BK Subs versus diy

primetime · 16-03-2006, 11:25 AM

BK are selling the gemini and XLS 200 for £200-£280 and are getting very good feedback because they are direct selling. Hence much more sub for your money, thing I was wondering is how these guys fit in

http://www.iplacoustics.co.uk/ipl_sw..._subwoofer.htm

They sell semi-diy subs for a similar amount of money to BK but it suggests to me that with the IPL even more would be going into the actual components.

So buy a BK or a little SVS or spend a few hours with a screwdriver and some glue and go for a respected kit manufacturer!

Anyone owned one of these or can give some insight into the pros/cons?

PS There is no such thing as too much clean sub bass

Paul Smith · 16-03-2006, 11:43 AM

Hi,
I have bought other kits from IPL, however not the subs, and they do use excellent parts.

However if you ever decide to (heaven forbid

) sell or upgrade you will probably find that your DIY sub will have a very low second hand value.
Unfortunately this is the case with most DIY no matter how well you have finished it, or how much better it sounds compared to other 'known' makes.
It's just something to keep in mind,
Cheers,

Paul.

SBanga · 16-03-2006, 1:01 PM

Is it just me or do those drivers look seriously lightweight?

Paul Smith · 16-03-2006, 1:17 PM

I wouldn't go as far as saying "seriously Lightweight" they aren't that bad.
They're just not in the Seriously Meaty

catageory like the Peerless XLS drivers (as used in the BK XLS200).
Anyway it's not about how it looks, it's what it does that is important

.

Paul.

primetime · 16-03-2006, 2:23 PM

Over and above looks/re sale its the sound quality I'm most interested in to go with my linn's. Unfortunately I cannot affort loads on a sub so am trying to decide between these. Wilmslow do a sub kit that looks the same as the xls 200 and uses the same driver but is rather more expensive!!

Nimby · 16-03-2006, 10:03 PM

Wilmslow has demo facilities. Or did, 12-15 years ago.

I listened to some of their kit subs when I was picking up some drivers for my own DIY bandpass efforts.
It was much cheaper to make my own to published design parameters than buy a passive kit back then.

I would always go for a plate amp these days rather than mess about with passive units. They fry stereo amps with their very low parallel impedance while plate amps from BK are excellent value.