Subwoofer for Hi-Fi/Movies

[admin_exported]

Hey everyone,

I'm looking to buy a subwoofer for my system to reinforce the bass when watching movies, playing at parties and for general listening to add a bit more depth and punch. I'm not too bothered what the price is (as long as it's under £500) but it should be just as capable with movies (slam, depth, power) as with music (tonality, speed, controlled). It will be used in a two channel system with my Arcam A32 amplifier and Wharfedale EVO2 30s (at the moment anyway!). Please recommend a sub that would satisfy my criteria and maybe add a little bit more!

Many thanks,

Hughes123.

 

[Anonymous]

What about the Mission E3ASR?

 

[Messiah]

What about the BK Monolith?? Supposed to be a beast and excellent for the money!!

 

[Anonymous]

Messiah:What about the BK Monolith?? Supposed to be a beast and excellent for the money!!

That's a Beast!!!

Ok, narrowed down to two contenders: The BK Monolith or the Mission E3ASR. The BK Monolith seems like the better sub, but the Mission is tempting me with its £342 saving!

 

[Anonymous]

Yeah i'll second the monolith if your room can accomodate one as they are pretty big. I had to get rid of mine to appease the swmbo shame

 

[Anonymous]

garethwd:Yeah i'll second the monolith if your room can accomodate one as they are pretty big. I had to get rid of mine to appease the swmbo shame

I've read the specs, but that never gives a genuine feel of the size! Would you say it is suitable for a 15ft x 10ft room?

 

[Anonymous]

I guess it depends on the room in question. My living rooms about 17x15 and the monolith looked fine tucked in a corner with a lamp on it, but it sounded bloated move into the room a little and it sounded fantastic but looked daft.

 

[Anonymous]

garethwd:I guess it depends on the room in question. My living rooms about 17x15 and the monolith looked fine tucked in a corner with a lamp on it, but it sounded bloated move into the room a little and it sounded fantastic but looked daft.

But did you have the DF version (the downwars firing version)? And how hard does it hit?

 

[Anonymous]

Yeah i had the DF

Hits very hard indeed goes real low too and its fast...

I had an MJ ref200 before the monolith a £700 sub and too be honest it doesnt even get close to a mono can do

 

[Anonymous]

garethwd:Yeah i had the DF

Hits very hard indeed goes real low too and its fast...

I had an MJ ref200 before the monolith a £700 sub and too be honest it doesnt even get close to a mono can do

Sounds very tempting. I'm just going to persuede my parents that I need a new coffee table...

Another little thing, I have to position it quite far to the left of where my TV/SPEAKERS/AMP are - it wouldn't wreck the soundstage too much, would it? I mean bass isn't pinpoint accurate like treble; would this seems suitable?

 

[Anonymous]

Do a google search for "ilkka subwoofer tests" Makes interesting reading...

 

[Anonymous]

I have a rosewood Monolith, to match my rosewood main speakers. It is qite big, but also very very nice to look at. I have seen lots of pics where people are using as end tables, it looks that good.

There are some good thread on other forums where you can look at frequency responses at varying crossovers. The people who are into subs seem to place the Monolith right up there.

Make sure you need a sub. I thought that adding a sub would enhance the depth. What I discovered was that my mains go down to 30hz (To be fair PMC say they go to 28hz), and adding a sub has virtually no effect. I can another 10hz extentsion, but how often does this range become active in music? Before buying I read advice that you shouldn't be able to tell when a sub is on. This is true in my case, but I also can't tell when it is off - so I have the best of both worlds.

 

[Anonymous]

It may be the case with music but with movies 20hz stuff is common place.

A good sub should also pressureise the room and make you feel the low frequencey stuff as well as hear it

 

[Anonymous]

garethwd:It may be the case with music but with movies 20hz stuff is common place.

A good sub should also pressureise the room and make you feel the low frequencey stuff as well as hear it

That's what I'm trying to achieve. To be able to "feel" the bass; my grandad has some JBL L100T (not the Century version - the late 80s version) and you can feel the bass hit you in the stomach on some of his laser-discs. He has this late 80s Yamaha Receiver along with a Pioneer laser-disc player and it hits sooo hard that you do wonder why more speakers don't have 12" woofers.