I have been going back and forth between two subs for my home theater. I couldn't decide between a Seaton Submersive or dual Epik Empires. There are a lot of opinions online but I don't think anybody has actually heard or compared them both. Since this is such a tough decision, I went ahead and bought them both. I mean, this is a lot of cash to spend on a subwoofer setup and I really want to be happy with what I got. I went ahead and picked up the dual Empires and the Submersive last week. I will be comparing and measuring them both and will give a full report as to how they compare. I will keep whatever I like and return the other since they both have a trial period and I am local to both so there are no shipping costs.
Ordering the subwoofers made an interesting first impression. When I ordered my Empires, I just went to the Epik Subwoofers website, clicked the add-to-cart button and picked them up. It was very simple and they were easy to get ahold of. Seaton Sound has no website to order from. The only way to order a Submersive is to actually get in touch with Mark. After I tried to email him several times with no response, I actually almost gave up before he finally replied.
The packaging was similar on the subs but the Empire had a labeled, double box while the Submersive had a single, plain box. Both subwoofers weigh about the same, but the Empire is a bit smaller in size. Both are very well built. I the ordered the Submersive in the black finish which looks like it is painted over veneer. It has no edge roundovers and the grills are ½ thick magnetically attached frames with stapled cloth and little felt pads. It is very simple and clean looking. The Empire has 1 inch roundovers on every corner and has a black laminate finish. It has 1 inch thick grills with large grill pins similar to my old Velodyne DD-15. The SUBmersive has a nicer finish, but I like the look of the Empire better. Once its in the corner I don't really care.
I was surprised to see how little features the Submersive's amplifier has. It has a power switch, a volume knob and that's it. It has no internal crossover, phase switch, auto-on function, or RCA inputs. Mark supplies an adaptor to plug an RCA input into the XLR cable, but I wasn't real happy to see a Radio Shack label on the adaptor for a $2000 subwoofer.
The volume knob has little indents that it kind of clicks into place, not a smooth rotary knob like the Empire and every other subwoofer I have owned before. The Empire's features aren't anything special since it has the normal phase switch, volume knob, RCA and XLR inputs, and auto-on function settings. It just looks special next to the Submersive since it has very little. I was also a little surprised that there isn't an auto-on feature on the Submersive which means that I have to turn it on every time I want to use it.
Out of the box my Submersive hummed. The supplied RCA to XLR adaptor cable made the unit hum even when it wasn't plugged into anything. I went ahead and ordered another XLR to RCA cable and almost all of the hum disappeared. But even with a cheater plug on the power cord, the SUBmersive still has a low-level hum when the receiver is on. I emailed Mark and hopefully he will have a solution for me soon. Neither of the Empires hum using the same plug so it's not coming from the outlet.
I have just started listening to them but I don't want to make any judgements about how they sound until I have spent more time with them. I have lots more listening tests to do and this will take some time. More coming soon
Ordering the subwoofers made an interesting first impression. When I ordered my Empires, I just went to the Epik Subwoofers website, clicked the add-to-cart button and picked them up. It was very simple and they were easy to get ahold of. Seaton Sound has no website to order from. The only way to order a Submersive is to actually get in touch with Mark. After I tried to email him several times with no response, I actually almost gave up before he finally replied.
The packaging was similar on the subs but the Empire had a labeled, double box while the Submersive had a single, plain box. Both subwoofers weigh about the same, but the Empire is a bit smaller in size. Both are very well built. I the ordered the Submersive in the black finish which looks like it is painted over veneer. It has no edge roundovers and the grills are ½ thick magnetically attached frames with stapled cloth and little felt pads. It is very simple and clean looking. The Empire has 1 inch roundovers on every corner and has a black laminate finish. It has 1 inch thick grills with large grill pins similar to my old Velodyne DD-15. The SUBmersive has a nicer finish, but I like the look of the Empire better. Once its in the corner I don't really care.

I was surprised to see how little features the Submersive's amplifier has. It has a power switch, a volume knob and that's it. It has no internal crossover, phase switch, auto-on function, or RCA inputs. Mark supplies an adaptor to plug an RCA input into the XLR cable, but I wasn't real happy to see a Radio Shack label on the adaptor for a $2000 subwoofer.

Out of the box my Submersive hummed. The supplied RCA to XLR adaptor cable made the unit hum even when it wasn't plugged into anything. I went ahead and ordered another XLR to RCA cable and almost all of the hum disappeared. But even with a cheater plug on the power cord, the SUBmersive still has a low-level hum when the receiver is on. I emailed Mark and hopefully he will have a solution for me soon. Neither of the Empires hum using the same plug so it's not coming from the outlet.
I have just started listening to them but I don't want to make any judgements about how they sound until I have spent more time with them. I have lots more listening tests to do and this will take some time. More coming soon
