Subwoofer Showdown!

[Promise One]

From the three choices listed, what would you guys say the best bang for your buck would be?

1. M audio sbx10

2. JBL lsr 2310sp

3. KRK 10s

None of these really have any bang for the buck. All pretty shit subs tbf.

If you're interested in getting a nice subwoofer I'd recommend checking out craigsub rankings (linked below)
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthre ... ost9164136

For more technical test info check out this link:
http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/ ... #post55184

All of that stuff is serious money and aimed at the hifi audiophile market. Stick with studio monitor companies not hifi gear. I'd go for the JBL out of that list over M audio, and not a fan of KRK stuff.

This is useful reading:
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/apr07/a ... oofers.htm

Personally I have a Tapco sw10 (made by Mackie) and it works very well with my Mackie HR624s, think its discontinued now mind.

I have two subs on that list both of which I bought for under 300 used... And I guarantee my setup is leaps and bounds ahead of any studio monitor setup you'll buy for anywhere near this type of money. It's all about scouring used audio gear sites like audiogon. I got my whole high-fi setup (2 subs, 2 towers(with 2 built in subs as well), a receiver and pre-amp for under 1k, new it would have cost closer to 5k.

Well that's great as long as your hifi equipment isn't colouring your sound like most hifi gear does. Studio monitors are designed to be totally unflattering and uncolored, that's my point. Also the OP said this "For now I'm stuck with crappy M-audio AV40's, but I will be upgrading to JBL LSR 5" monitors soon." so the subs mentioned will likely have a high pass TRS Jack / XLR output that would plug into his current monitors. Most hifi stuff won't have these types of connections?

[RandoRando]

I only have a 12 alpine type r with 100 rms into it with a ported prefab box. On top of that the rcas are ghetto rigged into my stock stereo.

[Eat Bass]

I only have a 12 alpine type r with 100 rms into it with a ported prefab box. On top of that the rcas are ghetto rigged into my stock stereo.

damn u need a new amp man. and plz don't be pushing your amp full blast. most people think since they have an underpowered amp they can crank it right up. wrong. you will clip the amp sending the distorted signal and the woofer will not move as much as it should for getting that amount of power, thus overheating and frying your voice coils. i've seen many stupid ppl fry 1000w subs with 500w amps.

[JTMMusicuk]

currently the only speakers i have in london are alesis m1 active speakers and they have very little sub bass on them, which i dont really mind when producing for the most part but i find im either not very creative with my sub lines or my levels are way off, if i get a sub does it matter if its one like what you would find on a home cinema or does it really have to be from a company such as krk for whatever reason?????

[Promise One]

currently the only speakers i have in london are alesis m1 active speakers and they have very little sub bass on them, which i dont really mind when producing for the most part but i find im either not very creative with my sub lines or my levels are way off, if i get a sub does it matter if its one like what you would find on a home cinema or does it really have to be from a company such as krk for whatever reason?????

Ideally you'd want to match the brand, but it doesn't matter. As long as the sub output high pass connections fit with your current monitors (TRS Jack or XLR to your monitor inputs) then that's ok.

[JTMMusicuk]

currently the only speakers i have in london are alesis m1 active speakers and they have very little sub bass on them, which i dont really mind when producing for the most part but i find im either not very creative with my sub lines or my levels are way off, if i get a sub does it matter if its one like what you would find on a home cinema or does it really have to be from a company such as krk for whatever reason?????

Ideally you'd want to match the brand, but it doesn't matter. As long as the sub output high pass connections fit with your current monitors (TRS Jack or XLR to your monitor inputs) then that's ok.

excuse my ignorance as iv never owned a sub before, are you saying the sub will have a connector on the back with a high passed output has to go into the input for my monitors?

[VirtualMark]

damn u need a new amp man. and plz don't be pushing your amp full blast. most people think since they have an underpowered amp they can crank it right up. wrong. you will clip the amp sending the distorted signal and the woofer will not move as much as it should for getting that amount of power, thus overheating and frying your voice coils. i've seen many stupid ppl fry 1000w subs with 500w amps.

totally agree. i've done the opposite, and have a bigger amp powering a single sub.

i've got a honda civic type r, and its quite a small car so there's not a lot of room for subs, plus i didn't want to weigh it down too much. so my current setup is just one jl 12w3v3, but i've got it powered by a 900w bass amp. because its at 4ohm, its only kicking out 450w, so the amp has a lot more control. and the sub only needs about 350, so the result is a lovely clean controlled sound. and i've sound deadened the boot and doors, so it just sounds really nice.

