big room, small budget

[mwill07]

I have a very large room - family room open to the kitchen and hallways, as well as open to the second floor above. I estimate the volume to be at least 7k cf.

Unfortunately, my budget is $350, give or take. Given my cost constraints, I am very interested in the STF-2 with the understanding that the sub won't be able to adequately fill the room.

My immediate need is for something to fill in where my (soon to be purchased) wall-mounted speakers leave off - basically sub 80 Hz. I rarely crank the sound up at all - very rarely do I ever turn the volume past -15dB, so I'm not sure that even if I had more subwoofer, I would ever be able to take full advantage of it. I should also mention that my interests are primarily home theater.

So - I have two questions:

what will be the audio impact of having an undersized sub in a room that large, given I won't ever be approaching reference level?
if I decide to save up and purchase an additional STF-2 in the future, will that be enough subwoofer to fill the room?
Thanks!

[Pete_Hsu]

Hi mwill07,

At that particular price point, it is hard to do any better than STF-2, so it is actually a good choice given your budget constraints. The other alternative is to try to find some larger Hsu subs on the used market, but not everyone wants to do that.

Using a relatively small subwoofer in a relatively large room will simply mean that the impact at the listening position may be a bit lacking compared to a more powerful subwoofer. But at low to moderate playback levels, this may not be a huge concern.

Adding a second STF-2 later down the road will certainly give much higher maximum output capability, and will fill the space significantly better. The other alternative would be to get a larger subwoofer down the road that plays not just louder but also deeper.

Sincerely,

[mwill07]

Hi mwill07,

At that particular price point, it is hard to do any better than STF-2, so it is actually a good choice given your budget constraints. The other alternative is to try to find some larger Hsu subs on the used market, but not everyone wants to do that.

Using a relatively small subwoofer in a relatively large room will simply mean that the impact at the listening position may be a bit lacking compared to a more powerful subwoofer. But at low to moderate playback levels, this may not be a huge concern.

Adding a second STF-2 later down the road will certainly give much higher maximum output capability, and will fill the space significantly better. The other alternative would be to get a larger subwoofer down the road that plays not just louder but also deeper.

Sincerely,
Thanks, Pete.

would one be able to combine a larger sub (i.e. VTF2-MK3) with the STF-2 and get good results, or would the STF-2 be completely washed out and unnecessary?

[Mak_Scouby]

IMO the big room should be more diversified in general.... not just breaks. Why should the big room always be all 4/4 stuff? Not that Im hating on it as i love the 4/4 stuff.