Phase Tech.. (1 Viewer)

[JeremyR]

OneCall is having a heck of a deal on the Phase Technology Power 10 subs. I have heard their speakers and remember being pretty impressed, does anyone know anything about their subs?

 

[Phil A]

I have there long since discontinued Octave 1.0 for almost 10 yrs. and know someone who also bought one of these used. It has a 15 inch woofer, an electronic crossover (60, 80 or 100 HZ) and a 240W, 800W peak amp. It is now in a secondary basement system but is a great HT subwoofer still.

 

[JeremyR]

Thank you so much for your response. This is the subwoofer I'm looking at..

http://ww1.onecall.com/PID_14850.htm


I'm trying to understand the concept of high-pass, low-pass filters on these. It says it has a high-pass and low-pass filter. I think I get it, I went to the primer on this website but didn't really see anything on it. The issue here is that I'm looking for a sub that has an LFE input on it because I want my receiver to do all of the processing, and don't want to send the speakers through the subwoofer. According to this description, it musn't have an LFE input. But the sub is only $229 and it regularly retails for $425, and again, I've always been impressed with their speakers. I'm assuming this is a pretty good sub. What options would I have here, or am I better off getting a sub with an LFE input? I've got a Kenwood VR-507, Paradigm CC-170, Paradigm Titan mains, and Atom surrounds, and a 3.5 year old Kenwood sub that came with my HTIB and my receiver. The Kenwood sub is an 8 incher, and it does have a LFE input. But I'm wanting something with some additional punch, and just thought it looked like a heck of a deal on those subs, but don't know if I should get one with an LFE input when it doesn't look like this one has that.

 

[Phil A]

It should work fine, mine is about double the weight. Just make sure you use the low level RCA input and set the crossover frequency on the sub above the point where the crossover on the receiver is done.

 

[RyanJE]

Not trying to be difficult here, but A 35hz low end extension seems pretty flabby. I have a JBL e250 sub that cost the same amount as that phase tech, And although I wouldnt reccomend it, it has extension well beyond that sub. For the money you may do better off with a Dayton 10" or two.

Or one Dayton and BFD.

 

[Arthur S]

Ryan is right. 35Hz low end is pretty poor.

It probably looks nice but performance is lacking. The box is small, that does not bode well either. For a bit more money you could get 2 Dayton 12 inch. That would absolutely trounce the Phase Tech. Even 1 of the Daytons should give you significantly more oomph.

 

[JeremyR]

Interesting.. well. I can spend a bit more. I just thought maybe that was a really great deal from a reputable company. What else would you recommend in the $300 - $400 range, maybe a bit more if it'd really make a difference? I would like to go with a 10, part of the reason I liked the Phase Tech was because the box was relatively small and I don't have a bunch of room where mine is sitting now. I can probably move it to a different area of the room though. I believe a 12 is a bit too much for me.

 

[Arthur S]

The Octave 1 that Phil owns is a very nice looking sub and when Tom Nousaine tested it, he expected great things as it was the only one in the group of 11 that had a 15 inch driver and was rated as the highest powered.

Nousaine was disappointed. The Octave 1 rated mid pack. HSU, Cerwin-Vega, Velodyne all went louder and lower.

What you want for a great HT experience is the sub with the highest output and the deepest extension.

I ended up buying the Cerwin-Vega tested along with the Phase Tech. 2nd only to the HSU, and it has remote volume control. I was able to buy it new for $378.

I can provide addional details from that test if anyone is interested.

 

[Arthur S]

You are in a bind. Big response from small subs equal big money. You need to figure out 2 things.

1) How much space can you possibly make? This is most important because the bigger the box you can possibly live with the more choices you will have.

2) How much money can you possibly spend? This doesn't need much comment, but like I said, good things that come in small packages can be expensive.

 

[JeremyR]

Lol.. in other words.. if you want good performance in a little box.. it has to be a Sunfire or something of that caliber. I am not exactly looking for something to rock the foundation of my house, and frankly musical quality is irrelevant to me as I rarely listen to music in my home theater setup anyway. What I don't want, is something that bottom's out and struggles, like the Kenwood HTIB sub I'm using today. As far as money to spend.. I doubt I could convince myself that it would make sense for me to go anything over $400 or so. I could probably spend more, but I probably won't and I doubt the wife would want me to. Maybe just keeping the crappy one I have is the best bet.

 

[Arthur S]

You got that just about right.

The question now is, how big can you get away with? There are different shaped subs. Which dimention is most important? Hight? Floor space?

Try to get a bead on that and there are recommendations within your budget.

Does your receiver have an adjustable crossover for the sub? That is an important consideration. I am going to guess that your receiver crosses over at 100Hz.

Ok, I know your budget, now we have to deal with the dimentions you and your wife can live with.

 

[JeremyR]

Well.. floor space is more of an issue than height, though I can move it around the room. The room is a bit strangely shaped, it's a long room, but a relatively narrow room. It's in a basement. Height is pretty much irrelevant to the size, I don't care how tall it is, and I suppose I can make just about anything work, though I'm just not sure I want something like a 12 which is just going to be so huge.

My receiver, I believe, has two crossover points. I can sit my mains to small or large, when I sit them to small the sub crosses over at 100Hz, when they are set to large it crosses over at 80Hz I believe and those Titan's can easily handle a 80Hz frequency so I have the mains set to large. I'm fairly certain that is the case.

 

[JeremyR]

nm

 

[JeremyR]

nm

 

[JeremyR]

nm

 

[Phil A]

I also have a Sunfire, Jr. in the bedroom system. The bedroom is an avg. size room and I would not recommnend it in a big room. It depends on what you are looking for in a sub - i.e. HT output, music, etc. It sounds as though you are looking more for HT. SVS has B-stock items from time to time as well.

 

[RyanJE]

If your really concerned about the size you may be screwed. In order to get an upgrade from what you've got you'll most likely have to go bigger. For your budget the SVS pb10 is probably the best performer, however it may be way above your size pref. But you wouldn't question its performance thats for sure.

Also Ive "heard" that a jbl pb10 ISD is a decent 10 inch sub, however im not sure if you can still get one or how big it is. You'll have to hunt that on your own.

 

[JeremyR]

Well.. this may not have been the best solution, and it is large, but as I didn't have the want or the need to currently spend too terribly much, I went with the $249.99 JBL E250 from J&R Music World with free shipping. It's bigger than I wanted to go, but in my price range and retails for twice that. I listened to it at Best Buy and was as impressed as you can be in the terrible Best Buy setup. I'm sure SVS and HSU are better, but you won't know what you're missing if you don't have it. Maybe when I get a bigger house.

 

[Arthur S]

Jeremy

That is not a bad solution given the free shipping.

 

[JeremyR]

Thanks for all of you guys' help. I would have ended up with the Phase Tech without nearly the bass extention.