Dorm room speaker advice round two: The Subwoofer

[riotact]

Hey all,

Thank you for your help choosing my main speakers. I have been looking at subs for a while now, and am considering a few options.

One option is that i have a low-powered 12" car audio sub/amp mounted in a box that I could run with my roommates box of old powersupplies, maybe.

Another option would be to buy a blown sub to use the amp/enclosure and replace the sub so i dont have to mess around with powersupplies:
http://cgi.ebay.com/AS-IS-Klipsch-Sy...item3358a29355

Or I could just be boring and buy a used sub from craigslist, or a new one online.
http://www.parts-express.com/pe/show...number=303-430

What do you guys think would be the best bang for the buck? I really enjoy DIY projects

Thanks,
Nick

[riotact]

Oh, also my main speakers are:

2 cerwin vega dx-7s for my mains
1 sdat center
2 sdat surrounds
http://www.overstock.com/Electronics...749397-000-001

I assume I need a sub with some kind of power if its going to actually be heard above my two 10" woofers on my vegas, right?

[dakatabg]

It is better to find a good working subwoofer man! If you start buying and changing stuff at the end you will have paid as much as a new subwoofer!!!

It is all up to you.

Just get a good working subwoofer and don't bother changing and replacing!

[JoeE SP9]

Any of the Parts Express kit subs will probably sound better than the BIC.

[harley .guy07]

I agree with JoeE SP9 on this one for sure, The parts express sub kits offer a huge bang for the buck and any of them are 3 times the sub of a BIC. I would also look around at Audiogon and Ebay just to see what is out there for the money as well. But to be sure I would not start messing around with putting car subs in a house environment. car subwoofers are of a different breed and are built to compensate for the audio shortcomings of the automotive invironment and will not right in a house most of the time. I would stick to a kit sub from Madisound of Parts Express if doing it yourself is what you want to do. they are already optimized for the amp and cabinet being used and come with instructions for all the needed connectors and dampening materials for a good quality result. I definitely would not take a car sub and build it with left over power supply parts out of a budies box of parts, the end result will probably not be very good.

[dakatabg]

Like the other people said if you don't understand electronics and don't know what you are doing, it is better just to find a good working subwoofer and thats it. Don't go with the process of changing and replacing!

[02audionoob]

Stop by a pawn shop and pick out a sub with a decent brand name.

[harley .guy07]

Stop by a pawn shop and pick out a sub with a decent brand name.

He could go by and check them out but where I live the pawn shops usually only have units that are beat up and not of quality to begin with. I know this is not always the case though but the last few times I have been to pawn shops I take a second to check out their electronics for sale and usually all I find are cheap Sony, Realistic, or BIC subwoofers which in my opinion are of poor quality at best. If I were him I would use the internet as his way of seeing what is out there in the used market by way or Ebay or Audiogon. I know Audiogon usually only has the higher end stuff that is probably above his budget but in their classified section there are occasionally good units that can be had for a few hundred dollars that would serve him well. If he could find a good used Hsu or older SVS, and there are other brands that fall into the very good but cheaper to buy used units that are of still good quality.

[02audionoob]

He could go by and check them out but where I live the pawn shops usually only have units that are beat up and not of quality to begin with. I know this is not always the case though but the last few times I have been to pawn shops I take a second to check out their electronics for sale and usually all I find are cheap Sony, Realistic, or BIC subwoofers which in my opinion are of poor quality at best. If I were him I would use the internet as his way of seeing what is out there in the used market by way or Ebay or Audiogon. I know Audiogon usually only has the higher end stuff that is probably above his budget but in their classified section there are occasionally good units that can be had for a few hundred dollars that would serve him well. If he could find a good used Hsu or older SVS, and there are other brands that fall into the very good but cheaper to buy used units that are of still good quality.

I don't mean any offense at this, but let's consider the speakers with which the sub will be used. I found a Velodyne sub at a pawn shop near me and a Cerwin-Vega was sitting right beside it. I saw a Polk at another pawn shop that same day. This is stuff that would measure up to the DX-7s in the OP's system.

[harley .guy07]

sure that is true and like I said I was just referring to the pawn shops in my area and by no means does that cover pawn shops in bigger cities and I have seen the occasional diamond in the rough in a pawn shop or used electronics store that would fill the bill especially with the system that the OP is running. And to boot the Cerwin Vega and polk subs, they can be found really cheap online so I am sure at the bigger city pawn shops they can be found cheap as well. Velodyne could as well if you stayed in a lower series and older models. I would still shoot for the best that his budget could afford and would not just settle for the first cheap one that he found. Even though he is using mid fi speakers if he could find a somewhat high end sub cheap I would say go for it and he can always upgrade his other speakers at a latter time when the he could afford it and also when he thought he was ready to upgrade his listening experience.

[riotact]

Alrighty , so at $300 this is the cheapest kit they have:
http://www.parts-express.com/pe/show...number=300-770

Its a 15" dayton driver with a 240 watt amp. What do you think about that? Should be solid for my system right?

or should I poke around at a pawn shop first?

[02audionoob]

If you're satisfied with the price on the kit at http://www.parts-express.com I'd say no need to lengthen the search by trying the pawn shops...unless they're just convenient.

[harley .guy07]

I would say it would do nicely with your setup. If you had a higher end setup then I would say go for one of the titanic subs or reference kits from them but for what you have this kit should provide you with more than enough bass for your system especially in a dorm where you most likely will have issues with your neighbors if you had 500 watts of sub.

[rob_a]

Dayton makes a nice sub that's hard to beat. I helped a friend put together a custom box with a dayton 15". It had a huge hit but was still tight and not boomy.

[BioDaddy]

Alrighty , so at $300 this is the cheapest kit they have:
http://www.parts-express.com/pe/show...number=300-770

Its a 15" dayton driver with a 240 watt amp. What do you think about that? Should be solid for my system right?

or should I poke around at a pawn shop first?

IMO the first thing you might want to consider is your dorm neighbors. They will be listening to your sub through the walls whether they like it or not! The resonance of your mains plus the boom of that 15" woofer will most definitely be enjoyed by your neighbors. Of course, you can play it at elevator music levels and there will be no problem, but that kinda defeats the purpose doesn't it?

[jakebot]

buy a 12 in sub from ebay (polk is good) and a low wattage amp
< 400watts is great and do the computer power supply thing. That
seems to work well. i have found the best box to use is a small
square SEALED box. you can mount the sub to be downward firing
and you can buy short legs 2 - 4 inches from a hardware store.
i will be doing this mod with my old sub setup and amp when i have
the money.

[blackraven]

Here's a few subs to look at-

http://www.amazon.com/Velodyne-Impac.../ref=de_a_smtd

http://www.amazon.com/Velodyne-Impac.../ref=pd_cp_e_2

http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls..../PSB-SubZero-i

http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls....radigm-PS-1000

http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls....aradigm-PW2200
The paradigm pw2200 is a great buy, http://www.paradigm.com/en/paradigm/...-5-11.paradigm

I would take this over the Parts express. If your looking for power the Paradigm has it. I heard it a few years ago and its a great sounding sub. I think it retailed for about $900.