I spent six months looking and listening to subwoofers. Most of the them were very slow and had a lot of bloom in the bass. I was looking for a subwoofer that had good bass detail, because I am using it for Hifi not HT. I owned a Paradigm PS-1000 and found that it was VERY slow and did not have good detail in the bass. The ACI Titan powered subwoofer has great detail with very little bloom in the bass. I mostly listen to Jazz and Clasical music and I was looking for more wait and detail then my ProAc 150 were givening me. I listened to the REL 100, which is also very good but I also need a subwoofer that went with the decor of my living-room/listening-room. The Titan comes in cherry wood, which my ProAc are. I was not very impressed with the Titan when I first got it home, but after 10 to 20 hour of playing time it tranformed itself into a subwoofer which has great detail and Very good timing. It matches very well with my ProAc's, it adds a lot of dynamics and detail to the music.
The people at ACI are very good to deal with, they answered all my question in a very freindly way.
This is a good Subwoofer for the money and I would highly recommend it for anyone that is looking for a musical subwoofer. This is not a $3000.00 subwoofer but for $800.00 including shipping it a perfect 10

I normally don't write reviews for audio equipment and I am certainly not anauthority by any stretch of the imagination, but I felt I would be doing all you
musical/HT enthusiasts a disservice by not writing a bit about my newest
subwoofer purchase.

I tried to format the review to make it easy to read for everyone to read. Hope
you like it.

System Specs:

Kenwood 990D DD receiver, Klipsch Synergy series speakers (KSF 10.5
fronts, KSFC5 center and KSFS5 surrounds), Toshiba 2107 DVD player,
Pioneer CD player and a Mitsubishi 5052 rear projection TV.

Background:

Audio Concepts (ACI) has been around now for about 20 years. They
specialize in speaker manufacturing but also make speaker cables and other
audio related accessories. Mike Dzurko is the owner of the company and
started constructing speakers back in his college years(I got this info from the
literature I received with the speaker)...For all intents and purposes he must
have a great deal of pride in his product, the speaker I received just screams
quality.

Ergonomics:

While this may seem like a strange category to review a speaker in, I believe
that for a subwoofer it is essential as space is usually a consideration in most
peoples minds (especially wives!!)

To start off with, the Titan is a gorgeous subwoofer. The quality of the
workmanship is apparent from the moment you take it out of the box. Edges
are mitered meticulously and the finish is stunning. I had my Titan finished in
Black lacquered oak and let me tell you that this speaker could easily be
mistaken for a piece of furniture or an art exhibit stand. Yes, it's that nice.

The dimensions of the speaker are quite thrifty as well, especially when you
consider the performance you get out of it. The Titan measures in at 26" tall,
13" wide and 15" deep. Pretty impressive when you consider that is houses a
12" down firing speaker.

Features / Performance:

The Titan subwoofer is powered with a 250 watt amplifier that delivers
incredible punch and sound. It is also rated to have less than 5% distortion.
Besides a noticable amp hum when idle, I could not detect any distortion even
when I had the volume level cranked.

I was very happy with the way this sub handled my HT applications. Some of
the source material used were the movies; Long Kiss Goodnight, Cutthroat
Island, Wishmaster and Seven, all DVD's that I consider to have a nice ample
bass soundtrack. The Titan performed handsomely…delivering that bottom
sound that I had always dreamed of hearing (and feeling!). The sound was
full, yet not boomy…tight but not timid. It really added a whole new dimension
to my movie viewing/listening experience.

Next up was to try this sub on some music. As you may know, just because a
sub handles HT well, it does not mean it will deliver music with the same
authority, and clarity. After popping in several of my favorite tunes (Phantom
of the Opera, RUSH, old ELP and about everything else I could find with a
strong bass line), I was astounded to find that the sub duplicated the bass
lines clearly and solidly with no distortion whatsoever. Getting a subwoofer to
perform so superbly in both HT AND music in this price range is almost
unheard of, yet the Titan managed this task without breaking a sweat so to
speak.

