Good musical sub under $500

Rysa4's quote:
" I've been a musician for 30 years and am classically trained in music and have performed under world renowned conductors."
I am truely impressed.. that's wonderful!! I too was a bit disappointed in Rackon's comments but as he said I took it "with a very several large grains of salt" beside the fact they were not aimed at me, technically I don't even have a Rocket UFW-10 yet lol, but I am sure there were some who were offended.. Like you I as a musician (no where near in your league) feel I have a pretty good sense of what music "should" sound like. Along with that I would never bash any product unless it was absolutely a given (say comparing Altec Lansing PC sub to a Hsu VTF-2). As I said earlier everyone has their own preferences, I like the sound of Ludwig Classics others like the sound of Pearl References, is one better then the other absolutely not. I always treat this forum as a constructive site not a destructive one and always will...

Pmt1209...I have been using a UFW-10 for over a year (got one used on agon before they became so popular) in a room approximately the size of yours, with a pair of VonSchweikert VR-1s. FWIW, I have been a bass player, and am somewhat sensitive to how low frequency gets reproduced in home systems. I agree entirely with Rysa4's opinion of this sub. I think you made a good choice, and you should enjoy your purchase.

Ajn22 it's funny you should mention the VR-1s I came sooo close to pulling the trigger on a pair of them when I bought the Paradigm Studios, the reviews for them were just incredible but I couldn't track down any dealers remotely close to me to give them a listen and still just on reviews by mags and owners I almost ordered them sight unseen but decided $1000 was just too much $$ to take that chance.. I bet they are as good as they say huh?? Even to give the Paradigms a listen I had to drive an hour and a half to find a dealer. Sadly Best Buy and Circuit City put all our local mid to hi fi dealers out of business. Thanks for the reassurance on the UFW-10, If the UFW-10 works with your VR-1s they should be a good fit for my Studio 20v3s.. Who would know more about a good tight musical low end then a bass player :) What amp/receiver are you using with them if I may ask?

you might want to consider a kit ,,,i just assembled a kit sold by parts express..at a cost of 356 including shipping....took about an hour to assemble...has a solid plate amp and a dayton titanic 111 driver...one heavy sucker 60+ pounds...small footprint 14 sq...using in a small kiss- of- death square room...have tried fullrange and have had nightmare with the standing waves so i finally bought a pair of von scheikert vr 1 and am driving them with a modified shanling integrated and running them full range with the sub located in a corner and finally got rid of standing wave...sub is very quick and musical....hard beat it for less than 400-am considering buying another and running 2 channels

I was going to start my own thread, but I think mine fits nicely in this one:


Basically, I wanted to see if anyone had any recommendations for a good, smallish musical sub around $500 (not necessarily under) to pair with my KEF Reference 1's. I noticed that folks like the Onix, but haven't seen any reccs on HSU or SVS.

I have been using a Paradigm PW2200, which sounded great, but was far too big for the rooms in which I used it. Also, I move a lot and I have had enough of moving it. Oh, and it recently stopped working, so I'm done with it.

Anyway, I was hoping someone could recommend a good match for the KEF's. Alternatively, I would love to hear reccs on speakers that could match the KEFs paired with a sub.

If helps at all, my system is:
KEF Ref 1
Karan Acoutics i180 Integrated Amp
Marantz DR 700 CD
MSB DAC

Thanks and, if anyone objects, I'll move this to a new thread. - M.