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Subwoofer Upgrade Question


meuge

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I am currently using an HSU VTF-2 sub. Although I like it, and it brings a certain amount of fullness into my music, I am not totally satisfied with its performance. It sounds a bit boomy and I really need a good parametric equalizer to correct for the horrible acoustics of my room.

I was thinking that I could sell the HSU for about $300 to a friend, and start anew. I have heard a lot about sealed enclosures, and how good sealed subwoofers allow for better decay, allowing clean differentiation of several notes in quick succession.

I thought about getting a RSW-12, until I realized that even used I could not hope to purchase it under $700+. So I thought that I could buy a Dayton Titanic MKIII Subwoofer kit from partsexpress. I read a lot of good reviews of these subwoofers, and I am pretty sure that I could assemble it without a problem. I can't really go for building my own from scratch, because I lack any sort of woodworking equipment and skills (although I'm sure I'd learn fast). The sub comes with what seems to be a nice 500W digital amp that includes a single band parametric equalizer - which would help a lot in my room.

So I was wondering if anyone has had any experience with the Dayton kits, or if anyone could recommend a sealed subwoofer under $600 new/used that I could also consider.

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Before spending alot of cash, why not try repacking your sub with more filler, like foam or like sound deadening material. It helped alot with my KSW15. It is worth a try. Also where do you have your sub placed? I found by moving mine out of the corner, and over to the side wall, alot of the boom left the room. I know exactly how you feel about picking up a RSW12! Alot of cash! As far as the Dayton, I don't know that much about them. But putting it together sounds like fun, but alot of work if doesn't sound great. Good luck!

Dave

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First i just wanted to mention that the RSW12 is a ported sub, just like your HSU with the only difference being it uses a Passive Radiator rather than a port tube.

Obviously upgrading is always fun... but I'm not sure the titanic will give everything you are looking for, simply because I'm not sure what you need? What I'm curious about are you room acoustics that have you worried. You are correct to assume that there is a good chance the effects you are hearing are caused by room effects. Replacing one sub with another in the same location will produce the same room modes... and a single parametric EQ may not be enough to tame them. Have you measured your room response (RS SPL meter or a RTA?) Are there multiple placement options? It would be a cheap fix...

Another option would be to add a real parametric EQ like the Behringer BFD to your sub chain to try to control some room effects.

The HSU is a pretty good sub for the price... but definitely lacks in total output capacity. The Titanic should give you greater SPL, but less bass extension. This earlier roll off is one of the important factors which lead people to often refer to a sealed sub as being more musical.

Later...

Rob

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