A5-350 vs ULS-15

What are your goals? Output? Sound quality? As far as output is concerned, I can't imagine it would be a significant upgrade. Even SQ I can't imagine it would be worth the up charge.

For 100% HT I wouldn't bother, especially if your room is on the larger/more open side. You'll get more output below 18 hz with the ULS but that's about it. You should get more output from 20hz and above with what you have.


If your room is on the smaller side and sealed and you don't think you're using all of the output of the EDs the ULS's might give you a better HT experience, perhaps worth the upgrade.

I think you'll definitely be getting cleaner bass, but not an output increase. For a big step up in output from what you have now you might need three or four ULS subs. That will get you major clean output to below 15 hz.

Stanley Steamer,

Why don't you come to the GTG...I know it's a 6 hour drive for you but you will be able to buy something after it gets the Sh*te tested out of it.

It was also be nice to include your dual eD subs. I know some might even consider trades. As I have been saying for months that sealed gives you deeper extension and a better SQ in my opinion. I bet my mfw dual opposed might get what your lookin for. Come to the GTG and see for yourself with the hard data to back it up.

GTG = Get ToGether. Usually a bunch of guys testing different subs or speakers. Beer and food is usually involved.

Honestly, if you're happy with output, the best thing you can do IMO to improve SQ is to strive for a flat frequency response. This will entail plotting your FR with REW, omnimic, or spl meter, test tones and excel. Then either use audyssey or some other form of eq to flatten your response. Room treatments will also potentially dramatically improve your SQ.

The above take a lot of time, but are likely cheaper and more effective at improving SQ than upgrading your subs....

Are you running XT32 now with them?

Well, that's good that you ran it with Audyssey. You may get some additional improvement once you run it with XT32.

However, until you know what you frequency response is for your room, swapping out subs may not solve the problem!

My suggestion would be to buy ominimic from parts-express.com (now $298). There is a whole thread dedicated to it on the DIY forum. This will tell you what your FR is. Once you determine that, you can then make adjustments with your sub placement, crossover point, phase, etc. to help flatten our problem areas in you FR. Once you've got it flat, you should notice much more detail in everything that you listen to.

No way you should upgrade your subs for $1,300 since you are 100% HT. After all, exactly what does an explosion sound like? Or all the other sound effects that are man-made?

If you were 50/50 HT and Music, then it might make sense to spend $1,300 to upgrade and even then you would probably be better off with a couple subs from Rythmik since they make arguably the cleanest subs short of the Submersive.

Save your money for a really big upgrade, which might not even be speakers of any kind. Look at your entire system and decide where you can gain the most impact. For example, if you are not using a front projector, you might start saving for a 70 or 80 inch Sharp LCD TV. I saw the entry level 70 inch Sharp LCD TV for $1,950 not long ago. A 70 inch TV could provide a huge amount of impact in your TV viewing.

Why does it have to be an LCD he saves for? why not a plasma? CES is right around the corner and I hear Panasonic will have a 70" plasma this year. Plus plasma is cheaper than LCD in bigger sizes, better blacks, better motion handling, better off angle viewing.

Plasma rocks.
I agree with the other recommendations. Explore placement, equalization, and treatments before changing subs.

I have an A5-350 in my bedroom and sealed subs in my basement and I like sealed subs better. The A5 can get boomy easily but, that is usually placement or levels set to high.

I would start HERE. Read up on REW, DL it, and try it out. Ask questions here or at the HT shack.

There is always the (easy, but much more expensive) option to pick up an AutoEQ sub processor like the SVS EQ1. These typically run about 550-600 used as they aren't available new anymore. However, they do work pretty well and are fairly simple.

Edit - Just saw that your receiver has XT32. This should do a fairly good job of the EQ'ing that the SVS product would do. I agree I would start with REW sweeps to see how close you are.

OK it would show you the frequency response (FR) of your sub. It would plot a graph showing if you have peaks or nulls in certain frequencies that you could then use the Eq to smooth out. So say it shows a peak at 25hz but a null at 30hz you would want to lower the output of the 25hz frequency and raise the output of the 30hz frequency to get a flat response. I hope I explained that right.

Multeq xt32 has the same subwoofer eq as the svs eq1. The eq1 is a standalone overpriced unit. You should be fine with what you have.

Do yourself a favor and bypass rew and purchase the omnimic. If you don't have an spl meter and the right soundcard, you'll have to buy those and configure it all together.

Omnimic will get you what you need and is much easier to setup (its all there in the box) and use imo.

Don't get me wrong, rew is still king regarding its capability. There's just a big learning curve when compared to omnimic. Omnimic will get you what you're looking for wrt measurements.

Wow that looks like it will be on my wish list! Thanks Dominguez I never really looked into what omnimic can do until now.

Please send me a Private Message when one can buy a 70 inch Panasonic plasma TV for $1,950.

It is also worth noting that the 85 inch Panasonic plasma is $30,000 right now while the 80 inch Sharp LCD is $4,300 right now. Please send me another Private Message when one can buy a 80 inch Panasonic plasma for $4,300.

I am open to both plasma and LCD, but I have to disagree with your characterization that plasma is cheaper than LCD in the really big sizes.

Well it certainly wouldnt be an entry level but the Pannys will have a 70" in the VT series. The 65" VT is going for under $2600 right now so I would guess that a top of the line VT 70" would be maybe a little more and well worth the extra over an entry level Sharp. Is that 80" Sharp even 3D? You also seem to be hung up on the price of the 85" Panny. I dont see what the price of a PROFESSIONAL MONITOR has to do with consumer Tv's.