Best medium size sub, price secondary

[AZ_Engineer]

I need a sub that is reasonably compact. I'd say 20" on a side would be the upper end. Maybe 24" in one dimension. No tube subs. Attractive cabinet is important. I've auditioned the Arial Acoutstics and I really liked it. The Revel B15 looks ok, not sure how it sounds. The SVS PB13-Ultra looks pretty good, but large. What else should I look at? At one point there was a company building a sealed box Tumult in a 20" cube driven by a 700ish watt plate amp....joe

[Sonnie]

PB13-Ultra is 27” D x 20.5 " W x 22" H (Is 3" over your 24" requirement too much?)
PB12-Plus is 25” D x 18" W x 25" H

Both of these have very nice finish options.

[AZ_Engineer]

I'm looking at them but it seems they will be too large for the area where I can place the sub. I plan to make cardboard moc ups to check. How does the SB12 compare?

[alexadams77]

You could always get the cylinders instead. They're a bit cheaper, only 16 inches in diameter and don't weigh a lot either.

PC13 Ultra
20-39 PC Plus

[AZ_Engineer]

Unfortunately the cylinders are NOT EVEN ClOSE to meeting the spousal approval factor. I tried to buy B&W 801s when we walked into the showroom to show my wife she blurted out, couldn' even contain herself, right in front of the salesman, "you've got to be kidding me". And she never swears, especially in front of others. No way she is putting black cylinders in the front of our main room...joe

[alexadams77]

I did the cardboard cutout thing with my wife. I showed her pretty much the whole SVS line-up and she wasn't a big fan of loosing all that floor space. She said that I could get the SB12-Plus and that was it. I wasn't impressed and then she said, you can get one of those long cylinder ones if you wanted to. Needless to say, I ordered a PC13 Ultra as soon as she finished that sentence. The WAF is all over the place from woman to woman. Good luck man.

[Sonnie]

We have a couple of reviews on the SB12-Plus...

SB12-Plus Subwoofer: The Mouse that Roars

SVS SB12-Plus & PB12-NSD review - Lyd & Bilde (English version)

[Mongrel714]

Wow, I must be lucky, my wife has let me take over our living area!

[Kal Rubinson]

AZ_Engineer wrote:

I need a sub that is reasonably compact. I'd say 20" on a side would be the upper end. Maybe 24" in one dimension. No tube subs. Attractive cabinet is important. I've auditioned the Arial Acoutstics and I really liked it. The Revel B15 looks ok, not sure how it sounds. The SVS PB13-Ultra looks pretty good, but large. What else should I look at? At one point there was a company building a sealed box Tumult in a 20" cube driven by a 700ish watt plate amp....joe

JL Audio f113. If that's too big, there's a smaller f112 (and, I understand, an f110!) but I have had no direct experience with it.

Kal

[jpk]

Also, consider ACI subs, the Titan fits your size, the Maestro may be a touch big. Both are awesome subs!
FYI,
Joe

http://audioc.com/speakers1/speakers.htm#subwoofers

[AZ_Engineer]

The JL Audio looks very promising. I think it's exactly what I need. I am now looking for a place to audition.

[nwhitta]

You need a BK Monolith

[bnw]

You need a girlfriend!!!

[bone215]

the ACI (audio concepts) force, titan, and maestro are all excellent performers, excellent form factor and looks, designed to provide best sound quality not highest spl.

[warpdrive]

JL Audio F113 or the Velodyne DD15 would be two top tier subs with enviable performance/sound quality and are visually unobstrusive.

[Bigdaddy999]

Depending on your room size and acoustics, which you didn't mention, you might consider a pair of dd-12's. They're significantly better WAF than the DD-15 (in my case), and have the benefit of giving a little different sound than a single sub. Tradeoff is sheer power and some bottom end, but I'm pretty happy with my dual 12's vs. the single 15.

[funky_waves]

You may want to consider a custom subwoofer from us, We can finish it almost any way imaginable just a few are listed on our website, there are also more drivers avialable. And we can talor the size and shape, as well as tuneing to suit your needs, and listening tastes.
Custom Subwoofers