Subs for music (1 Viewer)

[afearlesshunter]

I was recently looking for a subwoofer/subwoofers to go along with my music system consisting of: Sony STR-DH100 and a pair of JBL ES80's. I do like the sound of polk subs (ive owned one for a year now) and i may stick with them but idk. I was maybe thinking about going with dual psw10's or 1 or 2 psw505's. Just wondering what you all would think would be best.

 

[gene c]

I'd go with the 505(s). Also look into the BIC F-12.

 

[afearlesshunter]

ok thanks

 

[BryanZ]

What is your budget for a sub?

Generally, sealed subs perform better for music and ported subs perform better for HT.

Perhaps something along the lines of the SVS PB-1000 or an excellent used sub would be the way to go.

 

[fuzz092888]

In reality either type can be perfectly integrated for whatever your purpose. However, in general sealed subs are usually recommended for critical music listening and ported subs for HT is because of their fundamental differences. A sealed sub rolls off earlier than a ported sub, but at a much more gradual rate. The problem being, HT can call for some deep frequencies which a sealed sub cannot reach without a lot of EQ and a lot more power compared to a similar ported sub. With music, those deep deep frequencies usually aren't needed and the ability to hit triple digit SPL's at those frequencies isn't either. So a compact sealed sub is often perfect.

Ported subs don't roll off much or at all above the tuning frequency, but then roll off hard below it. As long as you can avoid port noise and bottoming out the driver, they are capable of hitting much high SPL's at lower frequencies than sealed subs with minimal EQ, making them perfect for HT. This isn't to say that a ported sub can't be good for music, and many are.

An accurate sub is an accurate sub and an inaccurate sub is an inaccurate sub. There's no such thing as a HT sub or a musical sub.

Personally I'd like to try a TL sub. Large form factor, but they don't need a monster driver or loads of power to deliver tremendous amounts of bass at nearly any frequency.

 

[Robert_J]

To expand on Fuzz's great reply, if you don't have an accurate sub or you have some room issues, an EQ may solve them. I've posted my story many times.

After measuring my sub's in-room response, there was a peak of 14db at 54hz. During planning, I expected that because my drivers use an extremely large 3" coil with a long winding length. This is basically an inductor and my peak was caused by the coil's inductance. I added EQ and pulled this peak down as leveled a few other things. I am now + or - 3db from 100hz to 15hz and usable output close to 10hz. All of this with sealed subs.

 

[afearlesshunter]

Im looking for subs for just music and i want them to cover 50hz-maybe 25hz if possible

 

[fuzz092888]

What size is your space?

I'm guessing your budget is $200-500? Personally, I would really stay away from most stuff below $500 unless the budget absolutely can't be stretched. IME the differences between subs in the $150-300 aren't tremendous, at least in terms of accuracy. However that difference becomes much more pronounced between >$300 and $500+.

There are some excellent subs right around $500. If the budget can be stretched, and it shouldn't be too much of a stretch since you mentioned getting 2 505's, take a look at SVS and HSU