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Recommend subwoofer for my home theater setup

PaperBoy007

PaperBoy007

Hanging out at the 49th
Subscriber
I would appreciative if I could get a recommendation for subwoofer to use with my home theater setup. I had an Aiwa, but it doesn't seem to be working and it was second hand from a yard sale. I am running my amp as 5.1 channel. Here is what I have now:

  • Yamaha RX-V861 7 channel amp
  • Sony SS-M7 speakers (five -- two as front, one as center and two as rear surrounds)
  • LG 46" television
  • LG Blue Ray player
  • Roku
  • Chromecast
The Sony SS-M3s are two-ways and have 6.5" woofers.
  • Max (RMS) Output Power
    120 Watt
  • -3dB Frequency Response
    70 Hz
  • Nominal Impedance
    8 Ohm
  • Sensitivity
    85 dB
  • Crossover Frequency
    2000Hz
I was reading that when choosing a subwoofer you don't want to go a lot bigger than the size (maybe one size) of the woofers in your speaker. That would mean an 8" or 10" sub. Is this a good rule of thumb? I was looking at a 12" Dayton Audio at Parts Express (Dayton Audio SUB-1200 12" 120 Watt Powered Subwoofer). It has good reviews and a very reasonable price, but then after researching what subs to use, it looks like it may be too big at 12". Is my research correct?

Anyway, any suggestions for a proper sub at a reasonable price? Size, etc. I'm pretty new to the game. If there are any specs I'm leaving out let me know and I'll try to get them. Even without a sub, the system sounds pretty good as is. But, I'd like to add a good sub to make it great (er).
 
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The Dayton SB-1000 with free shipping for orders over $100 at PE is a steal. Cost is $119, the box had to cost $75 to ship, it's gigantic. It's a very melodic sub with all the necessary features to dial it in. Bought mine 10 yrs ago and it's still going strong!
 
Thanks for your responses, I really do appreciate this site and the member's opinions. The SVS PC-2000 looks nice, but at nearly a grand each, let alone almost two gees for two, I think I'll have to pass on.

Edit: So, I should have looked around more and not believed the ad that said lowest price, see Crutchfield has them for $499. I will will look some more.

If the size of the mains doesn't matter, the recommended Dayton could be my way to go.

My home theater is in a pretty small room. Just looking for a little more in the bass than the SS-M3s can deliver. Will probably start with one sub, adding a second later. Any other advise is welcome.

Edited: As to price of the SVS sub.
 
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Another vote for the SB-1200 (or two). Don't worry about it being too big for the sonys.
 
Hajidub said:
The Dayton SB-1000 with free shipping for orders over $100 at PE is a steal. Cost is $119, the box had to cost $75 to ship, it's gigantic. It's a very melodic sub with all the necessary features to dial it in. Bought mine 10 yrs ago and it's still going strong!
Click to expand...

If space is not a problem I suggest checking out a 12" Dayton (Sub1200) sub (two is still better). I have heard the Dayton Sub1200 helping the bottom end of some Elac Debut's. They work well together. For the price, IMO they can't be bettered.
 
PaperBoy007 said:
Thanks for your responses, I really do appreciate this site and the member's opinions. The SVS PC-2000 looks nice, but at nearly a grand each, let alone almost two gees for two, I think I'll have to pass on.

Edit: So, I should have looked around more and not believed the ad that said lowest price, see Crutchfield has them for $499. I will will look some more.

If the size of the mains doesn't matter, the recommended Dayton could be my way to go.

My home theater is in a pretty small room. Just looking for a little more in the bass than the SS-M3s can deliver. Will probably start with one sub, adding a second later. Any other advise is welcome.

Edited: As to price of the SVS sub.
Click to expand...

Well i can definitely give you the skinny on the Dayton Audio Sub 1200 from Parts Express as I have 2 in my home theater setup, albeit mine are the model before.

One will get you great bass, but 2 connected in stereo used as stands, YOWZAAAAAA.

