need a small inexpensive sub (1 Viewer)

[Haru]

I am putting together a stereo sound system for my PC. I want accurate sound and I have settled on the NHT super zero as the speaker of choice. compact, sweet sounding, and it works wonders as a near field monitor. the question is what to do about the bass. the NHT has 4" woofer and doesn't go very deep. I need some sort of woofage that will fill in the bottom end cleanly. I don't need 25Hz extension, and I don't need very high SPL. just something that will fill in the bottom end to make for a nice full sound.

THe idea is to keep it really inexpensive, but good sounding. What are my options? Obviously it will not be a subwoofer bought at regular price at a regular store. I am thinking perhaps you know of some subwoofer on close out somewhere, or B stock or something, something you wouldn't consider for a stand alone HT sub, but that strikes you as a nice woofer for a small scale set up. Or something along those lines.

can you guys think of something? I wonder if I could find a passive sub, or maybe just use a good 8" or 10" car sub in a premade enclosure. YOu see I have a 90 x 4 (at 4 ohms) car amp thats a pretty good device, and I am going to supply it DC to drive the super zeros with it. I can either bridge it to mono if I have a powered sub, or I can set it up tri way with an unpowered sub.

what do you guys think?

 

[Jose G]

Easy! The DLS 10 from PartsExpress.com. $100 bucks of fun filled sub! They should be in stock soon.
Part #300-630

 

[Ryan Schnacke]

First, check out the DLS 10 inch powered sub. It actually supposed to be a very decent little sub - capable of home theater performance in a small room and/or at moderate volumes. For $100 you can't beat that.

Edit: Jose beat me to it.

DLS sub

Second, have you actually tried running that car amp off an AC-to-DC converter? It would have to be a pretty beefy converter to support the huge currents that a hi power car amp can demand. Usually it gets to a point where a home amplifier is cheaper than the necessary power converter. Look for cheap used stereo receivers online or at pawn shops. You should be able to find something for $50 or less.

 

[Haru]

thanks guys. I'm looking into it now. Ryan, good point on the inverter capacity.....

edit: I see that it has a 125Hz fixed high pass. Isn't that a little high? I guess I could just run the Super Zero's full range.

 

[Ryan Schnacke]

125Hz isn't too bad if you can get the sub near, preferably in between, the speakers. And yes, you can also try running them full-range and adjust the sub crossover to fill in below them.

 

[Haru]

well, it can't sit between the speakers since that would mean it would have to be under the desk, directly below the monitor, and me being lanky and all, I'd like that space for my legs. But I guess off to one side of the desk won't be too far.

I am used to running my home theater subwoofers high passed at 50Hz, so 125 makes me uncomfortable.

But inspite of that, this is the very best option that has presented itself. Thanks again.