Energy Take Classic 5.1 - Replacement Subwoofer?

Originally posted in speaker forum, but realized that this may be more appropriate. Sorry if the cross posting is a problem.

A friend of mine lost the subwoofer and rear speakers from his Energy Take Classic 5.1 speakers during a move. I always loved the speakers and he's offered to sell me the two fronts and mid for $50 to use as a 2.1 system.

Of course I'd need to replace the sub. Is there a decent, inexpensive smallish subwoofer out there that would match up well with these speakers and would be cheap enough to make this a good deal? Obviously a $300 sub puts me within $50 of a new set of these speakers that includes the rears as well.

Any ideas? Is this a good deal without the sub?

Also eventually I'd like to make it a 5.1 system again. Is there a source to buy these speakers individually?

Thanks!

Great feedback thanks! I like the idea as using this as a starting point to build a better system. I am a bit tight on space where the sub needs to live so I would need to go smaller than the Energy 10.3 or probably any other 10" sub.

Any thoughts on something smaller?

I did, sorry but I was a bit confused by that. I thought you were suggesting I buy a pair of 8's which I certainly don't have room for. I'll have a look at them. The price certainly sounds good as well!

Good question. I don't have exact measurements now, but will take a look when I get home. Right now I have the sub from a Sony HT-CT100 sound bar. Its fits where it is because it is tall and skinny. The current sub is 6.3 W x 19.7 H x 14.2 D (inches)

Something like that again would be great if I didn't need to compromise too much on quality and cost. I know I'm talking cheap and small here so this will be compromise no matter how I slice it.

Very nice thanks for the info. I'll have a look at all those. Unfortunately I know little about what makes a good sub so thanks so much for the links and the explanations.

I picked up the speakers today. I'll start digging on on sub's this weekend and now I need to start looking for something to drive these as well.

Thanks again!

I might have more flexibility on size if the sub if I locate it somewhere else in the room. That's no small task here but it may be doable. Right now the sub is just off center up front. How far away and off center can I move it before it becomes a problem? Could it be toward the middle or back of the room or is that just bad?

I do like that idea of using these drivers as a starting point by making them the surrounds eventually and replacing them with something better as cel4145 and tezster mentioned. It's great to have a path to improve from instead of planning on replacing everything again in a couple of years.

Anyone have any thoughts on an Energy EXL-S10 sub? It's an older model that a guy here locally is selling for $50.

He says its in great shape and he's just upgraded his. He will let me listen to it before buying. If its not obvious yet I'm trying to do this on the cheap.

Here's the PDF brochure for it.

PDF from Energy

Cool, thanks for the feedback. I'm not too worried about volume as we generally don't listen too loud, so good performance at lower volume is more important to me.

This one will only work for me if I can get away with not having it up front. I really have no feel for what I can get away with as far as placement, but I'm thinking that I'd be happier with something like this places off center than I would be with an under performing sub in a better position.