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"Perfect" subwoofer for small basement room

FluffyGTX

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Jan 18, 2025
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Hi all,

I have a small basement room, designed as work and, most importantly game and movie room.
You can find a sketch here or attached to the post:
Imgur
asEvOUE.jpeg

I only have one place to put a subwoofer: At the right side of the L-shaped couch (the box with the freezer-symbol, don't ask why).
As you can see, I have no real limit in height and depth. I am currently running a 25 year old sub, which starts to fall apart. It was one of those Hifi-Subs that can be run in stereo mode. So it is 60cm high, but quite narrow.

I am looking for a really good subwoofer. I have some decent active speakers, all measured and dialled in via miniDSPs. The sound stage is great. But they only go down to 36 Hz (and even there they need some help).
So I would like to buy a subwoofer that can do both: Enhance music and really deliver some deep bass for movies.

I was looking at the Arendal 1723 1S, since it is only 33cm wide and anything wider would limit access to the shelves and make my wife annoyed.
Some say the sub bass performance is not that great since it is a closed design. Some say this is not a problem, since the room is so small and this will enhance deep bass.

What do you guys think? Are there better alternatives?

Thanks!
 
Eeeeek. Money _is_an object :)
These are too expensive. Really cool stuff though :)
Did anyone have a chance to experience the 1723 in a small room?
 
Buchardt Sub10
 
@sweetchaos created a big spreadsheet of subwoofers: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...yBjaxK69dkXte6ZL6anVTW2_M/edit?usp=drive_link

It's a great place to start, make a copy and filter according to your space requirements. SVS is good on bang-for buck.

Personally I try to buy used stuff, subs in particular. I ended up with 2x BIC F12 for $250 total, for my office. They're not amazing, probably worse than anything SVS sells, but two are pretty adequate for desk listening, not easy to beat for the $$.
 
The 1723 1S is a great subwoofer 95db@20hz the SVS SB3000 has 93db@20 hz.
Sealed subs in a small room is the best, flat to 10 hz with a good sealed sub is no problem.
 
Thank you for the great tips. I do have access to SVS. I know they are good. But they are mostly pretty square and borderline on my width requirements.
Thank you for the Google Doc List. This really Is awesome.
 
I was looking at the Arendal 1723 1S, since it is only 33cm wide and anything wider would limit access to the shelves and make my wife annoyed.
Some say the sub bass performance is not that great since it is a closed design. Some say this is not a problem, since the room is so small and this will enhance deep bass.

What do you guys think? Are there better alternatives?
Neumann KH750DSP. It's sealed but goes down to 19 Hz. I use it in a similar sized room and am very happy with it.
 

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Given your limited space for subs, having something custom built may be best? The sub used in that slim Wisdom Audio subwoofer is only $300.

A local cabinet shop can likely build you an enclosure to fit behind your couch (or beside) for under $150 or a local car audio shop may build it out of MDF for less. I bought one, carpeted, for $25 years ago.

Four of those behind and beside the couch will do ok.
 
Thank you for the advice. Few years ago, I would happily have gone for a DIY solution. Now, with a small child at home, I just want things to work ;)
 
Given your limited space for subs, having something custom built may be best? The sub used in that slim Wisdom Audio subwoofer is only $300.

That’s similar to Leon. Triad might be in the same ballpark? Not sure. CI has high margins.

A local cabinet shop can likely build you an enclosure to fit behind your couch (or beside) for under $150

Unless it’s a favor to land a $60k custom kitchen cabinet deal I don’t see that as likely.

That said, another option that’s less expensive and worth considering is Paradigm MilleniaSub. I have one on my desk behind the monitor and it probably could be used by itself with some boundary reinforcement.
 
Hi all,

I have a small basement room, designed as work and, most importantly game and movie room.
You can find a sketch here or attached to the post:
Imgur
View attachment 422030
I only have one place to put a subwoofer: At the right side of the L-shaped couch (the box with the freezer-symbol, don't ask why).
As you can see, I have no real limit in height and depth. I am currently running a 25 year old sub, which starts to fall apart. It was one of those Hifi-Subs that can be run in stereo mode. So it is 60cm high, but quite narrow.

I am looking for a really good subwoofer. I have some decent active speakers, all measured and dialled in via miniDSPs. The sound stage is great. But they only go down to 36 Hz (and even there they need some help).
So I would like to buy a subwoofer that can do both: Enhance music and really deliver some deep bass for movies.

I was looking at the Arendal 1723 1S, since it is only 33cm wide and anything wider would limit access to the shelves and make my wife annoyed.
Some say the sub bass performance is not that great since it is a closed design. Some say this is not a problem, since the room is so small and this will enhance deep bass.

What do you guys think? Are there better alternatives?

Thanks!
Instead of one larger sub I would recommend two smaller ones to give you a wider listening area. With one sub you can really only equalize successfully for one quite narrow listening position. The best model would be a function of the budget. To get the same performance out of a small sized sub, you have to pay more. Examples are the SVS micro3000 or even more so the KEF KC62.
 
KEF KC62. A bit pricy new, but a used version may be an option.
I have some KC62s (got as part of a secondhand deal, agree they're too expensive at retail) and they are really impressive for the size, probably the smallest legitimate subwoofer I've ever seen. Because of the force cancelling they sit absolutely still in use, you could put them on a shelf or something without worry.

I never recommend them because they're nowhere near cost-effective, but if space is a bigger constraint than budget they are worth a look.

You can get smaller but they're typically "subwoofers" with nothing much to say past 45hz.
 
I have some KC62s (got as part of a secondhand deal, agree they're too expensive at retail) and they are really impressive for the size, probably the smallest legitimate subwoofer I've ever seen. Because of the force cancelling they sit absolutely still in use, you could put them on a shelf or something without worry.

I never recommend them because they're nowhere near cost-effective, but if space is a bigger constraint than budget they are worth a look.

You can get smaller but they're typically "subwoofers" with nothing much to say past 45hz.
It'd have to be a strong shelf though, as they are incredibly heavy!
 
Paradigm Seismic 110. Has their ARC room correction. Might be more aesthetic than a box subwoofer. I have used this and the KC62 and would definitely use this over the Kef for performance. However, the Kef wins on aesthetics and smaller size. Another one that could might fit aesthetics but a little bit wider is the Genelec F Two. Not as much output if you need that. They also have the F One but even less output and doesn't go that low.
 
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