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BIC Acoustech H-100 or Energy S10.3

post #1 of 55
12/9/07 at 6:06pm
Thread Starter 
I'm about to invest in a new SUB to replace the crappy one I have.

I have heard many positive reviews on the BIC Acoustech H100, but found locally an Energy S10.3 on sale for only $60 more. The Energy sub has a more powerfull amp according to its specs and extends lower than the H100 (down to 21HZ). Is the energy a better sub for a medium sized room or is the H100? I will be using the sub for both home theater and music.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions. I'd appreciate it if someone could give me their thoughts tonight since The H100 is to ship out tomorrow and I'll need to cancel my order if the Energy one is significantly better.
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post #2 of 55
12/9/07 at 6:33pm
I used to have a Bic H-100 it was a great sub for the money. But for $60 more energy would be my choice based on various reviews I read.
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post #3 of 55
12/9/07 at 6:48pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks for that. Anyone else with some thoughts.
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post #4 of 55
12/9/07 at 7:46pm
I'd get the H-100. More headroom never hurts.
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post #5 of 55
12/9/07 at 8:49pm
Thread Starter 
What do you mean by headroom?

The HT100 is 150W RMS and 500W peak, The Energy is 200W RMS and 800W Peak. As far as I can tell the Energy has more headroom. The only thing is the HT100 is a 12" driver and the Energy is a 10" driver...
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post #6 of 55
12/9/07 at 8:55pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Talontsi96 View Post

What do you mean by headroom?

The HT100 is 150W RMS and 500W peak, The Energy is 200W RMS and 800W Peak. As far as I can tell the Energy has more headroom. The only thing is the HT100 is a 12" driver and the Energy is a 10" driver...

The 12" more than likely also has a higher sensitivity, requiring less power for an equal amount of volume. I'm pretty sure the H-100 will be louder than the Energy. Wattage is not everything. Adding to the fact that the H-100 was partially designed by Dr. Hsu, you are pretty much guaranteed a better product than the Energy. The Energy also looks to be a less than stellar performer. The driver looks like something you would find in Circuit City.
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post #7 of 55
12/9/07 at 9:16pm
I disagree with Spezzy. I'm not sure where he gets the idea that it's not a good performer as most of the objective tests have shown. Having put that Energy through its paces, I'd say it has nothing to apologize for, Dr Hsu or not (since when was he the only expert on speaker design?). And the driver is fine....it's not PB Ultra, but it performs well and sounds extremely clean
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post #8 of 55
12/9/07 at 9:34pm
Have to agree with warpdrive on this one, the H-100 is and AWESOME sub at the $200 price point. However the Energy S10.3 is in a different class, clean bass and very articulate, definitely not something you'd find at CC and generally sales at twice the price or over of the H-100.

Athena, Mirage, Energy are all sister companies that make great products. The S10.3 would be more comparable and very similar in design and performance to the Mirage Omni S10 which you can find at the link below.

The only thing I would be leary about is the price. That seems like an awesome deal and I would check to see if the dealer is authorized, if not the warranty will probably be void. At any rate if it is in fact that price and new it's an awesome deal and a much better choice than the H-100 imo.

http://www.vanns.com/shop/servlet/it...ails/549499414
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post #9 of 55
12/9/07 at 10:15pm
Thread Starter 
The dealer reputation is a non-issue. The Sub is on "sale" for less than half of their regular price at Future Shop. It will be about $60 to $80 more than the H100 by the time its all done with, because I'm not sure about the duties and brokerage in getting the H100 in to Canada from the online dealer. In any event I'm contacting the online dealer to Cancel the sub order for now and I'll see if I can pick up the Energy sub. From what I can see the .3 Energy subs are a totally different animal from the .2 series. I believe the 10.3 won the active subwoofer under $1000 award from Sound and Image magazine:

http://www.avhub.com.au/Sound-Image-...ners-2007.html

I'd prefer the 12" and am unsure which one of these subs would be louder for a medium size room but I can return the Energy to FS if it doesn't have enough punch for my needs. However' it will be tough to compare it to the H100 since I dont have it here yet. In any event, thank you all for your comments and suggestions. Keep them coming.
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post #10 of 55
12/10/07 at 6:07am
Talontsi96 just curious how big is your room?
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post #11 of 55
12/10/07 at 8:07am
Thread Starter 
22' by 15' by 8' tall so just under 3000 cubic feet
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post #12 of 55
12/10/07 at 8:18am
that's a pretty big room. I think you should be looking at a bigger sub than the either the Energy 10.3 or BIC
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post #13 of 55
12/10/07 at 8:28am
Tell you my opinion...I upgraded from the Mirage S-10 ( pretty similar to the Energy ) to the Energy S12.3.... The 10 was great for music, no question...but the 12 adds so much more punch for HT, an incredable sub in my opinion. For your size room if you can find a 12 for the price...or save for a little while you will be very happy with one. Energy makes a great product....done.
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post #14 of 55
12/10/07 at 8:32am
If its down to the Energy and the H-100 I would hands down go with the H-100 with your room size.

