Sub for Monitor 70s?

cdanielski

I've been looking at polk direct (ebay) trying to add an inexpensive sub to my 7.0 hometheater setup -- Monitor 70 fronts, CS2 center, Monoprice 6 1/2 in-wall for surrounds and rears all are driven by an Onkyo 606. I'm a newbie to home audio as this is my first system. Usage is 30% movies, 30% tv, 30% games, 10% music.

While the Monitor 70s have what I consider a nice amount of bass (not looking for audiophile bass replication.), I was hoping to add some thump that can be felt. The theater is in one area of an open basement - about 1,200 sqft with 7' ceiling. My top end is $200 including tax and shipping. There are several subs on the polk direct site that sell regularly in my price range - the PSW110 and PSW303.

Would either of these subs add much bass? Would two PSW10s be better?

Thanks in advance for your input!

apphd

cdanielski wrote: »

I've been looking at polk direct (ebay) trying to add an inexpensive sub to my 7.0 hometheater setup -- Monitor 70 fronts, CS2 center, Monoprice 6 1/2 in-wall for surrounds and rears all are driven by an Onkyo 606. I'm a newbie to home audio as this is my first system. Usage is 30% movies, 30% tv, 30% games, 10% music.

While the Monitor 70s have what I consider a nice amount of bass (not looking for audiophile bass replication.), I was hoping to add some thump that can be felt. The theater is in one area of an open basement - about 1,200 sqft with 7' ceiling. My top end is $200 including tax and shipping. There are several subs on the polk direct site that sell regularly in my price range - the PSW110 and PSW303.

Would either of these subs add much bass? Would two PSW10s be better?

Thanks in advance for your input!

Welcome to CP. Are you sure about that room size? That's huge! I don't know of anything that will give you "some thump that can be felt" in that sized room for that price. Maybe someone else can give some ideas, but all I can offer is look for used.

cdanielski

Yes on the room size. The theater area is only about 10.5'x22' but is largely defined by soffits and opens to the rest of the basement (along the entire right side (22') and part of the left size (12'), which is the sqft that I mentioned.

Thanks for your time.

Mike21

Hi cd.

I see 3 issues:
1. How to deal w/ your room size;
2. What sub to use w/ your M70s and
3. Your small budget.

Room size: ideally I would use either (a) one big (12" or 15") sub w/ at least 250w continuous power (RMS) or (b) 2 smaller subs (8" or 10") with one sub up front and the second next to or behind my seating postion.

M70s: These get down to 40Hz so the PSW110 @ 38Hz will not do much. The PSW303 gets down to 35Hz but at 8" may be too small for your room size.
cnh is the expert on M70s so I'll e-mail him and ask him to respond.

Budget: The first problem w/ buying a used sub (or subs) is high cost of shipping due to weight. You might check your local Craig's List to see if there is something close enough for you to pick up. The second is that $200 will not get you what you really need - a quality 12' sub w/ at least 250w RMS and low frequency response down to at least 30Hz with strong SPL (sound pressure level) at that FR.

Parts Express (on-line) has some subs you might check out:

> Dayton HT 120: 12", 150w, 25Hz, $155 (part #300-635)

> Audio Source PSW-100: 10", 100w, 30Hz, $105 (part # 302-636). You could get 2 of these.

I'm sure you will find something that will work. You do not need an "audiophile" grade sub for only 10% music. What you need is sufficient bang/boom/bam for LFE (low frequency effects) on movies and games.

Mike

cdanielski

Thanks for the reply. You've provided some great information.

Looks like more research is necessary.

concealer404

I don't know how the rest of the community will feel about it, but i've had great success with my S8s. Last time i used them, they were in a 700sq ft room, they DO reach low, and they have plenty of power for movies. Buy one now, buy another later? Although i do feel it would be a good idea to at least step up to S10s.

The only issue is that even the S8 might be out of your budget.

Your mileage may vary.

wutadumsn23

I run Monitor 70's as well and was rather surprised by their bass output. I had to disconnect my sub one night while watching a movie because the wife and kids were asleep and didn't want to wake them with the bass from the sub. I would imagine you wouldn't have as much sucess considering your room size (mine is quite small) but what would hurt to try it without a sub first and see how you like it. Otherwise you will almost def. need two subs, and pretty expensive/high powered subs at that to properly fill your area with sound. You could always try a couple of cheapies and see how you like it, but what is the sense of buying two subs that will pretty much only be used to audition? I would suggest saving up the cash to buy a couple of decent subs and just use the 70's by themselves for now, just my $.02. I am by no means an expert so see what other resonses you get. Good luck and welcome to Club Polk.

apphd

cd, something I'm not very familiar with but find interesting that might fit you needs are shakers/transducers. You are still fighting the room size, but maybe the Monitor 70's and a couple of these under your couch will do for a while. You can get a pair of Aura Pro shakers for around $80 and a cheaper amp around $140. As I said not very familiar with these but the concept interests me to a point someday when I have time I might look at them closer. As like everything else there are better and more expensive makes than the Aura Pro shakers, but then you would be getting into the cost of a good sub, so what would be the point.

