Page 1 of Subwoofer Upgrade Advice

I`m hoping the Home Cinema Doctors Westy and Clayts can come to the rescue again.

A few years ago, I had the opportunity of buying a pair Yamaha YST-120 Subwoofers for a good price. Originally used to supplement mid-sized front speakers, I was very pleased with them.

However, as a sufferer of that Home Cinema disease `upgrade-itus`, I`m now in need of some further therapy. I`m using a Denon AVC-A1SE (incredible Amp!) powering Mission 753 Freedoms and 75C centre, along with Mission 752 and 770`s for the rears and rear centres.

It`s taken 8yrs of upgrades to get this far and the sound is spectacular but the Yamaha Subs nolonger provide the same additional impact. Turning them up only makes you `hear` them rather than `feel` them which is no good thing!

So the question is, what would be a recommended Subwoofer(s) upgrade? Would there be a beneficial and noticeable impact to justify the outlay of cash?

Cheers,

Right,

First it isn`t surprising that the Yammys can only be heard not felt! The gain compared to the Kilowatt of power under the lid of the mighty Denon is no match, so they`re probably running out of puff.
Put simply, if you`ve got this sort of set up, then you really need to be looking at some really serious subs to get the effect you want. If you`re going for around a grand, then either a Miller and Kreisel VX1250 THX sub will give you the sort of slam and power you need, you certainly won`t need two!
However if its good balance but not at the sacrifice of slam and depth you want, then perhaps two Rel Q150 e subs will do the trick. Link them up and place them on the side walls(if you can), or if not behind the main speakers, but turn them around and fire their drivers against the wall about 1 foot away. May sound crazy, but the wall now acts as a massive gain radiator for the bass, and cause the Rel isn`t a ported design, there won`t be much boom either.
However you may not be looking for that much to spend, so perhaps for movies;a Yamaha YSTW800, or for music and movies at their best, A rel Q210E, both fabulous subs capable of moving some serious air.
As you`re using floorstanders, try setting them to large in the amps speaker menu, then run those and carefully tweak the subs so everything sounds `together`.
Hope this helps mate, no doubt Mr Bruce will get in here too! :-)

Westy

Damm you Westy. Is it your purpose in life to beat me to these things.

As Westy say dump that Sub. You need to upgrade. Another one to look at is the killer REL Q400.

Thats about all I can add

All the best,

Andrew.

Brilliant, thanks guys.

Informative as ever and a mention to some kit I wouldn`t normally have expected.

Not surprised to see REL in the running although I half expected a mention for the bigger Q400E. Is this worth considering as an alternative to the big M&K - room size around 16` by 18` - or is the Q210E more than sufficient (it`s hard to appreciate the little 1 foot cube can do so much damage!). I am drawn to the REL`s mainly cos they have an incredible reputation now and I`ve not yet seen a single bad write up on the Q series - with your recommendation it kinda seals the deal. I guess it`s down to which one?

Hello.

Don`t be fooled by the REL`s small dimentions. It kicks.

As for the M&K, I haven`t heard it so I can not comment apart from to say M&K make some very nice stuff.

I must say I`m not much good at getting the techi stuff over so I wil let Westy take over from here. I know my place.

All the best,

Andrew.

This item was edited on Wednesday, 12th December 2001, 12:38