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Let The Subwoofer Debate Begin!

V

Vintage2023

Member
Hey gang,

I'm starting to sniff around for a variety of subwoofers for different needs. A couple will be home theater, one will be for computer audio paired w/ a pair of powered speakers, one will be for a general purpose audio system in the great room, and one will be in the basement on a 2 channel stereo/ secondary movie watching system. Most will probably be sealed subs. & size is not really a constraint, but I'm bot looking for 24" subs in houseboat sized enclosures either...

I see all the "top" brands - HSU, SVS, Klipsch, Rythmik, JL Audio, JTR, Power Sound Audio, etc., etc...

I have a number to get as you can see. So I'm looking for advice & recommendations on companies that make a well built product that lasts, a good warranty, and a company that doesn't forget who I am when I need that warranty honored.

Horror stories are welcome too, so I know who to avoid...

Any other details needed ,just ask.
 
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I have a Paradigm sub from the 90's that is still working. I did refoam the woofer, but that was not unexpected after 30 years...
 
Vintage2023 said:
Hey gang,

I'm starting to sniff around for a variety of subwoofers for different needs. A couple will be home theater, one will be for computer audio paired w/ a pair of powered speakers, one will be for a general purpose audio system in the great room, and one will be in the basement on a 2 channel stereo/ secondary movie watching system. Most will probably be sealed subs. & size is not really a constraint, but I'm bot looking for 24" subs in houseboat sized enclosures either...

I see all the "top" brands - HSU, SVS, Klipsch, Rythmik, JL Audio, JTR, Power Sound Audio, etc., etc...

I have a number to get as you can see. So I'm looking for advice & recommendations on companies that make a well built product that lasts, a good warranty, and a company that doesn't forget who I am when I need that warranty honored.

Horror stories are welcome too, so I know who to avoid...

Any other details needed ,just ask.
Click to expand...

As much as I love sealed subs (almost all of my 10+ subs in various rooms are sealed), for your theater room I would definitely recommend ported (unless it's going to be 90% music, 10% theater use). Sealed are typically better for music, but sealed subs need to work very hard to reproduce theater effects that ported can do far more effortlessly.

Regarding brands, A lot of people like Rythmik because of it's servo system. HSU has always had value + performance, though the seem less popular as of late. Run away as fast as you can from Klipsch for subs. I had a Klipsch sub briefly, it was not good. Bass is not Klipsch's strong point. SVS has a nice product line.

I've become a fan of high-end Micro subs for music. The quality micro subs can go shockingly deep and are very musical -- I love having only a tiny box in the room. Micros can't produce the same volume levels as large subs, but for music rooms that can be pretty amazing. Multiple micros in tandem, however, can be very powerful.

There aren't many high-end micro subs being made currently, but the SVS 3000 Micro should be a very good choice (https://www.crutchfield.com/p_9463KMICGB/SVS-3000-Micro-Piano-Gloss-Black.html). It's a 10" cube, with two opposing 8" drivers, 800 watts, goes down to low 20's hz, and has an app-controlled 3-band parametric EQ. With all those rooms and subs, I would think the SVS 3000 Micro would be a very good solution for your smaller rooms, and maybe even a pair even for a medium room. I know you have space for larger subs, but it's nice to keep space open if you can.
 
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We have two of these in the house Monolith THX 10, they have impressed me and many others, excellent warranty service, you get a port plug with them and they do music pretty good, downside is they are large.
321562417_697721818623776_3813240715636877833_n.jpg
 
Thanks so far.

I did forget to mention that I also have a Paradigm PDR-10 V3 currently, that may go to the computer system.

And I also forgot that I inherited a new-in-the-box Paradigm Seismic 110 w/ PBK kit. I have not opened that because I was not sure of the sound quality & output capability...
 
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peterp1 said:
As much as I love sealed subs (almost all of my 10+ subs in various rooms are sealed), for your theater room I would definitely recommend ported (unless it's going to be 90% music, 10% theater use). Sealed are typically better for music, but sealed subs need to work very hard to reproduce theater effects that ported can do far more effortlessly.

Regarding brands, A lot of people like Rythmik because of it's servo system. HSU has always had value + performance, though the seem less popular as of late. Run away as fast as you can from Klipsch for subs. I had a Klipsch sub briefly, it was not good. Bass is not Klipsch's strong point. SVS has a nice product line.

