Has anyone experience with Harbottle Audio Subwoofers? On paper I am pretty impressed by them and their approach to driver design. I'm considering replacing my JBL passive sub with the following active unit from them. I run out of channels on my Amplitude 16, and instead of installing another power amplifier I thought maybe an active unit is a better option.
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Harbottle Audio Subwoofers?
- Thread starter sarumbear
- Start date
That looks impressive. 40mm one-way travel is a stupid long way for a sub! Another driver that can do this looks like that:
Your find is much prettier
Sadly the page detailing THD and other performance figures is a 404 at the moment.
It’s not cheap. And do you need the DSP stuff with your AVP? And obviously you need at least two
Your find is much prettier
Sadly the page detailing THD and other performance figures is a 404 at the moment.
It’s not cheap. And do you need the DSP stuff with your AVP? And obviously you need at least two
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DVDdoug
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I don't know anything about it but almost any "good" 18-inch sub should be "adequate" for any home situation.
And to over-generalize a bit more... It looks like a sealed cabinet which is usually best when the cabinet is relatively-small for the cabinet size.
It's waaaaay out of my price range! ...I've always been fascinated by these but they are huge... which is actually part of the appeal to me. And they are also "pro", meaning they are optimized for efficiency and loudness in large spaces at the cost of loosing the deepest bass.
And to over-generalize a bit more... It looks like a sealed cabinet which is usually best when the cabinet is relatively-small for the cabinet size.
It's waaaaay out of my price range! ...I've always been fascinated by these but they are huge... which is actually part of the appeal to me.
And they are also "pro", meaning they are optimized for efficiency and loudness in large spaces at the cost of loosing the deepest bass.
OP
- Thread Starter
- #4
I do not use bass management. I have a separate subwoofer for each LR speaker. This will be fed by the LFE channel only.It’s not cheap. And do you need the DSP stuff with your AVP? And obviously you need at least two
Looking at raw performance you could get more out of a much cheaper ported sub, the 16" Monoprice for example runs circles around this.
But if money isn't a consideration this isn't only fancy but also performant.
But if money isn't a consideration this isn't only fancy but also performant.
OP
- Thread Starter
- #6
Where can I see that comparable data?
Monoprice Monolith 16” THX Ultra Subwoofer: Brutal Output, Audiophile Performance
The Monoprice Monolith 16" THX Ultra subwoofer sports huge excursion ability with an enormous cabinet, and 1,800 watts of power. This Extreme Bassaholic rated sub is a true bruiser with audiophile chops.
Those figures are at 2m distance, not sure about the Harbottle figures.
OP
- Thread Starter
- #8
Thank you. They seems to have tested mostly on vented mode, hence not directly comparable. A port reduces distortion very much.
Monoprice Monolith 16” THX Ultra Subwoofer: Brutal Output, Audiophile Performance
The Monoprice Monolith 16" THX Ultra subwoofer sports huge excursion ability with an enormous cabinet, and 1,800 watts of power. This Extreme Bassaholic rated sub is a true bruiser with audiophile chops.www.audioholics.com
Those figures are at 2m distance, not sure about the Harbottle figures.
I am looking for a closed box design as at high SPL at low frequency ports often generate spurious sounds. I want to avoid that. Otherwise, great subs...
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I like Cody’s approach. Just talked to him yesterday about the current group buy, in fact, and am strongly considering it.
I don’t recall where I saw a compression sweep of one of his drivers, but it was impressive: a textbook example. Might have been in one of the AVS Threads for either his Group Buy or general Harbottle Owners Thread.
Regardless, short of the guarantees he makes about his product one would be hard pressed to match the performance offerings with most other companies offerings.
If I were going to buy new Subwoofers, it would probably be the Monoliths, but look at their distortion and compression sweeps! Yes they are good, but those beasts also compress.
My current Subs, the Outlaw X-13 is also designed and built by Claridy like the Monoliths. They are impressive, but still have flaws.
The only other options end up being Pro Drivers or other specialty designers (Funk, Perlisten). No Pro Subwoofer is really going to be clean when pushed to its maximum limits below Fs, which is to say “I’ll see it when I believe it.” (And I have yet to see any meaningful data posted about PSA Subs or what guys like GSG are doing. Meaningful isn’t an FR or CEA-2010 Burst Test: meaningful is Long Term Compression Sweeps and Distortion Plots.)
@sarumbear , I think it is a worthy pursuit.
I don’t recall where I saw a compression sweep of one of his drivers, but it was impressive: a textbook example. Might have been in one of the AVS Threads for either his Group Buy or general Harbottle Owners Thread.
Regardless, short of the guarantees he makes about his product one would be hard pressed to match the performance offerings with most other companies offerings.
If I were going to buy new Subwoofers, it would probably be the Monoliths, but look at their distortion and compression sweeps! Yes they are good, but those beasts also compress.
My current Subs, the Outlaw X-13 is also designed and built by Claridy like the Monoliths. They are impressive, but still have flaws.
The only other options end up being Pro Drivers or other specialty designers (Funk, Perlisten). No Pro Subwoofer is really going to be clean when pushed to its maximum limits below Fs, which is to say “I’ll see it when I believe it.” (And I have yet to see any meaningful data posted about PSA Subs or what guys like GSG are doing. Meaningful isn’t an FR or CEA-2010 Burst Test: meaningful is Long Term Compression Sweeps and Distortion Plots.)
@sarumbear , I think it is a worthy pursuit.
@sarumbear
try this link:
https://www.harbottleaudio.com/reviews
(Just had to remove the ".html" from what was on his site.)
try this link:
https://www.harbottleaudio.com/reviews
(Just had to remove the ".html" from what was on his site.)
OP
- Thread Starter
- #11
Thank you.
You may wanna have a look here to see how comparable these numbers are: https://data-bass.com/#/systems?_k=tk4dga
OP
- Thread Starter
- #13
I’m afraid I cannot see any distortion nor compression values on the page you posted. Am I missing something?
staticV3
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@sweetchaos 's massive subwoofer comparison sheet should be mentioned as well:
bit.ly
Subwoofer Comparison (by @sweetchaos)
CEA-2010-A Manufacturer (sorted by, first),Model (sorted by, second), Discontinued ,Mfg Link,Manual, Announced Date ,Price,Currency,Frequent Sale Price,Converted to USD,Converted to CAD,Converted to GBP,Converted to EUR,# of Woofers,Woofer Size (in),Type,Passive,CTA-2010-B data available. If 'Ye...
staticV3
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CEA-2010 is a distortion spec. What you see is max SPL at a given frequency before the distortion threshold is exceeded.
OP
- Thread Starter
- #16
I can’t see distortion nor compression figures on that document either. Am I missing something?@sweetchaos 's massive subwoofer comparison sheet should be mentioned as well:
Subwoofer Comparison (by @sweetchaos)
CEA-2010-A Manufacturer (sorted by, first),Model (sorted by, second), Discontinued ,Mfg Link,Manual, Announced Date ,Price,Currency,Frequent Sale Price,Converted to USD,Converted to CAD,Converted to GBP,Converted to EUR,# of Woofers,Woofer Size (in),Type,Passive,CTA-2010-B data available. If 'Ye...
You’ll need to go into every system to see those, but it’s all there.
staticV3
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Yes. See my response above.
OP
- Thread Starter
- #19
But where are the subwoofers I’m interested and suggested as an alternative?
