JoeyJoJo

You guys are right-on, thank you. I ended up getting a $100 subwoofer on craigslist (200W Energy S10.3) just to play around with, and equalizing it with REW via computer soundcard (EqualizerAPO) made me realize that flatness, as you guys stated, is better off parametrically-EQ'd and the non-EQ response of the sub doesn't matter much. With low-frequency capability being determined primarily by maximum driver excursion (expensive) and surface area (big) of the driver (and low-tuned resonance if applicable i.e. port (big) or passive radiator (expensive)), you have to choose expensive or big, as you guys also stated. For instance the Energy S10.3 supposedly has unusually-low-freq capabilities for its price, but that 10" driver is on a 2.5 cubic-foot ported box (wonder what freq the box is tuned to?). For an outboard / standalone DSP, is it really as simple as buying a $90 miniDSP (or better recommendation?) and uploading the REW coefficients? The craigslist purchase came with a crap budget soundbar. REW did a really good job of matching the SPL between the sub and soundbar despite the sub not having a volume/gain knob, would be nice to get parametric EQ without requiring my laptop.

Yeah I was wondering about that kipman. Perhaps it is more cost effective to get (or build) a compact 12 inch sub with a not very flat response but high excursion capabilities or low-tuned radiator making the sub capable of decent 20hz output and just equalize it. I know how to equalize in software running on a computer, but haven't looked into how to equalize using a dedicated module to process the audio input into the subwoofer, downside being an extra piece of equipment. How would EQ work? Commercially-available I haven't seen many subs that give me hope they can produce 20hz that are also cheap and compact. Generally the cheaper subs give very little technical data at all.

Thank you so much for mentioning Rythmik, I hadn't heard about them and I think I just fell in love. Their 12 inch servo subs are slightly beyond my price range but servo technology sounds promising. The L12 for $560 is almost exactly what I'm looking for, 18hz@-3dB, 300 watts, and I think it weights about 50 pounds . I'm going to wait on the decision, but it seems like an amazing subwoofer. The competition would be the ~$640 SVS SB2000, which is sexier, 19hz@-3dB 500 watts 34.8 pounds.

In the past few days I've been learning quickly about subwoofers, starting from essentially know nothing, although I have a physics background. My interest is to play electronic music genres that feature sub-bass (23-30hz) in a small room (~2000 cubic feet) at home for dancing purposes. The maximum output in dB is not very important. A flat (+- 3dB) response over the 23-40hz range during a sine sweep (not accounting for room normal modes) is very important. Indeed some of my favorite tracks to listen to use similar sine sweeps. Ideally it would weigh less than 50 pounds, and be smaller than 3 cubic feet. And self-contained, without need of external amplifiers or external DSP. Also ideally it would be premade. I've looked into DIY, and it seems for my purposes I would gravitate towards building a low-tuned port system using a plate amplifier with built-in DSP (minidsp and dayton audio), but it would be nice if I could order a premade solution that "just works" (especially since I have never built a subwoofer before). Sorry if I'm asking for the impossible, anything even close to what I'm asking for would be great. I'm very attracted to SVS's line of "smart" subwoofers with DSP / EQ functionalities built-in, but they're about $300 more than I'm willing to pay.