Bose is overpriced, but doesnt sound too bad. I only bought my bose system because i got it for roughly half price.
Bose don't care about accurate sound. They use psychoacoustic special effects and boom to wow people who know little about sound.
Here is a qtc graph. A box with a qtc of 1.5 will boom with little power. It will be loud. That's all most Americans care about. It won't be accurate, it won't play deep and it will sound nothing like the original note that it's trying to reproduce.
A box with a qtc of .5 has lots of drawbacks. For one it is inefficient, meaning that you will need a lot of power to power it. The bass will be a little weak compared to an enclosure with a higher Qtc to a person who knows little about sound. It also requires a large box.
However this is the most accurate, purist and deepest bass. The general rule to bass is "the bigger the box, the better the bass". Whenever, you go to true audiophile's house, you will notice his humongous box and gigantic amp for his sub. Then when you hear it, you will realize that never heard bass so amazing and heartwarming. This is the leanest sounding bass (pure).
Nobody will design this kind of sub box and sell it, because it just isn't feasible to market it. Most people will prefer the little inaccurate box in the corner. Audiophiles will build their own home subwoofer box or pay somebody to do it
The best companies will compromise for a box qtc of .0707. This require a nice size but not too large of a box and a moderate size amp. This gives you the flattest response too. They will usually add equalization to the speaker if the box is sealed. This is the most practical way to get 20 hertz in a house setup
The better companies will settle for a box qtc of 1. They will give a little boom and a little accuracy in a little box and a decent amp.
But most will go for the qtc of 1.5. No accuracy, lot of booms very little power. you have to spend money to get truly accurate bass. that's how speaker work really. the more you spend the better the sound that you get.
They will also put these speakers in a square box (a taboo to box builders) to give them even more boom because a square box enhances standing waves
Here's a nice place for subs
Subwoofers Reviews at AudioReview.com
But it was used. Just go to one of the home theatre stores around you and check em all out and pick the one you like. When i was looking, you could pick up a decent sub for around 150-200.
