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What is up Tech Talk...
Looking for a sealed music-only subwoofer(s) setup for medium-sized bedroom, to compliment my HiVi 3.1's (6.5" vented 3-ways, about .75 cu ft IIRC). Sound quality > SPL for sure, but I want it to sound big enough.
Size: 1 cu ft max for a single sub.... .75 cu ft max each for dual subs.
Amplifier(s): I don't have amp(s) for it yet. I put this up front, because it has instant implications on the options:
Cost: All under $700. Ooph. Yes I know this is quite limiting.
Not-Good-Enough Benchmark: To put it lightly. I got lazy and bought a Cambridge Minx 8" sub with a passive radiator and was instantly underwhelmed. It's definitely too small for this room, and any attempts to turn it up to compensate quickly reminds you that at the end of the day, despite all the Shakespearean sonnets written about it in the Crutchfield reviews, it's a small sub in a plastic enclosure, you dummy. I should know better. Womp womp.
Good-Enough Benchmark: I'd love to put a Dayton Reference 12" sealed sub of 1.5-2.0 cubic feet in in here and be done with it.... that's what I have in my home theater, in a similar-sized room, with an SA230 rack amp, and I want for nothing. But a 1.5+ cu ft sub is too big to keep the beloved shorty happy, so no dice there. There's just no good place to put it...
So now I'm thinking one of the following scenarios:
Thanks
Dan
Looking for a sealed music-only subwoofer(s) setup for medium-sized bedroom, to compliment my HiVi 3.1's (6.5" vented 3-ways, about .75 cu ft IIRC). Sound quality > SPL for sure, but I want it to sound big enough.
Size: 1 cu ft max for a single sub.... .75 cu ft max each for dual subs.
Amplifier(s): I don't have amp(s) for it yet. I put this up front, because it has instant implications on the options:
- Willing-but-wary of little plate amps, despite my bad experience with a fried SA250. Talk me into it.
- Rack mount subwoofer amps are nice. I love my SA230 powering a sealed 12" in my home theater... but two of them feels a bit silly if I go with dual subs.
- 2-channel pro-audio amp are a possibility, but I hate how loud they are. Any nice way to replace/modify/improve the noisy fan setup?
Cost: All under $700. Ooph. Yes I know this is quite limiting.
Not-Good-Enough Benchmark: To put it lightly. I got lazy and bought a Cambridge Minx 8" sub with a passive radiator and was instantly underwhelmed. It's definitely too small for this room, and any attempts to turn it up to compensate quickly reminds you that at the end of the day, despite all the Shakespearean sonnets written about it in the Crutchfield reviews, it's a small sub in a plastic enclosure, you dummy. I should know better. Womp womp.
Good-Enough Benchmark: I'd love to put a Dayton Reference 12" sealed sub of 1.5-2.0 cubic feet in in here and be done with it.... that's what I have in my home theater, in a similar-sized room, with an SA230 rack amp, and I want for nothing. But a 1.5+ cu ft sub is too big to keep the beloved shorty happy, so no dice there. There's just no good place to put it...
So now I'm thinking one of the following scenarios:
- 2 smaller 8" sealed subs, like the PE 8" kit.
- Room placement is easy. Lots of options.
- I like how the dual subs will even out room response, and with the fancy-pants DSP on each I'll have lots of freedom to really dial it in.
- Again, I'm wary of these little plate amps... but this is a newer design, so maybe reliability is not such an issue?
- Despite "two of them" they still seem awfully small. I'm spoiled by the Dayton 12, worried about being underwhelmed again.
- For some reason it's hurts my brain when a sub enclosure is decidedly smaller than the mains it is complementing. This might be completely irrational; you are invited to help me get over it....
- OR.... The Dayton 10" Kit with Dual Passive Radiators. Just one. Happy to be talked into it.
- My gut tells me I won't be underwhelmed.... Will I?
- Can likely hang with my 12"-sealed-benchmark in terms of output.
- 500 watt rms is impressive (or whatever it actually is, it's good enough you sticklers
). I'm a believer in plenty of power. - Doesn't reap the rewards of dual subs and how they can even out room response.
- Placement options more limited, but not too bad. Pushing the limits of too big.
- OR.... Two PE .75 cu ft sub enclosures, with 8" or 10" driver yet to be determined.
- This strikes be as the ideal. Big enough, with all the advantages of dual subs.
- But cost quickly goes through the roof, unless the drivers are on the cheap side.... are there any options out there that can hang with the Dayton Reference series (note that this is the benchmark of quality for the previous two options).
- How do I power them?
- Again, cheap little plate amps spook me. Talk me into it.
- A somehow-made-quiet pro-audio amp comes to mind, but that won't have the "bass boost" feature that dedicated subwoofer amps. Hrrrmph.
- Dual SA230's would be amazing, but that blows the budget and the gf wouldn't like it... too much rack gear.
- OR.... Whatever other option you're already thinking that I haven't though of. Let's hear it.
Thanks
Dan
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