With an hour''s worth of mods and no advanced carpentry skills beyond the parts ($50 + $10s/h) and instructions contained on the PartsExpress products (all of which were received in 3 days), you will superior quality sound.

The box isn''t thick MDF; it''s particle board. In order to compensate for resonance of the wood, you must add sound deadening sheets to the exposed inner surfaces. The acoustic sheets which look like a continuous sheet of egg-carton has no solid sides and eliminates for the most part standing wave effects inside the enclosure. The 3M glue is the fastest way to apply all of those sheets securely to the deadening panels (tried regular glue, but it wouldn''t stick), and with the glue, it was about a 5 minute process in a well-ventilated area. The spikes are essential for any sub. What you are doing is not allowing energy from the sub to be absorbed into the floor. But forcing it in the room! This is where you want the sound! Additionally, by providing a rock solid and stable platform, you eliminate the possibility of allowing strong bass notes to physically manhandle the cabinet. Once again, the focus is to get clean, solid bass into the listening environment. Use the sealing caulk to seal off the speaker, and use their insulation in the rear of the ports to reduce the air turbulence from the ports, and you will eliminate most port noise except at extremely high levels (ref

I listened to an M&K-105 days before receiving this sub. Is this sub as good? Not in the details, but as a whole, with $60 worth of mods it is like a good $500-600 sub (still a tad shy of the performance of an M&K and that may be fixable with a high quality replacement woofer). How do you transform any regular sub into a superior one? Go to PartExpress.com, order (8) 10x10" sound deadening sheets (part# 268-010) to cover all of the open wood panels, order 3M Spray 74 Super Foam Fast Adhesive (part# 340-270) to be able to attach (2) rolls of acoustic foam 1-1/2" 24x18" squares [scissors easily cut the pieces in 8 equidistant rectangles] (part#260-316B) to the sides, top, and bottom of the previously installed deadening panels. Next turn the box over, and install the Dayton Audio Black Chrome Speaker spikes (Part# 240-715) you ordered to de-couple the sub from your carpet, hardwood, or vinyl floor. The hole for the speaker spikes are basically prefabed for your where Audiosource notched in the spots to place the screws to hold those cheesy rubber feet. The spike set includes floor protectors for those with/out carpet floors in your listening area. Finally, return that cheesy piece of insulation that was placed inside the sub back into the enclosure, but take scissors cut it in half and partially block the rear of the port (these cheap style ports weren''t designed to avoid port noise). Now, reseal the speaker or a new 4 ohm driver of your choice back into the enclosure using speaker sealing caulk (part 269-300) [tacky, rubbery type compound that is moldable and has no perceptible odor] to absolutely seal off any air leaks. Set the speaker upright in your desired listening location, balance the box to insure absolute sturdiness, and prepare to be blown away. The total

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Paradigm Servo-15 (best sub on the planet! - bar none w/out ref. to $$$), M&K, Energy, KEF, Definitive Tech, Timpany Acoustics, Sony, Polk, Velodyne

low bass

none at this price

the auto on system works fine , useing loe level rca Y`ed input,weird led red for ON ,green for STANDBY.all my other comp.are just the op. this unit go`s very low,someone reviewed it down to 17hz ,I believe it,have it set to 2,level ,and aprox. 95hz crossover.anything higher then 2 and my windows might break.for 179.00 at costco this is very very hard to beat.the dimensions are smaller for the box then listed at the website and tn the mcm catalog,maybe it`s special for costco.cant go wrong with this one 10 stars!!!

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jbl psw115

check out www.audiosource.net. In the MCM catolog it measures 26"H 20"W 23D CHECK AT WWW.MCMELECTRONICS , COST IS AT 345.00 . I Have the speaker and it measures 21.5"H 16"W 19"D and they both have the same power ratings and model number but at costco it`s only 179.00 WOW what a buy!! highly recommend!!! the costco one i have not heard the OTHER version but you could buy two of the costco ones.

Great earth shaking bass.

Placement tweaking is a pain.

Really good price for sound quality. Picked one up at costo for $199.00. Wow! couldnt believe the difference it makes on a cheapy component system.

If you want to scare off the neighbors get one of these. 4 stars for it's cost effectiveness and overall sound.

