I am not a serious audiophile, just like to hear good music. One thing I have noticed is the subwoofer market is there plenty of small companies the ones general public has never heard of unless they frequent forums such has avsforums or audscience etc. 11 years ago I purchased one such subwoofer for my HT setup after perusing dozens of hours of subwoofer forum on avsforums. I was thrilled to deal directly with the owner/builder (admittedly a bass enthusiast but not an engineer) peppering with dozen questions and getting them answered. I paid $900 in 2013 on my purchase of my subwoofer and in todays price its like spending $1100 or $1200. Also, the company I purchased the subwoofer now is a significant player among the small companies with over dozen plus products.
On the other hand I have been perusing more of measurement based forums vs. owners subthreads in the past when I made my subwoofer purchase. This has made be understand in general speaker designs from big companies (KEF, Revel, Harmon etc.) have research teams working to figure out a design for few years before bringing them into market and publishing white papers (I have a read some from KEF).
I believe these big companies put similar approach for their subwoofer designs as I have seen on some pictures on eBay and tear downs on the web shows much complex build integration to meet the design specifications and result. I have opened my 11 year old sub a few times to change failed amps and noticed its pretty much plywood or MDF box with some batted synthetic insulation.
My question for expert audiophiles here:
1. What makes subwoofers design/build so unique that it affords smaller companies to compete well in the market?
2. Are there any merits buying a subwoofer from big companies with 6"-10" of driver and years of design behind them vs. buying from small companies some offering 12" to 15" drivers in a big box?
On the other hand I have been perusing more of measurement based forums vs. owners subthreads in the past when I made my subwoofer purchase. This has made be understand in general speaker designs from big companies (KEF, Revel, Harmon etc.) have research teams working to figure out a design for few years before bringing them into market and publishing white papers (I have a read some from KEF).
I believe these big companies put similar approach for their subwoofer designs as I have seen on some pictures on eBay and tear downs on the web shows much complex build integration to meet the design specifications and result. I have opened my 11 year old sub a few times to change failed amps and noticed its pretty much plywood or MDF box with some batted synthetic insulation.
My question for expert audiophiles here:
1. What makes subwoofers design/build so unique that it affords smaller companies to compete well in the market?
2. Are there any merits buying a subwoofer from big companies with 6"-10" of driver and years of design behind them vs. buying from small companies some offering 12" to 15" drivers in a big box?