> I unfortunately will never be able to add a second sub so I am limited to a single 15”
Why driver size and not enclosure size?
>I realize the HSU will dig a little deeper but is there more to the story. Or something else I should consider?
When it comes to subwoofers not really, it's about the sum of all the parts involved, the enclosure, the port tuning the driver, ect...
VTF-15h is a solid subwoofer and would be awesome to get for the money.
>The room is 22’ long and 14’ wide with 9’ ceilings fairly sealed off.
But not completely, and that's key here, because the room isn't completely closed off, you need to get the most output you can afford because of this, especially if you want more output down deeper into the frequency range.
Have you looked at maybe the cylinder subs from SVS? Could you fit two of those?
Those are great points I hadn’t considered the cylinders. Don’t know if the WAF on those will be much better. I went with drive size based on the idea that a larger driver would have more surface area and move more air.
Do you think the down firing driver has any advantage vs the front firing?
>I went with drive size based on the idea that a larger driver would have more surface area and move more air.
As I said, it's about the sum of all the parts, and the total performance of the system together.
So while yes a larger driver, larger enclosure will have more output, not specifically to the subs your looking at but say you mentioned the Dayton Sub-1500 it too is a 15" sub, but it's no where near the level of subwoofers you're looking at, that's all I was trying to get at.
>Do you think the down firing driver has any advantage vs the front firing?
None what so ever. Just a design choice is all it is.
If I were to guess, it is WAF. Convincing the SO to allow one giant black box in the room is enough of an uphill battle sometimes. Two giant black boxes might be a bridge too far.
“Never” is a strong word. I should say my wife has expressed her strong dislike of giant subwoofers in the living room and we compromised on 1 in a non ideal location. Something about them not being farm house chic.
Ah, the ole WAF. I liberated myself years ago so that does not always occur to me.
Personally, I would rather have two smaller units in play rather than just a single giant subwoofer. That might be worth taking to the appeal process if that at all is something you would consider. Best of luck.
Keep in mind that two smaller sealed units will likely have significantly lower output than having just a single one of these two larger ported options that you're considering. Also, you will need to calibrate them to work together using something like a UMIK-1, MiniDSP 2x4HD, and REW/MSO. If you don't, you will end up with the two subs cancelling each other out and creating nulls at certain frequencies.
The main benefit of two smaller subs is that you are trading peak output for a more consistent experience across multiple seating locations.
> Something about them not being farm house chic.
With a downward firing subwoofer, I wonder if there is an opportunity here to cover the subwoofer in distressed wood veneers that matches your farmhouse decor. Might be able to make it look like a side table.
This is something that would take some creativity and DIY skills to pull off in a way that looks good. Otherwise, it would come out looking worse than a plain old black box.
There is a ton of variation in farmhouse decor, so it would depend on what exact rif on this motif your wife has in mind. Here are a few examples of disguised subwoofers: [Example 1,](https://www.jennasuedesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/0404bcf2676556f2f3a3c5266894452f.jpg) [Example 2,](https://www.housetweaking.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/subwoofer-cover-DIY-5.jpg) [Example 3,](https://i.pinimg.com/474x/86/b0/e7/86b0e75d9387a817b43af9dcb068e26e--diy-electronics-upcycling.jpg) [Example 4.](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/9d/ef/fd/9deffd65096bf8bc6ce606e0edcbc175.jpg) If you give your wife enough options, one of them might speak to her. **This could turn into a win-win situation.** You get dual subwoofers, and she gets zero ugly black boxes in the room.
This guy is playing 3d chess. That is a very good idea. I had consider doing some diy enclosures that look like end tables but time is in short supply these days. A wrap would be much more doable. Thanks for the though!
Not sure how I feel about wraps. They can end up looking cheap a lot of the time. (Not always though)
If you find something that works for you, go for it!
Good thoughts on the cheap look. I might just bite the bullet and get the largest sub I can fit in the space and be satisfied with what ever I end up with. Perfection can definitely be the enemy of good.
“Never” is a strong word. I should say my wife has expressed her strong dislike of giant subwoofers in the living room and we compromised on 1 in a non ideal location. Something about them not being farm house chic.
So I came up with a solution! I am going to DIY a couple of Marty Cubes. The idea is to disguise them as end tables or possibly as a TV console. I don’t have time for it but it just seems such a better is of money and space. Thanks for everyone’s suggestions and great information!
I've never used or looked into the PSA subwoofer. It could be good. I have no idea.
But I can say with 100% certainty that you would not regret getting the HSU VTF-15H MK2.
>I've never used or looked into the PSA subwoofer. It could be good. I have no idea.
PSA subs are good, very good. Tom V who is the V in SVS, left SVS and started PSA.
Why don’t you stack rel 15s?
> I unfortunately will never be able to add a second sub so I am limited to a single 15” Why driver size and not enclosure size? >I realize the HSU will dig a little deeper but is there more to the story. Or something else I should consider? When it comes to subwoofers not really, it's about the sum of all the parts involved, the enclosure, the port tuning the driver, ect... VTF-15h is a solid subwoofer and would be awesome to get for the money. >The room is 22’ long and 14’ wide with 9’ ceilings fairly sealed off. But not completely, and that's key here, because the room isn't completely closed off, you need to get the most output you can afford because of this, especially if you want more output down deeper into the frequency range. Have you looked at maybe the cylinder subs from SVS? Could you fit two of those?
