Post by Porscheguy on Apr 4, 2010 12:25:40 GMT -5
First of all I'd like to thank the many who took the time to contribute to my subwoofer Polite Rumble thread. Many offered some good advice and salient points of view.
So, in the end what did I glean from all the opinions?
I think first and most importantly, I've (re) learned that a subwoofer is first and foremost a speaker, and no one piece in a HT or 2CH setup is more subjectively judged than a speaker. We all know that real hard data cannot be the total arbiter of a speaker's SQ (subwoofers included).
eD, Rythmik, SVS, Epik, Velodyne etc. I heard good things from people about all of these. They all build high quality subs that "most" people will find adequate for their rooms providing they take the time to place and setup the sub up properly. Obviously, If you put a mini sub in an a big room it will not perform well so some thought needs to made there as to it's size and output.
But there will always be those (perhaps a small minority) that take HT, 2CH and "subwoofing" to an all together different level. For them it's all about specs, opinions and their own perceptions as to how they think something sounds. Many, many times those perceptions are correct, but all too often they are just that - perceptions. For those few in my opinion, its more about the journey, not the destination. Because after they arrive, they feel compelled to make that journey again. And the cycle continues.
So in the end, I'm not sure I'm one of those that will spend endless amounts of time and dollars chasing the holy grail of home theater sound. As we all know audio is such a bell curve - sometimes spending 50%- 75% more gets you 5%-10% return in SQ - sometimes all your hard earned $$ gets you nothing but the false pride in knowing that you own some big buck esoteric product. As you can see by my theater, I don't have the best, nor the worst, I'm just trying to have a system I look forward to listening to, not fretting and worrying that a better gizmo looms on the horizon that I should have gotten - and I don't think I'm alone.
So once again, thanks to all and can anyone guess what sub I'm gonna buy?
Very best!
Porscheguy (Ed)
So, in the end what did I glean from all the opinions?
I think first and most importantly, I've (re) learned that a subwoofer is first and foremost a speaker, and no one piece in a HT or 2CH setup is more subjectively judged than a speaker. We all know that real hard data cannot be the total arbiter of a speaker's SQ (subwoofers included).
eD, Rythmik, SVS, Epik, Velodyne etc. I heard good things from people about all of these. They all build high quality subs that "most" people will find adequate for their rooms providing they take the time to place and setup the sub up properly. Obviously, If you put a mini sub in an a big room it will not perform well so some thought needs to made there as to it's size and output.
But there will always be those (perhaps a small minority) that take HT, 2CH and "subwoofing" to an all together different level. For them it's all about specs, opinions and their own perceptions as to how they think something sounds. Many, many times those perceptions are correct, but all too often they are just that - perceptions. For those few in my opinion, its more about the journey, not the destination. Because after they arrive, they feel compelled to make that journey again. And the cycle continues.
So in the end, I'm not sure I'm one of those that will spend endless amounts of time and dollars chasing the holy grail of home theater sound. As we all know audio is such a bell curve - sometimes spending 50%- 75% more gets you 5%-10% return in SQ - sometimes all your hard earned $$ gets you nothing but the false pride in knowing that you own some big buck esoteric product. As you can see by my theater, I don't have the best, nor the worst, I'm just trying to have a system I look forward to listening to, not fretting and worrying that a better gizmo looms on the horizon that I should have gotten - and I don't think I'm alone.
So once again, thanks to all and can anyone guess what sub I'm gonna buy?
Very best!
Porscheguy (Ed)