Should I? The basx A300 and the Basx s12 sub

[deepee]

Hi guys,

Newbie here first post. So this is my system.


I have a pair of def tech SM 45 bookshelves and a goldenear SuperSat50 C center. Connected to a Marantz SR6009. And a def tech supercube 4000 bookshelf. My media player is the nvidia shield and of course I’m an overgrown child, so I have a PS4. Running vdh Clearwater cables.

I love watching movies with a lot of action like the avengers, need for speed etc and I do like a bit of rumble from my sub. But I’m not very happy with my sub so I’m looking for a replacement. What I have in mind is the basx 12. Have heard some pretty good stuff about the sub. I’m from India and everything in india costs about 70% more. I also want the basxA300 to power my front def techs. 

I could spend a lil more and get the sunfire sds 10 or the svs pb or Sb 1000. But somehow my heart says buy the Emotiva. What do you fine people advise? Thank you.

regards, Derek.

[Boomzilla]

Hi deepee -

Having heard a pair of them in my room, I can't imagine anyone being disappointed with the 12" BASX subs for movies. I also think that the A300 is an amp that bats WAY above its price point. If you're interested in Emotiva gear, those two items are two of the very best in the whole Emotiva lineup for both value and performance.

[deepee]

Thanks boom. U see, i can pay about $200 more and get a sunfire sds 10 or another $250 more and get the svs pb or sb1000 sub as well. Point is, my dealer says it’s not worth it. The gains over the basx 12 sub would be just marginal and not worth the extra dollars.

I forgot to mention. I will be running the basxA300 via my Marantz preout.

When I auditioned the sm45 speakers they were connected to a Marantz receiver and a parasound halo amp and I loved the speakers hence I bought them. Of course right now at home, I don’t have a power amp ( and I can’t afford the parasound) so my next bet is the Emotiva. So my speakers are only being fed by my Marantz AVR and they sound good, but not good good. Hence I thought a power amp would help. Am I on the right track?

[mshump]

The A300 should give you much better SQ, the music will sound a little fuller and with the reserve power in the amp you will have a little more headroom. I have never heard the sub, but from what I have seen written about it, it's a good sub.

Mark

[deepee]

Thanks a lot Mark. I’m pretty decided on the A300.

I’m still thinking about the sub. Should I get the basx12 or the airmotiv s12. Or pay up a lil more and get a sunfire or svs. Yikes, sometimes when there are too many choices, it’s becomes a tad bit difficult. My primary objective is movies. My music is going to be only two channel, through a technics TT.

[mshump]

SVS and Emotiva all have good subs, I don't think you would be disappointed by either

Mark

[leonski]

EMO amp? sure
EMO Sub? I'd find the prime manufacturer and get that. I suspect the SVS, which is a long-standing name is a pretty good sub.

Key? Test if possible. A certain capability or feature might make the difference once you are trying it out.

Another good sub is HSU Research. I don't know about availability where you are located:

I'm prejudiced against Sunfire. I see several posts of people asking for technical help and few schematics are available.

[deepee]

Well anyways looks like the emo subs are not available due shortage. I'll check out the svs subs. Hsu is available for a huge price here in India.

Can't wait to plug in my a300 to the marantz. Could i run my center off the marantz and the two fronts off the A300? Thanks again gents.

[davidl81]

Mar 27, 2018 20:40:50 GMT -5 deepee said:

Well anyways looks like the emo subs are not available due shortage. I'll check out the svs subs. Hsu is available for a huge price here in India.

Can't wait to plug in my a300 to the marantz. Could i run my center off the marantz and the two fronts off the A300? Thanks again gents.

You could, should not be a big issue. The SR6009 has a pretty good amp at 110W per so I don’t think your L/R’s will over power your center when watching in surround.

