The biggest issues with subwoofers are integration. How will it integrate with your speakers and room in the acoustic sense. My choice would be whichever is going to help you work around your room limitations and speaker configuration the best.
Subwoofer Advice & Therapy :)
Presently I have it narrowed down between three subwoofers - JL Audio E 100, REL T/9x and the Arendal 1723 1S.
Yes, there are tradeoffs in regards to the connection - high vs low. Also a bit of difference with dimensions, subwoofer size and a marginal price difference. My setup - First Watt F8, Modwright LS100 preamp, Zu DW 6 Supremes, Schitt YGGdrassil + LIM DAC, Modwright 9.0 tube phono stage and a Clearaudio Concept black with the AT Art -9Xi MC. I am leaning towards the Arendal, as it has a 60 day audition period, a visual app for set up and has 13.8" sub vs the 10" on the REL and JL Audio.
The other tradeoffs I know exist are in regards to the position of the sub and the size of my listening room. I only have one front corner location (with some room between the back and side wall). This is a large room with 12 ft. ceilings thats approximately 28 ft by 24 ft. In a perfect world I would go the next size up for the sub or go with two but the other trade off is the wife, who would not buy into the size or placement elsewhere. Note I am not up to trading in the wife at this time after 40 plus years 
I would appreciate your thoughts on these subwoofers with my existing layout and system. Mainly listen to jazz and R&B. Not looking for a booming bass but would like to hear a bit more especially when I listen to some classic rock or Indie. Thanks in advance..........
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I can only respond with regard to the 1723 1s. I have one in my HT set up so no experience in my 2ch rig. This is a very good sub and often surprises me as for it’s tunefulness for music and how powerful it is in HT. It’s a 13 inch driver/sealed box with a good phone app for integration. No XLR inputs. A good power cords helps too. I would not hesitate to try it since they do offer the home trail. I have been very happy with mine. I replaced a Velodyne FSR 15 I have for many years, no comparison. |
+1 @erik_squires In your situation get the sub with the best integration software you can get. An alternative might be to get a Rhythmik F12 sub and a used DSpeaker Anti-Mode Dual Core 2.0 DSP device that’ll help greatly with room integration and likely be even better than many onboard sub DSP programs. Best of luck. |
- 13 posts total