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Subwoofer Comparison

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sweetchaos

sweetchaos

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Heads up...monoprice.com is having their "Black Friday" deals. Link.

ModelBlack Friday Pricing
Monolith by Monoprice 10in THX SelectNow $419.99. Regular $499.99. Save $80.00 (16%)
Monolith by Monoprice 12in THX UltraNow $649.99. Regular $799.99. Save $150.00 (19%)
Monolith by Monoprice 15in THX UltraNow $999.99. $1,339.99. Save $340.00 (25%)

Opinion: Im guessing monoprice will be clearing out these Revisions 1's from inventory, and will be replaced with Revision 2's (that got released last week) soon.
 

paulgyro

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Heads up...monoprice.com is having their "Black Friday" deals. Link.

ModelBlack Friday Pricing
Monolith by Monoprice 10in THX SelectNow $419.99. Regular $499.99. Save $80.00 (16%)
Monolith by Monoprice 12in THX UltraNow $649.99. Regular $799.99. Save $150.00 (19%)
Monolith by Monoprice 15in THX UltraNow $999.99. $1,339.99. Save $340.00 (25%)

Opinion: Im guessing monoprice will be clearing out these Revisions 1's from inventory, and will be replaced with Revision 2's (that got released last week) soon.
Subwoofer deals of the century! I would jump all over the 10" THX but I just picked up a used HSU VTF-2 mk4 12" over the weekend. Crazy thing, and a testament to how strong the Monolith 10" THX is, the VTF-2 mk4 only beat the Monolith by 1-2 db in CEA2010 low bass, and loses to the Monolith by the same in ultra low bass! Crazy good 10", most likely the best 10" sub in the market!
 

Rottmannash

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Heads up...monoprice.com is having their "Black Friday" deals. Link.

ModelBlack Friday Pricing
Monolith by Monoprice 10in THX SelectNow $419.99. Regular $499.99. Save $80.00 (16%)
Monolith by Monoprice 12in THX UltraNow $649.99. Regular $799.99. Save $150.00 (19%)
Monolith by Monoprice 15in THX UltraNow $999.99. $1,339.99. Save $340.00 (25%)

Opinion: Im guessing monoprice will be clearing out these Revisions 1's from inventory, and will be replaced with Revision 2's (that got released last week) soon.
If the V2 worth the extra cost over the OG10?
 

HammerSandwich

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Crazy thing, and a testament to how strong the Monolith 10" THX is...
Yep, it's incredibly strong for a single 10". Per @hardisj's CEA testing, the Monoprice 10" makes as much 20Hz as 8x Dayton 12s. Heck, it still plays 10dB louder with the port bung installed!

Anybody who buys a single $1500+ sub instead of 3-4 of these 10s is making a big mistake.
 

taisho

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Heads up...monoprice.com is having their "Black Friday" deals. Link.

ModelBlack Friday Pricing
Monolith by Monoprice 10in THX SelectNow $419.99. Regular $499.99. Save $80.00 (16%)
Monolith by Monoprice 12in THX UltraNow $649.99. Regular $799.99. Save $150.00 (19%)
Monolith by Monoprice 15in THX UltraNow $999.99. $1,339.99. Save $340.00 (25%)

Opinion: Im guessing monoprice will be clearing out these Revisions 1's from inventory, and will be replaced with Revision 2's (that got released last week) soon.
Seeing as Americans can buy Monolith 10'' at $420, there is no way I'm ever going to pay €600 ($696) on monoprice.eu. As if Danish Jamo being cheaper in the USA than the EU wasn't enough.
 
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sweetchaos

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Improvements:
- I've replaced these Monoprice subs's regular pricing with this current sale. Normally, I wouldn't do this, and I would just list the sale price in the column "Frequent Sale Price", but I believe they will be discontinued soon, so it makes sense to show the Black Friday pricing as the main pricing.

Personally, if I needed subs right now, I would pick up 2 of THX 15".
For $2k, that's tough to beat.
The only real competition at this price point is to get the Monolith M-215 Dual 15" THX Ultra, but unfortunately that's currently $2.5K, and not $2K when it sometimes goes on sale for. And assuming you get it for $2K, it's still a single sub, so you'll still have issues with room modes...unlike with dual subs.

IMO, Monoprice is killing it with these sales....unlike their competitors that are rising prices due to COVID.
 

Rottmannash

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I went ahead and bought the 10" THX.
 

amper42

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That Monolith 15" sub ver. 1 at $1000 shipped is an amazing deal.

If you compare the specs between it and the Monolith 16" I don't see $1300 additional value. If I was going to spend $2000 on subs I would get two of the Monolith 15" ver. 1 units at $1000 each. It's a super value in todays market.
 

