apartment subwoofer?(svs, hsu, etc.) help!

[kingofgrills]

Originally Posted by Colglizity

Hey folks- I live in an apartment on the third floor and towards the middle. After the rest of my DefTech ProCinema 800 that I'm piecing together arrives, my Yamaha subwoofer (10"x100watts) is the only thing holding my system back, not a bad sub by any means, but I'm really missing out on the real low-end levels that I hear when I visit my Dad and his SuperCube II. My questions are: (1) just how bad would my neighbors hate me if I were to step up to something a little more powerful? (2) Do the lower levels pass through walls as much as the big "thumps"? (3) Is it worth it to buy a subwoofer of this caliber where I'm living now, and if I were to move to a condo later with shared walls? I'm looking at the SVS 25-31Pci sub right now and it has me licking my choppas... thank you

Your in an apartment building? Pure overkill. Your neighbors are going to absolutely despise you with the new setup, let alone if you upgrade your subwoofer. I would recommend saving the subwoofer upgrade until you get a place of your own without neighbors all around you.

I know a guy who bought a Miller & Kriesel MX-70B subwoofer, which has two 8 inch subs in a push/pull configuration and retailed for $1,050, and he tried installing that in his apartment. His neighbors quickly pitched a fit with him. As much as he tried adjusting the levels, he never could get it's output low enough to not tweak his neighbors, so he disconnected it and placed it in his closet. After a while, his wife got tired of it sitting there, so he sold it to me - for $300. It now anchors my 2 channel listening room, and I couldn't be happier.

Anyway, it's easy to go too far in an apartment setting, so it might be better to wait until you move out of the apartment before upgrading your subwoofer. Otherwise you may never be able to use it to its full potential, and that wouldn't be very rewarding for you.