HT Subwoofer Theory, Knowledge & Advice Request
Your wisdom and knowledge would be a major help and greatly appreciated in my future purchase of a subwoofer for my Home Theater.
My HT's main use is for movies (75%). Limited use for PS3 and Wii gaming (24%). Very little or no use with music (1%).
Current Set-up:
Receiver: Yamaha HTR-56760 (110w x 7)
Fronts: Polk Audio Monitor 30 Bookshelves
Center: Polk Audio CS1
Surrounds: Vintage Pioneer 2-way Bookshelves (circa 1991)
Subwoofer: NONE
Room Size:
23' x 16'
HT is in my basement, so 3 walls are brick exterior walls with drywall and insulation over them, 4th wall is an interior wall. Also, my floor is concrete foundation covered with padding and carpet (between seating and tv is a two inch thick 7'x9' Oriental rug)
Questions:
1.) Future upgrades include the separate purchases of a subwoofer and of Polk Audio Monitor 70 Towers to use as front speakers (moving the 30s to surround). Since both need to be purchased 6 months to a year apart for cash flow reasons, am I correct in assuming the addition of a subwoofer (upgrading from 5.0 to 5.1) will have a more dramatic effect on my HT experience than upgrading my fronts and thus I should purchase the sub first?
Yes, I think we are all inagreement the sub should be next. You currently have nothing to reproduce very low frequencies in your system, plus the sub will allow to take advantage of the LFE (low frequency effects) in movie soundtracks.
2.) I know subwoofer placement has a major impact on perceived performance and plan on doing a "crawl test" when I first get the sub home to find the best location within the room, however:
- How does driver size (8" vs. 10" vs. 12") effect the sound produced?
- How would two 8" subs with 100w rms each compare with one 12" with rms?
- How does sound (& vibrations) produced differ between down firing subs vs. front firing ones?
* The larger the driver the more air will be pushed, this is a good thing. You can't really go by power because the drivers themselves vary in efficiency (how loud they will play with a certain measure of power). The higher the efficiency the louder it will play for a given amount of power over one less efficient. A sealed enclosure will take more power where ported boxes are typically more efficient.
3.) Given a budget of $250 - $500, any suggestions which sub(s) will give me the HIGHEST QUALITY "boom"-for-my-buck?
Here's my choice:
http://www.svsound.com/products-sub-cyl-pc12_nsd.cfm
This is an incredible sub for $569.00. You will find it to be very fast and accurate, it will blend well with your other speakers. Properly set up you won't get big rumble but the bass will be deep and clean with low end detail like you probably haven't experienced before. I have a similar room but mine opens in the back. I bought a step up model and it works great.
Thanks in advance.