Sub for my hi-fi or save up for a speaker upgrade?

[philipjohnwright]

Best value for money in subs is BK Electronics (http://tinyurl.com/ccy442a), partly because they sell directly only.

As did Richard Lord when he first set REL up; BK used to make the subs for him then, hence why they look rather familiar. I've had one of the little ones (Gemini, £200) for my dad. Not tried the bigger ones but there's reference to a review on the site comparing the£400 BK sub with a £2.5k REL one and there not being much difference between the two.

The top range one is quoted as down to 15hz in room at -3db. For £550. There's a form on the site to enquire about delivery outside the UK. When I dealt with them they were very friendly indeed; I think I was speaking to Mrs BK, straight to the top! I have to say if I was looking for a new sub right now I'd be hard pressed to consider anything else given their pricing. Only issue is you can't audition it first, but it is very flexible in how you integrate it to your main system so I personally wouldn;t worry. And it didn't stop me buying a REL all those years ago, and I didn't regret that

The usual disclaimer; I have no connection with them at all. Have a look at the website and let me know what you think (you'll see they aren't a marketing powerhouse!)

 

[the record spot]

oh comeon, I help out when you have a problem :read:

If it was my money, I'd land a pair of Q Acoustics 2050i and forget the sub. They'll deliver finesse as well as dynamics by all accounts, and you'll get them for under £600 for the gloss finish option.

 

[shafesk]

My Mezzo sub is great. Musical?? Not sure how they can ever be that? It has an eq too - together with some modest room treatment (see my threads) seems to work wonders with the right source.

cheers

Thank you for your comment, it seems that the Mezzo should be an ideal match for obvious reasons but it seems from the reviews that it does movies and power better than delicate music. I need a fast subwoofer and I don't think that it will be ideal I'm afraid.

 

[shafesk]

oh comeon, I help out when you have a problem :read:

If it was my money, I'd land a pair of Q Acoustics 2050i and forget the sub. They'll deliver finesse as well as dynamics by all accounts, and you'll get them for under £600 for the gloss finish option.

I love the Mezzos for how they sound in the mid and treble region and I'm yet to come across a floorstander around the price that delivers the same goods after spending a whole day auditioning variour speakers from Tannoy, Kef, Mordaunt Short itself :O and Klipsch. I'd rather have a sub and keep my precious

 

[shafesk]

Best value for money in subs is BK Electronics (http://tinyurl.com/ccy442a), partly because they sell directly only.

As did Richard Lord when he first set REL up; BK used to make the subs for him then, hence why they look rather familiar. I've had one of the little ones (Gemini, £200) for my dad. Not tried the bigger ones but there's reference to a review on the site comparing the£400 BK sub with a £2.5k REL one and there not being much difference between the two.

The top range one is quoted as down to 15hz in room at -3db. For £550. There's a form on the site to enquire about delivery outside the UK. When I dealt with them they were very friendly indeed; I think I was speaking to Mrs BK, straight to the top! I have to say if I was looking for a new sub right now I'd be hard pressed to consider anything else given their pricing. Only issue is you can't audition it first, but it is very flexible in how you integrate it to your main system so I personally wouldn;t worry. And it didn't stop me buying a REL all those years ago, and I didn't regret that

The usual disclaimer; I have no connection with them at all. Have a look at the website and let me know what you think (you'll see they aren't a marketing powerhouse!)

another happy BK owner, seems to be the way to go for now but I'll have a look around the dealers and see what they can muster.

 

[shafesk]

Theres a strata 5 on ebay, right now in immaculate condition. They want £400, but they wont get that. I'd say keep an eye on it, chuck in a bid in the last minute and you could get it for £250. Collection only though, which could be a bummer.

living in Bangladesh here so no ebay I'm afraid.....

 

[shafesk]

A lot of Rel recommendations too, I think Rel subs would be easier to get a hold of than BK ones plus I get to audition them. One question, my Cayin does not have any sort of rca output (no preamp, record loop etc), so am I stuck with a sub which has speaker level inputs????? :help:

 

[bretty]

Theres a strata 5 on ebay, right now in immaculate condition. They want £400, but they wont get that. I'd say keep an eye on it, chuck in a bid in the last minute and you could get it for £250. Collection only though, which could be a bummer.

living in Bangladesh here so no ebay I'm afraid.....

Scratch that then. Stupid idea! ;-)

 

[ID.]

A lot of Rel recommendations too, I think Rel subs would be easier to get a hold of than BK ones plus I get to audition them. One question, my Cayin does not have any sort of rca output (no preamp, record loop etc), so am I stuck with a sub which has speaker level inputs????? :help:

AFAIK, yes, but I think that's the best way to integrate a sub into a 2 ch setup.

 

[shafesk]

Well here is what my dealer has at the moment.....1) Jamo model 200 2)Jamo model 210 3) Wharfedale wh210 and 4) Some subwoofer from infinity 5) JBL ES150 all cost around the 150-200 mark but the wharfedale around 300 ish.

Interested in the Jamos because they are small, in my opinion small subs should sound faster. I have requested a home demo tomorrow....I'll have a listen and report back.

 

[shafesk]

A day of auditioning subs and nothing satisfactory, well the jamos were decent subs for the money but didn't have the quality bass of the Mezzos....so I returned home and turned on the music. I took the speaker grills off to just look at the speakers and I saw that the bass drivers weren't moving on both speakers. I got behind and found that the plastic holding the nuts on the binding posts had cracked and so the wires weren't getting a proper connection. A bit of tape here fixed the issue and the bass drivers started moving (phew). So for the past 3 months I've been listening to speakers without the bass drivers on and been complaining about the bass, essentially I was listening to oversized bookshelves...I feel like an immense idiot :wall: I can't complain about the bass now...its funny that after coming home from a months holiday I forgot how much bass my system had and it didn't even sound like anything was wrong. Oh well, problem solved....my apologies to forum members and my thanks for all the recommendation, I'm sure it will help someone wanting a sub...maybe someday even me.

Regards,
Shafin

 

[CnoEvil]

Great job.

I'm delighted you found the problem.....and there's nothing to apologize for.