# New HT/Media room. Sub and Surround selection help...



## denap (Sep 15, 2014)

Hello,

I just discovered the forums during my research on HT gear/setup.... I hope to learn a lot here!

I am looking to purchase a subwoofer(s) and surrounds for a home theater/media setup I'm currently building. My current gear is:

BG Radia LA-600 fronts
BG Radia CC-400 center
Denon 4100
Oppo BDP-103
Xbox 360
Epson 5030
Falcon 110" screen

None of this gear is installed yet. I've been searching for deals here and there and assembling what I think will be a great system over the past couple of months. 

My room is an odd shape, roughly 16x24, but it is upstairs in a barn/carriage house so the side walls are 4' high and run up to a gable ceiling maybe 10' at the peak. Viewing distance from the screen will be between 10 and 14', I have some flexibility here. The system will be split 50-50 prob between movies and sports. This is going to be a 5.1 system.

I am trying to match the BG fronts with surrounds. The obvious answer is BG surrounds but I have no access to in-wall on the surrounds. I could build a box and mount the BG SS-303 on the wall or something, but I also have an issue with dropping another $3400 on surrounds. I just don't think that's $ well spent. My biggest question however is on sub selection. It's been suggested I consider SVS SB13 but I have little knowledge of what will mate well with the speed of the BG fronts.

Anyone out there have experience with Martin Logan or other planar ribbon style fronts and sub/surround selection?

thanks,
-Tom


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## Blacklightning (Nov 22, 2011)

Can't help with the surrounds but from what I have read the SB13 is a great sub. I had a listen to the PB13 last X-mas at another forum members house and that sub was setup really nicely and sounded way better for movies then my sealed 15" sub when I first got it. 

Setup is the biggest factor in making a sub fast and a good mate for your speakers. In this price range for SVS you can't lose. I would try both the SB and PB13 as you can take advantage of the free trial periord. If your focus is Movies and Sports the PB might just be for you, if you where 80% music then the SB would be #1. Forget about the sealed vs port pros and cons as setup can make a sealed sub slow or a ported sub fast.

http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/sub-zone-subwoofer-testing/63862-svsound-pb13-ultra.html
http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/sub-zone-subwoofer-testing/62090-svsound-sb13-ultra.html


The only other company I would recommend is Rythmik as they seem to be the standard for mating with fast speakers like yours.
http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/sub-zone-subwoofer-testing/63536-rythmik-fv15hp.html
http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/sub-zone-subwoofer-testing/63540-gr-research-fg12-servo.html


Power Sound Audio has some fast subs too and at this price point you can do duals.
Powersound XS-15SE


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## denap (Sep 15, 2014)

-BlackLighting thanks for the help. I will def look at both of the SVS subs. At this point in my education, I'm not sure what I'm comparing on these graphs you link to, but I'll dig in and compare/learn. 

As for setup making one fast or slow, I'm not sure what you mean there, can you elaborate? onder:

thanks!


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## Blacklightning (Nov 22, 2011)

denap said:


> -
> As for setup making one fast or slow, I'm not sure what you mean there, can you elaborate? onder:
> 
> thanks!


I'm far from an expert and I'm still trying to find the best place for my sub (it's been 2 weeks so far). I find that for movies the sub is meant to be deep, clean, felt:hsd:, and heard. Movies sound great to me in a few different places in my room. But for music the sub needs to disappear :innocent: into the sound stage and that takes (I think) a lot more time to setup.
In my oddly shaped room the closer to the left I place my sub the muddier the bass gets but the closer to the right I place my sub, the sound starts to get focused to the left side but it's super tight. So if I was to place a small, fast, tight, 8" sealed sub on the left and a big slow 15" ported sub on the left. The 8" would be boomy and the 15" would be tight and fast.

Hopefully your room will not be as big of a problem as mine but most people like having multiple subs as it really helps with evening out the bass in a room. That is why I added the PSA to your list.

And as luck would have it, Home Theater Shack just did a review of the PowerSound Audio XS15se
, it looks like a great Sub if you are going duals.

What is your over all budget for the Sub? and do you have room for two?
As most will tell you here, if your split is 50/50 movies and sports and 0% Music. Ported subs should be #1 on your list. The only word of caution I have found is that some hear are all about SPL (how loud a sub can get) and will say things like this sub is better or it will walk circles around another. The only reason they say this is because it can go louder than another sub and most "high" qauily subs are slow or fast because of placement and the room it's in.

With your setup you can't go wrong with Rythmik, SVS, HSU, PSA, and a few others.
Post in the Sub forum and I'm sure a lot more guys will help you out.


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## denap (Sep 15, 2014)

Got it... thanks!


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## RTS100x5 (Sep 12, 2009)

Im + 1 for building your own surrounds, which is fairly straight forward and does not require a Physics degree... The B&G Neo 10 and Dayton PT2C-8 will absolutely match the timbre and speed of your Radia series 
For woofers Ive been using the Morel 8" for HT applications with very good results...

http://www.parts-express.com/bohlender-graebener-neo10-planar-transducer--264-715
http://www.parts-express.com/dayton-audio-pt2c-8-planar-tweeter--275-085


My #1 client project we literally saved thousands of dollars over a comparable retail offerings....

Granted your room is going to pose some challenging problems mounting surround speakers ... Off the top Im thinking a 5' floor standing tower with the above mentioned parts will be the way to go unless your seating or some other variable prevents this...In a 5.1 they could even be taller since they will likely be behind your seating area... If you have adequate wall space they could even be a wall mount design...

As for subs we went with the JL Audio 13.5 subs in a vented cabinet design ... very fast and accurate... We saved a large sum of money as well on the subs and have a very intense Home Theater system to show for it...

Im not sure if your equipped for any speaker building as it does require some professional tools but given the retail cost of higher end speakers these days - the tools pay for themselves...lddude:


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