I have had the 162 PBM for almost a year, and I find it to be a superb value. I got mine for $229 shipped, and have never regretted the purchase. The bass this little box gets is really amazing. I also have found that it is a very musical base, not super boomy like many other little, inexpensive subs. Right now I am using the sub crossover set at minimum, while combining it with the Definitive Pro Cinema sub/sat system (another excellent buy) and the results are nothing short of spectacular!

I recently bought a pair of Atlantic Technology PBM 162 subwoofers and have the following to add. The performance, especially music, produced from this pair is of extremely high quality. Even a single sub costing up to $800 won't yield the balance, accuracy, versatility and smoothness that the two PBM 162 offer. I would not, however, recommend getting just one PBM 162 unless the room is small and the sub can be placed in the center. One Call is selling both subs including shipping for $420. I just don't see anyone going wrong with

Followed Home Theaters advice and brought two. Can be had for $150 each from 6th Ave Electronics in New Jersey. They work excellently and sound great.
I paired them up with Optimus LX-10s, front and back, and an Optimus LX-5 center channel. The sound on Dolby Digital and Dolby prologic soundtracks is a 10. These subs also excel in music mode and get a 10.

I recently purchased the 162 pbm sub for $300 here in Manila. I'm really happy with the performance so far. It sounds great with both movies and music. The volume it puts out with just 75 watts of power is surprising. It can play loud enough to shake a small room. It also has line level outputs for those who want more bass with an additional sub. As for me, I'm satisfied as it is but it's good to know that you can add another sub without any hassle.
The only thing I'm not happy about is the lack of a high-pass filter for the satellites. I wanted to high-pass my satellites to see if they would sound better. Oh well..

I finally decided on this little sub after exhaustive reading of many reviews and auditioning other brands such as Energy, Paradigm, AR, Velodyne. I had considered this unit a long time ago, after reading that Home Theater "below $300 sub" review, in which it edged out Energy's ES-8 in music reproduction. So, when Sound City dropped the price down to $149, I figured this was a great incentive to give the 162 PBM a fair shake. Previously, I have been using an Optimus 120 powered sub (now discontinued) and it just wasn't cutting it- I was constantly fiddling with the controls to get some semblance of a decent, clean bass response out of it. So, I got the Atlantic Tech and hooked it through my pre-out/main-in jacks on my receiver, and with very minimum time spent adjusting the 162's controls, I can already hear a major difference in the overall sound of my system. The bass is MUCH cleaner and more musical. I tried the phase inverter switch in both positions and chose the one that sounded cleaner and now, I don't have to touch the sub. This little box integrates very well with my main speakers, which are Optimus LX-8's that are rated down to 50hz. The Atlantic Tech extends that down to 30hz without being boomy- just smooth and musical. With the wide soundstaging of the LX-8's combined with the excellent performance of this sub, I'm enjoying my CD's more than ever. For $150, this is probably the best value in a sub you will find anywhere right now.

For $149 at SoundCity or OneCall(ask about their price guarantee), this dinkylittle gnat of a subwoofer can produce some monstrous bass! With only an
8in driver, 75 wimpy watts of power (very modest in the world of subwoofers
where power = the ability to annoy you neighbors) and a sealed enclosure,
this 22lbs lightweight can punch those bass notes below the 30Hz belt with
ease and with the authority to shake the room, but with the detail and
tight articulation to beat out any of those obese heavyweights that only
knows how to boom.

This little contender has 2 weakness though:
1) It never sleeps (it lacks an ON/OFF switch, but it goes into standby after
10 min)
2) It's fairly localizable when positioned outside the two main speakers, but
it's so cheap that you can take 2 home with you and avoid this problem
altogether. An added benefit of a 2 sub tag team would be to reduce those
evil resonance modes that can develop from just one sub acting alone.

Other than that, it's a clear winner. I give it 2 thumbs and a big toe way up.

I bought this small sub since i read this review and also home theatre magazine... Another reason is that this sub has 110/220 V dual voltage (thanks two persons whose messages are next to mine for confirming me about the dual voltage). The dual voltage is good for me who is an Asian student who is going back to home country. Most Asian countries use 220 V.. The low end is 30 Hz is really. It matches pretty good with my Infinity RS speakers... It can shake my small apartment. I hooked it up with my Pioneer 606D DVD player... For this price ($149 from soundcity), I think it's a great buy... 5 stars for performance/price..

