Looking for some subwoofer advice.. (1 Viewer)

[EricDeB]

Ok I'm sorry to say this, but this site kind of brings me down. I'm a big fan of home theater, but I'm only 16 and my parents won't let me buy anything expensive. I only get to dream about the kind of systems you guys have. Anyway, I'm looking to buy a subwoofer and my limit is $300. I do have an eBay account and I think I should probably purchase it off there so I could get more subwoofer for the money. I have a few questions though:

1. Do you guys think that I should try to buy a subwoofer locally to save on shipping? And if so, where do you recommend looking? (i.e. newspaper, a website maybe?)

2. Do you think I should risk buying it on eBay to try to get a little nicer sub for cheaper?

3. Lastly, what sub do you guys think I should get? Also, if you think I should get it on eBay it should probably be a fairly common one (believe me, I have been searching for months for an SVS sub on eBay)

Thank you very much. I hope I did not ask too many questions.

Eric

 

[George_W_K]

Eric, don't let this site get you down at all. Where do you think all of us were at the beginning of our hobby? Anyone here with a really nice set-up started out with nothing and worked their way up to whatever they have. Personally, I started my purchases around 13 years ago and have slowly been upgrading since then. And I've a long way to go before I'm where I want to be. The key is to be patient and work with what you've got. And remember not to let the hobby get in the way of the rest of your life either. You have plenty of time to work toward your dream system.

Checking e-bay is an option, but don't forget to check out the For Sale section on this site. Also, Audiogon.

When you find some subs you're interested in, ask for opinions here and look for some reviews and you should be able to get the most for your money.

 

[FeisalK]

I've seen this 8" Dayton sub recommended more than a few times here

the Velodyne CHT series gets a lot of good words too

 

[Brian Fellmeth]

I second the suggestion of looking for used bargains here or audiogon- higher class of sellers. Do not even consider making an Ebay purchase unless the seller has an extensive and nearly pristine feedback track record- you are in no position to deal with a bad transaction.

If your parents are game, and there is a site in your room, the very best bang for buck sub option is an IB.

 

[John S]

Run, don't walk and get two of these.....

Will bring down the house if you so desire...


http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshow...=25&rak=daysub


Enjoy... I installed two of these on a system yesterday, man it rocked very hard.... Probably the most awesome under $300 solution ever in subwoofering. I mean, two of them were extremely impressive, I don't even mean for the money, two of these really were amazing on this guys system yesterday....

 

[Jack Keck]

I'll second John S.'s suggestion. Short of building yourown, you won't do much better. I had the original 10" versin before I built my own.

You could build one like mine for $300 or less, if you have the tools, but you'd never be able to sneak it in past your parents.

 

[Chris Huber]

I've never heard the Daytons, but darn, thats a great deal for 2 of them!

 

[John S]

I'm telling you this was the room from hell..

26' x 30's vaulted cielings, and several opening to other rooms... 2 of these subs sustained reference levels quite nicely.

We did a 6.1, Qty6 JBL E30's and the two Dayton subs. The system was very impressive running off a Yamaha 5890...

I could not colocate the two subs either. The WAF was a really big deal on this one. We had to wall mount the E30's, the two subs lucked out and fit under their two end tables or they were a big no go.

But in the end, that system rocked for the cash spent. On a side note, the owner went for a DLP monitor and was complaining about rainbows before I left, I think we has going to send it back for LCD RP instead.

 

[Greg-ST]

They've got a 12" version of the Dayton sub now? Man, how much better is it than the 10" so many of us have?

 

[John S]

I can only say, that if your short on budget and have a large and/or difficult room, two of these will take care of you.

I was pretty dumb founded at how well these two serviced the room from hell was all. And I have a ton of subwoofer experience and I am not easily impressed at all.

 

[JohnBC]

I have a 10x13 spare room in my house that I have my setup in and I have only one of the daytons and it has far surpassed my highest expectations for what I paid for it. I watched US Marshals last night, and during that scene where the plane crashes.....WOW. That scene is like 10 minutes long too. When the rumbling finally stopped, the wife pops her head in the door and I get the "you're kidding with that, right?" Apparently I was drowning out the soap opera channel that she was watching downstairs....

 

[Khasimir]

Are these things that good? I'm in line to get either a SVS or a Klipsch 12", but my wife is not very happy with the prices I've been paying for the new HT system.
The room I'm putting this stuff into is a bit of a toughy, so now I'm thinking of grabbing two of these.

 

[MikeNg]

Eric,

Something else you may want to consider is enlisting your mom/pop for help in a DIY project (hey, they told YOU that you can't spend that much $, plus parents generally like to share in their kids interests), if y'all are handy with tools. A DIY project will add a lot of value to the performance of your sub.

IMO, if you can do a DIY sub on a dual Dayton budget, you'd have a sub to be happy AND proud of.

