Subwoofer Comparison

[kernelpanic]

Which ones did you go for? 1723 thx towers? How would you compare them to other speakers you had.

One thing worth mentioning is they have incredibly low group delay - in my room under 20ms all the way to 16Hz. I believe 20ms is considered a threshold under where we cant hear it anymore. Perfect for music.

I have the 1723 S Monitors as LCR behind an AT screen with 1961 Bookshelves, Surrounds and Heights rounding out the system. They sound great, very transparent and high output for the price. Love the black satin finish too!

 

[radix]

I have the Arendal 1723 1S in the system now. I only got one of them for now. I have an SVS 3000 micro as 2nd, trying to fill in a bad dip I have from the 1723's position (I tried 8 or 9 spots, and this was the best compromise I could find). The gloss white matches the Revel white pretty well, by the way. It's a very pretty sub and the app is pretty good to work with.

The main EQ is ARC Genesis. I don't think it does a great job on subs. I need to go into REW and re-measure then apply some EQ using the sub PEQ. I'll try CamillaDSP + MSO or Acourate next.

I'm pretty sure if I got a second 1723 and put it where the SVS currently is, I could mostly solve that 40-60 Hz dip. I measured it there and it was flatter from 40-55, but had a bad null 10-25.

 

[Daka]

I have the Arendal 1723 1S in the system now. I only got one of them for now. I have an SVS 3000 micro as 2nd, trying to fill in a bad dip I have from the 1723's position (I tried 8 or 9 spots, and this was the best compromise I could find). The gloss white matches the Revel white pretty well, by the way. It's a very pretty sub and the app is pretty good to work with.

The main EQ is ARC Genesis. I don't think it does a great job on subs. I need to go into REW and re-measure then apply some EQ using the sub PEQ. I'll try CamillaDSP + MSO or Acourate next.

I'm pretty sure if I got a second 1723 and put it where the SVS currently is, I could mostly solve that 40-60 Hz dip. I measured it there and it was flatter from 40-55, but had a bad null 10-25.

View attachment 270795

How did you position it - regular way with woofer to the right or woofer facing you? If you haven’t tried already try both ways. Because it’s not a square box there is a difference between both which will affect phase. With micro best would be to put on diagonal close to you - that’s usually best place to fill in nulls

 

[radix]

How did you position it - regular way with woofer to the right or woofer facing you? If you haven’t tried already try both ways. Because it’s not a square box there is a difference between both which will affect phase. With micro best would be to put on diagonal close to you - that’s usually best place to fill in nulls

In the spot I ended up choosing for it (front left corner), I tried it firing right and firing front. Firing front was slightly better in the dip (maybe 2-3 dB before smoothing). I chose firing front as it worked out better in the space (it did not interfere with drapery). Firing front, it actually blends very well with the Revel F228be in white -- they are both gloss white with a black grille.

In the rear position (where the SVS is right now), I found firing right (really firing left as its on the rear wall) works out very well to combat the 40-60 Hz null.

marc

 

[Daka]

In the spot I ended up choosing for it (front left corner), I tried it firing right and firing front. Firing front was slightly better in the dip (maybe 2-3 dB before smoothing). I chose firing front as it worked out better in the space (it did not interfere with drapery). Firing front, it actually blends very well with the Revel F228be in white -- they are both gloss white with a black grille.

In the rear position (where the SVS is right now), I found firing right (really firing left as its on the rear wall) works out very well to combat the 40-60 Hz null.

marc

Measure SVS response where it is. Maybe just crank up the SVS to fill in that dip. Unless Arc doesn’t handle phase adjustments well but it does do bass management so…

 

[radix]

Measure SVS response where it is. Maybe just crank up the SVS to fill in that dip. Unless Arc doesn’t handle phase adjustments well but it does do bass management so…

ARC has a separate phase alignment you can run anytime after the setup. So I do my fine-tuning in REW and apply the PEQ to the subs, then re-run the phase alignment. The SVS does not fix that null as well as the 1723. I guess the double driver doesn't work as well there.

