Insane Sub-woofer Cost Escalation

[ashwin49]

I am in the market to add a sub-woofer to my existing setup (3.0) of Denon X2700H, Elac Debut B6.2 and C6,2. I have a medium to biggish sized room although the viewing area would be limited to 8x10 Feet in a 10x20 Feet hall. The current setup is burning-in very well and I am very happy with the choices thus far.

For the subwoofer, I shortlisted Yamaha NS-SW300 and Taga Harmony TSW 212 SE and it seems like scarcity is driving the price of these two to insane levels , its either out of stock in most sites or the prices have shot up to 40K+, at which point they seize to be VFM in my opinion.

In this scenario, is it better to just wait out this chip shortage (?) which is driving this cost escalation or are there good low frequency 200/250 watt RMS, 10/12 inch sub-woofers below 40K I can look at? Another thing I am noticing is increased price differential between US and India prices in the last 3-4 months which, seems like almost 100% tax when it arrives at Indian shores. Anyone else tracking this?

 

[Nikhil]

Not sure if the sub prices are affected by the chip shortage. The basic problem is that subs are large boxes which have become more expensive to ship with increased costs in freight and associated taxes. The biggest issue at the moment is the rising exchange rate of the Dollar, Euro and Pound. These are the domestic issues. On the international market there is a general inflation problem that has affected everything. Everything seems to be about 30% higher.

All these factors compound each other making things incredibly expensive for us.


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[rshri]

So are all speakers continuing to get more and more expensive or is it just subwoofers?
I thought AVR prices were coming down from recent highs? AVRs are not affected by shipping chain delays and chip shortage?

 

[heliumflight]

You may look and Indian brands like https://www.qacoustics.com/products/q-b12-subwoofer

 

[Nikhil]

So are all speakers continuing to get more and more expensive or is it just subwoofers?
I thought AVR prices were coming down from recent highs? AVRs are not affected by shipping chain delays and chip shortage?

As far as I know, everything has been affected. I don't see why AVRs would not be affected.
There are supply chain issues everywhere and has only added to the problem.


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[MasTerasTrix]

I am in the market to add a sub-woofer to my existing setup (3.0) of Denon X2700H, Elac Debut B6.2 and C6,2. I have a medium to biggish sized room although the viewing area would be limited to 8x10 Feet in a 10x20 Feet hall. The current setup is burning-in very well and I am very happy with the choices thus far.

For the subwoofer, I shortlisted Yamaha NS-SW300 and Taga Harmony TSW 212 SE and it seems like scarcity is driving the price of these two to insane levels , its either out of stock in most sites or the prices have shot up to 40K+, at which point they seize to be VFM in my opinion.

In this scenario, is it better to just wait out this chip shortage (?) which is driving this cost escalation or are there good low frequency 200/250 watt RMS, 10/12 inch sub-woofers below 40K I can look at? Another thing I am noticing is increased price differential between US and India prices in the last 3-4 months which, seems like almost 100% tax when it arrives at Indian shores. Anyone else tracking this?

You can check HifiMart , they have the Mission ms200 @ 25k, there's pioneer similarly priced & few others within ur range . Surely better than yamaha or taga .

 

[ashwin49]

As far as I know, everything has been affected. I don't see why AVRs would not be affected.
There are supply chain issues everywhere and has only added to the problem.


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You are right, everything has got impacted but subwoofers in particular seems way out of whack possibly due to the reasons you mention ( weight and shipping), guess until some of these manufactures bring their shop floors to India the problems would continue to persist

 

[rsklogin]

Would suggest checking out Bic America subs. They are really good and extremely VFM.

 

[Nitin K]

Certain electronics like amps and speakers are more or less same cost or has increased to some extent due to increase in dollar rate which is understandable..
But what is intriguing is that subwoofer price increase is in some other zone altogether as compared to amps , speakers etc.
It had increased illogically last year itself in may-June while the dollar had not increased so much as it has now.

 

[DB1989]

Certain electronics like amps and speakers are more or less same cost or has increased to some extent due to increase in dollar rate which is understandable..
But what is intriguing is that subwoofer price increase is in some other zone altogether as compared to amps , speakers etc.
It had increased illogically last year itself in may-June while the dollar had not increased so much as it has now.

This cost escalation for subs and AVRs is artificial i.e. due to supply and demand. As Basic as economics gets.

Why so?

Because during the COVID pandemic, most Cineplexes were closed and people started investing in home setups/cinemas.

What are the two absolute necessities for a home cinema? AVRs and subs.

That's the same case with rented apartments where I stay in Delhi, that is to say, people started investing in better living spaces since they started spending more time at home so prices went up 2x. Now prices for apartments are crashing again and in fact, lower than pre-pandemic levels.

Let's see the wherewithal of AV dealers to hold on to inventory before they get sold for rock bottom prices.

