TosH
Agent
- Joined
- Jan 12, 2004
- Messages
- 26
Well, based on the rave reviews found on this and other forums, I ordered the Dayton 10" 100 watt downfiring sub from Parts Express, aka Tiny Mity II, to round out my system. I haven't seen any detailed reviews on Tiny Mity II (as opposed to Tiny Mity I) so I figured I'd write up my impressions. Background info. My system consists of Wharfedale Pacific Evo-10s connected to a Panasonic SA-XR45 receiver. All source material is passed to the receiver from my HTPC via a Toslink cable. Included with the sub is a cheap pair of RCA cables for hookup which is a nice bonus. However I chose to use a Parts Express brand sub cable. Don't know if it makes an audible difference, but the cable sure looks a lot better. My system is setup in my basement in one large oddly shaped room roughly 40' x 15' x 8'.
Anyhow, on to the testing. First up, did a quick sweep down from 100Hz down just to get a feel for what the sub could do (just listening, no meter). And damn if it wasn't impressive! Output was high enough to induce some very respectable shaking of the walls and especially my entertainment center(damn rattles) in the 28-30Hz+ range. Mind you, this is not roof rattling, foundation shaking levels of bass, but it definitely provides enough bass for HT use at loud but sane levels without fear of pushing the sub too far. Around 28-30Hz, output starts to drops rapidly and you start hearing some port noise. Not surprising as there's a good stream of air (think small fan) coming from the port. 23Hz is about the limit of usable range from this sub. Listening to a bunch of music, this sub definitely impresses. It's very tight and accurate and sounded very good with whatever music I threw at it.
Ok, now on to some comparisons. I invited some friends over to listen to my new setup. They brought along various subs so we could do a little budget sub comparo. Among the contendors are:
Sony SA-WM20
Sony SA-WM500
SVS 25-31 PC+
Ok, so maybe they’re not all budget subs.
Tiny Mity II vs Sony SA-WM20
As expected, this wasn't so much of a comparison as an absolute trouncing. The SA-WM20 really suffers in the output department. It had a hard time shaking anything. Bass was mostly heard, but rarely felt. And the Sony comes no where near in terms of extension. For example, about 7 minutes into the 5th Element, the alien ship lights up the wall the archaeologist is examining accompanied by a nice bass sweep. The Dayton manages to capture most of it, although it clearly drops in output as the sweep goes lower and lower. The Sony just fades out about halfway through and you really get the impression that you're missing something. Running a test sweep on the WM20, output peaks and drops sharply after 40-42Hz which backs up what I observed watching several movies.
Tiny Mity II vs Sony SA-WM500
We spent a lot of time switching back and forth between these two subs. Reason being that we often had to listen to a particular section in a movie a few times before we could come to a consensus as to which sub performed better. But that’s not to say these two subs sound the same because that’s definitely not the case. The biggest difference is that in comparison to the Dayton, the Sony just plain sounds boomy and a little muddy. It seems like the Sony just can’t “react” as quickly as Tiny Mity. I wouldn’t say the Sony is terrible in this regard. Just that the Dayton is better (IMHO much better) in this regard compared to other budget subs. The difference between these two subs is particularily evident to me on scenes containing big, long, drawn out explosions. For example, in Speed where the bus hits the airplane and explodes, the WM500 almost makes me cringe a little because it just doesn’t sound quite right, even though it’s plenty loud. The Dayton sounds much more accurate, and hence better to me (group vote was 4-1 in favor of Tiny Mity in that scene).
I think the most surprising thing to me was that in terms of sheer output, we all felt that Tiny Mity II lived up to its name and beat out the Sony in most situations. For example, in the opening scene of Star Wars Attack of the Clones when the ships pass overhead, the Dayton was unmistakably louder than the WM500. We only had to make one switch in that scene because it was fairly obvious to all of us. The Sony however does come into its own in certain situations. For example, listening to DMX’s “X Gonna Give It To Ya,” we all agreed the Sony was better suited for the job. After watching Speed twice (hey it’s my favorite movie) we all felt the Dayton did a better job overall.
So in conclusion, I would say that both subs represent great values, but I’d recommend Tiny Mity II over the SA-WM500 any day of the week. Better sounding, cheaper, and better looking to boot.
Tiny Mity II vs SVS 25-31 PC+
Alright, I think just about everyone on this forum has heard the SVS hype. Judging by the posts I’ve read, I swear some people must actually kneel down in front of their SVS and pay homage to it every single night!
Ok, so right away we fired up Attack of the Clones for the opening flyby. And damn if that didn’t bring a tear to my eye. Partly because it sounded just so damned good, and partly because it was shaking me so hard I had a hard time seeing straight. I mean this thing has some SERIOUS SERIOUS power. Tiny Mity II doesn’t even come close. SQ wise, the SVS is better than anything I’ve ever heard. I could go on and on, but I’m sure it’s obvious by now where this is headed.
