Best low budget 8 "subwoofer

[ModDIY]

Hi everyone,

What do you think of the Emotiva sub, 8 "woofer with passive, 200w rms amplifier ??

Airmotiv S8

 

[escape2]

Hi everyone,

What do you think of the Emotiva sub, 8 "woofer with passive, 200w rms amplifier ??

Airmotiv S8

Definitely a good option. I didn't mention it before because I thought it'd be outside of your budget.

 

[leeroy 85032]

Hi everyone,

What do you think of the Emotiva sub, 8 "woofer with passive, 200w rms amplifier ??

Airmotiv S8

i have the basx8 .. it's pretty good for music and has "enough" output for ht.. i would assume the one you are looking at would be as good or better...

 

[leeroy 85032]

I guess "low budget" means different things to different people.

very much so..some of us really can't even afford "mid fi" without waiting for sales.. i'd have a $10,000 2.1 ch system if i had any coin...

 

[Putter]

I'll throw this out there. While everyone raves about how you HAVE to spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars, if you look at reviews of subs on Amazon and various other sites, reviews are glowing typically with one exception, which is that they died prematurely. These descriptions match my experience which is that even cheap subs will add a satisfying bottom end to a small woofer (4 - 6 inch) speaker and that I have 4 or 5 subs gathering dust awaiting the courage/energy to repair them.

Based on this information, I would look a for a larger sub (10 inches and larger) because all things considered they require less wattage to hit a given low frequency and typically go lower, has a good warranty, amd maybe most important of all has very few complaints of premature failure.

P.S. Having admitted that IMO most subs are 'good enough', I hereby turn in my audiophile card. Finally FWIW, the best sub I have is Definitive Tech Pro Sub 80 from their home theater system that I found used at a thrift for $100.

 

[escape2]

I have 4 or 5 subs gathering dust awaiting the courage/energy to repair them.

LOL! I have a bunch of cheap 10" subs, most of them sitting in storage. Surprisingly, they all still work, or at least worked when I put them in storage some 5 years ago. I was using a cheap 10" 50 Watt Yamaha sub to provide some low end in my garage and was generally happy with it.

Based on this information, I would look a for a larger sub (10 inches and larger) because all things considered they require less wattage to hit a given low frequency and typically go lower,

If it's primarily for music, I wouldn't necessarily chase after something that "goes lower." Most music doesn't have much content below say 30 Hz. What does matter for music is "musicality" of the sub, and that unfortunately cannot be determined from a frequency chart or a spec sheet. A lot of budget subs are "one note wonders" - they'll provide a good thump for movies, but will not be very musical.

 

[CDMC]

Just an additional option. Erin just measured budget subs and the Elac1010 did pretty well and has a normal price of $129 on Amazon and $99 on sale. Two of these would be in the budget, give sufficient output and provide the smoothing benefits of a pair of subs. As others have pointed out, while output below 30hz is nice, there is very little musical content below 30hz. On a tight budget, I would rather get the smoothness and spl capability of two moderate subs over one that could go down deeper.

 

[ModDIY]

Thank you for all your comments and suggestions. Indeed my goal is not to lower the lowest.

Previously I had columns with 10 "SB29 (SB Acoustic) feed with active control in bi-amplification. In short it was very musical, but I moved and less room in the living room. Yes I had in my mire the Elac subwoofer, on the other hand I found the 45w rms amplifier a little weak.

This morning I bought a 10 "Monoprice subwoofer, with XLR sockets (I have an XLR output on my DAC), socket 1/4", amplifier 200w rms, 400w peak.

Noticed that half is more than enough for me, most of the time I don't listen to music very loudly, however I like the soundstage to be quite realistic.

 

[CDMC]

Thank you for all your comments and suggestions. Indeed my goal is not to lower the lowest.

Previously I had columns with 10 "SB29 (SB Acoustic) feed with active control in bi-amplification. In short it was very musical, but I moved and less room in the living room. Yes I had in my mire the Elac subwoofer, on the other hand I found the 45w rms amplifier a little weak.

This morning I bought a 10 "Monoprice subwoofer, with XLR sockets (I have an XLR output on my DAC), socket 1/4", amplifier 200w rms, 400w peak.

Noticed that half is more than enough for me, most of the time I don't listen to music very loudly, however I like the soundstage to be quite realistic.