The sub is an enclosed, downward firing design. A nice feature is the stand
that is placed on the bottom of the speaker. It basically keeps the speaker
about 2 or 3 inches off the floor and doubles as a reflective surface so you
don't need to worry about the surface you place the speaker on - it helps the
sound stay more consistent.

For all of you "techies" out there, here is a quick features list:

- Linear Frequency Response: from 20- 150 Hz, 3db
- Crossover Frequency: Adjustable - 50 - 150Hz 12db/octave, increasing to
24db/octave
- Bass Driver: Proprietary 12" long-throw woofer
- RMS Power: Built in amp delivers 250 watts RMS at less than 5% distortion
- Phase switch for easy set-up and "tweaking"
- Volume control with speaker level or line-level inputs
- Protection circuitry senses and limits excessive input levels making it VERY
hard to blow this thing up

Reliability:

While I haven't had the speaker all that long, I can still make a statement. The
cabinet is constructed extremely well. Whoever ACI uses for the woodworking
is worth their weight in gold. It's outstanding.

Judging by the safety measures that have been designed into this unit, I would
say that it is very bulletproof and should provide many years of enjoyable
listening pleasure. The only question mark is the amp. I guess time will tell.

Warranty:

ACI warrants their Titan for 5-years. The policy states that at their discretion
the speaker will either be repaired or replaced at ACI's expense during that
time.

Since this is a mail order only product (this is being done to cut overhead and
give the consumer the best possible price), ACI has an unconditional return
policy of 15-days from the time of receipt. In my opinion, you will never need to
use this option.

Summary:

An incredible subwoofer not only for the money, but even when compared to
subs costing up to twice as much. I auditioned Velodynes, Def Technology,
M&K and Paradigm subs (all of which were nice!) but found the Titan to
outperform them overall in both music and HT applications.

The hardware is awesome, the craftsmanship splendid and the sound
incredible. I highly recommend this sub for either HT or musical applications.

Oh, ACI recommends a 40 - 60 hour break-in period for their Titan sub. After
using the speaker now for about 50 hours (I have also been pumping some
pink noise through it to loosen up the rubber a bit), I can honestly say that
there is an audible difference…it sounds even better than when I first hooked
it up!

I normally don't write reviews for audio equipment and I am certainly not anauthority by any stretch of the imagination, but I felt I would be doing all you
musical/HT enthusiasts a disservice by not writing a bit about my newest
subwoofer purchase.

I tried to format the review to make it easy to read for everyone to read. Hope
you like it.

System Specs:

Kenwood 990D DD receiver, Klipsch Synergy series speakers (KSF 10.5
fronts, KSFC5 center and KSFS5 surrounds), Toshiba 2107 DVD player,
Pioneer CD player and a Mitsubishi 5052 rear projection TV.

Background:

Audio Concepts (ACI) has been around now for about 20 years. They
specialize in speaker manufacturing but also make speaker cables and other
audio related accessories. Mike Dzurko is the owner of the company and
started constructing speakers back in his college years(I got this info from the
literature I received with the speaker)...For all intents and purposes he must
have a great deal of pride in his product, the speaker I received just screams
quality.

Ergonomics:

While this may seem like a strange category to review a speaker in, I believe
that for a subwoofer it is essential as space is usually a consideration in most
peoples minds (especially wives!!)

To start off with, the Titan is a gorgeous subwoofer. The quality of the
workmanship is apparent from the moment you take it out of the box. Edges
are mitered meticulously and the finish is stunning. I had my Titan finished in
Black lacquered oak and let me tell you that this speaker could easily be
mistaken for a piece of furniture or an art exhibit stand. Yes, it's that nice.

The dimensions of the speaker are quite thrifty as well, especially when you
consider the performance you get out of it. The Titan measures in at 26" tall,
13" wide and 15" deep. Pretty impressive when you consider that is houses a
12" down firing speaker.

