Which powered subwoofer would best accent my home theater.?

[BenJamminlong time]

Looking forward to purchasing a nice powered subwoofer to replace my Insignia ns-ht51. Currently I am running two vintage Fisher D-15 towers for fronts, four Insignia ns-ht51 surround speakers, and an ns-ht51 center using a Pioneer vsx-816 receiver. I listen to everything from folk to Machine Gun Kelly, and from Ray Wylie Hubbard to Rage against the Machine. I rather enjoy the low frequencies that my Alpine Type R is reproducing in my car but still want the crisp snap of a high end ten inch sub in my living room in addition to quaking those low 20Hz. Lots of new names on the market. Suggestions?

 

[ien2222]

What sort of budget are you looking at? And secondly, the insignia center doesn't play that low, are you open to getting a better one so you don't need the sub to play so high?

 

[americanaudiophile]

If they are in your price range Paradigm makes excellent subwoofers. Polk isn't bad in the less than $300 range. You could also make one using a kit from parts-express. They don't require major skills to assemble and you can custom finish them.
Don't get a band pass subwoofer. This type doesn't have a woofer that fires into the room directly. The only sound comes out of one "port" or opening. This makes a one note boomy kind of bass. Forward firing is better than down firing in most cases. Don't put any importance on power as subwoofer power is not measured by any standard so makers vary from dead honest to outright liars. Just as long as the woofer plays loud enough for you it doesn't really matter how much power it took to do that.

 

[BenJamminlong time]

What sort of budget are you looking at? And secondly, the insignia center doesn't play that low, are you open to getting a better one so you don't need the sub to play so high?

 

[BenJamminlong time]

I am absolutely open to any acquisition within reason to achieve better sound. New center and sub budget optimistically dwelling in the $400-500 range.

 

[ien2222]

Heh, I'll keep it reasonable then

Since you were originally looking for a sub, I'll keep the emphasis there and spend less on a center. With that in mind, for a center channel I'd take a serious look at the Wave Crest Audio HVL-1, Ascend Acoustics HTM-200, and the Hsu Research HB-1 Mk2.

I'd probably go with the Wave Crest out of the three, it's the cheapest and when designing it they concentrated on making the mid range as good as it could be which would be beneficial for the center duty.

This leaves around $350-$370 left for the sub. In this price range the Hsu STF-2 is would be my choice and is one of the best subs under $450 out there (excluding sales and clearance).

With the HVL-1 and STF-2, that lands you at $450 and with shipping will probably put you around $500, this will be a significant upgrade over the Insignia.

If you want to be less optimistic about budget and get an even better sub, there's the SVS PB-1000, Rythmik LV12R (which can be purchase through Wave Crest or Ascend), and the Hsu VTF-2 Mk4. Out of these, I'd probably slightly lean towards the Rythmik though any is a solid choice. Here you're looking more around $650-$700 (with the center channel) but these will be a clear step above the STF-2.