Quote Originally Posted by Redbeard
When looking at the Titanic subwoofers from Parts Express I am confused, what is a parametric equalizer? I notice the 12" which is a bit big for my room but the 10" which is more in my price range and room size does not seem to include this equalizer. Is there any alternative to getting a parametric equalizer and is it absolutely neccessary????

Still Confused as to which sub to by, I would like no more than $500 less is better and smaller cabinet is better 12" square. I have a smaller room 10x12 with hardwood floors and a large brick walled fire place. Sounds travel easy so very high output is not necessary. Sub would be 60/40 for music/movie. Might not even use it on movies if it is to loud.
The point that you're missing is the importance of the placement and the room acoustics when it comes to the bass. Compared to the midrange and the highs, the room acoustics dictate what you hear with the bass at least as much as the subwoofer itself. It's THAT important an issue.

The parametric equalizer is one method of correcting for room induced effects. If you listen to a subwoofer in a store and hear that one-note boominess, guess what, most of that is more likely due to the room acoustics and the placement than the subwoofer itself. In a small to medium sized room, the bass wavelengths are long enough so that their reflections can interact with one another and either amplify each other or cancel each other out. If you're getting a peak, then the resulting bass will sound boomy because what gets emphasized is the bass note that hits those specific frequencies where the peaks occur. Keep in mind that room induced problems will affect ALL subwoofers the same way, and if you note that one subwoofer that you bring home sounds boomy, then all subs that you put into that same position will likely also sound boomy.

The role of a parametric EQ is to dial down those large peaks so that what you hear is not totally dominated by those peaks. You want the in-room bass response as even and as full as possible. Having large room-induced peaks ensures that the bass will be uneven, and sound alternately boomy with certain notes and way too low throughout the rest of the bass spectrum. Using a parametric EQ to boost a frequency whose level is too low is typically ineffective since that was likely created by a wave cancellation at the listening position.

It doesn't matter if you get a sub with a parametric EQ built in. You can add an external unit (provided that you're using the subwoofer output from the receiver, and not the speaker outputs), and that will actually give you more flexibility because most parametric EQs that come with subs give you only one filter to work with. In my room, I needed to dial down three very large peaks, and I set up additional EQ filters just to fine tune the bass.

This is confusing indeed, but I think that obsessing about which subwoofer to get without devoting as much brainpower to learning about room acoustics and how to properly place your subwoofer would be a wasted effort.