Looking for budget sub to work with FR..

[RockysDad]

I currently have a ML-TL with the Fostex 167e and would like to add a sub woofer to add to the low end. This will be for music only and be in a room about 12'x16'. Music is mostly accoustic guitar and standup bass, piano, vocals and some classic rock thrown in. Bass needs to be tight, clean and notes needs to be distinguishable from each other. Money is part of the equation so please keep that in mind.

I'm leaning towards this design and wanted some feed back on it and whether it will meet my needs or not.

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~joeras/sub_index.htm

Any other designs are welcome but also keep in mind that I am a CIY (copy it yourself) type builder so I would some drawings to start building. I don't think I want to try to design something myself, neither. Kits are also an option. TIA...

[RockysDad]

I think I'm going to just buy a used sub instead. They seem rather cheap and will probably look better then anything I could build.

Any suggestions for brands and models that would work well with my full rangers?

[morbo]

The Dayton 10" tiny mighty sub is $99 US, and is amazing for the price. I highly doubt you could build or buy anything better for the price. Not sure what you define as budget though... for me that XLS + 250w amp projects is a pretty nice sub, for others it is entry level.

[Kittle]

Originally posted by RockysDad
I think I'm going to just buy a used sub instead. They seem rather cheap and will probably look better then anything I could build.

Keep in mind you will get what you pay for. I built my own because spending $1,000-2,500 on a commercial one was WAY more than i wanted to pay.

[RockysDad]

Not sure what you define as budget though...

I'm thinking about $300-400 used. I saw some Adire Rava on Audiogon for about this price and was thinking of those. Any comment on Aidire?

I'll do a search and see what people have to say about these...

[morbo]

Funny you should ask, I use a Rava as my sub for HT and music. $ 350-400 for a used one is not a very good deal IMO, its $400 new from Adire, and I saw a b-stock on their webpage for $350 not long ago. I've posted a review on hometheaterforum.com,

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...highlight=rava

which was ignored by posters there, probably because it wasn't made by SVS (no offense to SVS, who make excellent subs).

Basically I'm very happy with it for both music and HT, music in particular. It has all the output I could ever want, and sounds very nice. To me it sounds very musical, but my only frames of reference are the NHT SW2P and various Paradigm PDR models. I prefer it to the NHT (mainly because of greater dynamics and low-end output), and by a very large margin to Paradigm (because of quality when playing music, the Paradigm sounds boomy and 'slow', not at all suited for music IMO).

One thing I think is often overlooked when looking for 'tight, musical' bass is the importance of the crossover. I use a Paradigm X-30 to cross my Rava to my mains (ACI Opals) @ 50hz, 3rd order hi/lo pass. I have plotted the response with this crossover vs. the 100hz crossover in my reciever, and the response is much smoother crossed with the x-30, especially in the 90-160hz range. I would try to crossover as low as your mains can handle with a steep slope on both the highpass and lowpass. But I'm probably preaching to the choir on this

If you are looking for maximum sound quality for music, I would ask Adire to substitute their DPL-12 driver (which they can do for $25 I think). From my correspondence with them, the DPL will extend the low end a bit deeper at the expense of a few Db maximum output. More importantly for you, my understanding is that it has lower distortion due to a more advanced motor. I chose not to do this because I was doing dual duty with home theater and music, but if it was only for music I would have taken the DPL12.

[THOR]

I have 2 subs, which i built 5 years ago nearly identical in concept to these.They are FAB! I would think these would kick the *** of VERY expensive subs . Mine do. I personally would build them in a heart beat! If you are worried about apprarance. make them of baltic birch, have them cut by a pro shop and use gorrilla glue. Sand them, use a wax stain and stand back and admire! It IS as easy as it sounds. im a wood klutz too and mine do look nice! Warning! You DO have to clamp when using gorillas, but if you feed them banannas they are more docile.