Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo Subs to avoid??

I recently went on UBID.com to see if there were any deals on subs. I think my current plan is to get the M22 with a sub for my home theater. A lot of the subs seemed cheap enough and were in about the price range I was looking for 100-300 US dollars, but I am fairly new at all of this and I have not heard, or heard of a few of the brands. So my question is are there any brands of Subs to generally avoid, and or are there brands of subs that I should generallly look into? Also does anyone know of any other sites auction or non-auction that are offering good deals on subs right now that are worth checking out. I thank you all for the help, Hope to hear from you soon.

Hi KingofOld,

Really inexpensive subs ($100 - $150) aren't subwoofers at all. They're really powered woofers with little output below 40 Hz or a bit lower. They'll help with your M22ti, of course, but don't expect deep bass extension or high output at that price. I would include most of the Japanese-branded "subs" in this category.

Other brands to avoid would include several that have gone through various corporate owners and have been cheapened, such as AR and KLH, once prestigious brand names in the 1960's.

Regards,

I dont know of really any to avoid. That depends on what you want i guess. Have you ever heard of Audio review.com? You can go read through reviews there. That should give you some idea. as long as you can sort through the real reviews and the bs ones. For the price your looking at i suggest you check out the diy kit sub from parts express. Its $350 and no doubt it will demolish the competiton.(except my new faverite speaker company AXIOM of course)

Heres a link to the parts express sub..

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshowdetl.cfm?&PartNumber=300-739&DID=7

Two auction/personal ad sites you also may want to peruse:
audiogon.com

canuck audiomart

If you really want cheap, but OK (not great) the KLH 10" from Costco for $80 (after $20 rebate) isn't that bad. It is nowhere near as good as the JBL PB12 for $270. I've seen some people buy two of the KLH's ($160) and they were happy with them.

Michael

lol, funny you mention the KLH, i have one i use in my "ht" which is composed of some of my old stuff. For the price its a good sub. I mean. its got bass, not the best but. for the average person its great. Although, i have the older model. not that new plastic thing i see there now. But i dont reccomend anyone getting it for music. Its just not musical.

The KLH 10" I got from Costco isn't plastic.. It does have plastic feet though. It is a 10" front firing 120watt amp. I haven't seen this model anywhere but Costco. It doesn't give you the gut wrenching bass that my PB12 does, but it isn't bad. Two of them would probably be pretty nice.

Michael

uBid doesn't have the great deals it used to, but I notice that they still offer the Dahlquist 15" PDQ 15 for a bit over $100 plus shipping. I have one of these in my office HT system and am very happy with it.

If you do look at audioreview, you'll see the Sony WA-M40, which I think has a reputation as the king of the cheap subs. The lowest price I have seen for it is from Etronics, 139 + 30 shipping. Many people add some damping material inside the box to improve its performance.

Ohhh tay, here's my two cents (subs?) worth
I have admitted this before, and as a recovering subaholic, must confess owning not one, but TWO of those KLH subs !? It was sorta like, "Hey, 99 bucks? !? What the heck..
If nothing else, they have taught me what a good quaility sub should not sound like.. In a smallish room, turned down, they work.. Turn them up too much, they fall apart..
I do believe they are far and above the non-powered (non)subs offered with so many of the little sat/sub combos.. If you have a small listening area, and want to add bottom to your bookshelf system, for under a hundred they are hard to beat.. (Now,with $20 rebate = $80 !)
I pulled mine out of my theater room.. Put one in the garage (come on, I spend half my time out there) and one in the wifes office/workroom..
My money is going for two EP175's.. SVS will not blend with my rooms look, and two EP350's will be too tight a fit size wise.. I'm not going to sweat the little loss of low end between 350/175.. I will be gaining a more balanced sound throughout the room with two.. I'm going for seat of the pants thrills here, not a rocket science sound lab :->
I'm sure they will be perfect for any and all my music tastes as well..
Believe me, I do play hard when I comes to sound.. My amps are quite accustomed to thermal overload shut-down.. Those crazy Canadians at Axiom have provided me with speakers that can take it, and sound great doing so.. I don't expect their subs will be anything less..
One last thought, (rare for me, to be sure), is there really such a thing as too much speaker for a given room ? It's all a matter of sound pressure.. We jam our cars with more speakers than most people used to have in their homes, with amps big enough to be heard on Mars, and think nothing about it.. So why the concern for home use ? That car, with the windows rolled up is one major compact listening environment.. Your house has open doors, windows, hallways, etc.. It takes a huge amount of home equipment to come close to what's going on inside that car.. I'm not saying we need to all go deaf to appreciate good sound, but I am saying buy the best and biggest you can afford.. You can 'always' turn it down, but you can't get big sound from little boxes.. Bose proves that every day.. LOL !!