I've got six subwoofer solutions for your home studio here today! I've got five subwoofers and
even the subpac; a device that delivers sub rumble directly to your body. Insane! So what's right for
your setup and what's best if you live in an apartment? What about the best and baddest bass
you can get for under $400? I have the answers for you today! So do you even need a subwoofer?
Well for Hip-Hop, Trap and EDM, it's going to help out a lot. Especially if your main studio
monitors have small woofers. I recently compared the best monitors for home studios in a video here.
All those studio monitors have five inch woofers so they're not pushing out too much sub bass
and depending on the music you make you're going to miss a lot in the sub frequencies. When you mix
and when you play your finished mixes on other systems you might get unexpected bad results.
Many times we compensate by adding a lot more bass in our mixes just because we don't hear it from
our monitors. A subwoofer will fix this problem. If you're new around here I'm Sanjay C. I have tons of
information to help you build your music studio and tutorials on music production on my channel.
Consider subscribing if you haven't already. I always get to the good stuff first in my videos
and reviews. Hey I'm including links to get any of these subwoofers in the video description below.
If you use any of my links it helps out my channel and you still get the best deals from Amazon,
Sweetwater and Zzounds. All right, first up we have the most popular sub under $400. The JBL LSR 310s.
This subwoofer costs $399 dollars and features a down firing 10 inch woofer. The JBL sub features
a normal 80 hertz crossover and also something called XLF extended low frequency. A setting that
emulates the response curve of a club playback system this engages 120 hertz high pass filter and
boosts 10 decibels at 60 hertz. This doubles the bass output and mimics the energy of a club system.
Is it necessary for your home studio? I don't know. Anyway the JBL subwoofer sounded smooth ...
so smooth and comfortable the bass was just awesome! The build quality is also amazing. This
was the most beautiful subwoofer of all. It just looks so high-end it does look more expensive than
it actually is. The JBL sub has lots of connection options and quarter inch phase
correction and features a standby feature which you can turn on and off. This sub does not have a
remote switch connector, so if you really want that, let's look at a sub next that has that
feature. I think the JBL sub is great for the price. I love the JBL 5 inch monitors in my comparison
and this would be an awesome companion to them. Now do you have to match the brand of your sub
to the brand of your studio monitors? Some people say yes it makes a difference but
most experts say no. If you get a sub that has crossover and phase controls you'll be fine
set it up right and you'll get the right sound out of your system. All right, next up is the Adam Audio
T10s subwoofer. I was dying to try this out after the Adam T5V studio monitors performed so well in
my speaker comparison. The sub is the same price as the JBL sub and it's down firing too. The total
power is a bit less at 130 watts versus the 200 watts from the JBL's. The Adam's frequency range
goes down to 28 hertz, the lowest in the comparison except for the Subpac. The Adam sub has three
crossover settings: 80 hertz, 120 hertz or a bypass option. Now this sub has a feature to add a remote
switch. The remote switch gives you the option to quickly turn on the sub or turn it off. You might
want to a, b or mix with or without the sub on or maybe you need to quiet down in your apartment at
night. The Adam subwoofer doesn't include a quarter inch connector which is surprising at this price,
but otherwise it has all the other features like face correction. I love the look of Adam speakers
and this sub looks great as well. It sounded deep, punchy- but muddy at times. Actually I don't
think that muddy's the right word to describe it but, once I put the JBL sub back in, I liked the JBL more.
So far I've looked at down firing sub. So what about subs that fire forward any difference? Let's
take a look at some cheaper subwoofers next and watch till the end so you can hear about the KRKs
and the Subpac option as well. By the way I got these subwoofers from Zzounds! They had everything I
needed in stock and the shipping was super fast! Great store for your music studio needs.
The Behringer Next K10s is the cheapest studio subwoofer in this comparison that's marketed as a studio subwoofer. It's $258 dollars! That's cheap! So does it sound cheap? Well, it sounded good.
It didn't blow me away -even at max volume. I was hearing more thump than smooth vibration.
The sub pushes out 300 watts of power the most of all the traditional subwoofers in this roundup. But
after a lot of tweaking of crossover and phase, I really couldn't find a comfortable listening level.
Again, I felt it was thumping rather than really helping my mix. It delivered the low end when I
soloed my 808, but the pleasantness of the JBL just wasn't there. The Behringer like the Adam
sub has XLR and RCA connections but no quarter inch connections and also no remote switch option.
