OK I was looking around for a new subwoofer. I have a $600 budget so I was looking at brands like Velodyne, SVS, and Adire Audio Rava. Well, I took a trip to Rex's, that is where I brought my Cerwin Vega E-710's, Cerwin Vega E-76C center channel speaker and soon to buy a pair of Cerwin Vega E-715.
Well, while at Rex's I saw a Cerwin Vega LW-15 which is a 15inch sub and it sounds great. But the sub had very little tight bass, it could make your chest shake and make you think you were in the middle of an earthquake but as for being the kind of tight bass you see with 8, 10, and some higher end 12's, well it just was not there. Well, I looked around a little bit more and I found a RL-28W, the RL-28W has the same amount of power as the LW-15 but instead RL-28W has two 8inch drivers instead of one 15. Well, I was very impressed with the sound of the RL-28W, the sub had lot of a tight punch type bass and even went pretty low for being just 8inch drivers. Well, the RL-28W cost around $350-$400 and LW-15 cost around $400 to about $500. But with a little help from a friend of mine that works at Rex's I will be able to get both of them for about $600.

Well, with the LW-15 providing the deep low rumble type bass, and using the RL-28W to provide the tight hard hitting bass, will this combo work? Using both of them with the right cross over setting can make some kick butt bass. However they are Cerwin Vega but to me Cerwin Vega does what they are meant to do. Their speakers can produce some kick butt bass and some loud highs with very little power, and their subs provide some very good bass for the price. However I'm still thinking about going SVS, Velodyne, or maybe even Adire Audio Rava, or some other higher end brand name. But I'm sure if go with the two Cerwin Vega subs and use the correct cross over settings I can provide as good as bass as some of these higher end brand names.

So do think I should go with the Cerwin Vega combo or should I go with one subwoofer form a so called higher end brand name.

Thanks for reading and for the help,

Chris

Below are a pic of each of the two subs.





[This message has been edited by Thenotsonewguy (edited February 12, 2002).]

Chris,

I remember the days when I was in search for a sub but too am on a budget. I began by going to all the audio stores where I live. Here are the ones I "auditioned"…

1. Cerwin Vega
2. Paradigm
3. Sony
4. PSB
5. B&W (have them for fronts/center
6. Yamaha
7. Polk
8. Boston Acoustics (travelled 50 miles to listen)

The BA was my choice. I paid $450 and gives me a great balance between movies and music. Go to audioreview and check out the reviews on it. BTW, I am not what you call a "Big Bass Man". Bass should not be overpowering but simply lay the "foundation" IMO. I set it higher for movies than music.

There was another sub that seems to have great reviews but was unaware of it when purchased mine. It was the SVS. I hear it is a great sub for the price. Hope this helps

Chris,

I remember the days when I was in search for a sub but too am on a budget. I began by going to all the audio stores where I live. Here are the ones I "auditioned"…

1. Cerwin Vega
2. Paradigm
3. Sony
4. PSB
5. B&W (have them for fronts/center
6. Yamaha
7. Polk
8. Boston Acoustics (travelled 50 miles to listen)

The BA was my choice. I paid $450 and gives me a great balance between movies and music. Go to audioreview and check out the reviews on it. BTW, I am not what you call a "Big Bass Man". Bass should not be overpowering but simply lay the "foundation" IMO. I set it higher for movies than music.

There was another sub that seems to have great reviews but was unaware of it when purchased mine. It was the SVS. I hear it is a great sub for the price. Hope this helps

Hey, I did my reply end up posting twice?

Read more into SVS. I've never heard anything bad about them. Anyone who owns one would never trade it, unless for a better SVS. A few people on the Klipsch Forum own them and rave about how great the bass is.

Planning to order my SVS tomorrow (got paid at last, yeah). Thinking I will get the 20-39CS and the S700 amp, have the sub tuned to 17hz instead of 20. Still wavering between that and the 25-31.

Originally planned to get the powered version but it is not much extra to get the separate amp, and you gain quite a bit of flexibility. Mostly a much easier upgrade to two subs if you ever want it. You have a spare channel on the amp and you can buy the unpowered sub for a lot less money than if you had the powered version and wanted to upgrade to two.

Almost forgot -- my recommendation would be to look into SVS. It's $729 for the 25-31 and an amp, or $669 for the powered version of the same. If you can find a B-Stock, it will be cheaper (but they go fast).

I had a similar budget, I went with the Velodyne FSX-12, on closeout at onecall for $523.86. I love it, tight as a drum and flat down to 20Hz. FWIW, it is one of the best subs that I have heard in person. Competes with the Monitor Audio FB-210 which is the only other sub in this calibre that I've (had the opportunity to) auditioned. Cannot compete with SVS or Hsu for absolute dBs, but I have the gain set to 4 and 0 at the 1050 anyway so YMMV...

Like Outlaw Audio... You should at least take a look at www.audioc.com They make some very nice subs. I would look at the titan.

But that depends on you budget. They do have the quake. These guys are great customer service and they don't do any advertising to keep the cost down.

Good Luck!

The Velodyne stuff at least can claim technology that a DIY would be hard pressed to match. I don't believe in the secret sauce school of engineering - if all you're doing is stuffing a driver into a box then we're all playing on the same field by well established rules.

Not saying that's a bad thing, my subs are drivers in carefully designed boxes too, but to go to the 'next level' something has to give, and the Velo feedback stuff is a great idea.


Charlie

One thing I do not understand is how the CT and CHT series can cost around $400 and have lets say 170 watts of power. While some of their higher end series like FSX series can cost a lot more and have even less power?

Chris