specs/price look pretty good considering you get a wood finish and a narrow 14" sealed box that should have alot of placement options

I've been wondering the same thing. Problem seems to be it's a relatively new offering, not mass produced like so many of the other brands discussed here. But the specs seem very respectable.

Based on how beautiful everything Salk looks, plus the love expressed by owners, I am very very tempted.

Here's what the Salk site says: (http://www.salksound.com/songsub.shtml)

the driver
12" Cast Frame high-excursion woofer with black anodized aluminum cone. The motor has three different shorting paths that dramatically reduce voice coil inductance and motor distortion. Distortion levels are lower than nearly all other high excursion subwoofers on the market.

the passive radiator
12" Cast frame - full suspension passive radiator, mass tuned, with 22mm of one-way Xmax capability.

the plate amp
500 Watt RMS Class D BASH type high efficiency amplifier with fully adjustable 4th order lowpass crossover. The amp features a continuously-variable phase control (not a 0/180 switch like on many plate amps), full parametric EQ to adjust for room response, adjustable crossover with bypass switch, subsonic filter to extend low-end response, an auto-on feature and more.

system performance
With this tuned enclosure and this amplifier, the woofer remains within its linear operating range at all frequencies above 20Hz at the full 500 Watt output of the amplifier. This linear performance, coupled with the shorting rings inside the motor make this a "Very Low Distortion" (VLD) subwoofer when compared to even many much more expensive subwoofers on the market today.

Bass Extension - In an anechoic environment this subwoofer has a 1 Watt Nearfield -3dB point of 22Hz. In most rooms bass will extend to approximately 18Hz due to typical room gain.

Output - Maximum half-space output is 112 dB at 30Hz, 109 dB at 25Hz, 102 dB at 20Hz (Without Room Gain), with linear output at very low levels of harmonic distortion.


All this, starting under a grand?

Anyone? Thanks.

The driver seems to be a dayton rs12 a lot of DIY'ers use. If so and the design is good, money well spent on a PR design. Looks account for a lot of the price though. DIY cost without fancy cabinet is about $550.00

Any updates? Has anyone heard the SongSub? $900-$1000 seems pretty reasonable to me if it would cost $550 DYI. I'm looking for something to complement my SongTowers and this would be a good fit if it performs.

Justin

I believe the Songsub uses this driver: http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&Partnumber=295-464

and this amp:
http://www.oaudio.com/500W_SUBAMP.html

I'm running a pair of the 15" version of this driver each in a sealed enclosure each powered by the above amp. I'd bet the 12" HF driver with a passive radiator and powered by the 500W amp would do very well in all but a very large room. Having a 1 band PEQ as part of the amp is very nice to have as well. Also, the Dayton HF drivers have a reputation for good sound quality.

Cool, thanks for the info. I have an open living room/kitchen which is probably 6000 cubic feet total. It's a condo so I can't play at high volumes most of the time, so this sub might be sufficient (mostly HT/games, some music), but I'm not sure. Maybe I ought to start my own thread for this, though...

Justin

6k cubic feet is a lot of space. That sub might have a hard time filling that much space (others will have a hard time as well). You might want to look into multiple subs, and/or a larger sonosub (check the DIY forum). At lower volumes however you may be OK. That sub ought to have great sound quality.

Looks really nice.

For a grand there a lot of sub options though.
Hope it brings the performance for that price category and being an ID.

Oh, to be a word smith ... :

"Maximum half-space output is 112 dB at 30Hz, 109 dB at 25Hz, 102 dB at 20Hz (Without Room Gain), with linear output at very low levels of harmonic distortion."

Linear output? Granted, it's LOUD, but that's a 10 db drop between 30hz and 20hz. Hardly linear.

I'd spend my $1,000 elsewhere.


Tim

Oh, to be a word smith ... :

"Maximum half-space output is 112 dB at 30Hz, 109 dB at 25Hz, 102 dB at 20Hz (Without Room Gain), with linear output at very low levels of harmonic distortion."

