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Looking for suggestions for under-couch subwoofer

VA1DER

VA1DER

Member
I'm looking for an under or behind couch subwoofer for a new home theatre. My receiver, an old JVC RX-7000V, requires a powered subwoofer.

Some thoughts I've had:
- Rockville Slim Shaker 10" (the most plug and play option, no 12v power supply needed), $300CAD
- Pioneer TS-WH500A (have option to get one pretty cheap, unsure of sound quality, unsure if the horizontal-vertical transducer is gimmick or real), $180CAD
- One of the myriad of budget auto under seat subs available on Amazon, $90-$inf CAD.

I have 8" of below clearance, and the back of my couch is at an angle such that I can get about 4-6" of clearance for a speaker standing up depending on its height.

Some low profile subwoofers can be oriented down facing. What effect does this have on sound at subwoofer frequencies?
 
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Might get poo pooed here but, I have a couple of these and they are better than you might think....6" tall including the feet. Can mount vertical too behind the sofa if you prefer. Can run a pair too with a Y-adapter if one isn't enough.

I prefer facing down for theater use.

www.parts-express.com

Dayton Audio SUB-1000L 10" Low-Profile Powered Subwoofer

Dayton Audio SUB-1000L 10" Low-Profile Powered SubwooferDayton Audio SUB-1000L 10" Low-Profile Powered SubwooferNeed a sub speaker that hides out of sight? The Dayton Audio SUB-1000L low-profile powered subwoofer system features a thin, flat cabinet that fits virtually anywhere. Install the...
www.parts-express.com
 
IminClovisCA said:
Might get poo pooed here but, I have a couple of these and they are better than you might think...

www.parts-express.com

Dayton Audio SUB-1000L 10" Low-Profile Powered Subwoofer

Dayton Audio SUB-1000L 10" Low-Profile Powered SubwooferDayton Audio SUB-1000L 10" Low-Profile Powered SubwooferNeed a sub speaker that hides out of sight? The Dayton Audio SUB-1000L low-profile powered subwoofer system features a thin, flat cabinet that fits virtually anywhere. Install the...
www.parts-express.com
Click to expand...
I like that design. It's very similar design to the Rockville. The Dayton's frequency response is given as 32-140Hz but they don't specify if that's -3dB or -10dB. If that's -3dB I like it a lot.

The Rockville is rated at 30Hz-400HZ (-10dB) and 50Hz – 200 Hz (-3dB)
 
The Monoprice looks like the same sub....just not sure on support for it....Parts-Express is pretty good at support, if needed.
 
About seven bajillion questions to start with..
What are you using for main speakers? How much bass do you want? Room size? Intended use?
Are you willing to do your own woodwork?

That JVC has output of 110WPC to the main speakers, so that Dayton 10" sub with 80W amp may be found lacking if you're cranking it up with a decent set of front speakers. Then again if you have it under the couch you're sitting on and that will be your primary listening position, it may be just fine since you're sitting right on top of the sub. It also "only" goes to ~32hz. Low enough for many/most, but not for someone looking to shake the walls. (What makes YOU happy?)

If you're not afraid of doing your own woodwork, you could build something beefier in an afternoon. one or two 12" drivers inside a box with a plate amp would cost maybe $500 and the whole thing could fit under a couch. You could even build it in two boxes so you don't have to work with a beastly 200lb box.

FWIW, in my office, I have a single 12" Adire Shiva driven by a 300w Dayton plate amp. main speakers are some 6.5" bookshelves above my monitors driven by an Arylic 50W amp. The sub sits down firing into the floor with about 2" gap. I cross the speakers about 80hz because I'm sitting so close and its easy to localize anything higher. In your case, the crossover frequency should be as low as you can get away with, pending your main speakers bottom end.
 