TLEDDY

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Massive (!) undertaking!! Magnificent job!!

Any reason for no SVS 3000 Micro?
 
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BoredErica

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I wonder how important sub 20hz is for music listening and video games... 15hz? 12.5hz? 10hz? Is it appreciable at 75db?

I'm looking for xlr sub out due to significant concern of ground loops, and that gets me to Rythmik F12 or Hsu Uls15 mk2 for sealed subs. For ported there are the Monolith 10in and 12inchers and Hsu's ported sub. Buuut with ported people bring up group delay, port chuffing, and a person said sealed subs are easier to integrate with main speakers due to 'less phase change'.

The Hsu goes to 12.5hz at 90db which is more than enough for me.

My poor, poor brain!
 
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alex-z

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I wonder how important sub 20hz is for music listening and video games... 15hz? 12.5hz? 10hz? Is it appreciable at 75db?

I'm looking for xlr sub out due to significant concern of ground loops, and that gets me to Rythmik F12 or Hsu Uls15 mk2 for sealed subs. For ported there are the Monolith 10in and 12inchers and Hsu's ported sub. Buuut with ported people bring up group delay, port chuffing, and a person said sealed subs are easier to integrate with main speakers due to 'less phase change'.

The Hsu goes to 12.5hz at 90db which is more than enough for me.

My poor, poor brain!

You can't hear below 20Hz, anything below that is just pressure you can feel. You won't get much sub-20Hz content in music or games. Or streaming movies because of the compression. The only place is really lossless audio from blu-ray discs.

Ported subs have a different rolloff but are barely harder to integrate. Whatever crossover setting gives you the smoothest response means the phase alignment is decent. Most AV receivers can do this on their own, and if not, an $80 measurement mic will get you there.

A properly designed sub isn't going to have group delay or port chuffing problems.
 

dualazmak

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sweetchaos

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Here's a popular question that comes up all the time...
One expensive sub vs multiple cheaper ones?

We hear the opinion of a few popular YouTubers, including Erin.
 

BoredErica

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You can't hear below 20Hz, anything below that is just pressure you can feel. You won't get much sub-20Hz content in music or games. Or streaming movies because of the compression. The only place is really lossless audio from blu-ray discs.

Ported subs have a different rolloff but are barely harder to integrate. Whatever crossover setting gives you the smoothest response means the phase alignment is decent. Most AV receivers can do this on their own, and if not, an $80 measurement mic will get you there.

A properly designed sub isn't going to have group delay or port chuffing problems.
Hi, thanks for chiming in. I am aware that below 20hz I can't really hear it but rather feel it instead. I was more curious about the vibrations. Is there a difference in characteristic between the vibrations at 10 vs 15hz or does it just feel like "more vibrations" if a sub is playing both 15hz and 10hz content at the same time (assuming the content even has stuff down there)?

I think I'm a bit different than a lot of people buying big subs because I only listen at 65-70db (up to 75db if I'm around the house). I'm assuming having the ability to play down to 15 or 12.5hz is nice to have even if I don't want my room to shake or my neighbors to murder me. :oops:

So I guess today's decent subs won't have chuffing or group delay issues, huh? The Monolith made it to the OP's top 10 listed for ported subs so it should be designed properly.
 
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pozz

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You can't hear below 20Hz, anything below that is just pressure you can feel.
Hi, thanks for chiming in. I am aware that below 20hz I can't really hear it but rather feel it instead. I was more curious about the vibrations. Is there a difference in characteristic between the vibrations at 10 vs 15hz or does it just feel like "more vibrations" if a sub is playing both 15hz and 10hz content at the same time (assuming the content even has stuff down there)?

I think I'm a bit different than a lot of people buying big subs because I only listen at 65-70db (up to 75db if I'm around the house). I'm assuming having the ability to play down to 15 or 12.5hz is nice to have even if I don't want my room to shake or my neighbors to murder me. :oops:

So I guess today's decent subs won't have chuffing or group delay issues, huh? The Monolith made it to the OP's top 10 listed for ported subs so it should be designed properly.
You can hear tonal content down to 15Hz. Below that tonal perception breaks down and you hear whooshing or traffic like noises. At a few Hz you can no longer track the waveform and lock on individual pressure minima/maxima.

Rest assured, there's little deliberate music down there.

At low frequencies, perception is a mix of senses (hearing, touch, balance, proprioception). I've tried looking for literature that quantifies contributions by each sense but have not found any yet.

Edit: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...-pathways-for-hearing-bass.22167/#post-737109
 

warthor

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Do you have this subwoofer in your comparison? I could not find it. It is a dual 12 inch subwoofer. They also provide the CEA measurements, but I don't know if you use theirs. It looks like a great value.

 
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