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=299-028

cdanielski

I see the polk direct site has the PSW505 in my price range. It is 12", 300W, 23Hz - 160Hz FR.

Is it "better" than the Dayton SUB-120 for home theater & gaming?

cnh

Hey CD,

The Polk PSW505 is most definitely better than the Dayton. More power, more sound, tighter, etc. And it's a great match for the M70s because those towers can reach to 40 +/-3db. I've taken measurements on those specs and they're dead on. If you corner load them you can even get a bit lower. So that pretty much means you need a sub that reaches to at least 30hz or below +/-3db with significant sound pressure levels at that frequency...at least 95db or more. The Polk should be able to give you something close to that! And you can get it at a great price.

I'd go for that in the less than 300 dollar range. What is Polk Direct asking for it? I run a Boston A. 12" 300 watt RMS with my M70s and it does a nice job for HT...very similar to the PSW505 spec-wise if not just a tad deeper on the low end at 25hz +/- 3db.

I just took a look at your room size...that may present a bit of a problem for ONE sub. That's a huge floor space. Can you do something to cut off your theater space some? That's the kind of space that a 1000-2000 watt sub could manage! Way out of your price range!

cnh

cdanielski

Thanks for the info. The current bid is $168 plus $40 shipping. I'm not sure if I'll jump on that in the next 48 minutes though. Maybe next time!

cnh

cd...

www.onecall.com Polk PSW 505 345 dollars shipped NEW. Boston HPS12HO, less than 240 shipped....in WHITE....270 shipped in black! Both decent subs....in this price range!

cnh

rru2s

I have monitor 70s in a decent sized living room (25' x 16' half open to another room 15' x 13') and at first i bought a 12" velodyne VRP 1200 (130w).
It worked so-so in that room size, but even with music and not HT the sub did not do well with the deeper bass. I ended up retiring that sub and moving it to the bedroom for use with monitor 60s, and then did the job right with a 15" Epik valor (330W) which is sealed so it has fantastic musicality for things like string bass and asian drums but also rumbles the house with HT. It was truly amazing what spending 630$ instead of 250$ will get you. So my 2 cents is, in a room of that size, anything less than 300+ Watts will be lacking and you will eventually want to replace it, so save for something more powerful.

cnh

I agree rr..

That room is HUGE....and have mentioned that as a problem above. That Epik would do it. But sounds like it's way over OP budget and might lead to a divorce! My room is only 11.5 x 25 (16.5 x 11.5 devoted to home theater..it can be closed off as it only has two small entry doors at both ends so a 300W 12" does fine in there). But a 15" would really pound in a large space--a good one, that is!

You also would have been served well if you moved up the Velodyne line to Velos digital series, they have a 15" as well. The VRP subs are Velos 'entry' line. Even the DLS-4000R 12" would've been an improvement and the DLS-5000R is Velos 15" 600W RMS 1200W peak sub--probably equal to or better than your Epik.

cnh

cnh

HotInEER

That is a very good size room...I say go as big as you can afford, if you are upgrading you might as well do it right..Save up a little money first if you can...Or by 2 smaller subs.

curved

I would go with a better quality smaller sub - 10". You can eventually add another one when you the $ comes around again.

schnauzer

Just got my 70s. I've been considering the Yamaha SW100SL 130W subwoofer. My room is 17' x 22' with 9' ceilings although the seating area is about 17' x 14'. Newegg has it for 149.99 with free ship. My budget is 200.
I previously had the vintage SDA 2B speakers (now on CraigsList) that could shake the house without a subwoofer and annoyed my wife to no end. I want a decent subwoofer that won't quite shake the house.

Matt34

My suggestion is wait and save some more. There is no $200 sub out there that is going to do that room justice. Wait until you have about $600-$800 and then look at the Epic Sentinel, SVS PB-12ND, HSU VTF 3.3 or Elemental Designs A5-350. These subs will give you 20hz bass and will at least have a chance at giving you that bass slam.

cdanielski

schnauzer,

After a lot of searching, I found this group of folks who are thrilled with the HD-SUB12. 400W RMS, 20hz, <$200.

Might be worth checking out!

danz1906

Try SVS or Epik subs.

ChrisD

ED A2-300 is a very promoted sub.