New sub recommendations

[Lemanandbeyond]

Hi all,

My M&K KX-10 sub is officially dead !

I am now looking to the home-cinema gurus for some advice of what I should be looking at to replace it with.

All other speakers are M&K and whilst this has been a great sub, with their troubles I wouldn't go for the same brand.

Thanks in advance.

[Pravus1]

Depends on your budget.

I have found the adrenal 1.5 that replaced my monolith to be really good. Super tight with a lot of punch and seems decent with music as well as movies

[Lemanandbeyond]

Thanks Pravus,

I was looking at around £500-£700, hopefully that should get me a decent sub. The new M&K is at the higher end of that so figured I would need to spend about the same money.

[Pravus1]

The classifieds of AV forums are a road to bargains. I got the adrenal for £650 when its a £1200 sub

[Tony1963]

No chance of repairing it?

[anonymous-user]

I’d go with BK

[Crackie]

Lemanandbeyond said:

Thanks Pravus,

I was looking at around £500-£700, hopefully that should get me a decent sub. The new M&K is at the higher end of that so figured I would need to spend about the same money.

£450 https://www.avforums.com/reviews/bk-electronics-p1...

[anonymous-user]

Crackie said:

£450 https://www.avforums.com/reviews/bk-electronics-p1...

That’s what I’ve got. Works really well with film or music.

[archie456]

Definitely BK, they have made a lot of other manufacturers' subs as well.

From their website: "B.K. Electronics have manufactured subwoofers and loudspeakers for many famous names in the Hi-Fi industry Pro-Ac, REL, MJ Acoutics, Rega, Ruark and PMC to name a few."

[Lemanandbeyond]

Thanks guys, I will contact them next week.

Looks like it gets a lot of love on the AV forum.

[Lemanandbeyond]

Tony1963 said:

No chance of repairing it?

Unfortunately not, I sent it off and they said it was beyond repair ! Apparently all circuits completely fried so they gave me the “beyond economical repair” status.

[heisthegaffer]

Another BK fan here. Sound great and my Gemini II in gloss Black was beautifully built too.

[ladderino]

And another BK fan. Have both a Gemini and XLS200 (plus another one on the way).

Worth also checking on ebay as they have B rated stock on there at a marked down price.

[Kenny Powers]

I’m running a Bowers & Wilkins PV1D. It was £1200 but it’s the only subwoofer you’ll ever need. Astonishing control and authority. It totally recalibrated my idea of what LFE should sound like.

[mgv8]

ladderino said:

And another BK fan. Have both a Gemini and XLS200 (plus another one on the way).

Worth also checking on ebay as they have B rated stock on there at a marked down price.

I use to have a BK sub and sold it, then regretted it. One of the few subs that makes both sound to full in the below 100Hz and can shake the room.

[Lemanandbeyond]

£1200.00 is a little more than I want to spend on the B&W, l have their speakers for my HIFI and its quality.

I am in between the Arendal 1961 1S and the BK P12-300SB-PR, not sure on the differences in performance, I just prefer the look of the Arendal. Has anyone heard them both?

[Kenny Powers]

Lemanandbeyond said:

£1200.00 is a little more than I want to spend on the B&W...

Yeah I hear you. It is ruinously expensive. I bought mine on a whim when I was feeling flush, but wouldn't be without it now. It underpins any surround soundtrack with unimpeachable authority. It actually plays tunes with LFE frequencies that lesser subs could barely muster, let alone handle with such poise and agility.

Previously I had a B&W ASW610 which was good, but the PV1D is in another league. As of course one might expect for the price, but it's worth every penny if you were able to stretch that far. Good luck with whatever you end up getting, though. Buying AV gear is always fun

[PhilboSE]

The Paradigm Seismic 110 is in the same frame as the B&W PV1D for what a sub with a 10" driver can do. Similarly pricey but also available nearly new at good discounts.

Alternatively you get a lot of bang for your buck with XTZ subs due to their direct model so these fall into your price range bought new. Something like the 12.17 is pretty potent and can be tweaked for its porting, but the 10.17 is quite close on capability. Go for the Edge options of these subs to get the better amp.

[Autopilot]

My KEF Kube 2 died and as I moved to a house with a larger living room, I felt it deserved something bigger! Like you, I did my research and kept seeing the same recommendations so took the plunge. A few months ago I bought a BK Monolith + (Downward Firing model).

It was the right decision, it's a great bit of kit and have no regrets at all. The only downside is that its name kind of gives the game away in that it's fairly big. I had the space so wasn't a problem but if I did have that limitation I'd just get a smaller sub from their range, probably the P12-300SB-PR or the XXLS400-DF/FF as that was what I'd been eyeing up before taking the plunge with the Monolith.

They have an ebay shop where they sell some already built stuff up for sale. Occasionally they'll have something with the tiniest of marks on it so sell them off cheaply!

[Lemanandbeyond]

I think the monolith cabinet is too large for my room. I am still researching as I am in no rush, shipping here has to be considered and at the moment it may become a challenge.

The BK200 is the one that looks interesting along with Arendal.

Appreciate your thoughts on your sub.