Linear output? Granted, it's LOUD, but that's a 10 db drop between 30hz and 20hz. Hardly linear.

I'd spend my $1,000 elsewhere.


Tim

Tim, to be fair, you are misreading this data. That does not express frequency response. It expresses power response. It demonstrates maximum output at various frequencies. Take a look at these numbers for various subs:

http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/home-audio-subwoofers/6656-subwoofer-tests-fall-2007-a.html

Note that the 13Ultra shows a 7.3 db drop from 31.5hz to 20hz. The f113 drops 8.5 db. This is very different from frequency response which is usually measured at around 85db and would be much, much flatter.

Ahh... thanks Mike. My bad.

Withdrawn. :o


Tim

Thanks for the input, everyone. It looks like the SongSub should be a pretty good subwoofer, at least in terms of SQ (and looks). It would be great to hear a first-hand report, or better yet, a direct comparison to other subs.

Justin

It's probably made for music and not for HT, so in the intended application it should deliver.

wow 4 months and no user reports???

I can attest to the fact that Jim is reworking the sub. There were issues with the internal deminsions and the amp shorting out. I am not sure where he is on the redesign because of the demand for the SongTowers. You would be wise to just drop him an email.

Update, I just received a shipping label generated so I should be able to give some feedback in a week or so.

Sounds good, I'll look forward to your impressions!

Justin

Sounds good, I'll look forward to your impressions!

JustinI will post here. I just got an email from Jim and the deminsions have been changed slightly. Once I get and post my impressions I will let you know the specific changes.

Randybes, can you please post your review of Songsub.
Thanks

Hello All,

Jim Salk’s Song Series speakers are simply amazing; there’s nothing even close to this quality in this price range. What first grabbed my attention on the Song Series were the numerous reviews and product of the year awards on the Song Towers. After researching for a month, I decided to pick up the phone, and order a pair of Song Towers. After chatting with Jim, it didn’t take me very long to realize the quality of customer service, knowledge base, and attention to detail Jim puts into ever product. Without initial intent, I ordered the SongSub and SongCenter to match the SongTowers.

Shortly after ordering, I attempted to research the SongSub on the Internet, but found very little information regarding reviews. I must admit I was a little concerned at this point, but in the back of my mind, I knew I made a wise decision. Finally, six weeks later, I received the SongTowers, SongSub and SongCenter; I was amazed at how well the speakers were packed. Once I broke them out of the boxes I was in awe, every piece looked like an expensive high grade piece of furniture (much better then what you see on the Internet). After hooking up the speakers to my Yamaha RX-Z7, I calibrated everything using Yamahas proprietary YPAO automatic system calibration, and was surprised at the results. Nonetheless, I took a further step in calibrating the SongSub. I used a Radio Shack Sound level meter to fine tune the dB levels for each speaker, which brought the levels within .5 dB.

Now it was time to listen to the SongSub (used my Blu-ray copy of Iron Man). In my amazement, the SongSub was a perfect match for the SongTowers and SongCenter. I attempted to rate the dominate speaker here, but they were a perfect match for each other. What I’m most pleased with is the frequency response and balance between the Towers, Sub and Center. At the time I ordered, I couldn’t afford a pair of SongSurrounds (currently using existing bookshelf speakers). I’m sure the SongSurrounds sound equally as good too, but I’ve decided to go with a second set of SongTowers as surround speakers; I plan to order these within the next six months to a year.

If you have any reservations about ordering a SongSub, don’t worry, you’ll be amazed! When I think of the amount of work Jim puts into the SongSub cabinet, coupled with the cost of the individual components, I don’t see where he makes any money whatsoever. If you’re looking for a subwoofer that gives you a boom-boom sound, perhaps this is not the one for you, but if you’re looking for a quality (well balanced) natural theatrical experience this is the SubWoofer one for you.

Thanks for listening.[/QUOTE]