Just for fun, we decided to compare the SVS vs all the other subs combined to see what would happen. We stacked both Sonys on top of the Dayton ending up with one tall, funny looking stack. There must have been some really odd cancellation effect going on because the bass we were getting really did not sound “right” for lack of a better description. Almost as if there was a slight echo in the bass. This actually made for quite the cool effect when playing the Darla scene in Finding Nemo. Almost as if you were “more” underwater. But ultimately, all three still couldn’t come close to beating out the SVS. And yes, we did try hooking up all 4 subs at once (who could resist?) just for shits and giggles. That’s probably the most ridiculous fun I’ve had with Home Theater for the all of 30 seconds it lasted till we blew a few circuit breakers.
Anyhow, that concludes my long-winded post.
Anyhow, on to the testing. First up, did a quick sweep down from 100Hz down just to get a feel for what the sub could do (just listening, no meter). And damn if it wasn't impressive! Output was high enough to induce some very respectable shaking of the walls and especially my entertainment center(damn rattles) in the 28-30Hz+ range. Mind you, this is not roof rattling, foundation shaking levels of bass, but it definitely provides enough bass for HT use at loud but sane levels without fear of pushing the sub too far. Around 28-30Hz, output starts to drops rapidly and you start hearing some port noise. Not surprising as there's a good stream of air (think small fan) coming from the port. 23Hz is about the limit of usable range from this sub. Listening to a bunch of music, this sub definitely impresses. It's very tight and accurate and sounded very good with whatever music I threw at it.
Ok, now on to some comparisons. I invited some friends over to listen to my new setup. They brought along various subs so we could do a little budget sub comparo. Among the contendors are:
Sony SA-WM20
Sony SA-WM500
SVS 25-31 PC+
Ok, so maybe they’re not all budget subs.
Tiny Mity II vs Sony SA-WM20
As expected, this wasn't so much of a comparison as an absolute trouncing. The SA-WM20 really suffers in the output department. It had a hard time shaking anything. Bass was mostly heard, but rarely felt. And the Sony comes no where near in terms of extension. For example, about 7 minutes into the 5th Element, the alien ship lights up the wall the archaeologist is examining accompanied by a nice bass sweep. The Dayton manages to capture most of it, although it clearly drops in output as the sweep goes lower and lower. The Sony just fades out about halfway through and you really get the impression that you're missing something. Running a test sweep on the WM20, output peaks and drops sharply after 40-42Hz which backs up what I observed watching several movies.
Tiny Mity II vs Sony SA-WM500
We spent a lot of time switching back and forth between these two subs. Reason being that we often had to listen to a particular section in a movie a few times before we could come to a consensus as to which sub performed better. But that’s not to say these two subs sound the same because that’s definitely not the case. The biggest difference is that in comparison to the Dayton, the Sony just plain sounds boomy and a little muddy. It seems like the Sony just can’t “react” as quickly as Tiny Mity. I wouldn’t say the Sony is terrible in this regard. Just that the Dayton is better (IMHO much better) in this regard compared to other budget subs. The difference between these two subs is particularily evident to me on scenes containing big, long, drawn out explosions. For example, in Speed where the bus hits the airplane and explodes, the WM500 almost makes me cringe a little because it just doesn’t sound quite right, even though it’s plenty loud. The Dayton sounds much more accurate, and hence better to me (group vote was 4-1 in favor of Tiny Mity in that scene).
I think the most surprising thing to me was that in terms of sheer output, we all felt that Tiny Mity II lived up to its name and beat out the Sony in most situations. For example, in the opening scene of Star Wars Attack of the Clones when the ships pass overhead, the Dayton was unmistakably louder than the WM500. We only had to make one switch in that scene because it was fairly obvious to all of us. The Sony however does come into its own in certain situations. For example, listening to DMX’s “X Gonna Give It To Ya,” we all agreed the Sony was better suited for the job. After watching Speed twice (hey it’s my favorite movie) we all felt the Dayton did a better job overall.
So in conclusion, I would say that both subs represent great values, but I’d recommend Tiny Mity II over the SA-WM500 any day of the week. Better sounding, cheaper, and better looking to boot.
Tiny Mity II vs SVS 25-31 PC+
Alright, I think just about everyone on this forum has heard the SVS hype. Judging by the posts I’ve read, I swear some people must actually kneel down in front of their SVS and pay homage to it every single night!
Ok, so right away we fired up Attack of the Clones for the opening flyby. And damn if that didn’t bring a tear to my eye. Partly because it sounded just so damned good, and partly because it was shaking me so hard I had a hard time seeing straight. I mean this thing has some SERIOUS SERIOUS power. Tiny Mity II doesn’t even come close. SQ wise, the SVS is better than anything I’ve ever heard. I could go on and on, but I’m sure it’s obvious by now where this is headed.
Just for fun, we decided to compare the SVS vs all the other subs combined to see what would happen. We stacked both Sonys on top of the Dayton ending up with one tall, funny looking stack. There must have been some really odd cancellation effect going on because the bass we were getting really did not sound “right” for lack of a better description. Almost as if there was a slight echo in the bass. This actually made for quite the cool effect when playing the Darla scene in Finding Nemo. Almost as if you were “more” underwater. But ultimately, all three still couldn’t come close to beating out the SVS. And yes, we did try hooking up all 4 subs at once (who could resist?) just for shits and giggles. That’s probably the most ridiculous fun I’ve had with Home Theater for the all of 30 seconds it lasted till we blew a few circuit breakers.
Anyhow, that concludes my long-winded post.
