I've been lurking on this (HT) forum for some time, and I can't help but notice that when conversation rolls around to subwoofers, the only brands discussed are Hsu and SVS. Given this is an Axiom board. how come nobody ever mentions / recommends the EP subs? I have an EP175 paired with M22s in a 2-channel music-only rig and think they work great together. The EP175 is deep and utterly invisible, although admittedly I have no idea whether it would shake the joint for depth charges or battles against the Balrog. Is it performance or price that folks think lags the Axiom stuff behind Hsu and SVS?

Price.

Silver,
This question has been asked a fair number of times this past month.
Do some searching for SVS or Hsu and scroll through the discussions. You will find plenty of opinions on this subject.

Thanks guys, I will search the past discussions more thoroughly. When I searched before posting, I was surprised that "EP350" brought up maybe three threads, "EP175" only one, and "Axiom subs" zero! Of the many threads I read, it almost seems like Hsu/SVS is a forgone conclusion among this (knowledgeable) crowd. If it's a price thing, that's one thing, but if those units blow my EP175 away w/r/t functionality or performance...well, you guys know the feeling...

Silver, in case you had not come across this thread, it is my opinion on the svs, hsu, axiom subwoofer thing which was followed up with a bit more by others.

For me, it is a form-factor issue. All things being equal, if the Axiom subs were down-firing, I'd give them the business. I have kids, a dog, and a wonderfully tolerant wife, but the front-firing sub is a deal-killer.

Maybe, I'm spoiled from my car stereos, where the subs make it feel like I'm getting pounded on the back of the head with a raw piece of steak when I'm listening to bassy stuff. (could be I haven't played with my yamaha amp enough, but it doesn't seem easy to change volume levels and setting of the sub.) What I like about car audio is they let you qucikly change sub setting from the head-unit, since every album/song needs a different setting. Movies are the same.

I'm surprised at how much the threads discuss positioning issues with the sub; are we sure this isn't phychological, since I've always thought that placement is not relevent on bass, but is critical in the higher trebs. Example: you can place a sub in the trunk of a 911 and be driving with top down and still enjoy low bass. (not my first design choice, but...)

Bilbo,

Car bass is notoriously inaccurate. The market is driven by bass-freaks who have two things in mind: high SPL and low distortion -- and low distortion is often sacrificed for even higher SPL. Accuracy doesn't really come into the equation.

In home audio, the main goal is often accuracy. Positioning of the sub is very important here because your entire room doubles as a bass enclosure. Low bass sound waves are quite long and interact in any room to create a series of peaks (reinforcements) and valleys (cancellations). The goal in placing the sub is to keep these aberrations as small as possible.

Bilbo, you may be interested to read this note by Alan on the subject some time ago.

Good stuff indeed. You may be surprised,however, how fanatical car stereo buffs can get with thier bass. I will get more serious about my sub placement -- could be I'll be surprised. Thanks for your explanation -- very good. REminds me how much I don't know.

Alan knows his stuff. His posts are good quality.

He's right about the different car designs making it extremely difficult to get the speaker design right. I've spent a lot of years designing a system to get to car audio nirvana. I finally reached my goal in my 1994 325 bmw. Now, I can't sell it or trade it in...it has 175k and I know I'll never get the same sound in anything else!

Bilbo, if automotive subwoofers at high SPL are your reference point, your only hope in home theatre is probably multiple cylinder type subwoofers. Fussing around with placement of a relatively small box is never going to whack you upside the head with any kind of raw meat. But a couple of HSU or SVS cylinder subs might.