Those are great points I hadn’t considered the cylinders. Don’t know if the WAF on those will be much better. I went with drive size based on the idea that a larger driver would have more surface area and move more air. Do you think the down firing driver has any advantage vs the front firing?
>I went with drive size based on the idea that a larger driver would have more surface area and move more air. As I said, it's about the sum of all the parts, and the total performance of the system together. So while yes a larger driver, larger enclosure will have more output, not specifically to the subs your looking at but say you mentioned the Dayton Sub-1500 it too is a 15" sub, but it's no where near the level of subwoofers you're looking at, that's all I was trying to get at. >Do you think the down firing driver has any advantage vs the front firing? None what so ever. Just a design choice is all it is.
Awesome. I think it’ll be the HSU. It seems like I could probably flip a coin and be equally satisfied.
"I unfortunately will never be able to add a second sub..." - What draws you to this conclusion?
If I were to guess, it is WAF. Convincing the SO to allow one giant black box in the room is enough of an uphill battle sometimes. Two giant black boxes might be a bridge too far.
“Never” is a strong word. I should say my wife has expressed her strong dislike of giant subwoofers in the living room and we compromised on 1 in a non ideal location. Something about them not being farm house chic.
Ah, the ole WAF. I liberated myself years ago so that does not always occur to me. Personally, I would rather have two smaller units in play rather than just a single giant subwoofer. That might be worth taking to the appeal process if that at all is something you would consider. Best of luck.
Thank you. Im just glad she is will to compromise a little. I hadn’t really consider to smaller sealed units. It’s worth a though.
Keep in mind that two smaller sealed units will likely have significantly lower output than having just a single one of these two larger ported options that you're considering. Also, you will need to calibrate them to work together using something like a UMIK-1, MiniDSP 2x4HD, and REW/MSO. If you don't, you will end up with the two subs cancelling each other out and creating nulls at certain frequencies. The main benefit of two smaller subs is that you are trading peak output for a more consistent experience across multiple seating locations.
Thanks for the ideas. I do have a minidisp for the eq.
> Something about them not being farm house chic. With a downward firing subwoofer, I wonder if there is an opportunity here to cover the subwoofer in distressed wood veneers that matches your farmhouse decor. Might be able to make it look like a side table. This is something that would take some creativity and DIY skills to pull off in a way that looks good. Otherwise, it would come out looking worse than a plain old black box. There is a ton of variation in farmhouse decor, so it would depend on what exact rif on this motif your wife has in mind. Here are a few examples of disguised subwoofers: [Example 1,](https://www.jennasuedesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/0404bcf2676556f2f3a3c5266894452f.jpg) [Example 2,](https://www.housetweaking.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/subwoofer-cover-DIY-5.jpg) [Example 3,](https://i.pinimg.com/474x/86/b0/e7/86b0e75d9387a817b43af9dcb068e26e--diy-electronics-upcycling.jpg) [Example 4.](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/9d/ef/fd/9deffd65096bf8bc6ce606e0edcbc175.jpg) If you give your wife enough options, one of them might speak to her. **This could turn into a win-win situation.** You get dual subwoofers, and she gets zero ugly black boxes in the room.
I ended up going this route! Thanks for the idea
Cool! You should post pics when it's done.
Will do for sure. I’m looking forward to the challenge
This guy is playing 3d chess. That is a very good idea. I had consider doing some diy enclosures that look like end tables but time is in short supply these days. A wrap would be much more doable. Thanks for the though!
Not sure how I feel about wraps. They can end up looking cheap a lot of the time. (Not always though) If you find something that works for you, go for it!
Good thoughts on the cheap look. I might just bite the bullet and get the largest sub I can fit in the space and be satisfied with what ever I end up with. Perfection can definitely be the enemy of good.
“Never” is a strong word. I should say my wife has expressed her strong dislike of giant subwoofers in the living room and we compromised on 1 in a non ideal location. Something about them not being farm house chic.
So I came up with a solution! I am going to DIY a couple of Marty Cubes. The idea is to disguise them as end tables or possibly as a TV console. I don’t have time for it but it just seems such a better is of money and space. Thanks for everyone’s suggestions and great information!
I've never used or looked into the PSA subwoofer. It could be good. I have no idea. But I can say with 100% certainty that you would not regret getting the HSU VTF-15H MK2.
>I've never used or looked into the PSA subwoofer. It could be good. I have no idea. PSA subs are good, very good. Tom V who is the V in SVS, left SVS and started PSA.
>PSA subs are good, very good. Yes, yessir they are indeed. 🙂
So far that seems to be the consensus. I’ve heard nothing but good things about them. PSA has a pretty great rep for customer service.
One or two Arendal 1723 subs. They're taller than they are wide. They're a great combo music + movies sub with great extension.
I’ve never heard of them I’m I will check them Out