I have a feeling the answer to the question, "Which sub(s) should I buy?" is "How much are you willing to spend?" In a way I am comfortable with the truthiness of that response, but I am hoping I can get a little more concrete advice. When I asked my wife what she thought was a reasonable budget for a subwoofer, she said, "I don't know, $200? You tell me." So, while I could theoretically afford whatever I want... well, you know how this goes.
I'm in a little bit of an unusual situation, in that my current space will not be my ultimate space, and I don't know what my ultimate space will look like (we'll be selling the house and moving next summer). With that in mind maybe we can have a conversation about what performance I can expect from a sub (one of the current CS line) in spaces of particular size.
Here's the brass tacks: I watch movies in my living room, which is open to my kitchen and my office and hall. In total, we're talking about 36 feet long, 12 feet wide, 8 feet high, plus the pantry (open doorway), plus the hallway (4 by 10 by 8) minus the closets from the office (2.5 by 8 by 8)... more or less 3500 to 4000 cubic feet. There are a few irregular aspects, like a bar dividing the kitchen and living room, but it's mostly a rectangle. I fully expect to be able to devote a smaller spare bedroom to movies in the next house, but who knows... I've got no acoustic treatments (and no hopes for any in this set-up) and wood and tile over the whole house. I'm pretty flexible for placement, so lets not worry about that at this point. I can lay out the details of the space if it matters, but I don't think it does for this sort of conversation.
As a goal, I want a system comfortably capable of reference SPL, eventually in 5.1 (or maybe 7.1 or .2) configuration. That may not be practical for any number of reasons, but at this point I'm shooting for the stars. So, can you guys help me with understanding what trade-offs exist between the different CS sub options and what you would do in my shoes?
Thanks for your thoughts (and numbers?)
Fred
I'm in a little bit of an unusual situation, in that my current space will not be my ultimate space, and I don't know what my ultimate space will look like (we'll be selling the house and moving next summer). With that in mind maybe we can have a conversation about what performance I can expect from a sub (one of the current CS line) in spaces of particular size.
Here's the brass tacks: I watch movies in my living room, which is open to my kitchen and my office and hall. In total, we're talking about 36 feet long, 12 feet wide, 8 feet high, plus the pantry (open doorway), plus the hallway (4 by 10 by 8) minus the closets from the office (2.5 by 8 by 8)... more or less 3500 to 4000 cubic feet. There are a few irregular aspects, like a bar dividing the kitchen and living room, but it's mostly a rectangle. I fully expect to be able to devote a smaller spare bedroom to movies in the next house, but who knows... I've got no acoustic treatments (and no hopes for any in this set-up) and wood and tile over the whole house. I'm pretty flexible for placement, so lets not worry about that at this point. I can lay out the details of the space if it matters, but I don't think it does for this sort of conversation.
As a goal, I want a system comfortably capable of reference SPL, eventually in 5.1 (or maybe 7.1 or .2) configuration. That may not be practical for any number of reasons, but at this point I'm shooting for the stars. So, can you guys help me with understanding what trade-offs exist between the different CS sub options and what you would do in my shoes?
Thanks for your thoughts (and numbers?)
Fred
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