Sub choice
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Soldato
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Neither.
They're only 8" subwoofers
They're only 8" subwoofers
The amp isn't so relevant unless you go really high-end AV where they have a bit better stab at EQing the sub.
From the selection of Dali and Monitor Audio I'm guessing you're shopping at RS? In that case the budget is around £380-£400. Would that be about right?
The important questions are the room size - how many people can it comfortably accommodate? - and is it open plan on to any other areas? - what do you mostly listen to; films/TV or music? - do you have to consider children / neighbours / anyone else?
The subs you're looking at are roughly 1ft cubes. Is that the absolute maximum physical size or can you go larger? If so, what's the limit?
Is the sub going to live in a room corner or along a wall?
I could make some recommendations from the BK range, but without knowing your limits its too much guesswork. Come back with answers to the above and we'll go from there.
The room is 12'×12" just my wife and my young son at home we watch a lot of marvel type films along with regular TV have a sky 4k box. Live in a relatively new terraced house. Yes all the gear I'd coming from richer sounds. And £400 is probably the most I'd be prepared to go could maybe go slightly over. It would be positioned against a wall around 4" from the rear corner of the room sofa is on the same wall
Soldato
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Monoprice 10" sub.500w thx. Bit over your budget but worth it. Auction site
Since you're into marvel movies a 8x woofer isn't upto the task
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Soldato
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Item number
404062719832
404062719832
The Monoprice Monolith sub does represent good value. They've got all the useful stuff such as variable phase and a healthy power output. It's only available in black ash vinyl wrap, but that's because they focussed on delivering performance over aesthetics for a retail channel sub. Aesthetic considerations first is what gets us products such as Bose Acoustimass speakers.
Compared to the Dali and Monitor Audio, aside from the 10" driver versus 8" on the other two, the other big size difference is the box itself. It's ported (bass reflex) which requires a larger volume of space inside the box to work. That means a bigger footprint and a taller box too. Being a ported does mean though that the sub is louder per Watt than a sealed unit of the same driver size. That comes in really handy when there's a pretty large room to pressurise.
One thing to bear in mind with porting is how it interacts with room boundaries.
All speakers get louder the closer they're put to a wall or floor. At higher frequencies (above around 200Hz which just above the higher-end of the male vocal speaking range) the effect of the lift is +3dB per wall/floor/ceiling. By 3kHz the effect has tailed off and other factors such as first reflections become more dominant. That's why room corners are bad for speakers. They change the tonal characteristics. At lower than 200Hz the effect is larger. You get up to +6dB per surface. The shift is gradual, but by 50Hz you're looking at +6dB per. This means that if you put a ported sub in a room corner then you'll get 6+6+6 dB of bass lift. That can change a sub from sounding tight and tuneful into a bloated mess at higher volumes when the action kicks in.
Fortunately, the folk at Monoprice designed their subs with this in mind, and so it ships with a foam bung to block the bass port. If you read any reviews or watch any videos where they have measurements which show the results of the sub with an sealed port as well as open and you notice the line tailing off for sealed, don't panic. The balance will be restored once the sub is placed in a corner. Subs that are sealed by design are intended for placement in a room corner, or at least against a wall.
Whether the V2-10 is right for you is a decision only you can make. It's large and black. Pretty powerful (but you can always turn it down) nd just shy of £600.
If you're looking for an alternative closer to your budget then I'd suggest having a look at the BK P12-300. This is a sealed 12" sub with a 300W amp. The version I'd go for is the FF which stands for Front Firing. Like the V2-10 and the Dali and MM subs, the driver faces into the room rather than at the floor (DF - down firing). There are pros and cons of each, but in your house the FF is going to put a little less vibration into the floor and so the neighbours might be happier. The price is £435 with a choice of finishes including satin black, light oak and silver.
BK started out as the manufacturing facility for the designs of a number of well known brands including REL. The company now sells its own products direct to end users, and it has a bit of a following. Since it sells direct there's no dealers margin to add on top. This makes these subs very competitive. The P12 would be closer to £700 if sold via AV stores.
