Good sub to use with AV40s

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Supreme [H]ardness
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Nov 17, 2000
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Looking to add a sub into the mix for a little more low end. I dont have much room under my desk I want to give up so im looking at the following. I want to spend under 200$. Please give me some advice! I like my bass punchy and accurate.. not boomy.

BIC V-80
BIC V1020
Dayton 10" powered sub
Pok PSW111
 
I bought the Dayton Elite 10" sub designed by HSU last fall. It is awesome. Only $180 shipped. I'd say it's comparable it to my HSU VTF2-MK3, but the positioning in the room is likely helping the Dayton Elite 10".

Since it's not available anymore, I'd consider the Bic 1020 or 1220. I'd stay away from the Polk 111 for sure.
 
How about this Behringer powered subwoofer? Dual 8" drivers and weighs over 70 lbs apprently. Not much for crossover controls, though.
 
http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=300-635 - Dayton 12

Or the older version of the BIC H-100 (12") for about $200 (I believe if you search on ebay you MIGHT find a "or best offer" seller who has accepted as low as $190, but then again that might be a different seller now) + free shipping

I'm not sure how the BIC 1020 and 1220 compare to the H-100. If the H-100 is their higher line, then you may as well get that because it's similarly priced.

Edit: I'd take these over 8" subwoofers. I think the BIC might be slightly better than the Dayton based on word of mouth, but I actually own that Dayton 12", and it's decent. I recently researched these "budget" subwoofers for a friend.
 
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Archmage said:
Edit: I'd take these over 8" subwoofers. I think the BIC might be slightly better than the Dayton based on word of mouth, but I actually own that Dayton 12", and it's decent. I recently researched these "budget" subwoofers for a friend.
Click to expand...

1x8" woofer + 2 - 8" passives = more cone area than a single 12"

No port noise with passive radiators

Smaller woofers should blend better with small bookshelf speakers + you can fine tune the passives if needed.
 
jason str said:
1x8" woofer + 2 - 8" passives = more cone area than a single 12"

No port noise with passive radiators

Smaller woofers should blend better with small bookshelf speakers + you can fine tune the passives if needed.
Click to expand...

I prefer passive radiator subwoofer designs to ported designs in general, but not in this particular case (budget-oriented).

- If the vent area of the port is sufficient, then port noise should be a non-issue (vent noise may be audible at high air-velocity, and thus only at high SPL for any reasonably well-designed enclosure)

- Your assessment of cone area doesn't make much sense to me. The Passive Radiator should not be counted because... it's passive. It doesn't increase total volume of air displaced (The PR is merely an equivalent of the port), and thus (1) 12" subwoofer has 12.5% more radiating area than (2) 8" subwoofers, and 125% more area than (1) 8" subwoofer. Additionally, the total air displaced is dependent upon woofer excursion (movement of the cone), which is likely to be higher on the 12" woofer. For the above-mentioned reasons, a 12" woofer will generally better handle lower frequencies (below 40hz), which are heavily dependent on the volume of air displaced.

- The notion that a smaller 8" subwoofer will "blend better" than a larger 12" woofer is mostly fallacious from my experience. I believe the "blending" to be largely determined by several interdependent factors: (SPL-level matching, frequency response, time-domain alignment, cross-over (of large importance) and polar response (which can arguably be affected by cone size in the near-field), and ROOM response (almost just restating frequency response, I know), which unfortunately can only be dealt with properly by positioning multiple woofers throughout the room to minimize room modes (Dr. Earl Geddes on bass)). Generally, if the above can be matched, then the woofer will transition well. Of course it'd require a nice microphone measurement system to be able to tune so finely.

- Lastly... the BIC and Dayton subs are pre-fabricated. They're just easier :)

Edit: And I see that your likely point is that the AV40's have mere 4" midranges, and you think a 12" subwoofer would be excessive. Well... I think the 12" subwoofer would then never have cause for port noise because the smallish speakers wouldn't be able to keep up at high SPL. Additionally, that would decrease the excursion demand on the 12" which should result in lower distortion at higher listening levels.

- BUT, the biggest virtue of the dual 8" + passive radiator design: dual opposing radiating surfaces might provide slightly better frequency response in the room as a whole (as in... the next best thing to having multiple subwoofers). If the dual 8" setup were to blend better, THIS would likely be the reason. It'd be better if the 2 subs were separated out in the room of course.

Edit2: http://mehlau.net/audio/multisub_geddes/ - here is a rundown of Gedde's multisub approach.

Edit 3: I just realized that the Triska Subwoofer has 2 Passive radiators and 1 active woofer (which actually makes much more sense because that's the way it should be). Well... that changes things... it's probably a good 8" woofer, but it won't offer more output than the same woofer in a ported box. Those passive radiators really only augment the lower frequencies (just as a port does). I think the multiple cones may smooth out room response a bit in the lowest octave, but not by much... I'm sticking to the Dayton or BIC 12" as my recommendation.
 
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I I got a sub it would be a 10" or 8". I have the H-100 BIC for my home system nad its WAY more then I need for my PC. The 1020 will probably work. Also per my recommendations box size matters so I wanted to keep it as small as possible. Now the DIY setup looks very interesting and something I am going to look into. Thx for all the feedback.
 
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