How good are Sunfire/Carver Subs?

[cooldude]

I'm talking about the True subwoofer series. They seem like a good company and have been around forever. Are they any good?
I don't see too many people buying them on this forum. It seems like SVS is the choice here.
If not them, who else? Emotiva?

Do most people prefer ported or non-ported? Single Sub or dual subs?
Thank you in advance

[ngmitter]

I'll just chime in a bit. When I was looking at purchasing a used sub, Sunfire True series came up quite a bit in my search. I found several on Craigslist and Audiogon. However, many of them had reliability issues. Almost every one I inquired about was serviced at some point or another. This deterred me a bit.

On the plus side, most of the reviews I found were very positive for its price / performance ratio and it's performance / size ratio.

[djoel]

I use to own one some time ago, I live in NYC so I needed something small and compacted. I had the Signature version with the rosewood sides, it did was it was supposed to do but ultimately I wanted something a robust, and yet refined. I trade up to the JL audio F113, and I've been happy ever since..Very musical listening to Jaco Pastorius makes me smile from ear to ear : )

Oh and I never had an issue with the Sunfire, great little sub.
Djoel

[LCSeminole]

Maybe Hemster will chime in on this thread, I know he has a Sunfire sub and is quite impressed with it. I'm just not sure which model he has.

[hooked]

Ive had the sig series for a few years and have been very pleased, small foot print and still very loud you wont be disappointed

[shayking]

i love my signature 12" front stage.
i also have a diy clone with 2 passive rads and TCsounds sub. in the rear stage.

my Home Theatres will never live without passive radiator/high pressure low end subs.

[kinge]

My grandpa has a little tiny one in a big ol room. It is pretty impressive considering.

[hemster]

Oct 28, 2010 17:40:04 GMT -5 LCSeminole said:

Maybe Hemster will chime in on this thread, I know he has a Sunfire sub and is quite impressed with it. I'm just not sure which model he has.

I have the Sunfire True which is rated at 2700W (thanks to Sunfire's amazing Tracking Downconverter technology)!

It is about the size of an Ultra-10 but packs a punch, yet plays down to 22Hz.

Here's an article of interest.. www.hometheatersound.com/equipment/sunfire_true_subwoofersignature.htm

Once I placed a glass of wine on my ash coffee table and started a relaxing listening session. After a little while (actually, 2 glasses later!) queued up some Pink Floyd and found the glass sliding across the table with each bang of the drum! Dark Side of the Moon album is great and I love the track with the 20 Hz heartbeat at the beginning

[Deleted]

Is this story about your ash coffee table on the level?

[hemster]

Nov 4, 2010 4:50:32 GMT -5 @chuckienut said:

Is this story about your ash coffee table on the level?

Scouts' honor! The table has 3 coats of varnish and the surface is almost glassy. At the time it was placed directly opposite the sub but now has been moved off to the side (for better WAF). These days I have a Moroccan table cloth on it (mainly for avoiding reflections).

[Deleted]

But is it level? ;D

[strindl]

Nov 1, 2010 22:18:53 GMT -5 hemster said:

[

Once I placed a glass of wine on my ash coffee table and started a relaxing listening session. After a little while (actually, 2 glasses later!) queued up some Pink Floyd and found the glass sliding across the table with each bang of the drum! Dark Side of the Moon album is great and I love the track with the 20 Hz heartbeat at the beginning

I can match that! Back about 1980 I bought an RH Labs Subwoofer for use with Magnepan Tympani 1D speakers. That sub was a 150 pound walnut box the size of a coffin with a downward firing driver...I don't recall now if it was 12 inch or 15 inch. I used a bridged Harman Kardon Citation 19 amp to drive it, as they didn't make self powered subs at that time.

Anyway..I placed that sub in the middle, between those two Tympani screens, and then placed a 27 Inch Sony Trinitron CRT TV set on top of it...that TV was very very heavy.

Anyway...when I was playing a Telarc Digital LP of the 1812 Overture, complete with "Digitally recorded" real cannon shots...this LP in fact:



....when the cannon shots hit....that very heavy Sony TV actually jumped up off of that 150 pound subwoofer and landed back down with a thud. That was a shock.

[hemster]

Nov 4, 2010 18:59:16 GMT -5 @chuckienut said:

But is it level? ;D

I actually thought you meant that!

However, the table is too large to be on the level.. which would break into small pieces due to the weight of said table... ;D ;D

[hemster]

Nov 4, 2010 20:24:03 GMT -5 strindl said:

Nov 1, 2010 22:18:53 GMT -5 hemster said:

[

Once I placed a glass of wine on my ash coffee table and started a relaxing listening session. After a little while (actually, 2 glasses later!) queued up some Pink Floyd and found the glass sliding across the table with each bang of the drum! Dark Side of the Moon album is great and I love the track with the 20 Hz heartbeat at the beginning

I can match that! Back about 1980 I bought an RH Labs Subwoofer for use with Magnepan Tympani 1D speakers. That sub was a 150 pound walnut box the size of a coffin with a downward firing driver...I don't recall now if it was 12 inch or 15 inch. I used a bridged Harman Kardon Citation 19 amp to drive it, as they didn't make self powered subs at that time.

Anyway..I placed that sub in the middle, between those two Tympani screens, and then placed a 27 Inch Sony Trinitron CRT TV set on top of it...that TV was very very heavy.

Anyway...when I was playing a Telarc Digital LP of the 1812 Overture, complete with "Digitally recorded" real cannon shots...this LP in fact:

....when the cannon shots hit....that very heavy Sony TV actually jumped up off of that 150 pound subwoofer and landed back down with a thud. That was a shock.

Wow... that's something! Hope the TV wasn't damaged.

It may seem unlikely to some but it's surprising how much air gets moved by some of these subs!

[strindl]

Nov 4, 2010 22:50:02 GMT -5 hemster said:

Wow... that's something! Hope the TV wasn't damaged.

It may seem unlikely to some but it's surprising how much air gets moved by some of these subs!

It was none the worse for wear. It just jumped far enough to scare the crap out of me when it made the thud of hitting back down.

[Deleted]

I've had the Sunfire super junior 8" for a while now and it has been nothing but a little champion. At 1500watts it really shakes the room.

I pushed mine to the limits about a month ago, just to see how loud it could get. I put in some Dr. Dre and turned it up.

I achieved 109db. (subwoofer only)
My Sunfire CRM-2 ribbions started to distort at 119db!!!!

All and all Sunfire makes a great product

[ntrain42]

Oct 28, 2010 11:23:24 GMT -5 cooldude said:

I'm talking about the True subwoofer series. They seem like a good company and have been around forever. Are they any good?
I don't see too many people buying them on this forum. It seems like SVS is the choice here.
If not them, who else? Emotiva?

Do most people prefer ported or non-ported? Single Sub or dual subs?
Thank you in advance

In all honesty, they are OK, but nothing about them sets them apart from others in terms of price or performance. You can find better performing subs out there for less money without question.

I myself prefer sealed downfiring units. I run dual subs in my bedroom HT system, dual subs in both my 2 channel systems, and run 8 subs(8 DIY kits) in my new main HT system which I am currently finishing up.