Subs

barmyllama · 12 Nov 2018 at 16:21

hornetstinger said:
Best not to go and demo a high end sub then.

I think my SB ultra lacks something what the pc ultra 13 did have for movies, pressure waves. Sauron ring drop and explosion good example. Ported model pressurises the room, makes the room floors flex.

I've moved from a cheap sub to a pretty good one and it's been a big step between the models I'd you are into action movies it really is worthwhile getting a good one.

For music don't need to go mad but need a good fast sure not boomy,.just to supplement the mains. For.movies supplement mains too but have ability to make it feel like what is happening on screen is real. Ie grenades going off.

The set up I have is at the limit of my budget and more importantly my wife.

She had her fingers in her ears during the street shoot out from Heat.

Psycho Sonny · 12 Nov 2018 at 17:00

barmyllama said:
The set up I have is at the limit of my budget and more importantly my wife.

She had her fingers in her ears during the street shoot out from Heat.

loud doesn't mean good though.

subwoofer is all about how low they can go as well without distortion.

the gemini is a great sub for the money. however bigger sub doesn't mean it will be louder. you control the volume. it's about not missing out on the lower frequencies.

i hope you understand what i mean by the above. the test of a good sub isn't how loud it goes.

barmyllama · 12 Nov 2018 at 17:16

Psycho Sonny said:
loud doesn't mean good though.

subwoofer is all about how low they can go as well without distortion.

the gemini is a great sub for the money. however bigger sub doesn't mean it will be louder. you control the volume. it's about not missing out on the lower frequencies.

i hope you understand what i mean by the above. the test of a good sub isn't how loud it goes.

Volume of my sub is at 50% and my lowest speaker crossover setting is 80hz so I wasn't suggesting it was good because it was loud.

Just I'm happy with my BK Gemini II and for the money it's great piece of kit, well reviewed and better than the Tannoy in my previous speaker 5.1 set up.

For my room size, budget and wife tolerance it' s good sub to pair with the rest of my low mid range kit. Which is sort of the same level the OP's set up is at.

hornetstinger · 12 Nov 2018 at 17:17

Correct. I could build a ported sub that is tuned to 40hz. It'll go insanely loud but with the high port tune it will have zero sub bass.

Psycho Sonny · 12 Nov 2018 at 17:21

barmyllama said:
Volume of my sub is at 50% and my lowest speaker crossover setting is 80hz so I wasn't suggesting it was good because it was loud.

Just I'm happy with my BK Gemini II and for the money it's great piece of kit, well reviewed and better than the Tannoy in my previous speaker 5.1 set up.

For my room size, budget and wife tolerance it' s good sub to pair with the rest of my low mid range kit. Which is sort of the same level the OP's set up is at.

that crossover setting doesn't seem right.

i have much bigger speakers than you do (which means they can handle bass a lot better) and mine is a lot higher than that.

i would increase it. it's about getting the best speaker fit for the job to reproduce the sound. the sub will be better at doing 90hz than your speakers for example.

hornetstinger · 12 Nov 2018 at 17:26

There are pros and cons for using 80hz all round versus actual. Thx use it for a reason. Problems with bass if you set low, but then might prefer it that way if you have floorstanders, and have a amp capable enough..or for music it's better.. or depending what sub you have

As for scene try finding Nemo Darla fish tank tap. You should feel fear when she is tapping literally like your actual windows are flexing.

Also in monsters Inc, the door knocking feels like someone banging on the door.k

The Darla scene literally feels like someone is whacking your front window with a 80lb soft lump hammer with you in the closed room. Not breaking but smacking it hard so it's flexing and you feel that percussion wave.
My 12" sealed isn't bad but not a patch on the bigger sub for intense scenes I don't think even dual 12" match the impact of a high end bigger sub

lucid · 13 Nov 2018 at 00:37

maj said:
Well that question opened a can of worms but thanks for all the replies. Some very useful information to consider and I will look into the alternatives mentioned as well as B-Grade. I don't have the biggest of living rooms so size is a factor (13'0'' x 11'6'') and the Gemini 2 would fit nicely in one corner of living room based on its dimensions. Just looking for something to compliment my Q2020i's but will take on board the advice regarding it isn't that great for movies.

"isn't that great for movies" compared to what though?

I think you have to look at carte blanche statements like that and ask if the person offering the opinion is comparing like-for-like products. SVS has been mentioned a lot in this thread. Yeah, in absolute terms the SVS subs go louder and deeper, so sure, that's better for movies. But that's not comparing apples with apples. The 12"-16" SVS models are £550-£3000. Well of course those bigger and more expensive subs are better for movies.......... duh!! Isn't that stating the bloody obvious?

If you had £600 to spend, then sure, let's look at a 12" SVS sub then debate the ins and outs compared to a BK Monolith or a JBL 260P or a B&W 610. Those are all comparable in price and driver size.

I think you have to look at the Gemini II and compare it to what's available for around the same budget.

When you do, you'll realise that you're looking at mostly 8" or 10" driver units. Or there's the Q Acoustics 2070 which uses 2 x 6.5" drivers. Amp power is 100-200W typically. Frequency range - whether ported or not - won't get much lower than about 35Hz. It doesn't matter if you choose Yamaha, Wharfedale, Q Acoustics, BK, Monitor Audio or Elac; you won't get much appreciable difference in bass depth within the scope of what's possible for the budget.

If you can magic up some more money, or you're willing to look further than B grade stock for your budget, then things could be different. If not, then a Gemini II is really a good choice within its peer group.

theone8181 · 7 Mar 2019 at 07:40

Just for reference i ended up buying the BK P12. All i can say is i'm glad it was delivered to my house as it would have been hard work fitting it in the car. Also i redid audyssey and it set my sub to +3.5db (with the gain dial at 12 o'clock). My old q acoustics was more like 9 o clock and it set that to -12db. I'm wondering if it being a small sub meant it was more boomy and it was doing wierd stuff to the calibration mike. Tonight im going to check youtube with a frequency range video to see how it sounds, however last time i did this there was still sound coming out my speakers even though the crossovers are higher than what was playing.