Subwoofer to pair with F208s

[penquin]

Hey all!

Im currently looking at a few different Rythmik subs to pair with my F208s.

Trying to debate if the F12 is big enough or if I should jump to the F15/FVX15.

Will most likely start with one and move to two in the future. The room is open concept with a kitchen attached to the living room.

Total size is ~3800cu ft. Living room is about 2800cu ft and couch is situated in the middle of the living room.

Most of the time it's just TV instead of movies, no center channel yet. About 50/50 video/music. Often listen to electronic / rock.


Any thoughts on if a single 15 inch is enough? Some floated the idea of the F18 but that may be too big for the room.

 

[AdamG]

IMHO one can never have too much Sub. Always go bigger and go dual for best blending. Most people I have discussed this with end up regretting not getting the bigger sub. Specially for Rock/Electronic music. Better to have subs coasting easily than driving them to clipping and distortion. Best of luck to you in your search. Check out JTR/HSU/PSA/Funk. Rythmik subs are a solid choice as well. Options are always good to help decide.

 

[muslhead]

While not the f208's, i used a rythmik fvx15 with my salon2's. I thought it integrated well and filled out the bottom end nicely.

 

[Slayer]

Have to admit i'm a sub junkie. 20 yrs ago i didn't think they were necessary. Now i am in complete opposite of that way of thinking. Any one of the top brands of subs should integrate pretty well. I have had, svs, rythmik, hsu, klipsch and monoprice monoliths. All were great except for the klipsch and they lived up to their reputations. The one that surprised me the most was the Monolith subs, wasn't expecting to much to be honest. Talk about clean, tight and tactile response. Dollar for dollar, they are hard to beat. They have 10% and 20% off sales all the time, which makes them a steal.

As far as size goes, unless your playing above 120db, go with the size that best fits your living space. Regarding having one or two, I always say the more the merrier. Running dual subs or more may take a little longer to set-up properly, but once it's done, the benefits far outweigh any of the negatives. Good luck on your quest.

 

[sweetchaos]

Well, you have a 3800 ft^3 room, which is classified as "Large" according to Audioholics.

If you take a look at my subwoofer comparison post, you'll find all known CEA-2010-A measurements for Rythmik subs.
Here it is:

Thoughts:
1. As you can see, F12 (12" woofer, sealed) (for US$980) doesnt have enough output for your room size, because it will work for "Medium" sized rooms.
2. Getting the F18 (18" woofer, sealed) will work in your room (as it hits "Large" room rating simply because it's sealed not ported like others), but this sub is US$1850 (more expensive than Say FV15HP's which are US$1430 but hit "Extreme" room rating).
3. FV15HP (15" woofer, ported) at US$1430 will have more headroom that you need for your "Large" room, since it can hit "Exreme" room rating.
4. Let's consider F15 now...
Look at F12 and F18 CEA-2020-A data, it's safe to say that the F15 will be in between.
Looking at my data, the F18 exceeds "Large" rating (by around 6dB across 25hz to 63hz).
Rythmik's website shows:
F15HP: +5.5db F18: +7.5db
Which means only 2dB between 15" and 18" version, according to Rythmik.
If we take this info, and apply it to my spreadsheet, this tells me that the F15 will hit "Large" room rating as well.
5. We know volume of FVX15 (15" ported) is 6.3 ft^3.
We know volume of FV15HP (15" ported) is 6.3 ft^3 as well.
Since FVX15 got "Extreme" room rating, I can assume that FV15HP also gets the same "Extreme" rating.
6. As you can probably tell, getting a sealed sub limits your output, and is generally less output/$ than ported.
So only consider sealed if "physical space" is an issue.
Otherwise, ported gives you best output/$.

Also, I would strongly recommend dual subs to get the seat-to-seat experience.
Hope this helped.

 

[penquin]

While not the f208's, i used a rythmik fvx15 with my salon2's. I thought it integrated well and filled out the bottom end nicely.

Thats awesome! How big is your room / what type of music do you listen to?

 

[penquin]

Have to admit i'm a sub junkie. 20 yrs ago i didn't think they were necessary. Now i am in complete opposite of that way of thinking. Any one of the top brands of subs should integrate pretty well. I have had, svs, rythmik, hsu, klipsch and monoprice monoliths. All were great except for the klipsch and they lived up to their reputations. The one that surprised me the most was the Monolith subs, wasn't expecting to much to be honest. Talk about clean, tight and tactile response. Dollar for dollar, they are hard to beat. They have 10% and 20% off sales all the time, which makes them a steal.