Otherwise, what the other guys all said. Get the Dayton and enjoy.

Mike

 

[Chuck Bogie]

I had the 10" version of that sub, and you could hurt things with it. It ain't gonna work for an all-night rap or reggae party, but hey, it wasn't bad.

I'd vote for DIY. Is your dad into tools? Tell him you want to build some speakers.

My 10" "Tiny Mity" is now at a friend's lake house (take _good_ care of friends who have pontoon boats...), and I've got two home-built 15" sealed subs in my living room, and a pair ported in the basement.

 

[John S]

Khasimir, that is why I gave them a shot. The wife sort of liad down all the laws in this home....

How much money could be spent and what equipment would be acceptable with the decor.

These subs while meeting the demand, from an audiophile perspective would probably be shot down in flames by an SVS.....

But a great sounding SVS sub that cannot meet the demand is not as good of a solution as lesser sounding sub solutions that will meet the demand.

You have to spend at least $600 to start to achieve both of these characteristics.

My SVS solutions I'd want to try would start at their most inexpensive dual 12" available in their B-Stock for $799 right now.

I question if any single 12" sub can satisfy anybody but apartment dwellers anymore where HT is concerned.

 

[eddieZEN]

John S,

I wouldn't call myself an "audiophile"---just ain't got the wallet for it, LOL---but music is indeed my top priority since my movie tastes run mainly towards dramas, foreign films, etc. which are very low in LFE.

I also have a "room from hell" as you put it so beautifully---about 6000 cubic feet with vaulted ceilings and wrapping around into other parts of the house.

A friend lent me his Rocket UFW-10 which is a sealed sub that's supposed to be great for music...which it was, but it got all but swallowed up in my room as far as SPL was concerned. I had to put my head pratically next to the driver to really appreciate how quick and defined the bass was! Since I can't afford to buy a pair of them I think I'll go back to ported subs for the extra SPL.

My question: would having a pair of these Dayton 12" subs still be preferable to having a single Hsu STF-2 when it comes to music? I have home-auditioned an STF-2 before (also through a friend) and it sounded pretty good, I just had to set the gain at 2-3 o'clock though.

 

[rob-h]

The STF-2 is huge?????

 

[John S]

Two of these would slay a single STF-2.. I mean 10" and 200 Watts in your room from hell?????

The dayton subs were not muddy at all, but I have to admit that I have not properly shaken them out on music. The port is quiet enough, the cabnet does have some resonance though, so I would suspect that trait to slightly hamper it's so called musicality some. 12" drivers are still pretty tight in general and the subs are just your basic good design, nothing innovative or anything. But a great sounding music sub that does not meet the demand of your room will not be even close to as good as an average music performing sub solution that can meet the challenge of your large tough room.

But with your room, I don't think there is any other $300-ish solution that is going to meet the demand. Who knows, maybe you will start to like action movies a little more with the proper amount of sub for room.

If you want a sub that is really extra wowsers for music, and will fill your room properly, your really would have to spend $800 and pony up for one of the B-Stock SVS dual 12". Every music lover I have ever talked to, touts SVS subs as the absolute best of the best for music. For music performance in particular, I would not reccomend a Velodyne DLS5000R, the wowsers on that one definetly are in the high demand HT area.

But your goal with a $300 budget has to be to meet the demand, considering your room. Lots of great music subs are close to your budget if you only had 2000' of space to fill.

Keep us posted as to what you end up going for and how it works out. Your pretty lucky a Dayton deal is even available really, or there probably would be no respectable answer for you out there.

Once again, I may be a bad one to get advice from, my emphasis is on HT these days, and I run subs hotter than most people do, so for me.. Meeting the demand to me means being able to sustain theater reference levels reliably, anything short of that just doesn't really work. Most people I help think $1000 is a lot for a complete audio solution, I tend to go with products that I have experience with that satisfy my requirement that the system be able to hit reference levels, sustained, reliably. That $1000 price limit is a killer, but when asked for a budget this is the answer I get 9 out of 10 times.

 

[eddieZEN]

> If you want a sub that is really extra wowsers for music, and will fill your room properly, your really would have to spend $800 and pony up for one of the B-Stock SVS dual 12".

Yes, I'm sorely tempted but the wife would definitely have my head on a platter for that! : )

> Every music lover I have ever talked to, touts SVS subs as the absolute best of the best for music.

Wow, that's the first I've ever heard that. Thought the Hsu subs had the edge for music over the SVS.

What do you think of the low end SVS subs like the PB10, say compared to an STF-2?

 

[rob-h]

I have 2 pb10's in a 12 x 20 room. While they are pretty loud and shake things, it's not as satisfying as I was hoping for. My original idea was to go for 4 pb10's but recently I decided to go with the PB12-Plus/2 in combo with the 2 pb10's across the front of my theater under the screen. If you have a smaller room or dont need super bass a single pb10 might work for you.