I've been reading lots ont he forums on budget subs and it look slike the best options out there for the money are:

Bic H-100
Dayton Sub 100
Dayton Sub 120
Velodyne VX-10
Premier Acoustics PA-120

What I'm looking for is opinions (respecting that that's exactly what they are:opinions) on what the better option would be. I'm willing to spend the extra money on the Bic/PA if it's worth it.

Setup:

room approx 18'x18'
Denon AVR-1909 receiver with Omage speakers
primary use: Home theatre with music a distant second

Thanks for the advice.

I tried the velodyne impact - 12, which is the newer version of that series sub. It was an awful sub for HT, and there customer service was el terrible. Don't go w/ velodyne unless you can do it right.

From your list I've personally used the Bic H-100, Dayton Sub 120 and Velodyne VX-10.

The Sub 120 had the most output if that's what your after but other than that I found it horrible. One noted and boomy and I could never get it integrated properly no matter what I tried.
The VX-10 was a nice budget sub but doesn't extend as low in the frequency range as some of the other offerings. It had very good midbass though. If your budget is < $200 shipped it won't disappoint.
The H-100 I thought was the best overall, good low end response for it's price point and good output that was easy to integrate.
It's been a while since I tested these and other budget subs but at that time I thought the H-100 was by far the best choice overall.

I haven't tried the PA-120 but it gets good user feedback.

The Sony line of budget subs SA-W2500, SA-W3000, SA-W3800, available from Amazon, are probably worth considering. I got the SA-W3800 (15", 200W) a few weeks ago, and I came to like it much better when I discovered that it stops booming when its volume is turned down. But I have no idea how it compares with the others you mention.

Thanks everyone. I've been reading the PA-120 website and it's getting great reviews. I'll probably get either it or the H-100.

Make sure you order it off ebay or amazon to get free shipping.

http://www.*****************/trafficreport/img/3721/k08t1221bbuq/gdsmile.gif Yeah amazon offers free shipping and that rocks!

Haven't heard any on your list except the BIC H-100 which I've had now for about a month. It's set up in a listening area that's 13' x 18'. My usage is primarily movies. The rest of my 5.1 rig is a Sony STR-DG1000 AVR, 4 Polk R150's and a matching Polk CSR center.

When the H-100 arrived, I immediately hooked it up (literally just plugged it into the AVR and the wall socket) and slipped Master and Commander into my DVD player. With the volume set at 5+ (scale of 1 to 10), the cannon blasts in the first battle scene actually thumped me in the chest. Since then I've tweaked my overall set-up and dialed the volume on the H-100 back to 4. Even so, last night the opening scenes in Serenity still were chest thumping. Now this is my first real sub, even if it's a budget model, but if the others on your list perform like this one does, you'll have a tough choice.