Not a big deal at this price. I guess the subwoofer was fine, but remember Behringer makes budget gear
and I'm a bit concerned about durability in the long term. It doesn't have the same solid build
quality like some of the others in this roundup. Another great budget option is the Mackie CR8s XBT
8 inch subwoofer. Smaller than some of the others, but at $199, this is a great sub and the cheapest in
this comparison. This is marketed as a multimedia subwoofer not a studio subwoofer, but it still
delivered well and it has bluetooth if that's what you need. The Mackie sub doesn't include
XLR connections like the others but it does have a handy remote to adjust the level of the sub.
Convenient if you want to lower the sub volume at night or something. The bass from this was on par
with the 10 inch subs in this roundup. Great power but less clarity. I like this sub because
it covers a lot of bases, no pun intended. If you mix music and you use your computer for gaming,
this is a handy sub to have around. Not the best in this comparison but hey it won't break the bank.
All right! Before we get to the Subpac, which is gonna be exciting, let's talk about the KRK 8s
subwoofer. Yes the 8s! Is the 8 inch version unlike the Behringer, Adam and JBL subs? Which are 10
inch. Did that make a difference? Not much! This sub delivered in bass, clear and punchy. 808s were deep
and kicks had the right balance of sub smoothness and thump. When people rave about KRK bass, they're
right even with the subs and it's $50 cheaper than the Adam and JBL subs and even at this price
it delivers every feature possible including four crossover settings phase correction a ground lift
switch. Every type of connector possible a foot switch connector and a convenient standby on and
off switch. Yep! Everything I think. This is a great value and honestly I didn't miss much from the 10
inch subs in this comparison. Mixing was a pleasure with the sub and really complemented the studio
monitor as well. People who own the KRK's rave about the performance. Now KRK monitors are already
well known for their punchy bass, but the five inch KRK monitors I tested in my monitor comparison,
didn't capture every sub frequency. This gives you the rest. The KRK and JBL subs are my favorite
from the comparison here. If you want to pay the extra fifty dollars for the 10 inch KRK,
I'm sure you'll be happy. All right, I've kept you waiting long enough. Let's talk about the Subpac!
The subpac is not a subwoofer, it's a haptic device with tactile transducers,
membranes and electronics that all work together to give you a close up -physical experience of sub
frequencies. I tested the Subpac S2 which easily straps to your studio chair to give you that
low end rumble. What's amazing is the frequency response that this Subpac is capable of. I mean
all the way from one hertz. But remember that's all feeling no sound, which means you're now mixing
with your body- not just your ears. The experience is totally different!
Dharti: What is this? Like a massager? I feel it like.... ( Dharti can't help but to start dancing;)
It's difficult to compare it side by side to the other subwoofers here.
The other subs just didn't shake my body like the Subpac did, but all that aside... how is it for mixing?
Well it takes a lot of getting used to. I honestly prefer hearing the sub frequencies from my premium
studio monitors versus just feeling them. That said, there were frequencies that the
subpac made me feel that I couldn't hear with my speakers. I mean for mixing soundtracks and movies
this would b e great. It's immersive right? I needed time to get used to it for mixing but once I did,
things started to make sense. However translating my mix to another stereo system is challenging.
You really need to learn how to mix with this thing well before it translates properly to
another system. So who is this good for? Well, there are two types of situations that the Subpac is
excellent for. First, mixing with headphones. Finally you get a full experience and no sound emitting at
all. Also, this is perfect if you live in an apartment and don't want to disturb your neighbors.
You feel the sub and it doesn't go through your walls. If I had to make a choice, I would choose a
traditional subwoofer- either the JBL or the KRK from this comparison, but I have a feeling that
it's just because I'm used to that way of mixing and listening. I'm gonna use the Subpac more and
I'll let you know if I change my mind. All these subwoofers delivered well for studio applications.
But now you know my favorites and if you love your neighbors, you need to try the Subpac! Links
to everything is in the video description and if you'd like to show your support for this channel, (purchase with the links provided- thank you)
you can check out my #SanjayCMerch below the video. T-shirts, hoodies and more - and even a sample pack!
My friends, thank you for watching and keep Making The Music You Love and if
you need some headphones, check out my studio headphone comparison here. I'll see you later!