Sub, as in anything PA related, “you get what you pay for”. Now there is exteremely expensive stuff that does sound better than less expensive stuff, but not by much. It’s a progressive scale though.
So going from totally hopeless no-name “great offers” on Amazon (250 dollar 2000W 15″ active fullrange anyone?) to say a 500 dollar active speaker from a budget brand will already sound lots better. Not great, but it’s well worth your money. Move up to 1000 dollar active speakers and you have reached pro range. You have great sound quality, build quality, highly efficient speakers that will do the job for years to come.
Then you can move up to 2000 dollar speakers from the highest end brands. Sound quality and such won’t really get all that much better (the progressive scale flattens as the prices increase), but components might be slightly better, build quality a bit sturdier, you might pay a bit more for the name and often the extra price is justified by the company’s customer services and such.
So, my advice (as usual just my two cents), stay away from the “sounds too good to be true” offers as they ALWAYS are just that. Skip the intermediate gear but rent gear til you can own your own high quality gear (and only when you play out often enough to recoup your investment in 14 to 16 months).
If you are looking for a sub for your practice room, anything that matches your monitor speakers (if you are on KRK, the KRK 10″ sub is worth the money) will do. I prefer to stay with the same brand and the recommended sub, just cause the match will usually be better.
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