[JTMMusicuk]

currently the only speakers i have in london are alesis m1 active speakers and they have very little sub bass on them, which i dont really mind when producing for the most part but i find im either not very creative with my sub lines or my levels are way off, if i get a sub does it matter if its one like what you would find on a home cinema or does it really have to be from a company such as krk for whatever reason?????

Ideally you'd want to match the brand, but it doesn't matter. As long as the sub output high pass connections fit with your current monitors (TRS Jack or XLR to your monitor inputs) then that's ok.

excuse my ignorance as iv never owned a sub before, are you saying the sub will have a connector on the back with a high passed output has to go into the input for my monitors?

anyone?

[Eat Bass]

damn u need a new amp man. and plz don't be pushing your amp full blast. most people think since they have an underpowered amp they can crank it right up. wrong. you will clip the amp sending the distorted signal and the woofer will not move as much as it should for getting that amount of power, thus overheating and frying your voice coils. i've seen many stupid ppl fry 1000w subs with 500w amps.

totally agree. i've done the opposite, and have a bigger amp powering a single sub.

i've got a honda civic type r, and its quite a small car so there's not a lot of room for subs, plus i didn't want to weigh it down too much. so my current setup is just one jl 12w3v3, but i've got it powered by a 900w bass amp. because its at 4ohm, its only kicking out 450w, so the amp has a lot more control. and the sub only needs about 350, so the result is a lovely clean controlled sound. and i've sound deadened the boot and doors, so it just sounds really nice.

sounds like a nice setup. what is your enclosure like? my friend has w3's and they aren't very good because they don't hit the lows due to his box is tuned to like 45 hz lol.

but yeah I'm looking at getting an Fi-Q sub tuned to 30hz, should be about as loud as my current setup but MUCH better SQ.

[VirtualMark]

sounds like a nice setup. what is your enclosure like? my friend has w3's and they aren't very good because they don't hit the lows due to his box is tuned to like 45 hz lol.

but yeah I'm looking at getting an Fi-Q sub tuned to 30hz, should be about as loud as my current setup but MUCH better SQ.

its just a sealed box that came with it, doesn't take up a lot of space or weigh much. it's not insane bass, but its loud enough as its quite a small car, and the sq is there.

yeah i wouldn't tune a box to 45hz. as you probably know, porting can do one of two things, extend deep bass response or boost volume. problem is when your sub hits lower than the tuning frequency it can become decoupled, so the air behind the sub no longer acts as a suspension. makes a horrible rattling noise and can damage the sub. this is why a lot of amps have an infrasonic filter.

those fi-Q's look really nice! it should sound great tuned that low. don't think they're sold in the uk, i've not seen them before.

[Eat Bass]

sounds like a nice setup. what is your enclosure like? my friend has w3's and they aren't very good because they don't hit the lows due to his box is tuned to like 45 hz lol.

but yeah I'm looking at getting an Fi-Q sub tuned to 30hz, should be about as loud as my current setup but MUCH better SQ.

its just a sealed box that came with it, doesn't take up a lot of space or weigh much. it's not insane bass, but its loud enough as its quite a small car, and the sq is there.

yeah i wouldn't tune a box to 45hz. as you probably know, porting can do one of two things, extend deep bass response or boost volume. problem is when your sub hits lower than the tuning frequency it can become decoupled, so the air behind the sub no longer acts as a suspension. makes a horrible rattling noise and can damage the sub. this is why a lot of amps have an infrasonic filter.

those fi-Q's look really nice! it should sound great tuned that low. don't think they're sold in the uk, i've not seen them before.

yeah they're known as being very nice for SQ and get loud as hell. there priced great too! i plan on getting all of the custom options for cooling and suspension and what not, makes them able to handle more power/heat.

but yeah i think the Fi-Q in a 3.8-4.0 net cubic foot box tuned to 30hz will be awesome.

do you know anything about aero ports vs slotted ports? i've read that aero ports can cause less turbulence but i also read they can create other problems resulting in a more inaccurate response.

if thats the case I'm just going to build another box like i did before, with those nice corner pieces and such with a nice big slot port to reduce noise.

[VirtualMark]

do you know anything about aero ports vs slotted ports? i've read that aero ports can cause less turbulence but i also read they can create other problems resulting in a more inaccurate response.

not a lot to be honest. apparently aero are slightly more efficient, i don't know how true this is. i've always used aero and they sounded fine, but i'm not sure if there would be much of an audible difference between the two. i'll probably read up on it if i make another system in the future. sounds like you've done what you can with regard to rounding corners off inside the box anyway.

