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To sub or not to sub

L

LittleRichie

Member
I’m in a bit of a quandary about whether or not I should spend the money on a subwoofer or not. I’m putting together a second audio setup for my basement and I picked up some Sony equipment on the cheap so I’m using a TA AV561 integrated amp to drive things. The speakers that came with the system had been misused so they had to be replaced. I picked up some Polk T50’s also on the cheap. Here’s where my issue is. The Polk’s are down 3db at 40 hz and quite honestly have a little more bass than I expected but it’s still not quite up to snuff. I was going to pick up a Polk PSW10 subwoofer used but it’s -3db point is also 40 hz so I don’t really see where I’d be helping myself. Looks like I’m going to have to spend more than I wanted to add some bass so I’m not really sure it’s worth it. Looking for some input on whether or not the sub would actually add any bass I really don’t have any experience with the lower end subwoofers so I’m not sure if it’s worth it or not. Most of the less expensive stuff I see is down 3db around 35 hz which I don’t see as much improvement but like I said I have no experience using one. Thanks in advance for any input.
 
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I have two complete systems in this room, one for dedicated 2-channel music reproduction the other multi-channel for Home theater.

The sub in the middle was $2000 back in 1991, the other two are older Dayton Audio Sub 1200's from Parts Express. I've had the Daytons for 8yrs and they rock. One should be plenty really, I ordered two to use as stands.

Can't recommend them highly enough, at the price I don't think you could build better for less.

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Grenadeslio said:
I have two complete systems in this room, one for dedicated 2-channel music reproduction the other multi-channel for Home theater.

The sub in the middle was $2000 back in 1991, the other two are older Dayton Audio Sub 1200's from Parts Express. I've had the Daytons for 8yrs and they rock. One should be plenty really, I ordered two to use as stands.

Can't recommend them highly enough, at the price I don't think you could build better for less.

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Nice system. I had a Velodyne sub, in fact still do that lasted about 30 years before the plate amplifier failed and believe me if I could find a replacement I would still be using that sub it did a great job. Now I have a RSL Speedwoofer 10s attached to my main system which I’m very happy with but they’re about $400 if you can find them in stock and I don’t want to spend that kind of money on this system. I only have $200 invested total lol so I’m not really looking at spending much to improve it. C18A27B5-3C4A-43EB-8673-6525C425EF44.jpeg
 
Much of the benefit of adding a sub to a system is not making your woofers do that work. I've a Yamaha 8" self powered sub that happily takes the 60hz and below off the workload of my kg4.2 in the ht setup. Does it shake the room more? Not really. Did it tighten up the lower end? Yep.

Ymmv.
 
loudnoises said:
Much of the benefit of adding a sub to a system is not making your woofers do that work. I've a Yamaha 8" self powered sub that happily takes the 60hz and below off the workload of my kg4.2 in the ht setup. Does it shake the room more? Not really. Did it tighten up the lower end? Yep.

Ymmv.
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Thanks for the input. That’s kind of what I was wondering about. The Polk sub would match very nicely and I suspect blend very well I’m just not sure if it would make that big a difference. The only way I would know for sure would be to buy it and hook it up lol. At $60 I just might do it.
 
sfox52 said:
You could get a Dayton plate amp and mount it in a simple base, then use it to power the Velodyne. I did the same with an Onix Rocket sub when the original amp failed.
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Thanks for your input. I looked at plate amps when it originally failed but I couldn’t find anything that fit in perfect so I just ordered the Speedwoofer. I may revisit the idea though I really miss that little sub it made the room shake. Problem is my woodworking skills aren’t the best which is why I didn’t tackle the project in the first place but I just may give it a shot. Do you know anything about this amplifier?

https://www.parts-express.com/Yung-SD300-6-300W-Class-D-Subwoofer-Amp-Module-w-6dB30Hz-301-510
 
LittleRichie said:
Thanks for the input. That’s kind of what I was wondering about. The Polk sub would match very nicely and I suspect blend very well I’m just not sure if it would make that big a difference. The only way I would know for sure would be to buy it and hook it up lol. At $60 I just might do it.
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I wouldn't when $90 more gets you a real sub like the Dayton with 25hz capability. Is it the best? Hell no, not even close lol. Is it the best at its price point? You know, it just might be, and with Parts Express second to none customer service it's a win all the way around.