[leonski]

I have the advantage for HSU Research, liiving about 100km or 60mi Each Way from the HeadQuarters. I met the good doctor while I was there.
This was several years ago when I borrowed a car with more capacity than what I owned and drove up there to buy a sub. I was GOING to buy a pair of 'lesser' subs but bought
a single VTF2 MK3. Cash Discount? Yep. And NO shipping charges since they simply helped me out to my auto with the purchase.

One of my better moves since it blends well with my panels and provides well over an Octave of the lower end.

If Cost were NOT an issue, maybe the JLFathom line?

[deepee]

Thanks leonski, appreciated. But I live in India and most of these brands are not available here. I feel I’m going to get the svs pb1000 or sb1000. Still a little bit of confusion between getting a sealed or ported box. Majority will be for movie listening. I do like a nice clean bass during movies. What I don’t like is a booming sub that has delay.


Thanks for the reply too David cheers.

My main reason in getting a power amp is because I know, with the a300 I’ll get clean 150 watts. With the Marantz, hmmmmm I don’t really know. The 110 watts does seem inflated. I’m hoping to get a cleaner more pure kind of sound by adding the amp. I hope I’m on the correct track.

[leonski]

Mar 28, 2018 6:13:03 GMT -5 deepee said:

Thanks leonski, appreciated. But I live in India and most of these brands are not available here. I feel I’m going to get the svs pb1000 or sb1000. Still a little bit of confusion between getting a sealed or ported box. Majority will be for movie listening. I do like a nice clean bass during movies. What I don’t like is a booming sub that has delay.


Thanks for the reply too David cheers.

My main reason in getting a power amp is because I know, with the a300 I’ll get clean 150 watts. With the Marantz, hmmmmm I don’t really know. The 110 watts does seem inflated. I’m hoping to get a cleaner more pure kind of sound by adding the amp. I hope I’m on the correct track.

It seems that with HT receivers, you can have, as your Marantz, say.....110 per channel.   Crutchfield says 2 x 110 8ohm power.    

 As you ADD channels and stress them, the power available per channel goes down.  I'd be surprised if you had a net power of 70 x 5 or maybe 60 x 7.     

And to make matters worse, the amp probably has limited capability into 4ohm loads.   It might even have a back panel switch to help protect amp when running low impedance speakers.   

[deepee]

Ok thanks that is more than convincing enough for me for go in for the A300. I just wish the basx S12 was also available, would have made my life so much easier.

[creimes]

Mar 28, 2018 6:13:03 GMT -5 deepee said:

Thanks leonski, appreciated. But I live in India and most of these brands are not available here. I feel I’m going to get the svs pb1000 or sb1000. Still a little bit of confusion between getting a sealed or ported box. Majority will be for movie listening. I do like a nice clean bass during movies. What I don’t like is a booming sub that has delay.


Thanks for the reply too David cheers.

My main reason in getting a power amp is because I know, with the a300 I’ll get clean 150 watts. With the Marantz, hmmmmm I don’t really know. The 110 watts does seem inflated. I’m hoping to get a cleaner more pure kind of sound by adding the amp. I hope I’m on the correct track.

A sub being boomy has more to do with the room, like absorbtion and acoustic panels, also a poorly powered driver can cause this as well. I suggest two 10" subs compared to one 12", or buy one 12 now and another when finances permit, minimum dual subs I highly recommend.

Chad

[vcautokid]

The BAS-X Subwoofers are allot of performance for the easy money. Yes SVS and Hsu and a couple others vie for your business too, and are very good. The A-300 is a great choice in a power amplifier. It comes from a well earned reputation for great amplifiers from Emotiva. The Sunfire I sold for years. Though great in some cases, I kept going to my other makes that did/do what the Bas-x subwoofers and the Hsu Subwoofers do. Give great dynamics and impact, without destroying the budget. Also depending on the revision level, the Sunfire Subwoofers were suspect in reliability. At least when I sold them. You can start with one BAS-X, but I know not too far into the future you'll want 2 of them. Their performance and low price makes it easy to optimize with two of them. Allot of installations fair better with 2 Subwoofers than just one. Your mileage may vary of course.