Having to make do with a small budget and even smaller listening/viewing space, I assembled a modest, but good sounding system consisting of pair of Paradigm Atoms, a Paradigm CC100 center, Atlantic Technology 154 SR surrounds and a Paradigm SB80 woofer all powered by a Yamaha RX-V480 receiver. Of course, the weak link - the SB80 passive woofer. Being a bandpass box, it was very efficient - but only at producing a couple bass notes.
After reading a comparison report of $300 woofers in Home Theater magazine, I decided to give the highly rated Atlantic Technology 162 PBM a try. I found OneCall was selling it for $214 - including delivery ($300 list), so I didn't have much to lose. I'm happy to report that the 162 PBM is everything Home Theater said it was. Being a relatively small (10"x14.4"x12.4") sealed cabinet, you wouldn't think it could produce much in the SPL department, but in combination with it's 75 watt amp - this little guy really cranks out some serious bass. And it's good quality bass too - very tight, well defined, no doubt due to the acoustic suspension design. Guess I had almost forgotten there was more to bass than the fat thump produced by the SB80. Now, I'm also a believer that bandpass woofers may be fine for Rolling Third World Boom Boxes, but not in a decent sounding home system. The 162 PBM sounds great on music paired with the Atoms, and has plenty of "wump" for movies in my tight living accommodations. All of the connections and controls necessary to match up with most any system can be found on the back panel.

Of course, the 162 PBM isn't going to take the place of a Sunfire, Velodyne or what have you, but in an apartment/studio/bedroom system it'll be hard to beat. A good deal at $300. At around $200 - an absolute steal! If I had the room, I'd follow Home Theater's advice and buy two.

Having to make do with a small budget and even smaller listening/viewing space, I assembled a modest, but good sounding system consisting of pair of Paradigm Atoms, a Paradigm CC100 center, Atlantic Technology 154 SR surrounds and a Paradigm SB80 woofer all powered by a Yamaha RX-V480 receiver. Of course, the weak link - the SB80 passive woofer. Being a bandpass box, it was very efficient - but only at producing a couple bass notes.
After reading a comparison report of $300 woofers in Home Theater magazine, I decided to give the highly rated Atlantic Technology 162 PBM a try. I found OneCall was selling it for $214 - including delivery ($300 list), so I didn't have much to lose. I'm happy to report that the 162 PBM is everything Home Theater said it was. Being a relatively small (10"x14.4"x12.4") sealed cabinet, you wouldn't think it could produce much in the SPL department, but in combination with it's 75 watt amp - this little guy really cranks out some serious bass. And it's good quality bass too - very tight, well defined, no doubt due to the acoustic suspension design. Guess I had almost forgotten there was more to bass than the fat thump produced by the SB80. Now, I'm also a believer that bandpass woofers may be fine for Rolling Third World Boom Boxes, but not in a decent sounding home system. The 162 PBM sounds great on music paired with the Atoms, and has plenty of "wump" for movies in my tight living accommodations. All of the connections and controls necessary to match up with most any system can be found on the back panel.

Of course, the 162 PBM isn't going to take the place of a Sunfire, Velodyne or what have you, but in an apartment/studio/bedroom system it'll be hard to beat. A good deal at $300. At around $200 - an absolute steal! If I had the room, I'd follow Home Theater's advice and buy two.

Price, tight bass, not too boomy

the driver to me is suspect...

I bought this unit due to price, my small room size (10 x 15') and no port! I thought the sealed box would match pretty well with my NHT superones. I was right.

I am very pleased with the quality/quantity of bass for my room. But lately I noticed some distortion at moderate levels. This shows up in punchy, articulate bass in music.
My music of choice is jazz and fusion. I unhooked my nhts and let the sub go solo for awhile. I noticed that the speaker will "chatter" on each punch. This is not good.
I called Atlantic and made arrangements to send unit in for repair - (bought thru onecall(mail order)). I never have abused this sub in any way. I was told the model was discontinued, and will have to be repaired as replacement is not an option. Will wait and see...don't get me wrong, I like the sub very much. But, am a bit uncomfortable with it now. If anyone else has experienced this with the pbm162,
let me know...