Wondering which sub i should get

[Crizo]

hello, i just got a sony STR-DE485 receiver from a family member and wondering which sub would be better. on a budget so my choices are
Sony SA-W3000 or Polk Audio PSW10. wondering which would hit harder.

 

[soundguruman]

polk

 

[anwaypasible]

i would think that the sony is the better choice.

the sony has 100 watts RMS
compared to the polk's 50 watts RMS

the sony has a crossover that goes down to 50hz
the polk has a crossover that goes down to only 80hz
this means the polk is going to play too high, unless the receiver can tell the subwoofer to play lower.

the polk only goes down to 35hz
the sony goes down to 20hz

looking at the different box sizes.. the polk will probably be loud and obnoxious compared to the sony.

you see that the sony has a smaller box than the polk.
this means the polk subwoofer is allowing the soundwaves to travel and remain large.
the output is usually the large monsterous roar that doesnt blend very well with the other speakers.
(which may or may not be what you want)

the sony box is smaller and i find it a bit hard to believe that it will play down to 20hz
but the port might be used as an upper frequency extension rather than a lower frequency extension.

what i know for sure, based on the huge box of the polk.. once the box loses its air pressure.. you wont get any output out of it.
and they said that the box stops responding at 35hz

the sony box is small.. and that means you will have some air pressure when playing lower than 35hz

the two subs appear to be exact opposite designs.
the polk uses a turbo for the low frequencies and the sony uses a turbo for the high frequencies.
once you start to ask the subwoofer to play lower and lower, the polk will be loud and then suddenly stop producing output.
the sony will probably get a little bit softer, but it wont stop producing output like the polk will.

the sony's surround is about twice the size of the polk subwoofer.
that suggests the sony subwoofer will move in and out enough to get some low output.

see what is important to note here about these two subwoofers is
1. the polk is designed to use the box for output
2. the sony is designed to use the speaker for output

using the box for output is muddy and sounds like a tuba
using the speaker for output means you dont get extra volume from the port.. but because the port is there, the speaker can move in and out more to provide more force to make the air in the room move.

its better to use the speaker for output because there is more details from the speaker than there is the port.
any time you make the box size really big, its gonna sound muddy and extra loud like a tuba.
that is how horns work.
they scream as loud and obnoxious as they can at whatever frequency they are designed for.

but sony isnt known for having any sound quality anyways.
usually their speakers are muddy.

so if i said both of them are muddy, which one is better?
well, the polk will probably sound like a teenagers car with a subwoofer in the trunk (lots of bass that is louder than the vocals) and if the polk speaker does have any sound quality.. you are going to hear it as quieter than the rest of the bass.
listening to the details from this setup is like watching a white speck move around in a big black box.
the first extreme is the small spot compared to the big box.
and the second extreme is the black vs. white.

the sony will probably blend in much better with the vocals.. and you wont have to listen to the annoying sound of when the polk plays lower than the box tune and starts to slap and crackle.

and if you have any way to boost 20hz.. the sony subwoofer will actually provide bass that low at the same volume as the rest of the frequencies.

the polk will never ever be able to do that unless the speaker and amplifier are bolted onto a different box (or there are a load of sound reinforcement braces glued inside of the box to alter the phase changes and reflections)

the immature solution that has bass sounding like its coming from a car setup would be the polk.
the mature solution that has bass sounding like its the same volume as the vocals would be the sony.
if you boost the 20hz with the sony, you will have a more mature setup.
the downside of the sony speaker is that it probably wont have massive amounts of sound quality.

maybe the polk speaker does have sound quality.. and maybe you can actually hear those details at the same volume level of the noise coming from the port.
but you will never play as low as the sony will.. and for $100 i dont think you should expect the polk speaker to play any details at all.

so, since you are not buying the subwoofer to play lots of details.. what is the next best thing?
play as low as you possibly can!

you will bottom out the polk while watching movies.. the sony wont do that.
you might get some noise from the air as it moves in and out of the port on the sony.. but that noise can actually help you hear lower frequencies.

 

[Crizo]

Best answer selected by Crizo.