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Rythmik Audio F12/F12-400 vs JL Audio E-Sub e112

Hello everyone! I am choosing a subwoofer mainly for listening to music in stereo. There are two candidates, as the title suggests. Now there is an opportunity to buy a JL at a discount, and the price of the Rythmik will be much more expensive than the official one due to shipping to Serbia from the USA + taxes. So it comes out to about the same. The listening room is about 25 sq.m with two wide passages to the kitchen and dining room of the same area. The musical genre is mainly metal, but also light music with my wife. Speakers - Buchardt S400 MKII. Listening at a medium volume level, shaking the floor is not necessary, but scale, depth, weighty lows and musicality are needed. Please help me make a choice.

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sounds_real_audio
1,013 posts
 

Those look like really good speakers...Even though they recommend 40 watts min...I would consider going with a 300B amps...They usually like to cover their ass. The midrange is what is important...your wife will be happy..forget the subs they will screw up the sound...too slow and they will draw attention to themselves....not disappear. 

james633
1,036 posts
 

I would pass on the JL E112 due to quality issues. I had 5 of them fail. JL wants you to go through the dealer for repairs. I can’t imagine messing with it outside of the USA. In the US they are good about fixing them but will only fix them for the original owner. 
 

sound wise the JL is fine and very good for being so small. The amp however added a lot of hum to my system when ever it was plugged in. I have not had the hum issue with other subs in my system. The internal highpass added a good bit of hiss too. 

mschott's avatar
mschott
133 posts
 

I have the E112 and haven’t had those issues. There was a hum at one point but when I moved the sub away from my electronics it went away. 

soix
9,582 posts
 

The midrange is what is important...your wife will be happy..forget the subs they will screw up the sound...too slow and they will draw attention to themselves....not disappear.

That’s just silly advice from someone who’s never heard what good, well-integrated subs can do. Good subs properly set up disappear completely and do not draw attention to themselves, period. They also offer substantial benefits in imaging and expanding the soundstage in addition to filling in the missing lower octaves and improving dynamic capabilities. Personally I’d go with the Rythmik F12G for music, and you should absolutely consider adding a second sub down the road if at all possible as the benefits are very meaningful over using just one sub. Hope this helps, and best of luck.

deep_333
1,446 posts
 

If you were in Europe, you didn’t have good sub options 5 or 10 years ago. Now you do, you have some good options in the 1k to 3k range...

Elac Varro DS1200 (dual opposed 12 inch)

Elac Varro DS1000 (dual opposed 10 inch)

Elac Varro RS700

Elac Varro RS500

KEF KC92 (dual opposed 9in)

KEF KC62 (dual opposed 6.5)

etc that are all good subs for music with extension under 20hz.

Since Rythmik is US manufacturer direct, it works out better (price/logistics) in the US. James633 is not alone on the report of JL reliability issues.

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