Clean fast bass.

Port noise

This was my first qulity subwoofer I'd bought. I wanted to fill in the LFE channel that my Bose AM-7 and AM-5 could not handel. The results were awesome. This sub was very clean and tight.It would however make some port noise when pushed to hard. I found by-passing the subs crossover useing the external cross over input made this sub sound even cleaner and play lower, and loader. Great sub, but had to get a bigger sub as my room was to large for this sub to handel. Oh by the way I sold my Bose, I was glad to get rid of them! I bought some Definitive Technology BP2002TLs instead.

Similar Products Used:

Own Definitive Technology PF15TL, Pro Subs 100TL, & 200TL

Great sound from a rather small package. Good value. High quality built-in amplifier.

None that I have experienced.

I purchased the Energy e:xl-S8 in January 2001. I have been using ever since then and I must say that I will need to buy a very large house on a pretty big piece of land before I will ever reach the limits of this speaker. Despite the small size of the e:xl-S8, it is cable of getting you in trouble with any landlord or neighbor. More seriously, the sound is fabulous when paired with the Energy Take 5 speakers that I have hooked up to my home theater system. The adjustable low pass crossover works very well as does the input level adjustment. I have never used with other speakers, so I cannot comment on ho it would work with other brands of speakers. Regardless, I am very pleased with this product and I recommend it highly.

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None.

It blends in seamlessly with the other speakers, strong controlled base, price

I bought a full new system six months ago, as I had a great pair of infinitys from the 80s and was happy with them until they began to boom out. I then started with NHT 1.5s for the front (the sweetest, clearest tones in treble), NHT Center, and Mirage FxRears, all of which hooked to a Denon AVR2700. The lack of base was noticeable in virtually every genre and mode, including home theatre. When I bought the Energy exl 8, I immediately
hooked it to the Monster subwoofer cable reviewed so well here (about 40 bucks). I have it set up about 3 inches away from a wall, and about 3 feet from the corner. I could not be happier. I'm not sure what people listen to that would require more base. Personally, I do not want my system to serve as a chest difibulator, but want the clearest, truest reproduction of a wide range of music, including a lot of female vocals and acoustic guitar. I now get the kick I want out of base without drowning the sweetness of voice and strings. And on dvds the sub is astounding. For about $300 total I cannot imagine a better purchase.

Tight "MID" bass, price to performance ratio($269)

None(unless you expect this little 8 incher to go down to the lowest lows)

These little guys are stout performers. I had been looking for fast and tight midbass(35-80 hz)subs for quite a while, as I was looking to mate these to my Polk RT 3000 satellites(I purchased the Polk sats for $800 from the Good Guys in San Diego). The RT 3000's come with two bass modules that also serve as stands to the sats, but I wasn't about to dish out $3,600 for the complete Polk package. With two Energy eXL 8's, I'm almost able to reach the lows the Polk subs offer(29hz vs 26hz), all for $2,600 less. So guess what I did with those savings? I went out and got a Definitive Technolofy 15 incher to take care of that first octave. The sound is coherent and seamless. I've played around with positioning and the Energy's seem to function better a good 8 to 10 inches away from the rear wall and a foot away from the side walls. I'm extremely happy with this set up, and it absolutely kills the regular RT3000 speaker package in overall dynamics. Just a side note, I've been a Polk fan for a number of years and have owned a couple of their subs including their 8 inch psw 50, and it doesn't come close to what the Energy can put out. (please read reviews on my other equipment as I will be posting them within the next few days).

Associated equipment:
Yamaha DSPA1
Adcom GFP 750
Marantz MA 500 monoblocks
Adcom GCD700
Polk cs400 (center)
Polk LS/FX (rears)
Def Tech PF 15
Kimber 8TC (speaker wire)
Kimber 4TC " " "
Audioquest Ruby interconnects
Proscan DVD 8680

Similar Products Used:

Polk psw50, Polk psw150, Infinity BU120, Def Tech PF 15

See below

See below

Sorry for the double posting, but I forgot to mention that you need to turn up the volume on these puppies to a little over 7 to get full(not boomy ) bass output. Many people seem to think that's not a good sign, trust me they sound terrific. F.Y.I. my room is approximately 13x22 with my sofa positioned about 11 feet away from my system(there's 11 feet of kitchen behind me....damn!, that sucks). One last thing, it seems that I screwed up on my math in my previous posting. Happy listening.

