I own 3 of them. The STF1 is a decent little sub considering it's super low price point, (if memory serves correct I think i gave around $200 for each of them.) They do fairly well in a smaller room but don't be expecting much DEEP bass from them. An 8 inch driver can only do so much and you'll overdrive them which will be immediately noticable. I have 1 STF1 in a small "bedroom" theater system, (room is 14 feet by 12 feet with 8 foot ceiling), and it really rocks pretty good. I used the other 2 in my front room theater system for a while (room dimensions are 28 feet deep by 20 feet wide with 10 foot ceilings.) No so good. Too much cubic air volume and the subs just don't have enough horsepower or a big enough driver to give the "impact" necessary. But that was to be expected when i first bought them, so no big suprise. I cannot offer much advice in the way of "inexpensive" sub-$300.00 range subs since these are the only ones I have ever owned in that price range. All my other subwoofers either ARE, or HAVE BEEN mega-buck, multi-thousand dollar bad boys. I am of the opinion that you must have the ammunition in your arsenal to get top performance...bigger drivers, more powerful amps in order to move lots of air....of course that really doesn't hold true when you consider products like those SUNFIRE True Subwoofers with 10 inch drivers and 2700 watt amps, or the smaller Velodyne HGS subs. Thise little beasts are what I consider "NUCLEAR BOMBS IN A SMALL BOX"...but you probably won't find one for under $300.00.....But who knows? Try searching for one right here on Audiogon and maybe you will? Depending on the size of your room, you might actually get decent performance out of a small HSU sub. I did in my bedroom system as I mentioned earlier. But not so much in a larger acoustic space. If you are interested in buying one (or both) of my HSU STF1's i would make you a great deal. I know this is not the place to sell items, nor have I listed my STF 1's for sale in the classifieds here on A-gon, but i would be willing to part with them for cheap. They are in PERFECT condition. If you're interested that is? Otherwise, wait and see what other members have to contribute to your question, or spend a bit more money and buy something that is a more robust and beefy. I like the small Velodynes but did not care for the Sunfire True Subs personally. Good luck in your search.
