got all my speakers set up and am trying out a few different subs

the one that works is an active sub but it's only rated at a miserly 20w (bought for a fiver from the car boot)

it works but it does tend to get lost in the over all sound of things
turning it on and off you do notice it making an impact when it's there but it's either doing a small background bit of bass or nothing at all, and it can't handle the punchier notes when you stick on something which has a proper heavy heavy b-line

i have another one that's rated at 100w but it's also got it's own built in amp so it won't work without having a source to feed the 5.1 and then send out the 5 so that's not even getting an option to get working
sounds really good but it's not a viable option

the 3rd one is a passive sub, and so needs a seperate + and - wire, so this means having to find a bit of wire to conect the phone cable up to to split it before i can see what it's capable of

and i have a 4th which is also a passive sub, but this one has 4 wires going into it from the amp, again, it's part of a system that requires the feed from the specific amp before it will work, so i won't bother with that one either

so, from all the subs i've got, to the sub that i require, what would you do?

buy a new sub is easy enough, but the subs that i've got slot into the space behind the sofa whereas the ones i've seen in the shops are all big square things, designed to stand on pointy bits of metal

confused

 

just buy a new sub with amp with speakers

 

Just get a full bose setup job done lol

 

yh like a yamaha system

 

Dojj - unless you intend on having a dedicated "sub amp" then a passive sub is no good for you. To do that you need a passive sub, a power amp, and your AV amp (if that is what you use) needs to have a set of pre-outs to provide the dedicated signal.

So you need an active sub. 20w as you said isn't gonna do a lot - mines a Mission AS63 and only packs 80w, and even that often gets a bit trounced by my left and right speakers. When I play music I only play it using the left and right channels and dno't bother with the sub, as my Mission floorstanders outperform it anyway.

But with all that said, I do notice the difference when playing a movie, especially a movie with DTS, if I turn it off. It's great for explosions, rumbles etc....

A lot is down to frequency. My amp has a fairly decent frequency adjuster, so I can cut frequencies for different speakers and send them elsewhere - ie I can adjust the crossover to the fronts and send the low bass to the sub, which I have set to pick up everything from 200hz down.

Have a look at the Mission range - it's fairly inexpensive as far as home audio goes. REL and BK make some insane subs, but they cost bucks, but in most "standard" home set ups, a Mission set up right will perform nicely

 

got everything else set up, just need to get a sub that has the punch to deliver what i want

 

Whats your set up? Dedicated 5cha power amp (AV amp) with all speakers attached and you need to plug an active subwoofer via a single RCA cable?

Worlds your oyster then. As said, something like my Mission would do it, they do different ranges, 80w upto around 500w, as said REL and BK are the daddy's of subs, cost a few quid tho

 

yup, got one of hem cambridge audio things that has digital inputs in the back so less wires to clutter up the place

6.1 with 4 equal speakers for the surround sound corners, plus one rear centre and one front centre, al with adjustablility into the db coming out (set up to how we want them to be set up which is fronts a little louder than the rears and the centre being just in the middle of the other settings) and all we need is the sub to complete the package, active is a pain in the arse as i need to find another plug socket for it but it's all doable, junior just turns EVERYTHING off with one click then

off to go and find a mission sub them

 

Active is a pain in the ass cos you have to find another plug socket? Err

Passive means you need a box, a crossover, and then you need another amplifier (which needs another plug) that can be run in mono and hooked into your cambridge.

Or get an active sub, connect one RCA cable to your Cambridge and you're done. Simple

 

i would need to find a plug to power whatever i get if it was active, and there aren't any sockets near by where the amp is

 

Either you are not grasping it or you aren't listening - yes you need a plug for an active sub. But if you have a passive sub you also need a plug AND A SECOND AMPLIFIER!

So one box solution with a plug, or a sub + amp + crossover + box + plug....

Easy desicion(sp)

 

mine is a velodyne and is pretty much a house shaker

 

i watch and listen to everything on my PC and have my hifi wired to the PC via AUX. Think its 500W in total with a 180W sub and 160W twin speakers consisting of components, tweeters and subs. To get any sort of punch from a sub and to sound good it needs to have, imo, about 100W minimum.

 

Bose is a great setup easy to use one control lol and runs a whole house.I havent heard a system as good yet for quality apart from some 15k setups lol

 

https://passionford.com/forum/general-car-related-discussion/235183-nice-cinema-setup.html


meridian > all

 

No need to spend 15K to outperform a bose system, believe me... Bose is all about looks and not much about sound quality.
Yes, something with a lot of treble and some bass will sound ok, but try soundtrack which has some mid-range and you will find bose just doesn't work at all.

I spoke to a Bose rep at a trade show and he admitted that the material they use in demos is specifically chosen to show off the gear

 

been to the local richer sounds and they've recommended one of these

http://www.richersounds.com/showprod...-308-AVANT-SIL

for the size of the room and that it's going to be hiden so it doesn't need to match anything

anything better/worse/different you can recommend before i buy one?

 

Buy it, try it, if you don't like it, you can take it back

 

i may just use that option

the one they've got is currently the only one in stock and is sitting in the shope floor

i ususally get fairly chunky discounts with them, at around 25% or so, so i may "enquire"

i'll let you know

 

Short stuff is great - I reckon you'll really like that sub

Here's a trick tho. Get yourself a LONG RCA phone cable, plug it in and place the sub in the position you normally sit in to watch TV, etc. Then play something with decent bass (movie or music CD or something) and move YOURSELF around the room (leave the sub in your normal viewing position) till you find the spot where the sub sound best. Wherever that spot is, put the sub there and go sit down. You should now have it in the optimal position to get the best from it. Course, if thats the middle of the living room floor, then you have to pick the next best place But you get the idea I hd my sub on the right for ages cos it fitted there nicely, but moving it to the left side really opened the bass up!!!