ARC wants the subs turned down quite a bit. So after it is done, I then go back to REW and usually add 3-6 dB to each sub and then PEQ down the peaks for a smoother response. ARC also defaults to pretty high crossovers.

 

[Daka]

ARC has a separate phase alignment you can run anytime after the setup. So I do my fine-tuning in REW and apply the PEQ to the subs, then re-run the phase alignment. The SVS does not fix that null as well as the 1723. I guess the double driver doesn't work as well there.

ARC wants the subs turned down quite a bit. So after it is done, I then go back to REW and usually add 3-6 dB to each sub and then PEQ down the peaks for a smoother response. ARC also defaults to pretty high crossovers.

Turned down? Interesting.
Always was it’s easier to bring down peak than it is to fill in dip. At that SPL - micro should have no problem to fill in that gap. It might be gain difference between both Arendal having higher gain compared to micro and Arc somehow not able to level it out. Maybe give SVS a sub crawl with it to see where is best spot for it in relation to your MLP.

 

[theJman]

I have two 1723 s1 and in my room they get down to 10Hz flat. They look very slick and not in your face which I absolutely love.
(Below Harman+10db curve applied)

After some tuning with 5 of the 7 PEQ's in the app here is what I got at the MLP with the 1723 2S...

 

[Daka]

After some tuning with 5 of the 7 PEQ's in the app here is what I got at the MLP with the 1723 2S...

Impressive! Crazy how those subs extend in room.

 

[radix]

Turned down? Interesting.
Always was it’s easier to bring down peak than it is to fill in dip. At that SPL - micro should have no problem to fill in that gap. It might be gain difference between both Arendal having higher gain compared to micro and Arc somehow not able to level it out. Maybe give SVS a sub crawl with it to see where is best spot for it in relation to your MLP.

This might be getting a little OT here, but I switched the AHB2 to low gain as the Anthem STR has 6V XLR output and mid-gain is for 4V. This makes my normal listening volume -30 to -20 and kind of loud at -15. Anyway, ARC asked me to reduce the 1723 to -10 dB output and the SVS to -30 dB output (the SVS is much closer to the MLP too). I did what I needed to to make it through ARC, then added about 6-8 dB to each sub and trimmed down the peaks using PEQ in the subs. I believe right now, the 1723 is at -2 dB and the SVS is at -24 dB, plus PEQ.

 

[Daka]

This might be getting a little OT here, but I switched the AHB2 to low gain as the Anthem STR has 6V XLR output and mid-gain is for 4V. This makes my normal listening volume -30 to -20 and kind of loud at -15. Anyway, ARC asked me to reduce the 1723 to -10 dB output and the SVS to -30 dB output (the SVS is much closer to the MLP too). I did what I needed to to make it through ARC, then added about 6-8 dB to each sub and trimmed down the peaks using PEQ in the subs. I believe right now, the 1723 is at -2 dB and the SVS is at -24 dB, plus PEQ.

It’s difficult to deal with two different subs, different gains, FR. That was a reason why I sold my kf92 and got second Arendal instead even though Dirac bass management does great job - still difference since having two Arendals is day and night.

 

[theJman]

Impressive! Crazy how those subs extend in room.

At the MLP I have a big dip ~50Hz so I dedicated 2 of the PEQ's to lift that. My reference sub has an 18" driver but unfortunately no real adjustments, once I flattened the response from the 1723 2S it sounded a lot cleaner than my own subwoofer. I actually came thisclose to buying it after the review.

If linking to an external article is not considered appropriate on ASR I'll delete it. Mods, please let me know.

 

[Norrlandius]

In the subwoofer comparison file, the Jamo C 912 has sound listed at 15 Hz but the frequency response from Jamo spec only goes as low as 29 Hz https://d1k7keptyk1i1t.cloudfront.net/product-specsheets/Concert-912_Spec-Sheet_v01.pdf?v=1663762429.

