

If the receiver is stone aged, then I doubt there is any kind of bass management on it...no small or large setting for the speakers. Maybe the speakers are old and tired(doubt it), or the receiver is not driving them correctly. I have a 15 year old pair of Klipsch, they still sound good.

 

[Wendell]

Why not build a 214L Tempest? I did mine for under $400 and it was simple. It was my first attempt at DIY also.