Older subwoofers better than newer subwoofers!

I had a Velodyne that was at least 15 years old, it was great for surround sound with movies, but even though room filling, it didn't seem to do 2 channel very well. I turned the movie room into just a music room about 2 years ago and replaced the Velodyne late last year with a JL Audio with DSP. Now music sounds like music at the bottom end, I think the "room filling" I was experiencing with the Velodyne was really standing waves, or just rumble/bloat rather then real bass notes. It was mush at the bottom end, great for explosions/car crashes, not so much for music.

I would not go back to a 15 year old sub myself. The JL Audio sub itself is so well mixed in with my main speakers that you can't tell I have a sub. That was never true with the Velodyne. Just my experience with subs.

Yes, Hsu have something similar.  I kind of ignore it and use an external EQ which gives me a lot more flexibility and fine control.

Maybe a more important issue is that subwoofers are designed to address bass frequencies that they were not originally intended to deal with. A larger Driver used wIth subs was intended to provide a blanket at the lowest basslevels where definition is less meaningful.

Over recent years drivers in main speakers have gotten smaller for cosmetic purposes (ie. smaller cabinets) and that leads to bass deficiencies.

So now subs are proliferating all over the place to deal with stereo listening deficiencies from Main speakers. Profoundly sad. With subwoofers to address these deficiencies it leads to more problems coordinating and synchronizing sound which leads to more marketing opportunities in the DSP area. It’s getting crazy out there.

@toro3 ,

Thanks for that! I have a Rythmic sub I bought used some months ago and while sounds good it just does not seem tight enough. With all the talk about how articulate the Rythmic subs are I have been diss appointed. I didn’t know about the damping adjustment. Sure enough I just checked after reading your comment and it was on low damping. Hoping this firms up the bass a bit. 👍

I had one of the first Velodyne F-1800 Mk. II monster subwoofers with servo-control a monster amp and 30+lb 18 inch driver.  Never-again for audio, theater doubtful.

You can buy whatever kind/quality sub you desire these days but the old 'boomers' are not as popular as newer subs seem (less blurry) more musical/tighter (if you want). There are still plenty of big ported subs for theater boom.

I believe subwoofer technology has increased far more in the last fifteen years than that of other audio devices. At the same time prices have plummeted for quality inexpensive subs. (Hsu, Rythmik, SVS, etc.)

With DSP and a fair set-up, I think most would be amazed how great a Swarm 4-sub setup can sound as opposed to one big old sub of days of yore.

But OP, your ASW2000 is a very fine sub so I understand where you remain!