Elemental Designs and AV123 best subs for the money

digitalvideo

If any of you want to know about the best subs for the money and best bang for the buck that rival more expensive subs sort of like what Oppo and Polk do then check out Elemental Designs and AV123 sub companies.

I own the SVS PB-12 Ultra and all tests, shootouts I read about and all the other website/forums all praise those two companies above the most. I would have gotten two AV123 MFW-15 instead of my SVS Ultra if I heard of them before I bought my SVS.

Great professional shootout test of subs in the link below -

http://www.tweakcityaudio.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11

Sherardp

If you dont mind $hitty customer service. Promises for a fix that takes forever then go for it. Obviously you have'nt done your homework. You went the best route, SVS. I would even say Epik, Elemental and HSU as well. AV123, not so good. Google is your friend and in this case I would stay away until they get better reports.

danz1906

I just started a thread on the A7 - 900 Subwoofer, have you heard this model?

apphd

Personally I would say you are lucky you did not hear of AV123 before you bought your SVS. The MFW-15 is a great sub for the money, but there for a while, it was a crap shoot as to whether you got one that would stay working. It looks like they are past that now, but you probably would have fallen into that time period. eD makes good subs, just have a utilitarian look to them. But I think they are getting ready to offer better looking finishes now as well.

Ron Temple

The MFW15 is a sub that performs better than the sum of it's parts. Great design by Mark Seaton getting every last erg of SQ and performance. Unfortunately, shoddy manufacturing, part sourcing and bad amps nearly killed AV123. I'd still stay away from it.

eD is intriguing. I've never heard one of their subs, but I've been told that their big, more expensive subs are real performers in both SQ and output. I'm talking about the subs selling for north of $1500. They don't skimp on parts and construction, however, they let box physics handle tuning with no eq curves loaded in the amps, just protection. In their lesser subs this gives them no disadvantage in output, but it's iffy how the sub performs as far as extention or SQ compared to other subs in their price point. It must be very good overall, but some of the folks that have upgraded or traded sideways have noted improvements in other brands.

aaphd, you've got the A3-300 right? How does it sound to you? My comments about sound quality are conjecture based on what I've read. You're the guy in the know.;)

gtu2004

Sherardp wrote: »

If you dont mind $hitty customer service. Promises for a fix that takes forever then go for it. Obviously you have'nt done your homework. You went the best route, SVS. I would even say Epik, Elemental and HSU as well. AV123, not so good. Google is your friend and in this case I would stay away until they get better reports.

they've been getting new amps for the MFW-15s now and from what I heard it is even overperforming the old amps, and of course, much more durable as well.

for the price, MFW-15 cannot be beat. you've heard this million times but I can tell you those that said so before never owned or heard the MFW-15.

It just cannot be beat in value, even counting companies that boast great price/performance ratio like SVS, Epik, or any other company.

Sherardp

gtu2004 wrote: »

they've been getting new amps for the MFW-15s now and from what I heard it is even overperforming the old amps, and of course, much more durable as well.

for the price, MFW-15 cannot be beat. you've heard this million times but I can tell you those that said so before never owned or heard the MFW-15.

It just cannot be beat in value, even counting companies that boast great price/performance ratio like SVS, Epik, or any other company.

Understood, but as Ron mentioned I'd still stay away just because of what they been through to finally get this product right. I mean SVS had amp problems on the PB13U but they stood by their product, whereas AV123 just seemed like they didnt care about those guys. Calls, emails gone unreturned etc. The stories seem like nightmares to me. For me, the real value of the sub is in the customer service and I don't think AV123 is on top in that dept. Just my thoughts gents.

apphd

Ron, I have the A2-300 in my 2500 cft room. I have been nothing short of pleased with it . I feel it is pretty clean and accurate, just not at the top of the heap. It added what I was looking for in HT, I have not done any measurements on it in my room, IIRC they claim -3db @ 18 Hz and I feel I can conservatively say I would be probably see a good output to 23 Hz. I'm just finishing up a remodel of my living room that forced me into a very unfavorable speaker layout (child proofing) and I'm playing around with it to get it tweaked again. I wasn't expecting much with music when I ordered, and although I do not listen to anything that is real bass heavy material, it actually isn't too bad in that department. I would have to say while ok for music if someone has 50/50 or more musical preferences I would probably look at some different models or others brands first. The same if they have a large room or want over the top amounts of pressurization. But it's going to cost them more than the $315 sale price I have invested. If I needed something different I would still look to eD, but depending on what I was trying to accomplish I might not stop there.

I'm really interested in hearing some reviews on the A5s-300.