I'll cut to the chase and tell you straight that a P12 isn't going to go as loud as the Monolith. In a room bigger than yours this might be a problem, but I doubt you'll have an issue unless you like your bass overblown and boomy. I'll give you an example of that. I have a customer with a large dedicated cinema room. We're talking about 30ft x 16ft. For a long time he was running a Paradigm PS-1000 sub (275W RMS, 10" driver, ported) and he likes the sub set way too hot for me. The bass drones and booms, but he loves it like that. Well, about 12 months ago the Paradigm died. The issue couldn't be fixed. A temperature sensitive component inside the transformer shorted out and there was no way to get to it. My repair guys are good, but even we have to throw in the towel now and again.
Ticked off, he went in to Richers and they tucked him up with an SVS SB-1000Pro (375W, 12", sealed, £580). Given his room size and the way he likes bass it's totally unsuitable. The sub is lost in that space. I found him a replacement Paradigm and happiness was restored. I can hear what the SVS sub is doing. It's tight and deep when set correctly. Nothing like the boom and overhang of the Paradigm. In my room, the SVS would work just fine (16' x 11' 6") But for my customer, in that large room, and the way he likes his sound, it just doesn't meet his expectation of bass.
If you can splurge, and there's a chance that you might move to a place with a much larger room, then the Monolith would be worth the stretch. However, if you're trying to keep the budget around the £400 mark, and one of the finish choices meets the required WAF, then you might want to take a closer look at the P12-300.
Compared to the Dali and Monitor Audio, aside from the 10" driver versus 8" on the other two, the other big size difference is the box itself. It's ported (bass reflex) which requires a larger volume of space inside the box to work. That means a bigger footprint and a taller box too. Being a ported does mean though that the sub is louder per Watt than a sealed unit of the same driver size. That comes in really handy when there's a pretty large room to pressurise.
One thing to bear in mind with porting is how it interacts with room boundaries.
All speakers get louder the closer they're put to a wall or floor. At higher frequencies (above around 200Hz which just above the higher-end of the male vocal speaking range) the effect of the lift is +3dB per wall/floor/ceiling. By 3kHz the effect has tailed off and other factors such as first reflections become more dominant. That's why room corners are bad for speakers. They change the tonal characteristics. At lower than 200Hz the effect is larger. You get up to +6dB per surface. The shift is gradual, but by 50Hz you're looking at +6dB per. This means that if you put a ported sub in a room corner then you'll get 6+6+6 dB of bass lift. That can change a sub from sounding tight and tuneful into a bloated mess at higher volumes when the action kicks in.
Fortunately, the folk at Monoprice designed their subs with this in mind, and so it ships with a foam bung to block the bass port. If you read any reviews or watch any videos where they have measurements which show the results of the sub with an sealed port as well as open and you notice the line tailing off for sealed, don't panic. The balance will be restored once the sub is placed in a corner. Subs that are sealed by design are intended for placement in a room corner, or at least against a wall.
Whether the V2-10 is right for you is a decision only you can make. It's large and black. Pretty powerful (but you can always turn it down) nd just shy of £600.
If you're looking for an alternative closer to your budget then I'd suggest having a look at the BK P12-300. This is a sealed 12" sub with a 300W amp. The version I'd go for is the FF which stands for Front Firing. Like the V2-10 and the Dali and MM subs, the driver faces into the room rather than at the floor (DF - down firing). There are pros and cons of each, but in your house the FF is going to put a little less vibration into the floor and so the neighbours might be happier. The price is £435 with a choice of finishes including satin black, light oak and silver.
BK started out as the manufacturing facility for the designs of a number of well known brands including REL. The company now sells its own products direct to end users, and it has a bit of a following. Since it sells direct there's no dealers margin to add on top. This makes these subs very competitive. The P12 would be closer to £700 if sold via AV stores.
I'll cut to the chase and tell you straight that a P12 isn't going to go as loud as the Monolith. In a room bigger than yours this might be a problem, but I doubt you'll have an issue unless you like your bass overblown and boomy. I'll give you an example of that. I have a customer with a large dedicated cinema room. We're talking about 30ft x 16ft. For a long time he was running a Paradigm PS-1000 sub (275W RMS, 10" driver, ported) and he likes the sub set way too hot for me. The bass drones and booms, but he loves it like that. Well, about 12 months ago the Paradigm died. The issue couldn't be fixed. A temperature sensitive component inside the transformer shorted out and there was no way to get to it. My repair guys are good, but even we have to throw in the towel now and again.