I have a room almost the same size and the H-100 rocks, I only have its volume set to 4 and its does a killer job. I think I lucked out with my room in that I placed the sub in a corner and it sounds great and shakes the place.
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post #15 of 55
12/10/07 at 8:36am
Thread Starter 
Thanks for you opinions guys, unfortunately the S10.3 is on sale right now and not the s12.3. I read a review where they were comparing the S10.3 to the HSU STF2 and the results were very similar. I see on the HSU website they rate the STF2 loudness level to a mid sized room (#2) Looking at their chart the Mid sized room is up to 3000 cubic feet so my room may just be under that. The S10.3 may just be enough.... what do you guys think? Is the HSU rooms chart not accurate....?
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post #16 of 55
12/10/07 at 9:08am
Are your priorities leaning towards music or HT? I have not listened to the H-100, but it sure has gotten raves on the forum. I know the Energy would be excellent for music and should be enough to rumble the place for movies....but perhaps the Bic might be a better choice for strictly HT...... confusing I know.
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post #17 of 55
12/10/07 at 9:51am
Talon, the charts are just rules of thumb. So yes, the 10.3 should be actually decent, but not exceptional in the room of your size.

As you said, you should give it a try. The worst thing that can happen is that you have to cart the thing back to Futureshop.
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post #18 of 55
12/10/07 at 10:20am
Thread Starter 
Just got back from FS. Their sale price on it was actually $80 more than I found online. Luckily I printed their add out. They were reluctant to match their own online price but ended up doing it anyway. It sounds like the price I paid is a deal for this sub. I put the HT100 on hold. Looking at specs alone (I know, I know.....) The S10.3 is rated down to 21HZ (+-3 db), while the BIC is rated down to 24HZ (+- 3db) so it seems the S10.3 should have lower bass.. This is a good thing. BIC rates theirs at 115 db max spl....I have not found max spl ratings for the S10.3... Oh well.. time to try it out...
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post #19 of 55
12/10/07 at 10:31am
Ok well hope this 10in works out for ya.

Oh and by the way you never said, is this more for HT or for Music?
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post #20 of 55
12/10/07 at 10:34am
Thread Starter 
Sorry, the sub will be about 60% HT and 40% music....
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post #21 of 55
12/10/07 at 10:36am
I am biased on their speakers...Energy that is. i would definitely go that route, but for HT I wouldn't choose their sub. not a bad sub, but not a definite HT sub...thus why I went with a different option for subs.
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post #22 of 55
12/10/07 at 10:48am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Talontsi96 View Post

Just got back from FS. Their sale price on it was actually $80 more than I found online. Luckily I printed their add out. They were reluctant to match their own online price but ended up doing it anyway. It sounds like the price I paid is a deal for this sub. I put the HT100 on hold. Looking at specs alone (I know, I know.....) The S10.3 is rated down to 21HZ (+-3 db), while the BIC is rated down to 24HZ (+- 3db) so it seems the S10.3 should have lower bass.. This is a good thing. BIC rates theirs at 115 db max spl....I have not found max spl ratings for the S10.3... Oh well.. time to try it out...

Good thing you printed out the online price, of course they could have looked at the add themselves which they wouldn't have wanted to do . It's a very good price although I would guess Canadian prices on Energy audio products are somewhat better there than the US since they are located in Canada, still a great find.

As far as max spl db ratings, they are probably very similar and the ratings can be taken with a grain of salt anyway as they may or may not be measured the same way from the same distance. Placement, how far you are from the sub at your listening position, room configuration and size will vary those specs, in short the closer you are to the sub at your sitting position the higher spl you'll get out if it before it overextends itself. Both those subs will get you into the mid-low 20s with decent output and maybe a little lower with placement and room gain, between them their's probably little if any noticeable difference in low end output.

