Looking for a new sub...I keep seeing HSU mentioned. I have a velodyne right now that I love, but I am looking to upgrade. Is HSU better? And if it is, why?
i think first you should figure out whether or not a down firing sub fits your needs and tastes. i know atleast one guy on this board insists on front firing because he insists that you can get better results. hsu is pretty good for the money. depending on what your budget is really either is good. you could probably compare the DSP10 with the STF-2. both have about the same specs and price. only thing with hsu is lack of selection compared to velodyne but that shouldnt be too surprising considering the difference in the sizes of the two companies. whats your budget?
The higher end Velodynes are nice, especially the ones with remote gain control. But I'd be very very surprised if they could keep up with the Hsu or SVS subs on a dollar to performance basis.
When you buy a Velo sub you're paying for both their profit margin and the dealer's profit margin. With an Internet-direct manufacturer that middleman's out of the way.
I definitely found this to be the case with my Ascend internet-direct speakers, they beat out some retail speakers costing 3 times as much.
I was wanting to keep it 500 and under. I just want the best sound. Downfiring or front firing doesn't matter as long as the one I get has the best sound. I love my little velodyne but I keep hearing so many good things on this board about HSU, I am torn. What do you think?
thanks for the reply. Have you heard HSU before? I haven't thats another reason why I am a little hesitant. If you guys have heard HSU, that would help me alot.
Yeah I had the Hsu STF-2 for a few days on loan, it was very hard to let go of! : )
It should be ample for your needs, $400 new or $320 b-stock, unless you have a humongous room and are a raging basshead.
Another possibility is outlawaudio.com's LFM-1 which was partially designed by Dr. Hsu and goes for $600, it's similar to the STF-3 which is the same price.
The PB10 goes 5Hz lower, the Hsu is supposed to be tighter and faster for music. Also the PB10 has limited features, for instance no internal crossover and no high level inputs. Haven't heard the PB10 so am of limited help here.
I think art tried one of the svs box subs and was disappointed. i believe he thought it was too boomy. may be good for HT work but for music the hsu would work better.
If just for movies I would get the SVS 25-31. You can home trial the SVS and if you don't like it you can send it back. Same for the HSU. The shipping for the PCI-25 31 is around $25 dollars each way in the continental US. Check with SVS but I believe they will tune the 25-31 to 22Hz no extra cost. You will have to verify with SVS on the shipping part too.
I've owned both Hsu and SVS and I like the Hsu better. Both are good for general home theater use and neither of them are spectacular for music. Hsu however is in my opinion better for music and at your price range at least as good for HT. Like someone else said the SVS will go a bit lower but my Hsu literally had the floor shaking under me during "Master and Commander" the other night. I have the Hsu VTF 2 mk2.
I think you should reconsider. You already have a pretty reasonable sub in there. What you should now be aiming for is something that delivers both better bass as well as better control. Most of the Velodyne subs now come with Room EQ adjustment which allows you to build the room acoustic into the bass response of the system. The effects are significant! Save up some more cash and look at the Velodynes...