Subwoofer Advice

[ScottyN]

Hi all,

First time poster here—apologies if this in the wrong place or there are other etiquette breaches. I’m looking for advice on a subwoofer to be used for music and TV, but music takes priority—I’m not hoping to have the walls shake with movies. $1500 would be the max budget.


Our setup is in a room that’s about 24’x20’ with approximately 8’ for the ceiling. We have Ascend Acoustics Sierra LX right, left, and center for our TV, which is all essentially in one corner of the room. There’s a space about 20” wide next to the media cabinet that’s the only space a subwoofer could fit to balance the aesthetics/acoustics curve; this could accommodate a box 24” high and deep. I don’t have an option to get two or more subwoofers.


My understanding is that a ported subwoofer would be better than sealed for the size of the space. I’ve been looking at the Rythmik FVX12 or Power Sound Audio EV1513M as options.


Does anyone have thoughts on either of those for my purpose? I’ve also been told that getting anything less than two ported 15” subs wouldn’t make enough difference to be worth the money in the room. I can appreciate the science behind all of this, but is that valid when I’m just trying add a little extra low range to the system?


Thanks for the input!

 

[Everett T]

Hi all,

First time poster here—apologies if this in the wrong place or there are other etiquette breaches. I’m looking for advice on a subwoofer to be used for music and TV, but music takes priority—I’m not hoping to have the walls shake with movies. $1500 would be the max budget.


Our setup is in a room that’s about 24’x20’ with approximately 8’ for the ceiling. We have Ascend Acoustics Sierra LX right, left, and center for our TV, which is all essentially in one corner of the room. There’s a space about 20” wide next to the media cabinet that’s the only space a subwoofer could fit to balance the aesthetics/acoustics curve; this could accommodate a box 24” high and deep. I don’t have an option to get two or more subwoofers.


My understanding is that a ported subwoofer would be better than sealed for the size of the space. I’ve been looking at the Rythmik FVX12 or Power Sound Audio EV1513M as options.


Does anyone have thoughts on either of those for my purpose? I’ve also been told that getting anything less than two ported 15” subs wouldn’t make enough difference to be worth the money in the room. I can appreciate the science behind all of this, but is that valid when I’m just trying add a little extra low range to the system?


Thanks for the input!

Limiting your placement could ruin a good subwoofers sound in any given room.

With your expectations a single ported sub would be the best option as you noted but again, it may not be as satisfying as you expect. Have you ever fooled around with measurement software like REW? You can run sims to see if the location you're considering will work out and give you filters to apply if the location is not optimal.

 

[ScottyN]

Limiting your placement could ruin a good subwoofers sound in any given room.

With your expectations a single ported sub would be the best option as you noted but again, it may not be as satisfying as you expect. Have you ever fooled around with measurement software like REW? You can run sims to see if the location you're considering will work out and give you filters to apply if the location is not optimal.

Thanks for the suggestion—I’ll check that out.

 

[DanielT]

Hi all,

First time poster here—...........I’ve been looking at the Rythmik FVX12 or Power Sound Audio EV1513M as options.

Hi and welcome to ASR.

The subwoofers you are considering can be good. Here are some more tips. In different sizes and price ranges:

'I measured 10 subwoofers.'

Oct 28, 2023

Hi, it's been a while!
I would like to thank the people who made this project possible on a scale never before imagined in South Korea. I measured a total of 10 subwoofers, including my own DIY subwoofer(L26RO4Y), and measured them to the CEA-2010 standard using a Klippel TBM module. Below are photos and a list of the subwoofers I measured.

(In order from left to right)

- Arendal 1961 1V

- Arendal 1961 1S

- Neumann KH750

- Bowers & Wilkins DB4S

- SVS SB-3000

- SVS SB-2000 pro

- SVS SB-1000 pro

- Polk audio...

• Nuyes
• arendal 1961 1s arendal subwoofer bowers and wilkins sub woofer cea-2010 diy subwoofer neumann subwoofer sb1000 sb2000 sb3000 svs subwoofer
• Replies: 326
• Forum: Speaker Reviews, Measurements and Discussion

• 

My understanding is that a ported subwoofer would be better than sealed for the size of the space.

Sealed or ported? For my part, if it is well constructed, without a huffing and putting bass port sound with resonances, ported all the day. They have higher efficiency. But okay, a good sealed, with a good powerful subwoofer speaker driver in a fairly large box with a lot of amp power, way not.

I’ve also been told that getting anything less than two ported 15” subs wouldn’t make enough difference to be worth the money in the room. I can appreciate the science behind all of this, but is that valid when I’m just trying add a little extra low range to the system?


Thanks for the input!

When choosing a subwoofer, think about what you want.
How far down in frequency do you want them to play. How high do you want them to be able to play without the subwoofer sounding bad, distorting?

SPL capabilities, how low FR, distortion levels are seen in bench tests performed on subwoofers, like the one in the link above.

 

[ScottyN]

Hi and welcome to ASR.

The subwoofers you are considering can be good. Here are some more tips. In different sizes and price ranges:

'I measured 10 subwoofers.'

Oct 28, 2023

Hi, it's been a while!
I would like to thank the people who made this project possible on a scale never before imagined in South Korea. I measured a total of 10 subwoofers, including my own DIY subwoofer(L26RO4Y), and measured them to the CEA-2010 standard using a Klippel TBM module. Below are photos and a list of the subwoofers I measured.

(In order from left to right)

- Arendal 1961 1V

- Arendal 1961 1S

- Neumann KH750

- Bowers & Wilkins DB4S

- SVS SB-3000

- SVS SB-2000 pro

- SVS SB-1000 pro

- Polk audio...

• Nuyes
• arendal 1961 1s arendal subwoofer bowers and wilkins sub woofer cea-2010 diy subwoofer neumann subwoofer sb1000 sb2000 sb3000 svs subwoofer
• Replies: 326
• Forum: Speaker Reviews, Measurements and Discussion

• 

Sealed or ported? For my part, if it is well constructed, without a huffing and putting bass port sound with resonances, ported all the day. They have higher efficiency. But okay, a good sealed, with a good powerful subwoofer speaker driver in a fairly large box with a lot of amp power, way not.


When choosing a subwoofer, think about what you want.
How far down in frequency do you want them to play. How high do you want them to be able to play without the subwoofer sounding bad, distorting?

SPL capabilities, how low FR, distortion levels are seen in bench tests performed on subwoofers, like the one in the link above.

Thanks for the info!