[deepee]

Thank you criemes and vcautokid. Hopefully next week I’ll be getting the amp with me. Can’t wait. For the moment I’m going to have one sub, mostly due to lack of space and knowledge of how to setup two subs. I’ve just changed the position of my sub today with a crawl. Looks like I’ve found a sweet spot. The boom has definately reduced. This is my current def tech supercube 4000 sub.

I’ll keep playing around a bit. I’m just really eager to get my hands on the A300.

[creimes]

Mar 30, 2018 10:23:41 GMT -5 deepee said:

Thank you criemes and vcautokid. Hopefully next week I’ll be getting the amp with me. Can’t wait. For the moment I’m going to have one sub, mostly due to lack of space and knowledge of how to setup two subs. I’ve just changed the position of my sub today with a crawl. Looks like I’ve found a sweet spot. The boom has definately reduced. This is my current def tech supercube 4000 sub.

I’ll keep playing around a bit. I’m just really eager to get my hands on the A300.

Yes 2 will help with room nulls and when I mentioned absorbtion and acoustic panels I meant to say add some to your room for better bass and acoustics, they helped in my room dramatically, there are many companies to choose from or they can be made by yourself as well.

Chad

[leonski]

2 subs can indeed help. When PROPERLY located. Sticking a pair in corners? not so much, probably.

Another sub issue is one of crossover. IMO, the typical HT receiver setup of 80hz is a little high. At that point it is possible to begin telling its location by ear.

I set my low cutoff to my main speakers above the high cutoff to my sub. This 'gap' is filled in naturally since crossover frequencies are NOT a 'brick wall'. and lower the output, electrically at least,
at the 'slope' of the filter. This will usually be 6, 12, 18, 24 or even higher as measured in DB per OCTAVE of reduction. ('slope')

www.harman.com/sites/default/files/multsubs_0.pdf

Read tha above link. Very worthwhile article about subs, placement and the all important question of 'how many?'

DIY sound treatment is a Whole 'nuther can of worms. but potentially rewarding.

[deepee]

Lovely link leonski! There is so much information overload there. Most of the numbers just went above my head. I’m going to try reading that a couple of times at least.

Here are the setting on my AVR.

1. The crossover for the center speaker is 90hz.
2. The crossover for my fronts is 80hz.
3. Subwoofer mode is LFE.
4. LPF for LFE is 120hz.

U feel maybe I should drop down the crossovers to 80 and 60 for the center and fronts respectively?

For now I think it will be one sub which I’ll try and configure correctly. As and when funds and knowledge permits, I’ll add another sub. Luckily the AVR also has 2 sub outs.

[leonski]

I'd have to BE there and mess with the settings personally. And the lower limit of your main speakers Does matter.

My panels? They SAY I'm good to in the 30s. So I cut them off at about 55hz or so. In HT receiver speak? Maybe I'm running as main speakers 'small'.

I have a HSU Research VTF-2 mk3 which I suppose is good to over 100hz. I'll never find out. I feed the sub a full-range signal which means I also use the subs crossover. Set at maybe 45hz, give or take.
NOTE: the gap between main speaker and sub.

I'm certainly NO HT PRO, but I'd guess the center speaker crossover should be the last one messed with in your setup. And the low pass TO the sub as LFE? I'd say 120 was way TOO high and you should probably be able to
localize by ear, eyes closed. Since even a drum has overtones extending up to who knows how high? I'd say that the bass from the drum hit is ALL sub, but overtones provide 'image' and 'depth' and complete the sonic picture.
I note that when I shut my sub OFF, that the image gets worse, more constrained and smaller, for sure.

You should certainly read the link'd article a couple times, each will gain some comprehension as stuff 'makes sense'. Than you may want to visit a site like the CARDAS website where they have a big section on setup help.