As for being too big, hogwash, the Infinity Modulus Speaker system incorporated a 12" sub with the mains having 5.25" midbass drivers, you're good to go.

As for room size, two work great in our guest bedroom just fine. Below they're teamed with Jamo C-103's as the mains in the surround system, along with a Jamo C-10 center, and Definitve Technology Studiomonitor 350's for the rears.

20200802_215517.jpg

The Modulus Speaker system is for dedicated 2 channel listening, though either can be used for both.

Note on the Sony SSM3, purchased a pair new when they first came out, super build quality, outstanding with jazz, but I found them just a bit too polite otherwise. Owned them until 2012, gifted them to my nephew along with some custom stands I made for them. I did run them for a time as mains in a surround setup with 325 watts of Carver power, the two custom built in passive subs with 1000 watts helped lol.

Good to see you found a use for the orphaned single as a center.
 
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Thanks guys, this gives me a lot to think about. Can always rely on this site for good advice re: audio.
 
PaperBoy007 said:
Thanks for your responses, I really do appreciate this site and the member's opinions. The SVS PC-2000 looks nice, but at nearly a grand each, let alone almost two gees for two, I think I'll have to pass on.

Edit: So, I should have looked around more and not believed the ad that said lowest price, see Crutchfield has them for $499. I will will look some more.

If the size of the mains doesn't matter, the recommended Dayton could be my way to go.

My home theater is in a pretty small room. Just looking for a little more in the bass than the SS-M3s can deliver. Will probably start with one sub, adding a second later. Any other advise is welcome.

Edited: As to price of the SVS sub.
Click to expand...

I have two, and technically, I could not afford them, but after hearing them, I regret nothing. One of the very few purchases of my life which I would never undo.
 
Polk Audio PSW10. $130 on Amazon, 4.5 stars with over 8,000 reviews. I've had mine about a week and I think it's great. I was skeptical because of the low price but Polk Audio has always delivered the goods and this sub is no exception. I've held out my entire life because I didn't think a sub would sound good or mate well with an older system (early 70's), but oh my, life is good with this thing.
 
Subwoofers have been part of my system since 1989. The Acoustat Spectra 22's I bought new included a "woofer" cabinet. The SPW-1 was a dual woofer in one box. It had dual 6.5" woofers on each side. You could use the built on crossovers in the panels and "sub" and use a single stereo amplifier. Or you could use an electronic crossover and bi-amp them. It took me all of three months before I bought a Paradigm X30 (electronic crossover) and an Adcom GFA-545 to go with the tube mono blocks.

A couple of years later I built two TL subs following Nelson Pass' instructions on his DIY site. I still have and use those subs. I recently upgraded the amplifiers driving them from bridged Crown XLS-402's (old style Class A/B) with a bridged pair of XLS-2002's.

I guess it's rather obvious that I a fan of subwoofers. IME/O there are very few "full range" speakers that won't benefit from adding a subwoofer (two is better). The ones that a subwoofer can't help are almost always assaults on the state of the art. They are large, expensive and more often than not include their own powered subwoofers.

IME most complaints about subwoofers are because they are too loud or the crossover frequency is too high. Quite often it's both.
 
I'd go with the SVS's. I did a couple years ago, and they are great. I'm not really sure why you'd need both. We've used mine in a very large room at high levels before, and it performed perfectly, just as always. It also sounds wonderful with music in a stereo. In fact, a member here heard mine and bought one, and another is looking to get the same model, too.
 
I’m an SVS fan too. I have the SB12NSD which is discontinued I believe but it’s a sealed 12” sub, 800 watts peak, I love it. It sounds amazing and even though I have a surround music system with 5 relatively large and bass capable speakers, it makes a big difference for the better. I think almost every system, stereo and surround, benefits from a nice sub. I have had a few cheaper subs and for a few extra bucks the SVS blows them all away. I’m not sure how it stacks up against really pricey subs, but for $400 I paid it’s much better sounding than the price would suggest.
 
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