Ticked off, he went in to Richers and they tucked him up with an SVS SB-1000Pro (375W, 12", sealed, £580). Given his room size and the way he likes bass it's totally unsuitable. The sub is lost in that space. I found him a replacement Paradigm and happiness was restored. I can hear what the SVS sub is doing. It's tight and deep when set correctly. Nothing like the boom and overhang of the Paradigm. In my room, the SVS would work just fine (16' x 11' 6") But for my customer, in that large room, and the way he likes his sound, it just doesn't meet his expectation of bass.
If you can splurge, and there's a chance that you might move to a place with a much larger room, then the Monolith would be worth the stretch. However, if you're trying to keep the budget around the £400 mark, and one of the finish choices meets the required WAF, then you might want to take a closer look at the P12-300.
Last edited:
Soldato
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The monoprice subs are big and heavy. The 10" isn't too bad but the 12" is massive close to 60kg.
With a sub it's worth spending a bit more to have headroom, rather just get cheapest one.
If action movies are your thing then need a good one, marvel/DC etc.
The batman (latest movie the crappy nirvana cover) engine start up scene on mine was bloody scary.
No way would a 8" sub be capable enough for marvel movies.
With a sub it's worth spending a bit more to have headroom, rather just get cheapest one.
If action movies are your thing then need a good one, marvel/DC etc.
The batman (latest movie the crappy nirvana cover) engine start up scene on mine was bloody scary.
No way would a 8" sub be capable enough for marvel movies.
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Thanks for all the advice guys I've taken the fact that a 8' sub maybe lacking I have since found this Monitor Audio Bronze W10 6G currently on sale at richer sounds. And yes I do have to consider the neighbours and my 7yr old in bed at night
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12" or Bust!
Soldato
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33hz is still poor
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You can always turn a sub down if you still find it too loud. The AV receiver will do its auto-setup-wizard thing. You can then either go into the AV receiver menus and dial the sub down or use the volume dial on the rear panel.
What you can't really do is turn up a weak sub to 11 or magic it some extra depth or precision. They work to their limits. Pushing them beyond is when things get messy, boomy and just unpleasant.
You came on with a plan to spend £400-ish on a one or the other 8" sub. We looked at them and told you they are pricey for the performance. We suggested a couple of alternatives, and that saved you from making an expensive mistake. Quick question: did you pick those out, or did RS staff recommend them?
There's a lot of knowledgeable folk here in the forum; people who have been into AV and music for a long time and gained a lot of knowledge. What's more, no one here has any vested interest in whether you buy or not. We're not the ones selling you the gear. We make no profit nor take any commission. You might want to keep that thought in the back of your mind when you're next talking to the store staff.
What we've done for you is pick out what we think of as the best subs from the whole market, and not just what shop A or shop B happens to stock. That's impartiality for you. These are what we'd buy if we were in a similar situation to you. Here's the thing though; none of us are you. What you finally decide is up to you.
Is the W10 6G a bad sub? - No. Monitor Audio is a decent brand and I've sold and demoed more of their gear than I can remember. I've always liked the Bronze series for its sense of fun and value. They're making complete packages including subs, and those subs compliment the main speakers nicely for music, and they do okay for movies too. Was the W10 6G the best sub you could buy for £625? The simple answer is no. Is it any better a deal now that it's on clearance at £450? Yes, quite obviously. It's £175 cheaper. Does this make it the best sub you can buy for £450? I'm afraid that the answer is still no.
Is it the right sub for @arix ? If you want to buy from a retailer and feel like you're getting a deal..... then maybe. Would I run a W10 6G at home? Yeah, sure. Would I run it in preference to a P12-300 or a s/h SB-1000 Pro.... er...No. As a sub to match the visuals of a set of MA Bronze speakers there can be no better choice. But if I'm not using the matching MA speakers, is there a compelling reason to choose this sub? The honest answer is no, but your mileage may vary.
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Soldato
That's what she said
Soldato
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That's what she said
WORLD’S LARGEST SUBWOOFER!
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