As far as size goes, unless your playing above 120db, go with the size that best fits your living space. Regarding having one or two, I always say the more the merrier. Running dual subs or more may take a little longer to set-up properly, but once it's done, the benefits far outweigh any of the negatives. Good luck on your quest.

Thanks for the info! Ill look at monolith also. Thats a great suggestion. My music is never super loud just missing some of the lower end. The thought was to potentially eventually get to dual subs instead of one giant one. It seems a single 12inch might be too small for my room though.

 

[penquin]

Well, you have a 3800 ft^3 room, which is classified as "Large" according to Audioholics.

If you take a look at my subwoofer comparison post, you'll find all known CEA-2010-A measurements for Rythmik subs.
Here it is:
View attachment 117649

Thoughts:
1. As you can see, F12 (12" woofer, sealed) (for US$980) doesnt have enough output for your room size, because it will work for "Medium" sized rooms.
2. Getting the F18 (18" woofer, sealed) will work in your room (as it hits "Large" room rating simply because it's sealed not ported like others), but this sub is US$1850 (more expensive than Say FV15HP's which are US$1430 but hit "Extreme" room rating).
3. FV15HP (15" woofer, ported) at US$1430 will have more headroom that you need for your "Large" room, since it can hit "Exreme" room rating.
4. Let's consider F15 now...
Look at F12 and F18 CEA-2020-A data, it's safe to say that the F15 will be in between.
Looking at my data, the F18 exceeds "Large" rating (by around 6dB across 25hz to 63hz).
Rythmik's website shows:
F15HP: +5.5db F18: +7.5db
Which means only 2dB between 15" and 18" version, according to Rythmik.
If we take this info, and apply it to my spreadsheet, this tells me that the F15 will hit "Large" room rating as well.
5. We know volume of FVX15 (15" ported) is 6.3 ft^3.
We know volume of FV15HP (15" ported) is 6.3 ft^3 as well.
Since FVX15 got "Extreme" room rating, I can assume that FV15HP also gets the same "Extreme" rating.
6. As you can probably tell, getting a sealed sub limits your output, and is generally less output/$ than ported.
So only consider sealed if "physical space" is an issue.
Otherwise, ported gives you best output/$.

Also, I would strongly recommend dual subs to get the seat-to-seat experience.
Hope this helped.

Awesome sheet you've built there! Thank you for that.

Im a bit new to all of this but how much does the extra ~1000cu ft of space from the kitchen effect filling the living room portion? If no one is ever in that area when things are playing?

I wonder if an F18 is worth it over the FVX15 since it reaches down to 10hz.

 

[AdamG]

Awesome sheet you've built there! Thank you for that.

Im a bit new to all of this but how much does the extra ~1000cu ft of space from the kitchen effect filling the living room portion? If no one is ever in that area when things are playing?

I wonder if an F18 is worth it over the FVX15 since it reaches down to 10hz.

All cubic feet that are open to the main room you intend to place the Subs counts. Hallways, half walls, doorways, cubby’s. Basically any area that is open and can not be sealed off by a door or wall will count. Think of putting air pressure in the room.

 

[muslhead]

Thats awesome! How big is your room / what type of music do you listen to?

my room is about 15'x18' but not perfectly retangular.
I listen to virtually all types of music except country .... well, that's ok because its not considered music, right?

 

[sweetchaos]

Awesome sheet you've built there! Thank you for that.

Im a bit new to all of this but how much does the extra ~1000cu ft of space from the kitchen effect filling the living room portion? If no one is ever in that area when things are playing?

I wonder if an F18 is worth it over the FVX15 since it reaches down to 10hz.

Well, bass frequencies are like 50ft in length (rude description, don't judge!), so they will travel everywhere in the open room that's not enclosed by doors/walls. So yes, that area will affect your experience.

As an example, I like to imagine this scenario...
Let's say you go into a record hall, where live performances are held.
Let's say you put a single subwoofer there.
How well will you experience lower frequencies? Not well.
A single subwoofer in that large hall will be swallowed up by the room, and you won't feel much bass.
To make it work, you'll need several to dozens of subs, all working together to give you the effect you're looking for.
In other words, you'll need more output for a bigger room.

 

[Head_Unit]

I listen to virtually all types of music except country .... well, that's ok because its not considered music, right?

Not by each previous generation of country fans: "THAT AIN'T COUNTRY!!!!"

 

[Head_Unit]

should jump to

YES. You can never have too much sub, says the guy who could exceed 117 dB in his dorm room
On a more serious note, what kind of room correction do you have? That can tremendously influence your success as well.