Sorry - yet another "which sub"

TobyAnscombe

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Morning folks,

Yes, another which sub question but having been out of the game for some time it need a quick catch up...

I have a B&W 600 series setup - 603's, CC6 and DS6 all S1. When I used to live in Bath I had two Rel Strata's hooked into the high level as I had a really big front room (on weekends we would take one down the pub - I'm not joking!)

Then I moved to London, got a really small place where justifying one sub let alone two was hard as my front room was tiny and in a terrace and I wanted to keep friendly with next door.

I am now moving out to the country (well, Essex) and will have a much bigger front room (double!) as well as space on either side. Hence I am looking for a sub(s) to fill the room.

Having only had Rel and being very happy I was looking at buying another Strata and then started looking around*...and there seems to be some interesting comments kicking about here. Whilst I troll through the posts can anyone offer an opionion on the following:

Monolith DF seems to be a great choice and is cheap; just got a great review in HCC

The Rel R and T series - I'm going by brand rather than review and I would assume that they are great based on prior experience - can anyone comment?

Having had a hunt about the forum already SVS seem to come very well recommended - from the look of it SB12/Plus or the PB12/Plus seem to fit the bill rather well.

Out of preference I prefer downward father than frontward but that is mainly so that the cats or better half dont hit the cone...

As it will be going into a new build the floor will be real wood with plasterboard walls and size-wise its about 5x4m.

Oh, and I wont have any floor until after Christmas so plain old concrete till then.....
 
Hi Toby,

I can't comment on Rel other than what I have read here, the general consensus seems to be that they are (were?) very good but you can get cheaper subs that perform as well or better.

If you like your DFs then the Monolith or the PB12 seem ideal. The PB will be the better performer although it is slightly larger. It also has an integrated base plate (wooden) so it doesn't really matter what you place it upon and gives added protection to the driver when if you need to keep moving it about... something I have been doing a lot during a recent renovation project...

The Monolith has a DF port whereas the PB has three rear firing ports so some may argue the Monolith would be easier to integrate as 'all' the bass comes from the same point (ish). I don't know how much there is in that but I know at least one PB12 owner who has had more trouble placing it because of the ports. Mine has never been an issue (the ports anyway :))

The PB can be tuned to 3 different frequencies by bunging up various ports and selecting a toggle on tha back of the sub. This allows you to choose between higher SPLs and deeper frequency response. As the PB Ultra is a bit of a beast I have mine tuned to 12hz as it is plenty loud enough :D

With any high performance sub you will need to seriously consider either room treatment or some kind of electronic EQ. If this sounds like a bore then you may be better off with something that doesn't go as deep like the SB12.

I am sure you will have many more comments shortly,

Adam
 
Mmmm....

Having read some more I am favouring the Monolith as I can get two for the same price as the PB - thus giving me matched left and right.

I think that I might have to take a trip down to AVSales to get a demo of the PB's.

In terms of room EQ, whats the thoughts on Amp based EQ such as the Pioneer VSX-2016AV-S which is the amp that I am considering upgrading to
 
I don't know anything about it I am afraid although most onboard EQ doesn't go very low from what I have read and that is where you really need it.

A Velodyne SMS-01 (£400 ish) or a BFD for £80 + SPL Meter (£35) and Rew are the most popular sub EQ methods.

Twin Monolithys would be very nice but they probably won't go as low as the PB12.

BTW Music or Movies? and High or low level connection? (coming from Rel I am assuming high level?)

Adam
 
If you really like your bass the PB12+/2 is going for a great price in the powerbuy at the moment :eek:
 
80% movies and Sky HD (as and when they send the full track info).

To be fair, most of the time I leave the amp on ProLogic II unless I am listening to XFM or Kerrang which brings the best out of the 603's...

High level although I think that I have read that some of the newer subs take both to pick up on the .1 (low level) as well as the extra bass that still gets sent to the main pair.

Off to look at the powerbuys ;-)
 
Forgive me for saying, your quest for two subs may be coloured by the inadequacy of your old RELs.

I have a Monolith in a 6x4.5m room, regularly listen to movies at reference level and have no problem rattling windows and doors elsewhere in the house.

Compare this:

rel%20storm%205%20max.png


with this:

bk%20monolith%20df%20max.png


I know it's not the same REL you had, its the 50% more expensive Storm.

Note the Storm cannot reproduce a 20Hz tone louder than 85dB. Two storms stood one on top of the other would only manage 91dB. The Monolith on it's own will reproduce 96dB. Nuff said.

Russell
 
I would suggest a low level input which will allow you to EQ your sub. High level won't give you that option and with a sub that goes really deep you will be a lucky man if your room doesn't generate some nasty modes somewhere or other :rolleyes:

Adam :)
 

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