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[jamison162]

Ok guys. I'm really thinking about doing the Adire Rava (12") cause it's such a great deal (10" Titanic MkIII kit, 2nd choice). Then I go by Sound Advice tonight to rule out any of the Polk Subs - just cause I have Polk fronts and center ya know.

Anyways, the sales guy was telling me about the new Velodyn DLS series and how great they were with the DSP clip limiting circuits, etc and remote control. I must admit all of these features really are attractive they way I'm thinking about setting up my system and the remote would come in handy. BUT - the guys says it's up in the front display window of the mall (storefront - I came in the back) and that it wasn't hooked up right now. I was like well, I'm interested but I ain't buying anything that I haven't heard. You wanna sell it, then hook it up, let me hear it. He tried to move on back to the Polks. What's up with that? He wouldn't even demo the thing.

Anybody heard the 10" DLS-3750R or 12" DLS-400R ???

Oh, and does anyone else know of any subs w/remote? I know PartsExpress sells a 250watt Plate Amp w/remote if I wanted to build my own.

[nightflier]

Not that I have ever heard it or anything, but the Yamaha YST-SW1500 comes with a remote, too.

[Woochifer]

Honestly, the most useless demo out there is an in-store subwoofer listening. When you get into the low frequencies, the room acoustics start to take over what you hear in the bass. What you hear in a dealer's demo room will in all likehood not translate to what you hear at home. The room dimensions, the boundaries, the placement (both the sub and the listening position), the standing waves, the corner reflections, all affect how the bass sounds so the difference between your dealer's demo room and your room at home can be drastic. The quality and tonal characteristics of the subwoofer are just the beginning.

The Rava is a good choice for the money, but be aware of the benefits and limitations of its sealed design. Sealed subs generally benefit more from the room gain that you get from small to medium sized rooms. But, the bass on a sealed sub does drop off sooner, albeit more gradually.

Yeah, it sucks that the demo subwoofer's not hooked up, but rather than try and get them to plug the thing in, the smarter thing would probably be to borrow it and try it out with your system at home. That way, you'll get a better idea of how the sub will react with your room.

My room is 13' x 18' (a medium sized room), and the Rava completely overpowered the room when I first tried it out in the corner. The room effects created three huge peaks of 10+ db, which made the bass sound boomy and not especially tight. With a parametric EQ, I was able to even out the bass response and that greatly improved the quality of the bass and how well it integrates with the rest of my system.

With a ported sub, the low end peaks that I got would have been even more extreme because of the room gain.

A remote on a subwoofer should not be a consideration. Most subs nowadays have auto on/off switches, and the other controls you typically set up once and leave alone until you move stuff around or make major system changes.