Tca 18.2 - Page 23

Can these subs be eq'd to play lower? It seems as if everyone talks about the great mid-bass, but aren't extremely impressed with the ULF bass. This is an 18" sub so I hoped it would really be putting out the numbers down low. I know the HSU ULS-15 is eq'd to do so and it made me wonder what this sub is capable of given some DSP.

I may be WAY off course here, but i am just curious. Sorry if this is off topic.

The guys who own the CS-18.2's have been quite happy with the extension of the CS-18.2. I have yet to get a single complaint about extension.

There have been complaints from guys who have never seen a CS-18.2, but that's to be expected.

I ran FOTP last night with one sub in each front corner with all my traps and panels in place and I will say this, acoustic treatments are a must. I thought I did enough before but man, the bass was much more defined and the room was much quieter, no rattles from the door anymore. There were parts during the crash that was moving my pants but you could not hear anything. This is with just 2, Craig hurry up and get me those others, I have rooms to destroy!! Seriously, how low a sub will go will depend on type of design and room. The CS 18.2 goes as deep as any sub I have owned in my room or should I say as deep as my equipment will allow.

You are welcome to destroy my room if I can keep them...

Actually, with my new treatments the room is dead silent while I am pegging my meter(Yes I am running them hot right now). The room is starting to sound like the loney bin which is a good thing. Just hearing lots of bass and feeling lots of pressure without the room making noises is a great thing.

MK how many do you have in that room? You have had some SERIOUS subs in there...

Right now 2 CS 18.2's or 4 18's. I have 2 more coming for once again 8 18's. 8 18's in my now very well treated 2100 cubic foot room is awesome and over 140 db's at the subs.

MK that much clean power in a well treated room with little to no reverb is sweet. Hopefully Craig will have the next batch of 18.2's ready to go shortly. Can you say every seat is a good seat! I myself am working on getting another for duals for living room duty.

You hit the nail! I just watched a movie last night and my back row of seats always sound different from the fronts. They were always 2 db's within each other but the front row always sound punchier(tighter?) and you could feel the hair movement thing where the back of the room would be a pressure chamber and clog your ears much more. Since the room treatments, the back of the room(seats against the wall) sounds just like the front now. Hair movement, punchy, and does not blow your ears out. I have spent around $500 on treatments now(I have one more order coming) and I will have to say the best investment by far!!!!!! I had similar experiences with the foam but it was butt ugly to the wife. This looks great and works great. I want to drag the DTS-10's back in here but they will not fit anymore. Scott is sending me a different horn to try out with my CD's and if they work would free up more space behind the screen!

Out of curiousity where are you buying your treatments?

DIY but using ATSacoustics for the materials.

So while waiting for the CS18.2s to become available I've started to wonder if perhaps two of them will be too much for my room. My room is only about 3400 sq ft, and I recently sold my Def Tech Trinity in anticipation of getting 2 CS18.2s. The Trinity never seemed to overpower the room but it was most certainly nice and I never thought I was missing anything, except maybe the musical capabilities of a truly sealed sub. I was looking at the placement options in my room for 2 CS18.2s and thats when I realized perhaps I should only get one. I was planning on having one up front and then one behind my seating area. My wife recently brought up the point that she frequently sits in the seat which will only be about 4 feet from the rear CS18.2 which made me realize perhaps that location just wont work. I dont have enough space on the right side of my screen to place the 2nd CS18.2 so the only other place would be colocating it with the other CS18.2 up front.

Anyone have any ideas?

You can always get one now, set it up and put it through it's paces and then decide if a second is needed.

Do you mean cubic feet?

Is that a closet to the left of the seating area? How big is it? Can it be sacrificed in the name of bass?

Your room is slightly bigger than my room, (mine is 18x23x9) and you also have that side room. I'm currently using 1 18.2 with an MFW15 to help smooth out the room modes. I don't think 2 would be overpowering though, you do have a bit of space to fill there and the headroom is nice. I'm a fan of multiple non-colocated subs to help smoothing out the FR.

