Subwoofer Choice & Connection Advice

Logical Energy

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Hi all, really great forum here.

I currently have a 5.0 system and I am looking to add a subwoofer. I think after many hours searching through these forums and also Googling I have made a decision on which sub to get. I am going to go for BK P12-300SB-DF unless you tell me I have made the wrong decision.

Current setup:
  1. Front speakers - Mission 734 floorstanders. I know these are twenty years old now and not universally liked but to my ears they still sound great.
  2. Centre speaker - Monitor Audio Bronze Centre
  3. Rear speakers - Monitor Audio BR1's
  4. Receiver - Sony STR-DN1030
  5. Room size - 11ft x 17ft
I mostly use this setup to watch movies and TV box-sets but also use it to listen to music occasionally. My maximum budget is £400, I really can't stretch it to a XXLS400.

Is the BK P12-300SB-DF the best option or is there something else out there better within budget?

Second question is regarding connectivity. The STR-DN1030 is 7.2 receiver but I don't have the budget or room for a second sub. It has a single connection for each sub and despite reading through the receiver and sub manuals I don't really understand how to connect it up. BK supply a phono cable with two ends. Please can you let me know the best way to connect the BK to my Sony and whether or not the Sony will work fine with just one sub.

Sorry for excess waffle and thanks in advance for your help.
 

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The Sony will work fine with one sub and in fact adding a second sub into a room can often cause more problems than it solves. You would connect the sub buy using a single sub cable from one of the outputs from your AVR to one of the inputs on your sub (they often have 2 inputs for use with stereo amps but since the sub channel is a mono signal for an AVR you only need to use one of the inputs).
 
Hi PSM1, thank you for your response.

This is probably a stupid question; If I only use one sub am I only getting one channel of the bass sounds? Or do both single outputs put out the same mono sound?
 
Hi PSM1, thank you for your response.

This is probably a stupid question; If I only use one sub am I only getting one channel of the bass sounds? Or do both single outputs put out the same mono sound?
Not a stupid question at all, depends how it's setup, generally people connect the sub to the LFE out which is your .1 and it is only a mono out anyway but depending on how you have it setup remember LFE is only Low Frequency Effects found in movies, so not always present. Some receivers when set to Stereo subs will output the left had channel bass to the Left sub in a stereo pair and the right channel bass to the Right hand sub, also you quite often have the option for Twin Mono Subs, which will effectively output the exact same mono bass to both subs. This should be explained in your user handbook for the Sony i'd think, but it's all to do with how you set the crossovers and how you set the bass management within your Sony, speakers should be set to 'Small' and depending on how you want the bass handled ....either set to something like L&R + Sub or Main + Sub. I'll see if i can find the relevant page in your manual.
Hope that helps.

Page 90/91 of the manual explains speaker settings, however, the advice they give is a bit rubbish. Speakers should be set to 'Small' currently they will be set to 'Large' as there is no Subwoofer in the system, then set the crossover appropriate to your L&R speakers lowest frequency (generally a bit higher) than what they can handle comfortably, anything below this point will be redirected to the sub.
 
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Thanks Frank/Shane, much appreciated. I'm glad it wasn't just me thinking the manual was poor.

Any thoughts on whether or not the BK P12-300SB-DF is the right choice?
 
I haven't heard the BK P12-300SB-DF but have heard plenty BK Subs in the past and bang for your 'buck' they are pretty hard to beat, placement is the key here, are you restricted on where you can place it ?
 
Unfortunately there is only one position it can go in, which is in the corner of the room next to the left front speaker. Is that bad?
 
Corner placement of a sub can be problematic as you can get a boundary effect which can give you booty bass. However that is by no means certain so try it and see how it sounds.
 
Understood and thank you. If it doesn't work in the corner I will have to move the room layout around somehow.

I would appreciate some opinions on whether or not the BK P12-300SB-DF is the right choice. Alternatively this is a similar price: https://www.hifix.co.uk/speakers/hi-fi-speakers/subwoofers/svs-
Unfortunately your link doesn't work, but the svs subs are pretty good too. Corner placement can sometimes be a problem but is also recommended in some cases, only thing you can do is give it a try and see what you think ....... always worth doing the 'Sub crawl' Crawling for Bass - Subwoofer Placement Tips
another link here
 
Apologies for the link not working. It was an SVS PB1000 I was looking at.

Thanks for the link and video about placement. I will definitely have a look at both. I am all for ensuring that I get the most out of my system/gadgets :)
 
The PB1000 will offer a lot more output than the BK sub. The only difference is the quality of the finish is not as good and it is a much larger box
 
Thanks Chinstroke.

If I could stretch the budget to a BK Monolith or even an SVS SB2000, is it worth the extra money? Also are those two going to be too good for the rest of my system?
 
No such thing as the sub being too good for the rest of the system. Worth stretching for the best sub you can as it will then last at least a few speaker upgrades without having to be replaced.
 
Thanks, sounds logical.

I can probably stretch to £575 then. Please let me know what you think my best option is?
 
Both are great options and will not go far wrong with either.
 
Update; I decided on the SVS SB2000, picked it up this morning. It is positioned in the corner of the room and I have only spent a couple of hours tweaking the settings so it is early days but; so far it sounds amazing, better than I anticipated.

Thanks again for your help.
 

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