Features / Performance:

The Titan subwoofer is powered with a 250 watt amplifier that delivers
incredible punch and sound. It is also rated to have less than 5% distortion.
Besides a noticable amp hum when idle, I could not detect any distortion even
when I had the volume level cranked.

I was very happy with the way this sub handled my HT applications. Some of
the source material used were the movies; Long Kiss Goodnight, Cutthroat
Island, Wishmaster and Seven, all DVD's that I consider to have a nice ample
bass soundtrack. The Titan performed handsomely…delivering that bottom
sound that I had always dreamed of hearing (and feeling!). The sound was
full, yet not boomy…tight but not timid. It really added a whole new dimension
to my movie viewing/listening experience.

Next up was to try this sub on some music. As you may know, just because a
sub handles HT well, it does not mean it will deliver music with the same
authority, and clarity. After popping in several of my favorite tunes (Phantom
of the Opera, RUSH, old ELP and about everything else I could find with a
strong bass line), I was astounded to find that the sub duplicated the bass
lines clearly and solidly with no distortion whatsoever. Getting a subwoofer to
perform so superbly in both HT AND music in this price range is almost
unheard of, yet the Titan managed this task without breaking a sweat so to
speak.

The sub is an enclosed, downward firing design. A nice feature is the stand
that is placed on the bottom of the speaker. It basically keeps the speaker
about 2 or 3 inches off the floor and doubles as a reflective surface so you
don't need to worry about the surface you place the speaker on - it helps the
sound stay more consistent.

For all of you "techies" out there, here is a quick features list:

- Linear Frequency Response: from 20- 150 Hz, 3db
- Crossover Frequency: Adjustable - 50 - 150Hz 12db/octave, increasing to
24db/octave
- Bass Driver: Proprietary 12" long-throw woofer
- RMS Power: Built in amp delivers 250 watts RMS at less than 5% distortion
- Phase switch for easy set-up and "tweaking"
- Volume control with speaker level or line-level inputs
- Protection circuitry senses and limits excessive input levels making it VERY
hard to blow this thing up

Reliability:

While I haven't had the speaker all that long, I can still make a statement. The
cabinet is constructed extremely well. Whoever ACI uses for the woodworking
is worth their weight in gold. It's outstanding.

Judging by the safety measures that have been designed into this unit, I would
say that it is very bulletproof and should provide many years of enjoyable
listening pleasure. The only question mark is the amp. I guess time will tell.

Warranty:

ACI warrants their Titan for 5-years. The policy states that at their discretion
the speaker will either be repaired or replaced at ACI's expense during that
time.

Since this is a mail order only product (this is being done to cut overhead and
give the consumer the best possible price), ACI has an unconditional return
policy of 15-days from the time of receipt. In my opinion, you will never need to
use this option.

Summary:

An incredible subwoofer not only for the money, but even when compared to
subs costing up to twice as much. I auditioned Velodynes, Def Technology,
M&K and Paradigm subs (all of which were nice!) but found the Titan to
outperform them overall in both music and HT applications.

The hardware is awesome, the craftsmanship splendid and the sound
incredible. I highly recommend this sub for either HT or musical applications.

Oh, ACI recommends a 40 - 60 hour break-in period for their Titan sub. After
using the speaker now for about 50 hours (I have also been pumping some
pink noise through it to loosen up the rubber a bit), I can honestly say that
there is an audible difference…it sounds even better than when I first hooked
it up!

