I have an acoustically poor family room. But some reasonable components.

Sony XBR TV. Integra 50.6. HK amp feeding the fronts. Paradigm tower speakers. Energy satellites. Energy 8” sub. Despite the room, it’s decent for 2ch music and theater.

I’m finding the sub lacking for home theater. Lack of depth, bass, presence. Watching action movies are not as satisfying.

I don’t want to break the bank. I’ll be looking for a used unit. Hopefully under $300.

First, what size should I get? 8”, 10”, 12”? Brand? Rel? Rythmic? SVS? Paradigm? Polk? I’ll need some choices since I’m at the mercy of used offerings.

I'm in San Diego. Where abouts you live?

I assume you've tried moving the sub to a few different positions?

I'm no audiophile, but this is what I have, it's met my needs and budget.

Link

What size is your room? I prefer a fast 10" over a sloppy 12", and at $300 it's gonna be hard to get a fast 12".
That said, REL and SVS are my favorites. For budget 10", the ELAC Debut 2.0 S10.2 is surprisingly good.

Dunno about current product, but the Paradigm PS-1000 sub we have does nicely in our 13'x22' family room. I don't recall what it cost us, and that was ±20 years ago, anyway.

Maybe what you need is to install some bass shakers in the floor?

(I once suggested that to my wife and she responded "No way!" Her and intense bass do not get along well.)

With exceptions, placement of subs is usually fairly non-critical. Bass is non-directional.

Bass is non-directional, but placement still matters. Depending on the room, moving the sub a few feet can dramatically affect how it sounds and its impact. At my store it's really easy to demonstrate.

I’m a little E of SF.

Room is about 15x20 but can only use about 75% because of dumb fireplace in one corner.

Haven’t tried different locations. Don’t have much options but will try to shift around a little.

otherwise, svs, rel, or paradigm seem the ones to watch for.

You want to get down to 20Hz.

quote:

Originally posted by konata88:Room is about 15x20 but can only use about 75% because of dumb fireplace in one corner.

But is that sealed off?

Based on my experience, if you’re unable to limit the area of the room, you’re chasing a dream to try to find reasonable bass that works in a relatively open area.

We were fortunate to have an actual media room in Texas with doors that you could close to confine the area. The difference in bass response was remarkable. I don’t have that now, and I probably never will again, but it was very illustrative of the reason why you need this.

quote:

Originally posted by Georgeair:

quote:

Originally posted by konata88:Room is about 15x20 but can only use about 75% because of dumb fireplace in one corner.

But is that sealed off?

Based on my experience, if you’re unable to limit the area of the room, you’re chasing a dream to try to find reasonable bass that works in a relatively open area.

We were fortunate to have an actual media room in Texas with doors that you could close to confine the area. The difference in bass response was remarkable. I don’t have that now, and I probably never will again, but it was very illustrative of the reason why you need this.

My living room only has three walls and the El cheapo sub I linked above makes good bass in the space. I do have my sub on the opposite wall of the open space, maybe that helps?

I love my setup and it cost under $3,000 for 5.1 and receiver, including good speaker wire, HDMIs, and RCA.

quote:

Originally posted by Woodman:
You want to get down to 20Hz.

Depends considerably on room modes in his listening room, as well as a subwoofer's inherent transient response. A subwoofer with greater transient response that doesn't reproduce frequencies down to 20Hz could easily sound more accurate and "better" than another subwoofer that "goes down" to 20Hz.
Accurately reproducing the lower half octave between 20 and 40Hz is not as simple as choosing the subwoofer that goes "lowest".

I have a Definitive Technology Pro Sub 800. Not over powering or big by any stretch but it gets the job done. It doesn't overwhelm you it strikes a nice balance.

Have you done any room correction that the receiver has available? Might be worth a call to an AV shop if you need the mic/software etc (I'm not current on what is available)
My suspicions is that the 8" will limit what can be done down low, but depending on the room, it might kick ass with the right placement/EQ.
At the very lest, vary the distance from walls & see if you get the response to change, that will tell you if it's placement or if you just need more air moving.

My room sucks. But seems more influential than I thought.

It's about a 24' x 24' square. But half is a kitchen / dining area. So, the sitting room is about 12x24'. But again, I have a fireplace in one corner that results in basically a keep out zone.

So, the actual sitting area is compressed into 12x18' or so. The sub is currently almost in the corner of the room. The back of the sitting area is open (to kitchen/dining) as is the left side of the area (the fireplace keep out zone).

It's a ported sub with the port facing me. I'm assuming the driver is downward facing? I can check.

I think this is what I have: https://www.energy-speakers.co...K-CLASSI-5-1#manuals

With the Paradigm Signature Series speaker setup I have, I use a Velodyne sub that integrates quite well with the Paradigm speakers. I did use another down firing sub prior because it came in matching Birdseye maple that matched my Paradigms but the Velodyne sub sounded much better. My Paradigms sound great using their ADP's in the rear sound excellent.

I purchased the Pioneer SW-8MKS 4 years ago. Worth consideration.

https://www.amazon.com/Pioneer...7&sprefix=sw-&sr=8-3

REL.

After much research, comparisons and listening, REL.

I have a dynamically challenging room 12'x 26'. High ceilings, a dining room that is off one end, at the other end, open stairs, and an entry for the front door in the center, a fireplace near to that, all open space.

A 5.1 system was challenging, wired or wireless, the angles and materials in the room. 2.1 was the simplest, less wallet draining solution.

I chose the REL T5i, which has an 8" bass engine, paired with Klipsch RP-600M bookshelfs to fill the 2.1.

Quote from REL:
"A single, high quality AlloyFibre™ composite driver and down firing orientation produces maximum coupling with the floor and eliminates the need for a grille. T/5i is the purest expression of REL."

Works extremely well, without being unpleasant, good for radio, CD, MP3; better for digital over the air TV; best for DVD movies/Netflix.

Happy camper.

Monoprice Monolith 10” ported is exceptional in our large high ceiling room. I can highly recommend them especially if you get 20-25% off and free shipping at their EBay storefront.

I’m sure the larger versions are even more impressive

quote:

Originally posted by italia:
A subwoofer with greater transient response that doesn't reproduce frequencies down to 20Hz could easily sound more accurate and "better" than another subwoofer that "goes down" to 20Hz.

Yes indeed! Thank you for so eloquently phrasing this. My life changed when I bought G2 Rokit 6" powered monitors. I use them for studio, keyboard, and occasionally movies.