I need some advice...! After a lot of persuasion, I think I'm actually going to be allowed to buy a sub to complement my hi-fi/home cinema setup. Only thing is it must be wife-friendly i.e. small. Room is only 12'x10'. I have some large Ruark Crusader floorstanders which are (under)powered by a valve amp. Sound quality is fantastic, but bass lacks a bit of weight and slam especially for movies. Rest of system is a Yamaha DSP-E492, Yamaha 105 wall-mounted surround speakers and a Paradigm CC-150 centre. (Eventually I plan to bi-amp the speakers with another couple of valve amps that I have lying around to beef them up a bit.) Any sub must be good for both hi-fi and home-cinema use. Don't mind whether it's new, second-hand or a DIY kit. Was thinking along the lines of either the IPL SW2 or the MJ Pro 50 (on size grounds more than anything else). Understand from reading these forums that the REL Quake should not be considered and even the 'award winning' Q-150E is not so good. Would like to go for the Q-bass 50 or the Q-100, but they're just too big. Are there any others I should be considering? Would a sub of this size add anything much to the Crusaders (£1600 floorstanders) bass output, or am I expecting too much from a tiny sub? Hope someone can help.
I recently bought a MJ Pro 50 (cherry wood finish £379 from Hi Fi Junkies) - fantastic wee sub, very good with music. My living room's about 4m by 4m - I've also got floostanders (Monitor Audio Silver 8i's). The Pro 50's got some kick for its size - and it looks really nice too - so should be wife friendly! When I bought the 8i's I thought they sounded great, but like you suspected that the bass was lacking a bit of weight, especially for films, but I'm really glad I got the sub as there's a big difference now. Hope that helps, Adele.
Thanks Adele. Sounds like we have a similar setup, so it's good to know you felt the MJ sub was a worthwhile move. Will see if I can get a demo of it from somewhere...
Go to the FS forum where I'm selling the B&W ASW 675 sub, it's roughly 1 foot square but boasts a 500 watt amp and a low end frequency of 17Hz. Shameless plug I know
Try the Anthony Gallo sub. Sounds great and looks great. Wife Aversion Factor (WAF) is close to zero. I believe that on the WAF scale zero is not attainable ;-).
Sorry mate but I can only suggest "dump the wife and buy the Sub you want". There are Millions of women to choose from, but only 30 or so Sub's (worth having). NO CONTEST.
Take a look at the Velodyne HGS range. In particular, the HGS-18....... Guranteed divorce proceedings Adzman