Alternatives to BK subs
- Thread starter Seanm
- Start date
TheDecameron
Unicorns fart glitter.
I got a BK400 for peanuts (relatively) from an eBay reseller. It’s got a class AB plate amp and I bet it would be astounding with a class D amp on board. The driver and cabinet are top notch.
DNM
pfm Member
I hope not. It might encourage them to put their prices up!
It depends what you want to do with the subwoofer. If you just want to have louder booming bass and aren't bothered about integrating the subs with the mains or the room then they are good value subwoofers by home audio standards. If you want decent quality bass and cleaned up mains then you need the sub to return a high passed signal to the amp and to include a way to specify the gain and time delay with frequency. Alternatively you can do this with an upstream box of electronics like a PC, minidsp, probably some AVR receivers, etc... and supply a low passed signal to the sub with whatever controls it has got set to off.
There are similar studio subwoofers around the BK price point and they will likely offer a filtered return signal to the amplifier enabling better integration with the mains. Looks will be poor though. Price would need to be raised to get adequate gain and delay control.
Seanm
pfm Member
Thanks, looks like this will take a bit of research. I was considering this thing, mentioned in another thread, if it turned out to be necessary, but was kind of hoping I'd just get lucky.
SteveG
pfm Member
If you get it I'll be interested to find out how you got on, as I've been considering one as well.
I've been experimenting with an old REL Quake that I had spare and, in my small listening room and after a bit of tuning, I was finding I enjoyed the effect when I was using a set of Triangle Titus XS speakers. When I changed those to Wilson Benesch Square Ones I found the sub wasn't integrating well so I've turned it off. I might need to do some more experimenting with levels etc. though, as the Square Ones seem to go a lot lower than the Triangles did despite being a similar size.
If you're in the UK or even Europe, I'm sure if your looking for a sub for music, B&K will be hard to beat. There are several other well regarded "musical" subs out there, REL, MJ Acoustics, JL Audio, etc but I'm sure not in the same price range as B&K. There are a number of US sub companies but I would think the cost to get it to you would make it less of a bargain & most would be more geared towards HT use, not ideal for proper 2ch reproduction. I own 2 B&K XLS200DF's (located in Canada & still was well worth the freight cost), they are excellent, musical subs (if you're just looking for HT boom to shake the foundation, these aren't the best choice but B&K does have other offerings that should do this better) & I would highly recommend them, even when paired with rather pricy speakers that excel in bass quality, they should be able to integrate perfectly. I have owned a small sealed SVS sub before that (5+ years back now) & I would not recommend it for 2ch listening if you have anything above "entry level" speakers as no matter the placement/settings, it was a one note bass boomer & I could not get it to integrate properly with my towers (lacked speed, tone, definition, etc, etc)
johnhunt
pfm Member
Suffolk Tony
Aim low, achieve your goals, avoid disappointment.
I have! A bit, shall we say...tatty. But their subs are super. I bought one of their 1,000W panel amps to replace the broken one in an SVS sub I use as part of my A/V system. It works a real treat. I've also got one of their little square ones (can't remember the model number) I bought S/H for use in another home & it's quite remarkable for its size.
It is a fair chunk of money for a few IIR filters. Unless you have an AVR receiver doing the filtering there doesn't seem to be a low passed signal around for the mains. This is a significant disadvantage particularly if you don't have large woofers in your main speakers. It seems to be automatic and only setup for the sub to be a source and so you wouldn't be able to instruct the sub to be an absorber (e.g. put the sub behind you and set it up to absorb the main axial mode). A bit limited but the more flexible options will require more effort to understand, implement and assess the various options.
DNM
pfm Member
No, not in person but I got the picture after seeing a Google street view and figured a courier would be a safer bet!
DNM
pfm Member
It's only an eq/room correction device. As h.g. said, it doesn't do crossovers. The top model does if its still available.
If you're only interested in integrating a sub using 'conventional' methods with the on-board sub crossover and phase adjusters, IMO, it really doesn't matter what sub you buy. You'll just end up turning it down so low to minimise the adverse effects of crossover phase non linearity and distortion. You've also got ported speakers, which complicates integration somewhat.
If you're open minded to using DSP, then there are far more possibilities at which point subwoofer choice will come into play.
DNM
pfm Member
Not wishing to put you off, its worth having a go and great fun. A combination of a BK sub and the likes of an inexpensive MiniDSP and measuring mic can yield excellent results quite quickly if you're happy to read the guides and play around. Certainly far better than can be achieved with conventional methods. You'll learn a lot about what really matters in audio reproduction too, i.e. speakers and room interaction. The rest is just a side show.
Darren
So gentle when he tries to understand.
I'm sorry to hear that Sean. I guess it all began to feel a bit complicated and expensive?
I have used REL subs for years and never felt the need for DSP. A bit of a fiddle with the controls and sub positioning generally produces some great results.