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Main speakers are currently 8" bookshelf speakers in the form of 8 x Minimus 7W:
  • 4 x matched original 40-2039's together for the center channel (four of them just for a little wider "sound-bar" presence than a single)
  • 2 x 40-2039C front L & R
  • 2 x 40-2039A side L & R
(I am still playing with the layout and may swap the no-suffix 40-2039's and use them as surrounds and use the A's and C's as the center - my hesitation is that I want to run them without the grill because they are gorgeous with their walnut face they are more protected on my TV stand shelf than on individual stands)

Usage for the sub is as a home theatre LFE speaker. Don't need actual seat-shaking and I'm not using it for gaming. I have a small living room anyway, and the sub doesn't have to fill it all, just something nice for those on the couch and one very close-by chair. I'm not going to be cranking up the AVR with only 40W bookshelves (though they are very surprisingly filling). 32Hz would suffice, but if I can get something a little better... let's just say a Star Destroyer should have some presence.

The Monoprice offering, I noticed, also comes in a 12" which has got my attention. I highly suspect the Dayton's 32-140Hz is at -10dB, not -3, so the Monoprice 12" at 20-150Hz (also at -10dB) is appealing. My Minimus 7's drop off around 120Hz, so both the Dayton and the Monoprice fit that bill.

I'm definitely not afraid to get my hands dirty with the wood working, but that's more a medium to long term solution for several reasons. This is a stop-gap for now until I can throw more attention at it. I'm willing to throw a $200-$300 dart at the board right now, but want to take the best shot I can at hitting the target. If it turns out to be disappointing, then I'll come back to it later with a more thoughtful and custom approach. Likely as you suggest.
 
Based on that, the 10" Dayton sub may indeed be a little lacking when you turn it up, but it would at least be a good start. Being a smaller room also helps.

The 12" Monoprice option sounds like a better option over the 10" to give you a bit more depth and impact. exploding star destroyers should sound like an explosion, not like popcorn in the microwave! Just the difference in cone size of a 10" vs a 12" means a couple more dB output and a fair amount more down low. (The 12" Shiva on 100w in my office is enough to annoy my wife a couple rooms over and rattle the stuff on my kids wall down the hallway).
 
So, I went with the Monoprice SSW-12 and, as may not surprise too many people here, I ended up returning it though the reason why may.

The "rendered" sound quality (more on that below) and projection were actually both excellent. Their published specs are 20-150Hz frequency response but they publish at -10dB. I was surprised to find its response at -3db was 24-120Hz.

The internal volume of the SSW-12's low profile cabinet is roomier than you might think at close to 1.6cu ft, or 45 litres. Which I find good for a low profile speaker. I think the cabinet design and port size had some thought put into them and I expect that this contributed to the better than expected frequency response. I also found that placing it downward firing under my couch projected very very well. Too well as it happened.

What killed this speaker was plain, old 60Hz hum and how well that then projected. The sort of 60Hz hum you'd expect from a bad 60's tube amplifier, not from a modern subwoofer. It was terrible - something was very poorly designed inside, which given the better than expected frequency response otherwise was disappointing and, frankly, really really annoying. The hum remained the same regardless of the passthrough frequency setting, volume setting, and whether or not a signal cable was connected. In fact, I used dummy connectors on inputs and outputs to eliminate them as a hum source. I suspect there is poor filtering after the pre-amp stage internally. The whole thing was made worse by the auto on/off system. During moments of quiet dialog, the speaker would shut off and the hum would go away. But then all it would take is one deep male voice and the speaker would kick on for two minutes of 60Hz hum. Being under my couch, it drifted up and felt like it was right in my ear. As I said, the projection of this speaker was excellent, and turned out to be its undoing.

It's possible I got a bad unit, and there is actually some evidence this might be the case. But I wasn't about to give it another shot after having go through the pain of returning it internationally.

I've re-evaluated my space constraints and went with an SVS SB-1000. A Klipsch SPL-120 was also in the running, and may have projected better given the forward-firing slotted port, but it turns out the SB-1000 has more guts than I need anyway. I suspect this speaker has more than enough commentary on it, so I won't go into details. Suffice to say, I'm extremely happy.
 
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