You could do much worse than the sub woofers from Parts Express. Check out their site. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

For that size room, you need a lot more power than either of those has.

The PSW505 is probably the best you can get for $200, but that is a big room.

I would suggest that you put all of your money into some decent floorstanding speakers with good bass and forget a subwoofer, because a sub that will work there is going to cost at least $400. If you don't spend at least that much for a more powerful sub, deep low bass simply is NOT going to happen.

I have no idea what equipment you already have or what your total budget is like, so it's hard to make any recommendations.

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Hey, all, I'm posting this as both an introduction and a request for some assistance into the world of high(er)-end audio.

So, I'll jump into it. I'm a complete newbie to sound set-ups and audio equipment, and I'm looking to put together a system to replace the all-in-one Bose Companaion 3 desktop stuff I've had the for past 5 or so years.

First off I'll start by saying that my room is roughly 36ft long and 10 feet wide with my current speakers set up against and facing the walls that are 10 feet apart. The floors are concrete. The main use of the speakers will be for music with some light movie viewing.

Due to the financial constraints of being a college student, I'll be upgrading my system piece by piece, and I wanted to start with the subwoofer since there seem to be quite a few sales going on right now, and I'd like to catch one before it ends.

I haven't had a chance to audition either of these subs, but they are the two that I've been looking at:

Polk PSW505 - currently $189.99 on Amazon

BIC America F12 - currently $198.34 on Amazon

Basically, I'm wondering what your opinions are on these subs as beginner/entry-level equipment, and if there is anything else you'd recommend that might be better, but within the price range of roughly $200 or so dollars (there's a bit of wiggle room).

Also, any information on some bookshelf speakers to pair with the sub as well as a receiver would be great, keeping in mind that I'm trying to get a good bang-to-buck ratio and that I'll be buying each item over time.

If there's any other information you might need that I haven't provided, let me know and I'll post it.

Thanks in advance, and cheers!

P.S. I'm also interested in getting a vinyl record player to work into the system at some point.

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That helps a lot.

I suggest that you start by getting a pair of the Cambridge S30 speakers ($219) and a Cambridge or NAD integrated amplifier. The Cambridge AM10 amplifier is $349.

I could save you some money if you wanted to buy my NAD C325BEE amplifier, which I will let go for $225 plus shipping (like new; cost $550 new...essentailly the same as the C326BEE). I'm selling one of my houses and have a surplus of gear right now.

That will get you up and running, and you can get a sub later.

If you want a receiver (5.1) as opposed to just an amplifier, the Onkyo TX-NR414 is about $250 from Amazon; not too bad.

thetruffleking wrote:

My current equipment is this packaged deal I bought about 5 years ago by Bose called the Desktop Companion Series 3. It's basically a 2.1 system that I have jacked into my PC. I do not own a receiver or record player, just the two little desktop speakers that hook into the sub.

Overall, my budget is around $700 dollars for two desktop speakers, a sub, and a receiver of some kind, though there is wiggle room. I don't plan on spending all of that at once, however, since I can't afford to take the hit all at once; my plan was to put together a system piece by piece. It doesn't need to perfectly fill my entire room, and it's just to get my feet wet and see how I feel about investing in higher end equipment down the line.

Thanks for the responses so far, hope this new information helps.

Cheers.

speakers in the Pioneer SP-FS52 for $250 delivered from Amazon or best Buy. You then might not need a subwoofer. Then a Music Hall A15.2 is a real possibility for an integrated amplifier. A decent performer in the Harman Kardon HK3490 is available for $265 right now.