Congratulations on the purchase. I encourage you to read about the benefits of using multiple subs, as they are not for higher output (but can be used for that reason). If you measure your response at the listening position, you will see fluctuations in bass levels of as much as 20db. Using multiple subs (biggest gain is going from one to two) placed properly will significantly decrease these fluctuations. The result is a much tighter, cleaner, more "musical" bass.

Here is a good starter article on the subject: https://www.audioholics.com/subwoofer-setup/two-subs

 

[ModDIY]

Thank you CDMC.

Yes I will read this article carefully. I have already read a little about this subject. Now in addition to the measurements at 1 meter from the speaker, I am also measuring at the listening position with both speakers. Indeed it is quite different and we often have surprises due to the sound of the piece. As now in my new living room, the rear wall of the speakers is made of brick and the frequency response in the bass is not the same as before, that is to say better. As soon as I have my subwoofer and the preliminary adjustments are made, I get back to you ... thank you again !!

 

[CDMC]

Thank you CDMC.

Yes I will read this article carefully. I have already read a little about this subject. Now in addition to the measurements at 1 meter from the speaker, I am also measuring at the listening position with both speakers. Indeed it is quite different and we often have surprises due to the sound of the piece. As now in my new living room, the rear wall of the speakers is made of brick and the frequency response in the bass is not the same as before, that is to say better. As soon as I have my subwoofer and the preliminary adjustments are made, I get back to you ... thank you again !!

As an experiment, you may want to try with your existing energy subwoofer and the new monoprice. While using two identical subs is ideal, adding the second, even though different, makes a significant contribution to the smoothing.

 

[ModDIY]

Good idea and why not, I'll try it!

 

[ruinevil]

If you can accept rear ported designs, some 10 inch designs are smaller than the Monoprice Premium Select 8.

 

[ModDIY]

Hi everyone,

I finally canceled my order for the Monoprice Studio because it had not yet shipped (BO).

Instead I ordered the Elac SUB1010. I had an eye on the Monoprice 8 ", but yesterday it increased while the Elac decreased ... same price yesterday, today $ 53 $CAD difference today, so the choice was not difficult.

 

[CDMC]

Hi everyone,

I finally canceled my order for the Monoprice Studio because it had not yet shipped (BO).

Instead I ordered the Elac SUB1010. I had an eye on the Monoprice 8 ", but yesterday it increased while the Elac decreased ... same price yesterday, today $ 53 $CAD difference today, so the choice was not difficult.

Good choice. Let us know how it works out.

 

[ModDIY]

A funny story happened to me.

The Monoprice Studio 10 "which is BO on their site was finally shipped today, so I hastily canceled my order for the Elac. I had canceled the order for the Monoprice, but was shipped anyway.

It is more expensive but I'm really happy with this purchase.

https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=605999

 

[ruinevil]

I have that on my desktop system with a pair of JBL LSR 305. They noticeably add to the low-end.

 

[Willem]

I remain interested in the quality rather than extension and spl of cheap subs, either to have multiple subs in a high end system or to add a little extra bass to a quality desktop system. So much sub discussion seems uniquely concerned with their contribution to the sound of action movies rather than acoustic music.

 

[ModDIY]

https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=605999

I have that on my desktop system with a pair of JBL LSR 305. They noticeably add to the low-end.

Thank you ruinevil for your return.

I remain interested in the quality rather than extension and spl of cheap subs, either to have multiple subs in a high end system or to add a little extra bass to a quality desktop system. So much sub discussion seems uniquely concerned with their contribution to the sound of action movies rather than acoustic music.

Exactly several comments that I read on Amazon about this sub, which it did not dig at 20hz but rather 30-35hz. I don't mind that, because I bought it mainly for music.

I don't have a commercial sound system, but rather a system that I have built myself. I've been playing around with this for a few decades. 25-30 years ago I was more audiophile. I listened to sound more than music. To make a long story short, now for me the audio equipment is what allows me to listen to THE music. Currently my main chain consists of 3-way speakers powered by 2 amplifiers. Of course I took a bunch of measurements and this is not my first bi-amplification kit. In short, as soon as I receive the sub, after some adjustments I will take measurements of the sub without the columns, and with the columns.

The measurements will be done in my living room (there is a brick wall) and at the listening position. In my columns I have 5 "Wavecor WF15 woofers which are very clean in a transmission line and give + - 55hz at f3. So the goal is to go down a bit and especially to get a good integration at the musical level.

 

[Willem]

I notice that at various places in Europe the Elac Sub 10.2 that seems to be the the bigger brother of the Elac Sub1010 now sells for about 170 euro.