Subwoofer Comparison

[enricoclaudio]

Can’t speak for other manufacturers but the reason our amps have 3 years warranty is because our after warranty service is very affordable. For instance, we can service and repair Rythmik Audio amps in house that are more than 12 years old. Currently, amps repairs after warranty for US customers cost no more than $180 including both ways shipping as we provide the box for returning the amp back to our facility in Austin, TX. All repairs are done by Brian Ding, owner and designer of all Rythmik Audio subwoofers. For overseas customers, we can sell and ship the parts needed to repair the amps and can even email instructions on how to do the repair either yourself or a local repair shop.

 

[techsamurai]

Can’t speak for other manufacturers but the reason our amps have 3 years warranty is because our after warranty service is very affordable. For instance, we can service and repair Rythmik Audio amps in house that are more than 12 years old. Currently, amps repairs after warranty for US customers cost no more than $180 including both ways shipping as we provide the box for returning the amp back to our facility in Austin, TX. All repairs are done by Brian Ding, owner and designer of all Rythmik Audio subwoofers. For overseas customers, we can sell and ship the parts needed to repair the amps and can even email instructions on how to do the repair either yourself or a local repair shop.

Well, I'd like to contrast that to Marantz whose support centers wouldn't even accept a 10 year old 8000 series AVR. I had to call all the centers and one accepted it and repaired it for $300 but the center channel came back dead

But Marantz does provide unlimited support over the phone and we tried talking to the transistor to get it working but it didn't listen. Hey, I can always buy a $4,000 SR8015 and get the same sound with 1 HDMI 2.1 input...

I'm glad that Rythmik doesn't talk to its subwoofers to get them working after they fail

 

[FrantzM]

Can’t speak for other manufacturers but the reason our amps have 3 years warranty is because our after warranty service is very affordable. For instance, we can service and repair Rythmik Audio amps in house that are more than 12 years old. Currently, amps repairs after warranty for US customers cost no more than $180 including both ways shipping as we provide the box for returning the amp back to our facility in Austin, TX. All repairs are done by Brian Ding, owner and designer of all Rythmik Audio subwoofers. For overseas customers, we can sell and ship the parts needed to repair the amps and can even email instructions on how to do the repair either yourself or a local repair shop.

You are pushing hard, for me to buy Rythmik.. OK, after reading this, you are back in contention . Under $800 ($600? ) , capable of pushing 95 dB + at 20 Hz in my small (3.2 x 5 x 2.8 metrs) room.

Peace.

 

[davlynam]

Both SVS and Arendal warranty their amps for 5 years, not three, and Arendal throws in another 5 years on the drivers. Both are substantial subwoofer producers with well reviewed products, and have repair departments.

 

[techsamurai]

00 but the center channel ca

Both SVS and Arendal warranty their amps for 5 years, not three, and Arendal throws in another 5 years on the drivers. Both are substantial subwoofer producers with well reviewed products, and have repair departments.

Curious, how does the warranty with Arendal work? Do they have a repair center in the States?

Actually, Rythmik's location in Austin Texas may work well because it's split in the US and you don't need to pay shipping to West Coast or East Coast which can be very expensive.


But I definitely would love to see 5 year warranties for speakers, subs, receivers, and AVRs. I'm appalled at Sound United's near doubling of price for the same product while dropping the warranty from 5 years to 3 years. To me that says that they are using cheaper parts because if they were using the same or better parts, they'd have no problem offering a 5 year or longer warranty. Plus the new AVRs have fans in them which keep them cooler - my 8000s don't have fans in them and came with 5 year warranties and were much, much cheaper with the same copper chassis, toroidal etc, etc.

 

[staticV3]

@sweetchaos please consider changing the Volume (m^3) in your spreadsheet to Volume (L) and Footprint (W*D) (cm^2) to Footprint (W*D) (m^2).


Liters and square meters just make more sense to european brains

Volume (L) = H (cm) * W (cm) * D (cm) * 0.001
Footprint (m^2) = W (cm) * D (cm) * 0.0001

 

[MrOtto]

No one testes distortion in subwoofers?

 

[techsamurai]

No one testes distortion in subwoofers?

I think the #1 factor is the volume and that varies by application. If it's in a living room that means how large it is, if it's concealed in a movie theater how loud it plays.

 

[Tom C]

Every subwoofer in this list has been tested for distortion. It’s actually built into the CEA standard. Instead of looking at distortion levels at a particular output, like 85dB, the subs are driven to the highest output at a fixed level of distortion. So the measurements you’re looking at in the data table are the level of output achieved at that fixed distortion level.

