[TomW16]

I am very interested in the GR Research subwoofer set up with the passive radiator (SW-12A & PR-12A) for a home theater set up (not a music set up).  I have full range stereo speakers and I will only use the subs for movies so maybe Danny's sub is overkill for my needs but I do appreciate quality.

Here is the reason why I am considering Danny's sub system:  I am designing a home theater for my basement and currently have an old subwoofer that I built years ago (Kiega 5150 plate amp with a NHT1259 woofer).  I was simply going to purchase another NHT1259 woofer to have dual subs but it looks like the new NHT1259 woofer offered by Madisound is a 4 ohm woofer and, therefore, I may need a second plate amp to drive it ($169 amp + $150 for woofer).  If the dual NHT 1259 set up is going to cost over $300, I could purchase 2 of Danny's sub sets and potentially drive it with my single plate amp since the SW-12A is an 8 ohm woofer.  The amp should be able to handle a 4 ohm load when the drivers are in parallel.

Of course, I read all about the new servo aluminum cone drivers with megawatt plate amps, which would be awesome, but it is too much money for my simple needs.  My home theater room will be in the range of 375 square feet (approximately 15 x 25 feet) so I feel that two subs are warranted for this space.  I am looking for good quality bass capability for movies. 

Years ago when I did have my NHT1259 sub set up, I had the plate amp volume to only the 10 O'clock setting so hopefully there would be lots of drive left in the plate amp for two woofers noting that the room at the time was much smaller.

All opinions and suggestions are welcome. 

Thanks in advance!

Tom

[Loftprojection]

Tom, all I can tell you is that I really love mine.  I never had a big sub before but I listened to a lot of subs in stores and in my opinion the SW-12a with a good plate amp and well built box can be compared to subs that are way way more expensive.

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?action=gallery;area=browse;album=729&pos=19

[TomW16]

Thanks for the confirmation Loft and nice set up!    I see that you have the Rythmik A370 SE plate amp.  I would love to use that plate amp too but I just can't do everything all at once.  I am curious as to what volume you have your plate amp set at since yours is 350 watts and mine is "only" 200 watts.  I am just trying to gauge how under powered my single amp may be at driving two subs simultaneously.

Thanks!

Tom

[jrebman]

Can somebody tell me what the overall dimensions of the box that is on the driver info page is?

What thickness material, and what the approximate finished weight would be?

Looks potentially interesting for my main system, but finding a space for it is going to be the hard part.

Thanks,

Jim

[Blaine_M]

I have also built one...and for a home theater if your room is very big I would strongly urge you to either build a dual version or consider a sub from either SVS or HSU....I'll get shot for saying that on here... but that's my opinion.  If you were building one for music only I'd say go for it.  Personally my usage is about 60 percent home theater and 40 percent music..and when I listen to music on my AV/3 pair I usually am in stereo mode with no sub anyway...so I got an SVS sub with serious impact for my movie watching. 

[Danny Richie]

If you are looking for sound quality the SW-12A and PR-12A has you covered.

If you are looking for heavy, hard hitting bass then there are other options.

Personally I can't give up sound quality for anything. My solution for a larger sized room is to use more SW-12A's and PR-12A's to reach the output you like.

The fact that you can run a pair of them on one amp is quite the bonus too. 

My personally sub is a pair of them. I rarely turn the gain up past 1/4 of the way up and it hits plenty hard in my room that is 16' by 23' with 9' ceilings.

[Daygloworange]

jrebman,

The finished size of the PR Sub is 22" L x 16 1/2" W x 16 1/2" H . I forget the weight exactly. Mine is slightly larger as I built a separate closed chamber for the plate amp. I didn't want it to take up volume inside the cabinet.

I have mine running with the Apex Sr, Amp as recommended by GR. I've got the gain set at just over 9 o'clock ( crossed over at 40 Hz)and it integrates well with my 90db sensitivity main speakers. I use it for music only, and have to agree on the musicality of it. I'm by no means an authority on subwoofers, but I've heard quite a few, and for music, I'm very pleased with clean bass it produces.

Cheers

[slksc]

My single SW-12, with the modded Apex Jr plate amp, is plenty of sub for my basement room.  When I have the gain set at about 1:00, it shakes the whole house during action movies.  For music, I turn the gain way down.  The bass response of the AV/3 front channels is just superb, and I don't want too much LFE interfering with my classical and jazz albums.

[TomW16]

Thanks for all of the input!  There seems to be a consensus that the sub is exceptional for music and likely suitable for all but the most hard-hitting home theaters.

I was fortunate enough to find another NHT1259 woofer on eBay over the weekend so that was the least expensive way forward.  There seems to be a rebate on Crown pro amps right now (ends at the end of May) so I'll look into that to drive both subs. 

Thanks again for all the valuable input.

Tom