I have been using Sapphire 111's as my speakers,and when I purchsed them I had already a powered subwoofer from NHT....I tried to integrate the NHT's into my system, it was difficult and they sounded just too boomy and not very defined.I have taken the plunge and ordered the Titan's...they are now nicely broken in.
I listen to audio rather than HT, so the sub must be seamless and be able to extend the bass of the Sapphire's...this does not mean the bass must dominate.
It's like a skeleton...the bass is the meat that surrounds the the bones and gives the music that fullness without dominating.
This the Titan does in spades.....
Mike Dzurko...Bravo on producing such an excellent product.
The Sapphires and the Titan are a match made in heaven.
One cannot get this quality of sound, imaging,definition without spending much much more.
No hesitation....if I could give them ten stars I would

I have been using Sapphire 111's as my speakers,and when I purchsed them I had already a powered subwoofer from NHT....I tried to integrate the NHT's into my system, it was difficult and they sounded just too boomy and not very defined.I have taken the plunge and ordered the Titan's...they are now nicely broken in.
I listen to audio rather than HT, so the sub must be seamless and be able to extend the bass of the Sapphire's...this does not mean the bass must dominate.
It's like a skeleton...the bass is the meat that surrounds the the bones and gives the music that fullness without dominating.
This the Titan does in spades.....
Mike Dzurko...Bravo on producing such an excellent product.
The Sapphires and the Titan are a match made in heaven.
One cannot get this quality of sound, imaging,definition without spending much much more.
No hesitation....if I could give them ten stars I would

This has got to be one of the best deals in high-end. Incredible hardwoodfinish and workmanship, combined with excellent features and the most
unbelievably musical sound at anywhere near this price range makes the
ACI Titan a clear winner among under-$1000 subs. In fact, I would recommend
it in many ways over my under-$1500 recommendation, the Rel Strata II. More
powerful bass, prettier to look at, and fantastic return policy from ACI.
I used it with varying levels of success with minimonitors from ACI, ProAc,
Acoustic Energy, Vienna Acoustics, Spendor, Spica, Thiel, Aliante, Diapason,
and several other cheaper brands.

This has got to be one of the best deals in high-end. Incredible hardwoodfinish and workmanship, combined with excellent features and the most
unbelievably musical sound at anywhere near this price range makes the
ACI Titan a clear winner among under-$1000 subs. In fact, I would recommend
it in many ways over my under-$1500 recommendation, the Rel Strata II. More
powerful bass, prettier to look at, and fantastic return policy from ACI.
I used it with varying levels of success with minimonitors from ACI, ProAc,
Acoustic Energy, Vienna Acoustics, Spendor, Spica, Thiel, Aliante, Diapason,
and several other cheaper brands.

The Titan is absolutely superb. No it doesn't play as loudly as some other subs, but it sounds better than all the subs I've auditioned, and I've listened to most of the good ones! The construction is 1st rate, I've seen $5000 speakers that weren't built this well. My wife says it looks and feels like fine furniture!
If you are serious about music or video, you've got to listen to this subwoofer. Take ACI up on their money-back guarantee if it's not the best you've heard, but you'll be keeping it like I did!

I recently purchased an ACI Titan after 9 months of research and auditioning. I have reached my goal. Using the Chesky Stereo Review CD, I verified I have extension down to 20 Hz, and it's clean. But first a word about ACI and Mike Dzurko. I have emailed Mike with numerous questions and he faithfully responded to each an every one, making recommendations for my secific situation. The sales staff member, Joe was entirely honest and forthright in all the questions I asked him. Their return policy is great too.
I mated the Titan perfectly to my Pinnacle AC650s, using the lowest setting on the Titan for the sub crossover, and using my Denon AVR3200's internal front speaker 80Hz crossover setting.. The results are a perfect match.

Now to the sub. In a recent Stereo review article on the Titan kit, they stated that break in for speakers is an old wive's tale. Well, I disagree. I set my receiver's digital readout at a -10dB level, and kept it there for the entire breakin period, as well as the settings on the rear of the sub, and then I played the same 5 CDs in my Yamaha CD player, during work day hours. This process was repeated for approximately 30 hours. Not only did I hear a difference in the bass response on eadch of the passages I have focused on foo months of prior listening ( I know every line by heart!) but near the end of the 30 hours, the overhead recessed ligh fixtures began to rattle on the lowest notes, when they didn't before. The Chesky Stereo Review CD Shake Rattle and Roll test revealed more bass as well. Is this scientific, no, but I trust what I'm hearing and the way the fixtures in my room changed in their responses!