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See below

great amp in a small package

you can't take a 8 inch subwoofer seriously, can you?

The sub I had was REALLY sad. When I started doing DVDs, it became apparent that the poor little KLH had to go. I was led to believe that any sub under 10 inches was a waste. I went out and bought a AR 12 120 watt. The bass was strong,and boomy,. The Tiger tank in Private Ryan was a loud hum, and the size of the sub was too big for my room! It looked like a low coffee table or something. I tried the local stereo shop {Elite in Eau Claire} where the owner showed me this small sub. He told me to take it home and try it for the day. The small size opens up a lot of placement options, and the bass was as strong and tighter than the AR 12!! If your home theater room is smallish like mine, this sub is perfect.

Similar Products Used:

klh ar 12

Overall value

Lack of deep base

This sub just couldn't handle the really low base. I had to keep the sub volume between 8 & 9. And I don't listen to my music loud. For the money it's a great value if your just trying to get a little more out of your current speakers. But if you really want to hit the lows (and still not get the muddy sound) spend the extra for the exl-s10. It's worth the extra $$$. Truely, the best out of this bunch is the NHT. But I'd give the s10 a second place for overall sound and first place for value.

Other equempment:
Onkyo 575 receiver
NHT SuperOne speakers

Similar Products Used:

Energy exl-s10, Paradigm PDR-10, NHT SUB1. Listened to all 4 the same weekend in my house.

Small, sounds good

No high-output terminals

I bought this because the Acoustic Research 8 was out of stock. I first hooked it up to my Harman Kardon Avr 20 through the subwoofer outputs and was extremely disappointed. Turns out my reciever doesn't put out a great subwoofer output. My reciever would not let me hook up two sets of speakers and drive both at the same time either.

So here's what I did. My reciever is hooked to my L and R speakers via a cable that screws down. I put a banan clip on the post and ran it into the subwoofer high-current inout. It made a HUGE differnce. This sub came to life.

It certainly enough base for my apartment, and especialy the computer room where it is at. I placed it about 2 feet from the wall and in the center of the room. Very good response, esp. for jazz music.

With rap music it still sounds a bit "slow" but will do the job. I have to lower it a lot during rap, since there is usually a lot of bass.

I would recemond this to anyone that needs a subwoofer for an apartment.

I have not tried it on movies since I only use it in a stereo envirnoment.

I paid 225 from www.soundpros.com
-Tom

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Carver Subwoofer from 5.1 system

Good lows, blends nice with my NHT's.

Doesn't output as much bass as I would have liked.

I did a HELL of a lot of research before buying my speakers, receiver and sub. And ultimately my decision was narrowed down to three factors.
1.) Price
2.) Sound at local hi-fi dealers
3.) Reviews(Mags,AudioReview,Word of Mouth,etc.)

After 3 months of searching the internet I was able to find some serious deals..

I bought this baby from a guy on yahoo classifieds in near new condition for $130 dollars. SHIPPED!! I also bought a pair of SuperZ's on ebay for $165, including shipping, to mate with it. And everything's powered by a Denon AVR-85, which I got from overstock.com for 288.00 shipped + a free PC World Subscription(very cool!!)

All in all I couldn't be happier with my setup. This sub does a nice job of kickin' out the lows, and filling in for my Super's. However, it doesn't play as low as I inferred after reading other reviews. But honestly I can't complain, as this is my first step into the lower end of the audiophile world.

I don't make enough money for a pair of 803's, but I know that my money is well spent and eventually I'll probably end up buying Superones for all three fronts, and another Exl 8 for icing. And I guess that's about the highest recommmendation you could give.

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Infinity Bu-120, Velodyne, Klipsch

Good, full sound for under $300

Some of the low lows are muddy

What kind of sound do you expect to get for under $300??
How about good, clean, loud bass. This sub delivers great lows that somewhat rattle the room. I tested out many subs in this price range, but when it came to all around performance, this sub rocked. They do extremely well with my B&W 302's, they really add a punch to 'em. Even with movies like The Matirx, and Titanic the ES-8 handled the lows with no problem. I possitioned the sub in the center of my 302's, about 2 feet from the back wall, and a couple feet from the side walls. This seemed to open the sound up a little more. I recommend this sub to anyone looking for great lows for a low price.

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