The impatient will flounder of course.

 

[sivag08]

I am in the market to add a sub-woofer to my existing setup (3.0) of Denon X2700H, Elac Debut B6.2 and C6,2. I have a medium to biggish sized room although the viewing area would be limited to 8x10 Feet in a 10x20 Feet hall. The current setup is burning-in very well and I am very happy with the choices thus far.

For the subwoofer, I shortlisted Yamaha NS-SW300 and Taga Harmony TSW 212 SE and it seems like scarcity is driving the price of these two to insane levels , its either out of stock in most sites or the prices have shot up to 40K+, at which point they seize to be VFM in my opinion.

In this scenario, is it better to just wait out this chip shortage (?) which is driving this cost escalation or are there good low frequency 200/250 watt RMS, 10/12 inch sub-woofers below 40K I can look at? Another thing I am noticing is increased price differential between US and India prices in the last 3-4 months which, seems like almost 100% tax when it arrives at Indian shores. Anyone else tracking this?

You can go for the Mission MS200 sub, as I've been using the same since 7+ months, coupled with Taga 606v3 as 5.0. It does sounds good for its price. No complaints whatsoever..

You can ping HiFimart customer care over WhatsApp and they might reduce the prices a bit. I've did the same and bought for 17.3k (19.5k was the price displayed back then)..

 

[Nitin K]

This cost escalation for subs and AVRs is artificial i.e. due to supply and demand. As Basic as economics gets.

Why so?

Because during the COVID pandemic, most Cineplexes were closed and people started investing in home setups/cinemas.

What are the two absolute necessities for a home cinema? AVRs and subs.

That's the same case with rented apartments where I stay in Delhi, that is to say, people started investing in better living spaces since they started spending more time at home so prices went up 2x. Now prices for apartments are crashing again and in fact, lower than pre-pandemic levels.

Let's see the wherewithal of AV dealers to hold on to inventory before they get sold for rock bottom prices.

The impatient will flounder of course.

Very true, demand for Ott channels went up along with the TV's amps/avrs, subs and speakers to supplement them.

 

[ashwin49]

You can go for the Mission MS200 sub, as I've been using the same since 7+ months, coupled with Taga 606v3 as 5.0. It does sounds good for its price. No complaints whatsoever..

You can ping HiFimart customer care over WhatsApp and they might reduce the prices a bit. I've did the same and bought for 17.3k (19.5k was the price displayed back then)..

Thanks all, was finally able to source the Yamaha NS-SW300 from prohifi 35K, this was the cheapest deal I could get ( this sub was selling at 30.5k in 2020 when the dollar was closer to 68-69 levels, so 15% premium did not seem ridiculous considering the scarcity and dollar being 80+ now), got in touch with them through whats-app as the site was not allowing me to checkout, you are right - I think the modus operandi should be to not purchase anything on the list price but to send a private message to the portal to get a good deal. Think due to the huge demand some of the online retailers have kept an artificially inflated price as they are getting sold at those prices ! I guess one always needs to shop around for several weeks before making a purchase and resist the "urgent" itch in these times.

Now trying to play around to make the sub play well with my setup, exciting times !

 

[karteek23]

Any Indian brands for speakers and AV receiver manufacturers ??

Hope there should be semi conductor industry which should blossom in India near future, eventually taxes less and make affordable

 

[alphacentury100]

Would suggest checking out Bic America subs. They are really good and extremely VFM.

Never purchase anything from BIC because their subs failure rate is extremely high recently and the dealer, especially Pristinenote pvt ltd. is not providing any warranty support for even one year and they are asking the customers to pay for even the (less than one year sub) for servicing.

 

[mail2sumanth]

Any Indian brands for speakers and AV receiver manufacturers ??

Hope there should be semi conductor industry which should blossom in India near future, eventually taxes less and make affordable

I was wondering the same. Not a single AVR manufacturer in India.

 

[karteek23]

Never purchase anything from BIC because their subs failure rate is extremely high recently and the dealer, especially Pristinenote pvt ltd. is not providing any warranty support for even one year and they are asking the customers to pay for even the (less than one year sub) for servicing.

I read the same in forum from fellow member experience for his BIC sub. I have BIC VENTURI LCR , after reading that I changed my decision and bought Taga 212 se sub.

 

[Barun7]

Any Indian brands for speakers and AV receiver manufacturers ??

Hope there should be semi conductor industry which should blossom in India near future, eventually taxes less and make affordable

There are a few. Most referred ones are Indiqaudio and Sonodyne. Sonodyne also has A/V processors(DE 4348) and a number of amplifiers. They have a lot of options in speakers - just go through their website once.
Ironically, despite being an Indian brand for more than 50 years, Sonodyne is more admired outside India than in India for their quality!