Edit: @staticV3 has pointed out to me that not all of the subwoofers in the spreadsheet have CEA data. Only some of them have it.

 

[staticV3]

Every subwoofer in this list has been tested for distortion.

There are 2060 subwoofers on Sweetchaos' spreadsheet. Out of those, 416 subwoofers have distortion data. That's about 20%.

 

[Tom C]

Thank you for the clarification.

 

[techsamurai]

The one thing I noticed when it comes to sealed subs that under 30hz, they all seem to fall under 100db unless you are planning to spend beaucoup bucks.

Why, oh why, can't the SVS 3000 Micro hold the same decibels as the SB1000 under 30hz? Can't they fit 2 more 8-inch drivers in there and push the power to 10 kilowatts peak?

 

[Willem]

Unfortunately you can only have two out of these three: price, size and performance.

 

[techsamurai]

Unfortunately you can only have two out of these three: price, size and performance.

Wow, that is so true when it comes to subwoofers.

You can get a great sub at a great price but it's going to be large or you can get a small sub at a good price but it's going to lose deep extension and loudness.

 

[techsamurai]

Wait, I found the "holy grail"! It's the Monolith M-212 Dual 12" THX Ultra. It's only $1,800, weighs just 175lbs, and listen to this...

is 1/3 the size of the SVS 3000 Micro (808 vs 259!)

I could probably stack 4 of those like Bose Cubes and people would think they are tiny speakers! No one would know where the bass is coming from!

Just kidding, the width is mistyped as 1.7 inches instead of 17.7 inches but here's to wishing Still that's only 3 times larger than the SVS 3000 Micro (if my math holds up) and that thing is a monster...

 

[radix]

The SVS PC-4000 measurements look worse than I would have thought. How good are those numbers?

 

[sweetchaos]

SVS PC-4000 measurements

Unless I'm blind, I don't see any measurements.

 

[radix]

Unless I'm blind, I don't see any measurements.

Must have been user error, for some reason I was seeing the measurements of the PC12-NSD. Maybe my sorting or filtering was off.

 

[radix]

I've narrowed down my sub search. Big thanks to @sweetchaos for this sub list.

Does anyone have any thoughts on these models?

I am somewhat space limited, with a footprint under 17" wide and 18" deep. I also need something that looks nice, as it's in the living room.

• Arendal 1621 S1 or 1723 S1
• SVS SB-2000 Pro or SB-3000 or PC-2000 Pro
• MartinLogan Dyamo 1100x
• Siegberg Inkognito 10 or 12 (these I can fit turned sideways behind my speakers)
• Rythmik F12 or E22

Value-wise, the 1621 S1 looks really good, as do the SVS. The Arendal also look pretty sharp. And the 13.8" 1723 is tempting. Of the SVS, I like the PC-2000 cylinder rather than some boxy thing.

I have an Inkognito 10 for my HT setup and have temporarily moved it to the living room for HiFi. It seems to be doing well, but it might be a little low on power.

I'm not familiar with the MartinLogan line.

I'll be buying two, so any of the SVS or Arendal 1961 are much friendlier to the wallet.

 

[Matt0305]

I've narrowed down my sub search. Big thanks to @sweetchaos for this sub list.

Does anyone have any thoughts on these models?

I am somewhat space limited, with a footprint under 17" wide and 18" deep. I also need something that looks nice, as it's in the living room.

• Arendal 1621 S1 or 1723 S1
• SVS SB-2000 Pro or SB-3000 or PC-2000 Pro
• MartinLogan Dyamo 1100x
• Siegberg Inkognito 10 or 12 (these I can fit turned sideways behind my speakers)
• Rythmik F12 or E22

Value-wise, the 1621 S1 looks really good, as do the SVS. The Arendal also look pretty sharp. And the 13.8" 1723 is tempting. Of the SVS, I like the PC-2000 cylinder rather than some boxy thing.

I have an Inkognito 10 for my HT setup and have temporarily moved it to the living room for HiFi. It seems to be doing well, but it might be a little low on power.

I'm not familiar with the MartinLogan line.

I'll be buying two, so any of the SVS or Arendal 1961 are much friendlier to the wallet.

I have had the PC-2000 Pro in my media/living room setup for a while now and only have positive things to say about it. It digs deep for movies and sounds good with music. The app gives you additional customization options and works well. I did have a failed amp about 2 months into ownership. SVS responded to my email on a Sunday and had me a new amp by Tuesday. Thier support team was top notch and the reason my next sub(s) will likely be SVS.