help with sub please

narcoticsuite

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Hi all,

I'd be grateful for some help with buying a new sub and advice on placement.

Having recently moved home and with a toddler running around, and with wanting to upgrade to a 7.1 system from 5.1, I have had to have a complete rethink of my music/home cinema system.

My living room is quite a bit smaller in my new place and my wife will not tolerate an intrusive system. There is simply no room for my existing 5.1 system of Acoustic energy Aegis Evo 1, Aegis Evo centre, Bose Acoustimass 3 at the rear and Ruark Log Rhythm sub.

So, I have purchased the Q acoustics LCR bar for the front and 4 QAV rears. I have tested them in stereo with the Ruark sub and I was actually pleasantly surprised at the performance. However, I now realise that I cannot accommodate the Ruark in my room so am looking for a new smaller sub.

My room is approximately 14 square metres, and I am looking for a sub that will be comparable in quality to my log rhythm which I really like and which is as small as possible, budget up to £500 but ideally around £300.

As for location, I am not flexible on this, there is only one place in the room for the sub, that's just the way it is. it must sit below the TV on a granite slab in front of my chimney breast and the slab has a depth of 35cm. The sub can be no wider than 30 cm as it will be to the right or left of an electric wall hung fire, and even at 30cm wide it will be only 7.5 cm away from the side of the fire. So, corner placement, which I have heard is best is not an option, the only boundary surfaces will be the granite slab and the chimney breast behind the sub.

My shortlist of mainly 10 inch subs is as follows:-

MJ Xeno Pro 50 Mk2
Tannoy TS10
BK Gemini
BK XLS200 DF
REL T5 (8 inch)

The xls200 DF has a depth of 345mm so it is a real squeeze and will be hard up against the chimney breast with just about enough room to get the interconnect in, so not sure if this would work so close to the wall. The gemini will have 4 or 5 cm clearance at the rear, the T5 around 6 or 7 cm and the other two 7 or 8 cm. So all close to the wall, is this a bad thing - none of them are rear ported.

I know my situation is not ideal, I am compromising heavily to get a system into a small room and keep the wife happy, such is the reality of life at times.

Which of my shortlist would you recommend and are there any others I should consider? I demoed the Cambridge Minx and it didn't do it for me. Also, all apart from the T5 have a variable phase dial, whereas the T5 has a phase switch. My log Rhythm had a phase switch, can't say I noticed any difference when I did press it, but should I favour one with a dial?

All will be connected using low level connection from an AV receiver sub pre-out and will be used for music and movies. Because I'm using bass shy stellites the sub will be used at frequencies probably up to at least 120 Hz, maybe a bit more.

Grateful for any advice.

Thanks,

Mike.
 
Simple answer from that bunch is to get the XLS 200. You wont get much improvement for your budget over that while keeping it small as well.
 
Simple answer from that bunch is to get the XLS 200. You wont get much improvement for your budget over that while keeping it small as well.

Any concerns about it being so close the chimney breast though - virtually right up against it, just a couple centimetre gap.
 
If thats the only place it can go, that what is there to be concerned about, it is what it is. Unless your going to measure the subs in room response, you can see how well it might perform in any position anyway, and ultimately, you just have to trust the auto setup on your amp to make the best of what you have got. It may turn out to be a very good spot, it may turn out to be pretty poor, but you dont know till you try.

To be honest, its not that often a sub goes into a spot and its a really bad position. There is no way to know if any one position will be great or really bad, you just have to try it.
 
If thats the only place it can go, that what is there to be concerned about, it is what it is. Unless your going to measure the subs in room response, you can see how well it might perform in any position anyway, and ultimately, you just have to trust the auto setup on your amp to make the best of what you have got. It may turn out to be a very good spot, it may turn out to be pretty poor, but you dont know till you try.

To be honest, its not that often a sub goes into a spot and its a really bad position. There is no way to know if any one position will be great or really bad, you just have to try it.



OK, I get what you are saying, was just wondering if it was an obvious no-no that I was overlooking.
 
OK, I get what you are saying, was just wondering if it was an obvious no-no that I was overlooking.

Not really. Putting a sub near boundaries will increase its output, which can lead to boomy sound, but sometimes the effects are good, other times no so much, other times they can be bad. Its a suck it and see thing.
 

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