Need some subwoofer advice...

[bullion]

I recently bought one of those Athena P300 home audio subs from Best Buy when they had a special promotion going. The sub sounds great, however my main speakers drown it out. I definitely need something with a bigger speaker and more power (probably a 10" would be fine). My main speakers are JBL ND310 series II with a Yamah HTR-5560 receiver. What do you recomend? Also, I don't want to spend a ton of money.

[Worf101]

You know, gone in and adjusted your speaker output with a test tone and SPL meter and done the same with the volume and crossovers on the sub so that they "blend" seamlessly? I can only assume you haven't. Do that before spending more money when you merely might need to set your system up correctly.

Just some advice..

Da Worfster

[poneal]

***nm***

[Worf101]

***nm***

See above...

Da Worfster

[bullion]

Don't get me wrong, the sub does sound good and it definitely adds to my system but it just doesn't give me the bass I'm looking for when I turn it up loud. I want something that will be able to take a beating and rattle the walls. My main speakers (each speaker had two 10" woofers in them) can produce more bass than that sub (obviously they don't have as well of a defined bass tone, but none the less you get the idea). With that in mind, what sub would you recomend?

[Raymond]

Just upgraded from a Prologic system and so some of the settings on the new AMP - Pioneer A/V VSX-41 Elite - are new to me. I have the operating manual dog-eared already but there's nothing like advice from the pros on this board. I hope you can bear with me on these very basic questions:

The settings on the amp allow me to send frequencies from 100Hz, 150Hz and 200Hz to the sub. The center and front speakers are Athena (c.5 and p.5 series) respectively, sub is RW-8 Klipsch. The center speaker specs state frequencies 60Hz-20kHz, the fronts 80Hz to 20kHz, Sub 30Hz-120Hz, Surrounds - my old bose V-100 speakers (don't remember the frequencies).

What settings should I set the sub to: 100, 150 or 200?? (YES, will definitely be getting an SPL meter, any suggestions in the meantime).

And here's a real dumb one but just have to ask: can sending frequencies outside of the frequencies of a speaker cause any damage to the speaker - in this case, the sub - or will those frequencies simply be lost??

Ray

[Raymond]

I maeant S.5 series for the fronts, NOT P.5 ... sorry.

Ray

[Soundbro]

You should demo around and see what you like, of course, but Polk offers some subs that don't cost a whole lot and fill a room with boomy bass. Paradigm has some subs in the low dollars range that are capable of the same. HSU and SV have cylindrically designed subs that go very low for a moderate price. If you bought a passive sub from one of those manufacturers, you could power it with any old amp you might have laying around or could pick up cheap to get reasonable performance.

[bullion]

What are your opinions on Acoustic Research subwoofers? I see that the Acoustic Research S112PS used to sell for $400, but now sells for about $130. Is it any good?