As for using a sub to alleviate the mains of producing bass, most budget subs don't have this capability so I wouldn't sweat it. Added to that, I've been incorporating subs for more than 4 decades and unless the mains are very tiny I always prefer them running full frequency for 2-channel music reproduction anyway.
 
LittleRichie said:
Thanks for your input. I looked at plate amps when it originally failed but I couldn’t find anything that fit in perfect so I just ordered the Speedwoofer. I may revisit the idea though I really miss that little sub it made the room shake. Problem is my woodworking skills aren’t the best which is why I didn’t tackle the project in the first place but I just may give it a shot. Do you know anything about this amplifier?

https://www.parts-express.com/Yung-SD300-6-300W-Class-D-Subwoofer-Amp-Module-w-6dB30Hz-301-510
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that looks like an excellent option, it also includes variable phase instead of the limited 180degree phase switch, this makes integration easier.

and at $136 a no brainer
 
The Polk sub will reinforce your mains, making the low frequencies they do produce louder, but you are correct that it will not get you into that last octave in any meaningful way.

Still, it may be exactly what you want.

BTW, the only way you can offload your mains is with a high pass filter. Some subs have them built in. Most do not.

Without one, your mains will continue to carry lthe low frequencies (down to their limits). Which can be ok, or not.
 
The question you need to ask yourself is whether anything you are going to be listening to in your basement actually has any content below 40Hz. If not, then the reason you're thinking about a subwoofer is to have louder bass rather than lower bass, and a sub that bottoms at or near 40Hz might very well do the job, which is to produce more low end volume without blowing out your main speakers. You only need a sub that goes down to 30Hz or below if your music has content in that range, or if you intend to use the sub for a home theater's LFE channel.
 
gkimeng said:
The question you need to ask yourself is whether anything you are going to be listening to in your basement actually has any content below 40Hz. If not, then the reason you're thinking about a subwoofer is to have louder bass rather than lower bass, and a sub that bottoms at or near 40Hz might very well do the job, which is to produce more low end volume without blowing out your main speakers. You only need a sub that goes down to 30Hz or below if your music has content in that range, or if you intend to use the sub for a home theater's LFE channel.
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I actually intend to add a tv so I will need something that goes a little lower. Some of the music I listen to has content that goes below 40hz as well I can definitely tell it’s missing. But I can’t really expect this to perform like my main system and I don’t know how much it will be used so I’ve been asking myself if it’s worth adding anything at all. I was seriously thinking about fixing my Velodyne but a plate amplifier will cost about as much as a less expensive or used sub and it’s a servo sub so I’m not really sure if a standard plate amplifier will even make it work like it did before. Thank you for your input it’s a definite consideration. I suspect when I get everything together I’ll use it more often than I expected
 
LittleRichie said:
I actually intend to add a tv so I will need something that goes a little lower. Some of the music I listen to has content that goes below 40hz as well I can definitely tell it’s missing. But I can’t really expect this to perform like my main system and I don’t know how much it will be used so I’ve been asking myself if it’s worth adding anything at all. I was seriously thinking about fixing my Velodyne but a plate amplifier will cost about as much as a less expensive or used sub and it’s a servo sub so I’m not really sure if a standard plate amplifier will even make it work like it did before. Thank you for your input it’s a definite consideration. I suspect when I get everything together I’ll use it more often than I expected
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ya, much easier to just get the Sub 1200, especially as the plate amp is currently out of stock for a month.

you'll be glad you did, just one should really make a difference
 
Grenadeslio said:
ya, much easier to just get the Sub 1200, especially as the plate amp is currently out of stock for a month.

you'll be glad you did, just one should really make a difference
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Yes I agree looks like there may well be a Sub 1200 in my future I haven’t found anything in that price range that has those kind of specs. The Velodyne plate amplifier is a really odd shape at 13 1/8” wide and 5 1/4” tall I haven’t been able to find anything like that
 
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