[Eat Bass]

do you know anything about aero ports vs slotted ports? i've read that aero ports can cause less turbulence but i also read they can create other problems resulting in a more inaccurate response.

not a lot to be honest. apparently aero are slightly more efficient, i don't know how true this is. i've always used aero and they sounded fine, but i'm not sure if there would be much of an audible difference between the two. i'll probably read up on it if i make another system in the future. sounds like you've done what you can with regard to rounding corners off inside the box anyway.

yeah I'm going to look more into it. i've found a number of threads on forums where some arguing aero is better for spl and sq but then others saying all use slots who want sq. i still have a good while until i get the new sub anyway so i have time to get some research done before my next build. my next build I'm going more for a SQ build that can still thump hard. my current has good sq, but its a bit more spl oriented.

[Promise One]

currently the only speakers i have in london are alesis m1 active speakers and they have very little sub bass on them, which i dont really mind when producing for the most part but i find im either not very creative with my sub lines or my levels are way off, if i get a sub does it matter if its one like what you would find on a home cinema or does it really have to be from a company such as krk for whatever reason?????

Ideally you'd want to match the brand, but it doesn't matter. As long as the sub output high pass connections fit with your current monitors (TRS Jack or XLR to your monitor inputs) then that's ok.

excuse my ignorance as iv never owned a sub before, are you saying the sub will have a connector on the back with a high passed output has to go into the input for my monitors?

The signal chain goes like this:

PC/Mac/Soundcard output (normally TRS Jack, XLR, Phono) >> Subwoofer input (normally TRS Jack, XLR, Phono) >> Subwoofer high pass output (normally TRS Jack, XLR, Phono) >> Monitor speakers input (normally TRS Jack, XLR, Phono)

Whatever your thinking of buying just make sure the connections are correct for your current equipment or remember to buy adapter cables/plugs

[JTMMusicuk]

currently the only speakers i have in london are alesis m1 active speakers and they have very little sub bass on them, which i dont really mind when producing for the most part but i find im either not very creative with my sub lines or my levels are way off, if i get a sub does it matter if its one like what you would find on a home cinema or does it really have to be from a company such as krk for whatever reason?????

Ideally you'd want to match the brand, but it doesn't matter. As long as the sub output high pass connections fit with your current monitors (TRS Jack or XLR to your monitor inputs) then that's ok.

excuse my ignorance as iv never owned a sub before, are you saying the sub will have a connector on the back with a high passed output has to go into the input for my monitors?

The signal chain goes like this:

PC/Mac/Soundcard output (normally TRS Jack, XLR, Phono) >> Subwoofer input (normally TRS Jack, XLR, Phono) >> Subwoofer high pass output (normally TRS Jack, XLR, Phono) >> Monitor speakers input (normally TRS Jack, XLR, Phono)

Whatever your thinking of buying just make sure the connections are correct for your current equipment or remember to buy adapter cables/plugs

cheers

[RandoRando]

I only have a 12 alpine type r with 100 rms into it with a ported prefab box. On top of that the rcas are ghetto rigged into my stock stereo.

damn u need a new amp man. and plz don't be pushing your amp full blast. most people think since they have an underpowered amp they can crank it right up. wrong. you will clip the amp sending the distorted signal and the woofer will not move as much as it should for getting that amount of power, thus overheating and frying your voice coils. i've seen many stupid ppl fry 1000w subs with 500w amps.

yea i know, i havent properly set my gains so its just at about 20%, bass boost turned off, crossover at 50hz. the amp isnt even for subs i dont think, its for midbass door speakers lol. i want to get a crunch amp though. i was thinking of selling my 12 though and getting 2 10's, the 12 doesnt fit in my trunk (mustang, small ass trunk), 2 10's is more cone area anyways.

[enthawizeguy]

i have fostex pm1 active monitors... i need a sub bad? which sub woofer for less than 500 would be best? is the fostex sub ok? if so i could go with that, or am i stuck only using the fostex sub? how exactly does it hook up??

[Eat Bass]

i have fostex pm1 active monitors... i need a sub bad? which sub woofer for less than 500 would be best? is the fostex sub ok? if so i could go with that, or am i stuck only using the fostex sub? how exactly does it hook up??

you don't need a sub...unless you have acoustic treatment your better off without one. unless you want one for general listening purposes, get the fostex sub.

[enthawizeguy]

will the fostex sub sound ok with the foster pm1's even tho its not made for it?

[enthawizeguy]

its my birthday today gonna order it if so