Does this mean the subwoofer can produce sound below the 20 Hz?

I am looking at the lowest price for any subwoofer that can go below the 20 Hz hearing range. Is there any other option I should look at?

 

[Daka]

In the subwoofer comparison file, the Jamo C 912 has sound listed at 15 Hz but the frequency response from Jamo spec only goes as low as 29 Hz https://d1k7keptyk1i1t.cloudfront.net/product-specsheets/Concert-912_Spec-Sheet_v01.pdf?v=1663762429.

Does this mean the subwoofer can produce sound below the 20 Hz?

I am looking at the lowest price for any subwoofer that can go below the 20 Hz hearing range. Is there any other option I should look at?

Frequency response is, or should, be shown as +/- 3db range in anechoic chamber or simply outside where no room modes are present. With room modes it will extend but lower but doubt 15Hz is at +/-3db but at the level where it’s simply at too low level to make any difference.

 

[sweetchaos]

In the subwoofer comparison file, the Jamo C 912 has sound listed at 15 Hz but the frequency response from Jamo spec only goes as low as 29 Hz https://d1k7keptyk1i1t.cloudfront.net/product-specsheets/Concert-912_Spec-Sheet_v01.pdf?v=1663762429.

Does this mean the subwoofer can produce sound below the 20 Hz?

I am looking at the lowest price for any subwoofer that can go below the 20 Hz hearing range. Is there any other option I should look at?

Yes, it will produce sound at 15hz, but only at 78.4db, which is 30.2db down from it's maximum measured output from CEA-2010-A of 108.6db (at 63hz).
In other words, unless you're listening at 78.4db (at 2m peak SPL from woofer), you're not going to hear output at 15hz.

Advertised vendor specs are meaningless, since there's no standard between vendors.
CEA-2010-A is the only real test of a subwoofer's performance, since there's no way to fake this test.
But just for giggles, let's make an assumption that Jamo is telling the truth here, so at 31.5hz (close to 29hz advertised), the maximum output from the CEA-2010-A test is 99db (which is about 9db down from it's maximum of 108.6db at 63hz) or (which is about 4.4db down from it's maximum of 103.4db at 40hz).
Overall, I would say Jamo gets a passing grade here.

But again, there's a reason I don't include advertised vendor specs on my spreadsheet, since it doesn't tell us anything of use.
CEA-2010-A is king.

update: fixed typo

 

[sweetchaos]

I am looking at the lowest price for any subwoofer that can go below the 20 Hz hearing range. Is there any other option I should look at?

Jamo isn't on my list of considerations when I want a subwoofer.
Typical suspects include (in random order) SVS, Monoprice, HSU, Rythmik, etc.
My spreadsheet shows you the answer. *Wink*

 

[Benedium]

Can chat gpt turn this subwoofer comparison spreadsheet into an easier to use Web page? Hehe

 

[sweetchaos]

Can chat gpt turn this subwoofer comparison spreadsheet into an easier to use Web page? Hehe

ChatGPT (the latest non-public version) or even "Microsoft 365 Copilot" can summarize my spreadsheet with relative ease.

I feel like my spreadsheet is not that hard to summarize, since the data is not hard to interpret. It's self-explanatory isn't it?

 

[Benedium]

ChatGPT (the latest non-public version) or even "Microsoft 365 Copilot" can summarize my spreadsheet with relative ease.

I feel like my spreadsheet is not that hard to summarize, since the data is not hard to interpret. It's self-explanatory isn't it?

Probably just me haha.

 

[Nuyes]

I recently measured 10 subwoofers (including my own DIY subwoofer).

I'm working on a review that will include TBM measurements according to the CEA-2010B standard and various data such as 85 and 95dB SPL@2m, group delay, step response, etc.


To the OP, thanks for starting this thread.