Another approach could be going with 3 subs and doing the Geddes approach. One in a corner, one along a midwall somewhere, and one elevated a little higher. This 3rd one could be smaller, like the 10.2 or the new 12.1. The elevation helps deal with the vertical room modes. This would give you more placement flexibility. I'll be adding a 3rd sub soon to give this a shot.

I want another one.

MK,

I have 2 18.2's as well, How many panels did you put in your room.

When I ran the room analyzer it recommended 20 panels.

Seems like a lot.

Thanks,

David

You and me both! Actually one is enough even in my large area and I really do not have the room for another but... You guys with two or more I am envious.

If you want another 1, why do you have your current 1 up for sale?

Need more output. But I've never heard another large sub with the sound quality of the 18.2 with music. If I get a big ported sub I will just be one more guy in the sea who has a large ported sub that brings down the house for HT yet it's merely an also ran for music.

I don't want to be a part of that crowd. I want the best of both worlds when it comes to sound quality and output. I will admit the 18.2 has it's limitations in terms of raw output so the only way around this is to have a pair of 18.2's. Then I will have a setup that excels with both HT and music.

I'm almost done with the Legion of Boom. I got a monster center coming so a second 18.2 will be icing on the cake. It's gonna be delicious when I'm done. It's hard to discuss the merits of the 18.2 to those who have not heard it and are going purely by spl specs. It's articulation, control, and precise sound is jaw dropping once it's broken in and eq'ed. I was tempted by the spl demons into putting my sub for sale.

But after hearing how this sub sounded this week at full bore with Resident Evil:Afterlife my feelings have changed. I'm going to pay double and go for sound quality first.

So what subs out there on the market are actually capable of matching the spl output of a single cs18.2, sealed or ported. I know the diy subs are a different animal and im not really interested in getting tangled in that web. I don't know of any other subs capable of beating out the cs18.2 or a pair for the same price.

For under $1,500, the only sub I know of that will give more overall output than the 18.2 is the 2011 Captivator.

So I did a google search on that Captivator sub and stumbled upon the Avs forum "who is the king of subwoofers" hana such a loaded question. But anyway I didn't get much into reading about the Captivator but I saw a picture or two and it appears to be ported... so I wonder how its music abilities measure up.

Well, I don't want to hijack this thread, but you should probably check out the threads for the Captivator and other products made by the same company.

Its manufacturer, JTR Speakers, is a small pro audio manufacturer, but an exceedingly well-regarded one, at that. The Captivator is actually used in pro audio settings, as well, if that gives you any indication. Further, Mark Seaton, a near legend here, has been largely associated with the designs of JTR products and remains so, though to what degree I don't claim to know.

Based on the huge amount of reviews here for their subs, as well as the reviews on their speaker lineup, I think you can most likely find a lot of feedback to your question. What I've read has been overwhelmingly positive, and the few owners I've spoken directly to are exceedingly pleased. I just bought a Captivator myself, and it was delivered yesterday. I'll be back in town to hear it next week, so I'll update with my impressions in its thread then.

Good luck!

So, you're selling or keeping and adding, DD?

I have not made the final decision yet. My options are to add a second 18.2. Go the ported route and get a A7-900 or a 2011 Captivator. Or go the custom route and get a 21" maelstrom in a sealed box.

Ah decisions, decisions.

I'm seriously leaning towards twin Captivators. Sounds like the best deal for me, I need subs that can keep up with my new KL-650s!

I don't know where you are in Florida, but you are welcome to come over and hear my twin 18.2 set-up. I have no doubt they could keep up with any speakers you may have.

DD, are you talking about adding the above mentioned subs to the CS18.2 you already have, or replacing it with one of the other subs?

Looking back at the old Craigs Sub Rankings the A7-900 had higher measured SPL at 20 hz by 1.5 db, but lower measured SPL for the 20-63 hz avg by 5 db.

So as best I can figure the A7-900 has just a tad bit more spl at 20 hz and below but the CS18.2 has more spl for the 20-63 hz range. And the A7-900 costs roughly double that of the CS18.2. Havnt done any reading on the Captivator yet.