I have contacted B&W to ask for specs regarding the actual peak and sustained dB output from their DB subwoofers and they have repeatedly stated that these are unavailable.
So if you're flat from 8.5 to 300 Hz at 65 dB then I guess that technically qualifies.
One would think that a company that charges so much would be a little more open as to their performance.
JL, for instance, have always been up front and Monoprice have also been with their Monolith line.
KEF are reasonably so, with verification from third parties.
I'd like to see more detailed information about the rolloff below 20 Hz for ELAC's
VARRO Dual Reference line. It looks like they roll off a bit too much below 20 Hz for my taste. I'd rather see a sharper roll off below 16 Hz than a shallower roll off starting at 20 Hz or above. Makes me wonder about the Fs of those rumpled drivers.
Indeed I'd like to see a lot more, and more objective info from most manufacturers.
These people expect us to spend thousands of dollars on their products often based on MBA generated marketing instead of solid engineering testing results.
In other words, YMMV, but the engineering test results should reflect the MINIMUM performance you can reasonably expect in your application.
Of the subwoofers I've looked at so far, the KEF KF92 comes closest to actually delivering the promised performance, modest as it is.
These are not going to knock your neighbors's paintings off the wall, but for music and some home theater they offer output of about 104 dB at 10 Hz
for a pair diagonal in a moderate room.
Obviously you can get bigger with JLs but given their limits, the KEFs perform pretty well so I would still consider them over most of the competition for a dual opposed design at that size and weight.
Remember, 450 pound subs might look cool until you have to deal with one in your listening room. I mean installing and moving it, not just the size or WAF, let alone the NAF (neighbors).
Otherwise, Wilson Audio's Thor's Hammer is your boy. Perhaps two in diagonal corners. Of course depending on your waistline you may have trouble finding space to sit between them.
I really don't exoect to be listening at much over 95 dB often, and the maximum output of my mains is likely about 100 dB, so the demonstrated ability of two KEF KF92s is adequate to meet my needs, and I can use the wireless option if I am concerned about hum and noise from the RCA unbalanced cables (I much prefer XLR). And the lack of a 12V trigger is minimal due to their low idle power consumption.
I even looked at the Monoprice 16 inch which is a true tone monster but it weighs around 200 pounds or so, is huge, vibrates and consumes so much power I would have to rewire the house.
I imagine two of those in diagonal corners would be awesome if you lived on a private island and had a large enough room to sit between them.
So far I had started thinking about an Onkyo TX-RZ70 and two KEF KF92s with a brace of Newform Research Last Dance speakers.
I've asked about and looked at nearly everything and am now looking at the Monoprice HTP-1 processor, two of their 5x200W amps to biamp all the 5.2 speakers and two KEF KF92s fed either wireless or with Jensen PC-2XR transformers.
That would nicely meet my needs for everything at reasonable cost.
So if you're flat from 8.5 to 300 Hz at 65 dB then I guess that technically qualifies.
One would think that a company that charges so much would be a little more open as to their performance.
JL, for instance, have always been up front and Monoprice have also been with their Monolith line.
KEF are reasonably so, with verification from third parties.
I'd like to see more detailed information about the rolloff below 20 Hz for ELAC's
VARRO Dual Reference line. It looks like they roll off a bit too much below 20 Hz for my taste. I'd rather see a sharper roll off below 16 Hz than a shallower roll off starting at 20 Hz or above. Makes me wonder about the Fs of those rumpled drivers.
Indeed I'd like to see a lot more, and more objective info from most manufacturers.
These people expect us to spend thousands of dollars on their products often based on MBA generated marketing instead of solid engineering testing results.
In other words, YMMV, but the engineering test results should reflect the MINIMUM performance you can reasonably expect in your application.
Of the subwoofers I've looked at so far, the KEF KF92 comes closest to actually delivering the promised performance, modest as it is.
These are not going to knock your neighbors's paintings off the wall, but for music and some home theater they offer output of about 104 dB at 10 Hz
for a pair diagonal in a moderate room.
Obviously you can get bigger with JLs but given their limits, the KEFs perform pretty well so I would still consider them over most of the competition for a dual opposed design at that size and weight.
Remember, 450 pound subs might look cool until you have to deal with one in your listening room. I mean installing and moving it, not just the size or WAF, let alone the NAF (neighbors).
Otherwise, Wilson Audio's Thor's Hammer is your boy. Perhaps two in diagonal corners. Of course depending on your waistline you may have trouble finding space to sit between them.
I really don't exoect to be listening at much over 95 dB often, and the maximum output of my mains is likely about 100 dB, so the demonstrated ability of two KEF KF92s is adequate to meet my needs, and I can use the wireless option if I am concerned about hum and noise from the RCA unbalanced cables (I much prefer XLR). And the lack of a 12V trigger is minimal due to their low idle power consumption.
I even looked at the Monoprice 16 inch which is a true tone monster but it weighs around 200 pounds or so, is huge, vibrates and consumes so much power I would have to rewire the house.
I imagine two of those in diagonal corners would be awesome if you lived on a private island and had a large enough room to sit between them.
So far I had started thinking about an Onkyo TX-RZ70 and two KEF KF92s with a brace of Newform Research Last Dance speakers.
I've asked about and looked at nearly everything and am now looking at the Monoprice HTP-1 processor, two of their 5x200W amps to biamp all the 5.2 speakers and two KEF KF92s fed either wireless or with Jensen PC-2XR transformers.
That would nicely meet my needs for everything at reasonable cost.
