Best 12"$15" powered Subwoofers under $500

Looking at low cost subs.some JBL,Cerwin Vega and MTX come to mind.The Cerwin Vega LW-15 looks massive at 72 pounds! I can get it for $269 new.

 

Svs

Try www.svsubwoofers.com--the PB10 is a huge contender at 399.

Mike

 

The Hsu subs are recommended all over the place as the best. You can probably pick up the older model 2 at a good price. The last I checked the 3 was current. They have a switch to optimize them for music or movies as well.

There are some direct-sales subs that are supposed to be very good as well - can't think of them offhand. I would stay away from anything you can get at a chain store.

 

Wow, those SVS people are just about everywhere these days.

Rodney: Adire Audio in Redmond, Washington manufactures quality speaker components for other companies & to the general public but I guess to "introduce" their products to them, they sell a basic 12" sub called the "Rava" for only $400. But when I say basic it means basic only for them. This is a sub I would very much like to try for myself & is one of the few acoustic-suspension subs available which I think sounds good for music and always gets good reviews on the music audio boards (uh oh, I can already hear the bass-reflex posse furiously tapping away at their keyboards right now! ).

Adire Audio "Rava" subwoofer (click on the "home audio" link). This sub also has an uncommon feature I like: a fully variable phase control, instead of the more common 0/180 degree switch. This makes it easier to blend the sub into a room's acoustics. And the included review has an explanation of sealed vs. ported subs.

And IMO there are some decent subs at brick and mortar stores if you don't want to send off for one, find out you don't like it & have to pack it all up again and haul it to the post office. I like Velodynes myself, followed by Infinity (both at Circuit City) & the $200 12" MTX they also sell sounds.........O.K. CompUSA sells one version of the 10" HSU for I think about $350 and like their many reviewers report, sounded very good. Klipsch subs at Best Buy sound good to me also.

And if you can handle basic hand tools you might want to check out this simple-to-build kit from PartsExpress: 12" Titanic MK III Subwoofer This is a serious sub--check it out. They have a 10" model too but this one looks like it performs like other company's 12 inchers.

Just remember that loud AND low bass doesn't come cheap (so if you only need some low bass, then......), and that music has slightly different requirements than movie soundtracks for quality bass reproduction.

 

How's this for ideas.... I have for sale the following.
1. Huge! Surplus 18" raw woofer with 3 inch voice coil and massive magnet $50. Build your own sub, ?? Add generic sub amp, ($100 for 120 watts) home built cabinet, ($50 in lumber?) labor.? Total about $200 cash. Big 18 inch Boom! (Talk about woofer envy!)

2. Dig this! BIC Venturi V80i subs with 8" woof, 80 watt amp, new in sealed box. Closeout surplus item price $75.00 ...Plus, I have for sale a second identical one just tested so in open box for $65.00 Buy both systems, 2 times 8 inch woofers cost total ($140) and blast away! Probably about the same total air movement as one 12".. with 160 total watts. but if you want, you can use them in stereo! Actual Left and Right!
And more flexible in placement, being each smaller. Almost for pocket change $$ ... Just some ideas... RE

 

I use the Adire Rava, which compares very favorable to the much more costly Rel Strata and ACI Titan II (both of which I've owned). I don't like the high-pass connection (all that extra circuitry) and prefer to use the connection from the amplifier terminals to the sub. Since my main speakers go down fairly low the sub has to be able to have a low crossover point--40 Hz for the Adire.

John K.

 

I second that--Hsu Research is known for making good subs that extend quite low in the bass.

http://www.hsuresearch.com

 

For $500, SVS, HSU, and the Outlaw/HSU model should be tops on the list (although I think the Outlaw is a bit above $500.

BGL

 

Adire is one of the direct-sales ones I was thinking of. I'd choose between that and the Hsu Research STF-2.

 

I have the Adire Rava. I think it's great. The variable phase control gives you much greater control in matching your mains to the subs. Another thing that recommends it is that it's a sealed sub (no port) which theoretically gives tighter bass.

 

I ended up with 2 cerwin vega clcs 15s powered subs.Im very happy with them.Very powerfull bass down to 25 hz. One problem I have with them.They are humming real low and that is a problem at very low volume.I think I know whats going on.Im going to run a ground wire from the subs to the back of my reciever.It puts out a humming sound like a turntable thats not grounded.

 

!!!

Not married eh?

 

I've got two BAG END Infrasub 18's and I AM married!

 

Dean: you must have a really KEWL wife! (eighteen inch subwoofers?!?)

Did you know Thiel now makes a sub with TWO 15" drivers, the SS4?

 

Not yet. They are real loud. I have a 12X10 foot room. My room has no dead spots I also run two cerwin vega 12 inch subs along side the two 15s.the spl is ear busting.It tickles the inside of your ear.Rock with bass that targets 30hz to 40 hz can lift you up of the floor when it hits.AC DC(razors edge) Dire straits(s/t) and Pink Floyd(dsotm) come to mind.

 

I have read good things about the HSU and the SVS subs on audio sites and magazines. I don't own either product although I will be looking into buying a new sub sometime next year and these are two companies that I plan to take a look at.
I currently am using a Energy 8' 100 W and it does the job but does not go all that low for the room size I have it in. I am going to look at 12" subs at about 250W or so when I do upgrade.