Two JL F112's or two Rythmik F15's?

I use a pair of Rythmik 12" subs in a similar sized room for music only. They are integrated to main speakers (MMGs or Ohm 100) via an Audyssey XT32 equipped pre-pro. In this application, integration is seamless and bass performance is (to my ear) as good as I've ever heard. I suspect that a pair of the 12" Rythmiks would be very good for cinema applications in my space and that a pair of the larger 15" Rythmiks would be monsters.

I auditioned JL extensively before I bought my Rythmiks. They were very, very good in showrooms when properly set-up (sadly, not always the case). Since Rythmik sells with an in-home trial, I figured that I'd give 'em a shot to see if I could save some money. If they weren't up to snuff, they'd simply go back to Rythmik and I'd pony up for the JLs. In the end, I kept the Rythmiks.

Good Luck.

Marty

PS Tho I've never heard them, SVS subs have a great rep, too.

I use a pair of Rythmik F12 subwoofers in my system.

Before Audyssey I used them with ARC electronics (LS25 and VT130SE). IIRC, I briefly used them without room EQ, but only briefly. Honestly, that set-up was in use too briefly to comment usefully on SQ without room EQ. After the subs went into the system, I quickly added an NHT X-2 active x-over unit (strictly to to high pass/low cut the main speakers), and a Velodyne SMS-1 sub controller to high cut the subs and to provide RTA and room EQ. The SMS has a truly crappy auto mode, so it took a fair bit of time and effort to get it right via manual tweaking with the video FR readout as a guide. Once I got it all dialed in (several weeks of many hours per week), I got really great results.

I recently subbed in the pre-pro because I wanted to try XT32 (per KR4's Stereophile recommendation) and because 1 box replaced my DAC, preamp, high pass x-over, and sub controller and eliminated 3 out of 4 power-up steps.

Overall I prefer the sound of the system in its current configuration, but bass performance and subwoofer integration has been (IMHO) absolutely outstanding in both set-ups. Audyssey actually sets the absolute bass levels just a bit (but an audible bit) higher than I did with the SMS-1, but I'd put both octave to octave tonal balances well within the "matter of taste" window of neutrality.

Audyssey sets the x-over point at 40hz (Ohm 100) or 50hz (MMG). In the previous configuration, the x-over was set at +/- 75hz, because room EQ was limited to the subs and I had some real room induced issues up in the 70hz region that I couldn't chase away with room treatments (despite the use of use 2 "Bassbuster" Hemholtz resonators tuned for that purpose).

Hope that's useful.

Marty

Irv,

If a pair of 12" Rythmiks weren't well under half the price of a pair of 12" JLs, I probably wouldn't have gone there either - home trial or no home trial. Buy, unpack, set up, evaluate, re-pack, re-ship a big ass box...maybe not.

However,.....

Once I decided to commit to quality subs in my system, I auditioned a sh*tload of subwoofers (most on more than one occasion) over the course of 12-18 months. The results of those auditions varied widely (as did the quality of dealer demo). The variability of subwoofer set-up care, demo system, demo room, etc. really hindered my ability to reach confident conclusions re: relative subwoofer performance, model to model. At the end of the day, I thought that the JLs were the best of the lot. But they were also the most expensive.

Since I also concluded that in-home auditions would (for me) be the only really dispositive tool in evaluating a subwoofer (much like any other component, I guess), I knew that I was kinda stuck with the "buy, unpack, set up...." rigamarole, anyway. So, given the price delta...

Either way, I'm pretty confident that, in a carefully set up system, (ie, with some sort of controller, Audyssey or other), a pair of the the appropriate (to room size) either JL or Rythmik subwoofers will do a GREAT job in the bottom octaves for those want to go the subwoofer route. Other brands may work marvelously, too - I just can't really make that statement that from my own (necessarily limited) experience.

Marty