# What you expect from a Sub in your home theater?



## legion1capone (Jan 30, 2010)

What do you expect from a Sub in your home theater?

The reason I ask is my A3-300 sub right now just doesn't do it for me during movies. When I turn the gain up on the sub and for music it gives me the sound I desire. But only with music. At lower levels while watching movies I can leave the sub turned up and get what I want out of it to a degree. 
I had a listen to the tiny Definative Technology Supercube II. ! Now that gives me the bass I am looking for in a movie. 
Is it so much to ask that my sub hit me in the chest and make certain scenes in a movie make me jump and shake walls of my house?
Yes I have it in the optimum position. I have tries just about everything and the A3-300 just doesn't cut it during movies. Maybe for others but not for me. I have a 2.1 channel setup that I use mainly for tv, movies, and music.


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

The A3-300 is not what I would call a big sub and it is limited as to how much "hit you in the chest" bass you will get out of it particularly if your room is fairly large. Even though the Definative Technology Supercube II is a small looking sub it is not and has substantially more output than the AE 300.


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## tcarcio (Jun 27, 2007)

I think your room has alot to do with it. I have a huge sub and although I get a ton of rumble and low bass I am having alot of trouble getting that bass that hit's you in the chest. I am going nuts trying to figure out what is wrong but I think my room is the problem. Also, allot of people that you hear say that they can get that punch are in dedicated HT's that are sealed or close to it. I am considering closeing in my wall to see if that will give me what I am looking for or getting someone that can figure out what is wrong but that get's expensive. Good luck....


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## legion1capone (Jan 30, 2010)

I should note that this is not a problem if I simply turn up the volume on the sub itself. I can get that punch in the chest and have it make me jump. But when there are demanding scenes like in U-571 or master and commander the sub clips. So at high volume levels I can't have the sub turned up and therefore during the rest of the movie the sub just isn't adequate in its duties.


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## FlashJim (May 6, 2006)

We only use our sub for "blow 'em up" movies. If the pictures in the hallway aren't at a 45 degree angle after a movie, it must've been a Disney flick.


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## Moonfly (Aug 1, 2008)

Taking a less than scientific approach, I expect it to make me smile and nothing less. I find that a very low clean sub will make things rumble, but you need a sub less focused on going low, and equally focused on powerful clean upper sub bass to get that puck in the chest. You simply need to find the one that delivers what you want.

For me its a powerful clean push-pull sealed sub, and Ive yet to find a design that I feel is better.


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## gperkins_1973 (Aug 25, 2008)

I would say its a compremise. I had a dual sealed sub using my Q18 driver in a high qtc which gave extremely good upper bass along with very good low end too. Flat to 12hz. But and there's a but. You would think that the sealed sub would have alot more upper bass than the ported subs I have now. 
The two single Q18 slot ported subs are tuned very low. These have soooo much more low end bass than the high qtc dual sealed sub I had and to be honest I wouldn't say there was much in it with regards to upper bass. The Q's are very musical subs and that probably has alot to due with the parameters of the drivers as my winisd plot give a steady upward curve on my ported subs which in turn still gives me very good output over 30hz. These subs sound really clean and vocals now sound like they have authority.

My Q18's have 4db more than the maelsroms in the same size subs as I have now with the same power.

With the Q drivers I wouln't ever dream of going back to sealed in a million years.

Even if I had the maelstroms I would still go ported. The previous PB13 sub I had doesn't even come close to the depth of sound that I get from these two Q subs and that was a great sub.

cheers

Graham


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## Moonfly (Aug 1, 2008)

gperkins_1973 said:


> The previous PB13 sub I had doesn't even come close to the depth of sound that I get from these two Q subs and that was a great sub.
> 
> cheers
> 
> Graham


 :T :clap:


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## gperkins_1973 (Aug 25, 2008)

dan

its amazing how much better can be had when not spending as much on a commercial sub
when you go the diy route especially when you see how much thed new SVS SB16 sealed sub is going to be.
Ive heard its going to be in the region of $2700. Yulks!

cheers

graham
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Moonfly (Aug 1, 2008)

Have you got a link though, Ive heard rumours but not seen anything solid yet really.


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## gperkins_1973 (Aug 25, 2008)

dan
just on my way home. will dig it out shortly for you.

graham
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Jon Liu (May 21, 2007)

I would love to hear more on the Sealed 16" sub, too!


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## gperkins_1973 (Aug 25, 2008)

I would like to hear more that its not going to be any where near $2700. First things first....

Maelstrom 21" driver - $650

Box - $100

Amplifier - $500

BFD - $200

Odds and sodds - $200

Total cost: $1650

Can anyone tell me that even though no one has heard a SB16 ultra that it would come any where near a 21" mealstrom sealed sub. Not in a million years. Even if it was $2000 its still way over priced.

Do the maths it don't take much to work out.


cheers

Graham


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## Moonfly (Aug 1, 2008)

Your getting a little carried away Graham, we're not talking about a DIY sub here.


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## gperkins_1973 (Aug 25, 2008)

Dan,

The title of the thread is.....




> What do you expect from a Sub in your home theater?


I expect alot from my sub/s in my home theatre but....

Here's the but, I don't expect to pay over the odds for it. I am merely pointing out that you don't need to pay over the odds to get outstanding results which live up to your expectations.

If the SVS SB16 ultra was going to be about $1500 then it would not be over priced. Lets see how much it is when it or if it comes out. I guess it won't be long before it's compared to the submersive.

cheers

Graham


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## Moonfly (Aug 1, 2008)

The point is, you cant compare a DIY sub to a commercial sub in the real world. 

Very capable driver are expensive (take something like the high end JL audio drivers for example), and no doubt, so is the one SVS are developing. Add to this all of the costs you point out and you have a rough idea of what that sub might cost you or I to build. Then, on top of this, factor in SVS's other costs. You have profit margins which must include taxation, R&D, manufacturing equipment, company property overheads, wages bills to cover, warranty costing, marketing and advertising, shipping costs, certification costs and anything else you can think off. 

When you start to look at things in that way, you realise the products SVS offer are typically above average when it comes to value for money.

What you expect from a subwoofer is entirely upto the individual when it comes to performance, but for anyone not wanting to build one themselves, you simply cant compare the cost of a DIY sub to that of a commercial sub.

IMO, if the SB16 can deliver performance on par with an Ultra sub, but deliver even better sound quality, do this in a smaller sealed cabinet and do it for £1800, there wont be much in Europe to touch it at that price. I also think for it to succeed, it will have to pretty much fulfil this criteria, which is a huge task, and one reason I can understand delays in its development.


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## Mike P. (Apr 6, 2007)

If the A3-300 doesn't meet your expectations then you either need another A3-300 or a more powerful sub. Did you listen to the Definative Technology Supercube II in your HT room or some other place?


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