Subliminal, sounded good anyway. In regards to Audessey/sub setup, with the onkyo, and the energy esw-8. The autocal seems to be ok. I can here the sub, but I really want to feel the sub. It's been less than 30 days, should I send back to Audio Advisor and try something bigger. Room is about 11'x14', and I am about 12' from sub. I can slightly feel effects, but I would almost like my hair to be blowing when there was explosions or the like on most movies. I think the sub does fine for music, but I tend to watch more movies. Any suggestions from the Audio Advisor line up.

Or for reasonable price from Axiom. Remember I have 6 kids, a wife, and three dogs. So I am slightly budgeted.

Looking at the specs for the Energy, it just can't play low enough to give you the effects that you are going to FEEL more than hear. Now granted, specs aren't everything, but if those that are reported (33-150 Hz, +/- 3dB) are accurate, the speaker just can't do it (though it does a lot for the price, no question!).

For something that'll really rumble while playing movies, I'd look for a sub that has a relatively flat frequency response down to 25 Hz.

The other thing to do just to be certain before you return your sub is to do the subwoofer crawl to be sure you have the sub in the best location in the room, which is ultra-important no matter which subwoofer you're using.

Jason

In my experience, an 8" sub only enhances the bass, it will not allow you to feel the effects, even a 10" sub is barely felt, IMO. You need a 12" driver to really move the air and be felt. I would send that little 8" packing and save up till you can afford the EP350 or PB12-NSD or similar. Looking for a used 12" sub as well will save you some money.

If what I am understanding from all advice and info. so far, is that I not only need a bigger driver, but also one with an amp that is capable of getting way down there.

In general terms, I understood that smaller drivers (8-10") are usually better for music because they react quicker, where 12"+ drivers are better for effects because they go lower. Anyone?

Not really. The quality of the individual driver determines how good it is a reproducing the sound information sent to it regardless of driver size. That is determined by linearity, damping blah blah blah...

Reproducing low notes is about displacement. Displacement is determined by the area of the driver and the length of throw. An 8" driver just dosn't have the displacement to reproduce really low notes.

There are some really good long throw drivers out there now that can reproduce sound accurately and have the displacement to reach absurdly low.

Tks Fred, but let's say both drivers were of equal quality, would there be any difference in the speed...I'm asking mainly because I've heard some people complain about their subs being slow (usually referring to the ones with large drivers in the 14-15" range, when they listen to music.(not referring to any spec. brand of sub)

People like to think so, but no, there is no difference in speed.

Size is only one factor in the performance of a driver.

Are you trying to tell me size doesn't matter, Fred ?

Length of stroke...

Hello,

The listening area you describe is only about 1232 cubic feet. (assuming a 8 foot ceiling). Not that large.
A good 10 inch sub would most likely suffice, although a good 12 inch would provide a more foundation shacking experience. Shake it up if your budget allows.
(you can never have too much sub, as you can always turn it down).
Maybe a sub can be to big, some can be massive phyically
Enjoy

I know that this doesn't really apply but I have this great PA System for a band. (Did anybody check out my band?) Anyway I have fairly high end JBL speakers. The subs are 18" and get 1100 watts each at 4ohm. I crank recorded music through these at times and the bass sounds great. No sluggishness and very musical. It the PA arena there is something called a folded horn cabinet. The speaker is in the enclosure and faces a bunch of baffles before the sound comes out. You cannot actually see the speaker. This design is know for really low bottom end and goes much lower than mine in fequency. It's that chest thumping thing goin' on. Mine are front loaded where you see the speaker. These are less boomy and much more musical. Believe me with 2200 watts feeding 2 18" subs you can feel it but not like a folded horn.

I've equated a folded horn design somewhat to a down firing sub for home audio. It seems many of the smaller subs are down firing to take advantage of the floor to help with the spread of the bass and are probably less musical than a front loaded sub.

Am I all wet on this?

You are going to have a hard time reaching below 25Hz with a good 10" driver. It just dosn't have enough displacement to produce notes below that frequency.

What consititutes a good driver really depends on what you are trying to achieve. The bass guitar's bottom note is around 40Hz. The lowest note on the big pipe organs is around 16Hz. Movies put out LFE as low as 10Hz with stuff down to 15Hz being common.

A smaller driver like a 10" will do just fine for most music, but not for some and not for movies.

Bob. Folded horn designs exist in the DIY world as well and are considered to be the lowest distortion designs (assuming a good driver). However, it is going to take a LOT of space to make a horn that will produce sound at 15Hz.