I've become a fan of high-end Micro subs for music. The quality micro subs can go shockingly deep and are very musical -- I love having only a tiny box in the room. Micros can't produce the same volume levels as large subs, but for music rooms that can be pretty amazing. Multiple micros in tandem, however, can be very powerful.

There aren't many high-end micro subs being made currently, but the SVS 3000 Micro should be a very good choice (https://www.crutchfield.com/p_9463KMICGB/SVS-3000-Micro-Piano-Gloss-Black.html). It's a 10" cube, with two opposing 8" drivers, 800 watts, goes down to low 20's hz, and has an app-controlled 3-band parametric EQ. With all those rooms and subs, I would think the SVS 3000 Micro would be a very good solution for your smaller rooms, and maybe even a pair even for a medium room. I know you have space for larger subs, but it's nice to keep space open if you can.
Click to expand...
Is the Paradigm Seismic 110 considered a micro sub???
 
peterp1 said:
As much as I love sealed subs (almost all of my 10+ subs in various rooms are sealed), for your theater room I would definitely recommend ported (unless it's going to be 90% music, 10% theater use). Sealed are typically better for music, but sealed subs need to work very hard to reproduce theater effects that ported can do far more effortlessly.

Regarding brands, A lot of people like Rythmik because of it's servo system. HSU has always had value + performance, though the seem less popular as of late. Run away as fast as you can from Klipsch for subs. I had a Klipsch sub briefly, it was not good. Bass is not Klipsch's strong point. SVS has a nice product line.

I've become a fan of high-end Micro subs for music. The quality micro subs can go shockingly deep and are very musical -- I love having only a tiny box in the room. Micros can't produce the same volume levels as large subs, but for music rooms that can be pretty amazing. Multiple micros in tandem, however, can be very powerful.

There aren't many high-end micro subs being made currently, but the SVS 3000 Micro should be a very good choice (https://www.crutchfield.com/p_9463KMICGB/SVS-3000-Micro-Piano-Gloss-Black.html). It's a 10" cube, with two opposing 8" drivers, 800 watts, goes down to low 20's hz, and has an app-controlled 3-band parametric EQ. With all those rooms and subs, I would think the SVS 3000 Micro would be a very good solution for your smaller rooms, and maybe even a pair even for a medium room. I know you have space for larger subs, but it's nice to keep space open if you can.
Click to expand...
Sound advice on the Klipsch subs. I mentioned them but had no intention of buying them... They're constantly all of selling sites like Craig's, that tells me something...
 
Vintage2023 said:
Is the Paradigm Seismic 110 considered a micro sub???
Click to expand...

Not to me. It's 13.75" x 13.5" -- still small, but the SVS is smaller. There is the KEF KC82, but it's almost double the price of the SVS and not as powerful. There is a good review of the SVS Micro here (https://www.soundandvision.com/content/svs-3000-micro-subwoofer-review), with some side-by-side comparisons with the much more expensive KEF KC82, and the KEF loses.

What is your overall budget and are you looking for new or used subs?
 
I have had very good luck with SVS. I have three currently that are about 20 years old or so and they work perfectly. Since I bought them used and did not get all of the port blockers (the ones I have, have multiple ports, and can be blocked to retune them to different frequencies), I contacted SVS about them. They were very happy to deal with me, even though I had not bought any subwoofers directly from them, and I got the port blockers at a very reasonable price; less than I expected.

One of my brothers also has an old SVS, that he bought from me. It is also about 20 years old, and the last I heard, it, too, was working perfectly.

Obviously, old subwoofers do not tell you what they are making now, but my experience with them is that they are built to last, and the company seems quite good about support later on. If I were going to buy a new subwoofer, I would definitely be looking at what they are selling.

I use my subwoofers with my home theater and with my main two channel system, which uses Apogee Stage speakers.


From reading posts on forums online, SVS seems to be pretty good about their customer service and warranties.
 
I like JBL 18" subs...

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I have been using an HSU sub for the past 10-12 years for home theater use. It gets a workout nearly every day. It sounds fantastic and hasn't missed a beat in all this time. When I buy another one it will come from HSU.
 
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