What you do gain is much cleaner better sound quality especially in the mid and upper bass region and articulation which is where the S10.3 will shine in comparison, if you listen to music at all you'll appreciate this. Have run with it.
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post #23 of 55
12/10/07 at 10:59am
Thread Starter 
Thanks Jakeman

They did check the online price at the store ..and it was screwed up a bit. It showed the sub at $399.99 but when you clicked on it it showed up as $319.99 so I think they have a bug on their web site...

Oh I'm not sure if the price was such a steal in the US. The BIC was going to cost me $239 US shipped plus duties, plus brokerage and GST, the Energy cost me $319.99 CAN + GST. Future shop in store sale price on it was $399.99 and their regular price is $ $649.99. So at $319.99 the Energy will cost me about $60 to $80 more than the HT100 depending on duty and brokerage costs.

I certainly would not pay $649.99 for it if I could get the BIC for $239, however if the S10.3 is ultimately a better sub, I have no problem paying $60 to $85 more for it....
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post #24 of 55
12/10/07 at 11:11am
Nice, you got a good deal on it. I see it's back to 399 even online.

For that price, you can't go wrong, the Energy is one of those subs that just gets it right and is more than the sum of its parts. I think Energy must be onto something with their patented surrounds which allows their driver to play with less distortion

And yes, don't worry about the max output, it's ultimately how good it sounds. If anything, this sub should be satisfying for both music and movies, and that's where a lot of other subs fall flat.
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post #25 of 55
12/10/07 at 11:20am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by warpdrive View Post

Nice, you got a good deal on it. I see it's back to 399 even online.

WOW, you're right, they must have just changed it, it was at 319.99 last night and still this morning. I'm glad I went to pick it up first thing this morning or I would have missed out....
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post #26 of 55
12/10/07 at 11:22am
Quote:


If anything, this sub should be satisfying for both music and movies, and that's where a lot of other subs fall flat

Could not have summed it up better. The energy's do great for both.... Enjoy that puppy...great price.
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post #27 of 55
12/10/07 at 12:15pm
Thread Starter 
Thank you all for your advice.... I think I made the right choice thanks to you guys.
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post #28 of 55
12/10/07 at 3:41pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by warpdrive View Post

I disagree with Spezzy. I'm not sure where he gets the idea that it's not a good performer as most of the objective tests have shown. Having put that Energy through its paces, I'd say it has nothing to apologize for, Dr Hsu or not (since when was he the only expert on speaker design?). And the driver is fine....it's not PB Ultra, but it performs well and sounds extremely clean

I never said it was a bad performer but it is not something I would prefer over the BIC.
I never said that Dr. Hsu was the only expert on speaker design, did I? So don't pull 'words' or 'text' from posts I have never made. I've never owned an Hsu product nor do I intend to own little subs, but I thought it might be a more re-assuring factor to mention as he is discussed amongst these boards quite often.
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post #29 of 55
12/10/07 at 5:31pm
Thread Starter 
Well I got it installed tonight. It has decent clean bass. I must say I was not blown away though. I guess my older sub was not as bad as I thought. The S10.3 definitely has tighter, more punchy bass and extends a bit lower in the frequency range. Volume wise, its definitely adequate, I have it at my current house and the HT room is smaller than at my new house (taking possession in a few days). I must say that volume wise its not any louder than my old sub thats only rated at 120W. However, I have not heard the Energy distort yet so the knob settings on the two subs likely don't really correspond to actual amps volume setting. (ie. half way on the S10.3 is actually a lower setting than half way on the old sub and when the a peaky explosive sound comes in a movie, the S10.3 will likely handle it with no distortion while the old sub would pop). At least I hope thats the case, otherwise the 200W RMS (800W) amp in the S10.3 is not any more powerful than the 120W amp in my old sub. Overall, I have only had a chance to test it on some limited music samples and since I'm moving all of my DVD's and a lot of CDS are packed up so I don't have much of a selection to play. On the limited music that I have played I must say the sub sounds clean....and tight...
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post #30 of 55
12/10/07 at 6:16pm
Quote:


I must say I was not blown away though.

I think you would of not been saying that with the H-100, I have had much bigger subs in the past and I must say have been shocked at the amount of bass this BIC sub puts out, it blows my friends away now most of them have HTIB and my guess is they not heard any real subs.

I have not heard the sub you have but I just dont see it putting out the volume that the H-100 does, like I said I have mine only set at 4.

What do you have your gain set to? Turn that bad boy up. :
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