questioning my subwoofer choice

aps1ngh

I have recently purchased a PSW12 (brand new off of ebay for $200 plus 17 shipping) as an addition to my apartment setup at college. Each of my roomates chose a component to bring (speakers, reciever, etc.) and I decided to purchase a new subwoofer. Having past experience with polk before (my parents basement system is an older Polk system and accompanied by a PSW350 10" 100watt subwoofer that sounds nothing short of amazing), I looked into polk again. After some minor research online and review reading, my choices were pretty much between a Velodyne VRP-1200 and the Polk PSW12. I preferred a 12 inch sub due to lower frequency response as well as the type of music that was going to be blasted on it (Rap, Hip-hip, RnB for parties and such ) and narrowed my choices between the two. The two subs are nearly identical except for minor differences in price, frequency response, RMS output and maximum wattage. I am just curious as to all of your guys' experiences with both brandnames and as to whether or not i made the right purchasing decision. I ultimately chose Polk because i trusted the name much more due to past experiences with them(as well as strong advocation of the Polk brandname by my brother, an audiophile, who made the purchasing decision in my parents' system). But, i would like to hear your guys' input on Velodyne (i've heard they're overrated).

I can tell you right now i am very happy with the sub (after it's broken in a lot) and it definately hits very hard (for a 100watt RMS 12 inch sub!) if placed correctly for parties and if placed closest to the left speaker, adds amazing lower frequency for regular listening and tv/movies.

Once again, i just want people's input on Velodyne's lower end subwoofers (VRP series).

aaharvel

not to big a fan of VX and VRP.

But Velodyne being overrated? I don't think so.

Schris22

Polk subs are in general heard of as not as good as the competition. Though Velodyne has a lot more fans than polk. i am in the process of buying a sub and polk is not really a big option.

For parties I'm sure more into a SUB would be more appropriate. SVS and HSU will pop up as recommendations and their SPL factor is important if you have college parties...

Chris

aps1ngh

anybody else have a psw12 that would like to share their opinion of it? I think the biggest thing that is holding my subwoofer back is the dynamics of the main room in the apartment along with the attached kitchen (basically one big room with a seperate kitchen area). It's very finicky while trying to get the right position. like i said, it can definately hit hard and vibrate the place, but the sound is finicky depending upon where you are. I might rewire it a little (longer speaker wire) and put it further recessed into the corner of the room for a little higher SPL for the ENTIRE area rather than clear bass for certain areas. any suggestions?

PolknPepsi

Location can certainly have a big impact on how your sub will sound., moving it around to different locations is a great way to tweak the sound.

BURTON4273

I am a big fan of Velodyne subs although I was not impressed with the 12" VRP I bought last year (took it back two days later). I now own a 12" servo-controlled Velodyne VA series which has a 12" sub and a 15" passive radiator and a 600 watt RMS amp. Picked it up for $300! It thumps! Look around on ebay if you don't mind buying used. If you look hard you can find some good deals on high wattage subs. I would recommend more then 100 watts if you are using the sub for parties. The treble from my polks totally overpowered the VRP.

aaharvel

The VRP's and VX's are weak. They're for budget-concious crowds. Everything else they put out kicks ****.

TrappedUnder Ice

I think if your happy with it...does not matter what others think. For the price you paid...sounds like a deal. Only other option would have been a higher end Velo,HSU or SVS used in the same price range.

aps1ngh

TrappedUnder Ice wrote:

I think if your happy with it...does not matter what others think. For the price you paid...sounds like a deal. Only other option would have been a higher end Velo,HSU or SVS used in the same price range.

Yea, i got a great deal for it on ebay. It thumps the apartment but has bass that sounds good in only certain parts of the room (obviously because of the room acoustics and the power of the sub). I was hoping for CONSISTENT building vibrating bass, but, I may buy another sub to add to the 12" down the road. Thanks for the input =D

My main concern was how the VRP series compares to the comparable polk series (PSW10 and PSW12). Their the exact same price and similiar specs. (velo has higher RMS but lower max and slight crossover frequency setting differences).

Ron Temple

I've been told the VX and VRP can sound good in the right room, but the quality starts with the CHT/DPS/DLS-R models. If you are having FR issues around the room, it's a placement issue and it will happen with just about any sub. Do the crawl test to find the right placement. If that doesn't help, try a BFD.

jwienand

I think I got one from the same place. I am not impressed at all and didn't really expect to be, but that is all the money I could afford at the time. For music it's not that bad, but if you have as part of a HT it just can't handle loud scenes. There is alot of port noise or "chuffing" during fight sceens, explosions, etc. My next purchase will most likely be a SVS or HSU.

aps1ngh

jwienand wrote:

I think I got one from the same place. I am not impressed at all and didn't really expect to be, but that is all the money I could afford at the time. For music it's not that bad, but if you have as part of a HT it just can't handle loud scenes. There is alot of port noise or "chuffing" during fight sceens, explosions, etc. My next purchase will most likely be a SVS or HSU.

I'm actually quite impressed. I've put a lot of time into configuring the reciever and wiring my subwoofer into the system a couple different ways to get the best sound. To solve the port noise issue, I put the subwoofer in a corner where a couch is about 8-12 inches front of it. The bass remains clear, port noise is gone, and the SPL goes up due to the positioning of the sub in a corner almost in its own enclosure due to the placement of the couch. Recently, I messed with my reciever settings as well and was able to get even better performance out of it. Really what it comes down to is the configuration of the subwoofer with the rest of the system. I'm getting much better performance now with this subwoofer because of 1) break in period and 2) lots of tweaking and configuration. I'm a bass-head (LOVE techno and bass thumping music as well as rap/hip-hop and good party music with VERY hard hitting low bass). The sub performs if you take the time to run thru reciever setting and have good positioning. Honestly, considering this sub retails for 350 at circuit city and i got it brand new off of ebay for 200, i couldn't be happier with the performance. It sounds better every time i pump it up.

Edit: i reread your post after i posted mine. When it comes to loud scenes in movies, this sub is almost overbearing for me unless i turn it down. I don't know how it isn't for you. what helped me is to directly wire the speakers through the crossover in the subwoofer rather than just using the LFE output from my reciever. In my opinion, it sound 10x better (sorry for the veterans here that may already know that, but i'm a bit of a newbie). Like i said before, i have a psw350 (discontinued 10" 100 watt polk subwoofer) in my parent's basement and it sounds pretty DAMN good for HT (exceptional for music). That's mainly what influenced my decision to get another polk subwoofer. I don't understand why people complain about the quality of polk subwoofers (especially their lower end subs). I am awestruck at how amazing this sub sounds for the price i paid for it. It's stunning how well this sub outperforms those more expensive than it (i'm sure of course it wouldn't outperform top of the line polk and velodyne subs, but i'm sure you see what im getting at). It really comes down to proper configuration and tweaking. I'm saying this from my experience with subwoofers in the past (home and car audio) as well as my roomates good ear (12 years in band as a trumpet player as well as extensive jazz experience) who is an avid jazz and classical music fan and LOVED the sound of the subwoofer (once it broke in). Give it time and i'm sure it'll sound abosultely amazing.

edit #2: my oh my. after reading around on the entire forums a little, why does it seem as if everyone obsessed with LFE input into a subwoofer? seems to sound like trash for me... Maybe i'm not doing it right =\