Sub Purchase - Ready (1 Viewer)

[John*K]

After almost 2 yrs of hand-wringing (I live in a town house, I've got neighbours, will they accept?, yada yada, yada), I am ready to purchase my sub, because I can't care anymore -- I must have. I know that I am missing sub-informations, and this is something I must have. And I want that low bass.

I am looking only at three subs. The LFM-1, the Dharman, and the SV sub, PB1-ISD. I know that I must wait for the Outlaw review; but why are there no reviews that compare the Adire to the SV with accompanying data? I am seriously wanting a sub very soon, and I want to know WHAT TO BUY???!!!

 

[WayneO]

The "what sub" threads are getting a little heated lately, hopefully your's won't. Sub comparisons for the Internet based companies don't seem to exist, most seem to be single reviews. Anyone who has any of the brand subs you listed is going to tell you to buy that one, including me. So.....get the PB1! Seriously though, since professional, fair comparsons don't seem to exist. I'd tell you to take a look at the product specs, pricing, support, company reputation and of course opinions in the forums and make a guess. I got my first real sub about 2 months ago, an SVS, cause I came to forums like these and saw overwhelming satisfaction and support by many members for SVS. I didn't know jack about subs before reading up in the various HT forums....and have learned much more since. Maybe you'll want to consider the Hsu STF-3 as well?

 

[Shane Morales]

I live in a townhouse, too. When I was looking at subs I was tried to balance my desire for big, loud bass with my desire not to have the neighbors call the cops on me.

My initial budget for a sub was $1000. I listened to a bunch of them at Tweeter: Klipsch, Velodyne, Boston, Mirage - these were all around $1000. I also went to Best Buy and Circuit City and listened to JBL, Klipsch, and Infinity subs that ran $400-$600.

The cheaper subs were ok, but just didn't compare to the higher end ones at Tweeter. I was set on the Boston Acoustic or the Mirage.

Then I came here and asked about the SVS subs compared to those two subs. Of course, everyone basically said the SVS subs were way better for a lot less money.

Well, guess what? They were right. I ended up getting a PCi for about $600 and it really is much better.

So... get the PB1 with confidence.

 

[Chris A H]

My needs were similar, but price point and box size were also an issue. I recently bought a HSU STF-2, and have since returned it based upon the CompUSA debacle.

Of the models you mentioned and based upon the above criteria, I would opt for the company on your list that has the best track record for building quality subs. That would be SVS. Outlaw has never done a sub before, and Adire builds limited quantities.

My $.02 FWIW...


P.S. You should also place the sub as close to your listening position as possible, that way you can scale back the overall level and still have some impact.

 

[John*K]

Thank you all for the responses. Chris, thank you for the Post Script. I can't believe that I haven't thought of that.

 

[MikeLi]

Definantly the SVS! Best bang for the buck.

 

[CurtisSC]

Outlaw has never done a sub before.....

Very true, but they had never built a pre/pro, receiver, or an amp before either. And their sub is basicly being built by Hsu.

 

[Chris A H]

No, it is not "built" by Hsu. He was consulted in the design. It is built in China by the same company that builds the Hsu STF line. It is an OEM-style product and other companies could license/re-brand/sell it if they desire.

 

[Jonty Rees]

Hmm, are you sure about that "get close to the sub" idea? What's the wavelength of the lower frequencies? I don't think distance, (within the confines of a normal sized room), make a whole lot of difference to sub-frequency volumes - might even be quieter closer in. Or am I completely misinformed?

 

[CurtisSC]

No, it is not "built" by Hsu. He was consulted in the design. It is built in China by the same company that builds the Hsu STF line. It is an OEM-style product and other companies could license/re-brand/sell it if they desire.

If that is the case, why do they have an agreement with Hsu on how it can be priced?

I do not believe other companies can also resell it.

 

[Chris A H]

If they re-brand it, of course they can. They could also change little things, like port direction and cosmetics (like a plexiglass top), but most all the parts are the same. The Hsu folks themselves call the Oultlaw sub "an OEM box."

 

[Mike SJ]

"I don't think distance, (within the confines of a normal sized room), make a whole lot of difference to sub-frequency volumes - might even be quieter closer in. Or am I completely misinformed?"

All I know is that the farther away you are from a speaker , the lower the SPL. If he has his sub close to him, as long as it is calibrated and x'dover right, he shouldnt have a problem

 

[CurtisSC]

The Hsu folks themselves call the Oultlaw sub "an OEM box."

Understood Chris. But doesn't that imply they buy it from Hsu, and this the contract on how much Outlaw can sell the sub for?

Anyways...my guess is that it is a good sub.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

Hmm, are you sure about that "get close to the sub" idea? What's the wavelength of the lower frequencies? I don't think distance, (within the confines of a normal sized room), make a whole lot of difference to sub-frequency volumes - might even be quieter closer in. Or am I completely misinformed?

Regardless of the wavelength, the distance to the sub only affects SPL's (SPL gets lower as distance away increases). A sound is experienced as the wave propagates through your ear and the wave does not need to complete one wavelength in the distance from the source to the ear to accomplish this. Thus there is no need to get a full wavelength away from a source to hear that particular wavelength. If that were not the case, you could never hear bass from a set of headphones, which you most ceratainly can.

 

[cabreau]

When I was in a band (played keyboards through my beautiful Leslie-122 and -147), many of the "sound engineers" that I spoke to said that a common base sinewave must travel about 6ft before you can hear it "PROPERLY". Many of the subs that the really GOOD sounding bands used had "tunnel ports" built into the speaker boxes that worked out to be about 6ft from the front of the speaker box to the back of the SPEAKER by the time the air had traveled through the port. I don't know how true this is, but those bands had the cleanest, deepest, best sounding bass that I had ever heard (live). So, test this at home. Get 2-3 ft from your cabinet and then move it 6-8 ft away and see if you notice a difference. I think that the fact that many subs point down may affect how the waves reflect off the floor and what not, anyone in here a "Sound engineer"?

And sorry Jeff Gatie, but you just aren't going to get the same bass from headphones that you will from a sub, but I'm no headphone audio dynamics expert. Hell, I'm not an expert at ANYTHING. LOL. Anyway, I just popped off an email to SVS tech support to see what they recommend. I forgot to tell them my room dimensions though (I'm sure they'll ask). I think that any SVS will sound better than the Paradigm PS-1000.

 

[cabreau]

They already replied to me!!! And asked how large my room was, LOL. D'oh on my part. Quality service as far as I'm concerned, nobody EVER replied to me that fast. SVS all the way.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

When I was in a band (played keyboards through my beautiful Leslie-122 and -147), many of the "sound engineers" that I spoke to said that a common base sinewave must travel about 6ft before you can hear it "PROPERLY".

Yeah, I've met some of those "engineers" :frowning: . I'll bet kruellers to krugerands they have never taken a physics course on wave propagation. I assure you I have and I'll point you to the links if you wish to understand it more. BTW, I am an engineer and have the physics books to prove it!