Which of these Sub-$350 Subs?
rnuge
Posts: 3
I'm piecing together a modest 2.1 bookshelf system (for now; eventually will be 3.1 then 5.1).
This is for a 15x15x9 living room; will be used 50/50 for music/ht but more concerned with music over ht performance. Listening will usually be at moderate volumes, with only occassional forays into loud.
I have settled on a receiver (Pioneer VSX-1020-K) and a short list of bookshelves which includes:
Polk RTI-A1 (30 day trial starts this week
)
Also going to do trial on Axiom M3.
Still considering Aperion 4B and Ascend Acoustics CBM-170SE.
I'm trying to narrow the field on a sub in the under $350 range which could integrate well with bookshelves in this league. My short list is:
Emotiva Ultra 10
Hsu Research STF-2
Elemental Designs A3S-250
Lava subs LSP10
SVS, Epic, Outlaw, and the step-up Hsu's were beyond my budget.
Been reading all the reviews and threads I can... But given what it is pairing with and my preferences does anyone have any comparative opinions on these four subs?
This is for a 15x15x9 living room; will be used 50/50 for music/ht but more concerned with music over ht performance. Listening will usually be at moderate volumes, with only occassional forays into loud.
I have settled on a receiver (Pioneer VSX-1020-K) and a short list of bookshelves which includes:
Polk RTI-A1 (30 day trial starts this week
)Also going to do trial on Axiom M3.
Still considering Aperion 4B and Ascend Acoustics CBM-170SE.
I'm trying to narrow the field on a sub in the under $350 range which could integrate well with bookshelves in this league. My short list is:
Emotiva Ultra 10
Hsu Research STF-2
Elemental Designs A3S-250
Lava subs LSP10
SVS, Epic, Outlaw, and the step-up Hsu's were beyond my budget.
Been reading all the reviews and threads I can... But given what it is pairing with and my preferences does anyone have any comparative opinions on these four subs?
Post edited by rnuge on
Comments
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all four of those subs are very good. in would personally go with the HSU, because HSU makes some VERY good subs. the eD is good as well but the problem is it takes forever to get it because it has to be custom built and they take awhile. the HSU STF-2 is one of the loudest most accurate budget subs on the market.
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Thanks, mon! I'm beginning to lean towards the Hsu though its bigger than and about $70 more (with shipping) than the emotiva. I'm pretty sure I'd be thrilled with either and (despite what I said earlier about music over ht) I think the Hsu may have a bigger upside for movies. (I'm about the music - but the family would probably vote ht the priority)
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I will go with either Hsu or eD sub too. Have owned or heard their subs, as well as emotiva. Never had the chance to listen to the Lava. Ask around and see if friends or friends-of-friends own any on the list and beg/extort/bribe for a listen. Nothing like listening to the actual product, especially a sub.
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My Hsu STF-2 will be here Friday
The lead time on the A3S-250, which I was also strongly considering at the end, was 3-5 weeks... which I am guessing means 5 weeks. If it were head and shoulders above the STF-2 I might have waited since there were definitely some points to recommend it but the best I could gather was they are close in performance. I also could not help but notice many of the budget subs I was considering were always compared with the venerable STF-2, as in "as good as the STF-2"... though I don't recall seeing a definitive "better than". In fact I can't find anyone who had anything bad to say about the STF-2 other than, "I eventually wanted something bigger".
I don't imagine I'll be disappointed! -
Congrats on your new Hsu sub! Enjoy and don't forget to post a review.