I love acoustic jazz, especially upright bass. The Titan is so tight and fast, I feel Ron Brown and Edgar Myer are on my living room. My chest cavity resonates with certain tones! The Rippingtons Black Diamond CD and Chris Camozi's first CD have killer low bass content, as well as Bela Fleck's Cosmic Hippo and FourPlay's CDs. All these sounded absolutely incredible. I bought the new Chesky Ultimate Demonstration CD, which has a great bass section and it was also fantastic. I relistened to Jurassic Park and Lost World, Conair and The 5th Element over one weekend, and cannot believe what I'm hearing.

In summary, there are less expensive subs out there, that may play louder, but I don't think there is more musical, well defined sub than the Titan for under $1000. You can spend more, but my total investment for main speakers is under a Grand. I've listened to NHT's B+Ws, JM Labs, DigitalFace, Energys, Boston Acoustics. They're all great in their won right, but for bang for the buck, none of them compare to my Pinnacle/Titan combo.

Someday I hope to climb up to the next rung on the audiophile ladder to get the Sapphire III's in matching Black Oak trim, like my Titan sub. It's REAL Wood veneer, with a beautiful finish, not flat vinyl covering. My only fault with this superb product is this: I wished it has 5 way gold post connections, in addition to the RCA style connectors. Other useful options to consider, a Remote for adjusting sound levels and crossover frequencies, and a stepped level adjustment, so the user feels each step as adjustments are made.

To Mike and the folks at ACI, please keep up the good work, and thank you for making such a high grade component so affordable. My audiophile buddies are shaking their heads in disbelief and regretting the hundreds of dollars they overspent on their subs.

If you are looking for a subwoofer that has foundation moving authority, more grace than just about anything under $2500, and looks like a piece of furnture for under $900? Well ACI's Titan is the sub for you. I must admit when I first got it out and put it into my system I was a little dissapointed. It had a little more weight than many subs I'd seen in the price range but it had the grace closer to many of the $600 subs I heard. However I took ACI's advice and drove it long and hard for around 72 hours, and in that time working on getting it perfectly calibrated. Finally I grabbed a few of my most punishing CD's and sat back. Impressed or deligted don't desscribe my reaction nearly as acurrately as giddy. The base wsn't just clean and articulate, but subsonics rippled seamlessly on the bottom. I was happy and knew I had gotten a good deal. Three months later the improvement is again as vast. It is still clean and articulate but it's now also warm and soft, not tonally(tonally the Titan is perfectly clean) but a physical presence. When I put anything that requires massive bass, ie. movies, techno, etc, in my system the listening area is pulsating. You don't just feel it in your legs but it resonates in your chest, with a soft, gentle(yet often very demanding) preassure. Or I can feel my pant legs quivver as James Earl Jones speaks. But let's be serious. Not everyone needs a subwoofer you can feel three floors away at the other end of a brick victoran house, and shich still has me chasing down ralltes in walls, windows, seven months later. Well enter my classical, celtic, and capellla/instrumental jazz interests. When listening to these sources you dont need weight you need agility. The ACI Titian not only now has more agility than most speakers under 3,000 but it brings finess to the table too. In classical/Celtic the Titan brings the vigeral impact of cannons, or bass drums, and on the vocal jass sections it is invisible. This sub blends so well you can't tell the bass isn't comming from the mains until you get within 2 inches of the speakers and even then only because it's clear not enought air is moing right there. I could go on forever about my sub, but If I haven't convinced you to give these things a look more words will not convince you otherwise give this thing a listen as soon as you can in that experiance will speak for itself.