Incredibly low price, pretty good volume, can rattle the windows

BOOMY!!! Unless you put a *LOT* of stuffing into the cabinet, it isn't worth $50

Let me start of by saying, if you plan on using this sub without any modifications, RETURN IT! It's not worth your trip to costco! With that said however, if you're on a really tight budget and are willing to spend $10 to stuff it with something to fight the resonance, it's might just be worth it.

When i first tried it out, I demo'd the sub with the Matrix (that scene where Neo and Trinity go ballistic in the building lobby). That scene has a good, fast, techno track that not everything can keep up with. Add to that all the gunfire going on, it can really push a sub. Anyway, as you could probably assume from what i said earlier, this sub was crappity crap crap. There was absolutely no musicality whatsoever. You couldn't tell one note from the next. Gunshots just made the sub get a little louder. At this point I was very disappointed in the quality of this sub, needless to say.

After a quick trip out, I came back with the closest thing I could find to speakerfill: some cotton fillings used to stuff crafts and such. It was only $2.99 for a bag the size of a pillow, so i figured what the hell. Took off the woofer and stuffed two bags of the stuff inside. No staples or adhesives or anything, just stuffed it in there (I just wanted to see if it could make any difference at all).

I put everything back together and lo and behold, the difference was like night and day. I'm not going to come out and say this was like a nice Velodyne or a True Subwoofer or anything, but the difference was truly amazing. The notes were still a little mushy, but I attribute that to the cheap cabinet and the fact that I didn't bother to position it too much. Everything was much crisper and there was actually a pronounced musical line now. And again, the volume was *definately* there.

As far as my ratings go, I'd have to give this a 5 for value and a 3 overall. A quick note to anyone who may be reading this in the near future: 800.com has the Advent 550s going for $260 shipped right now. Judging from the reviews, this is a MUCH better sub. Personally I would probably go for that one right off the bat. I just ordered one not 20 minutes ago. We'll see how it goes.

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Klipsch KSW-150, Mirage BPS-100

Price! Support!

A bit muddy

I *JUST* picked this up at COSTCO for $90!!!

That's right! $90.00! Unbelievable! It was the last one they had and it was the display model. Lists for $399.00 and normally $179.00 at Costco but marked down 50% because it was on display.

I checked it over for any mars or dings and to make sure the driver wasn't punctured and it was in very good shape. It was missing the feet and the front grill had some tears at the bottom but other than that, perfect.

Hauled it home, replaced my JBL DPS-10 (which is a great 10" sub by the way) with the SW Fifteen and boom!

Nowhere near as tight as the JBL but then hey, it's a 15" instead of a 10". You can't expect it to be that tight. Doesn't much matter in my setup as my mains are Klipsch Cornwalls which have 15" drivers in them as well. So, I can just dial it down and get the really low bass out of it.

Great thing is AudioSource support! I read another review here where a guy called because there was a small tear in his grill and they replaced it so I called them. They are sending me a new grill, the feet, warranty card and the setup CD all FREE! And no shipping charge!

That's what I call SERVICE!

I can't imagine any better deal than $90.00 for this monster. I was interested in more expensive subs but I just couldn't pass this one up. Glad I didn't.

I think even at $179.00 it's a deal as long as you have a nice size room and pay attention to placement and settings.. maybe add the sound deadening materials to the inside. I'll be attempting that to see if it tightens up the bass a bit. All in all I'm happy.

Giving highest value rating because it's a great deal. Four stars for overall because it seems a little muddy.

Similar Products Used:

JBL DPS-10

Great price, like most I got it a Costco for $179. 15 inch power.

Spring clips (although I, like most probably use the line level inputs) It is quite large so you need a fairly big room. The control knobs on the back are not easy to read when the sub is put in a corner.

I can't imagine anyone having any complaints about this sub given the price. I listened to only a few subs at a retailer and without having them in my house I can't comment too much on them. All I know is that this sub rocks! At only about 1/4 volume (on the sub) it will cause my CD player to skip (the CD player is about 8' away) when I crank up the volume of my receiver. It is placed in the corner of an alcove type area within the main room that is 20 X 24 with an open beam ceiling (12' at the peak) and the sub has no problem delivering chest thumping bass at about 1/4 volume. The sub was/is a little boomy but so I used a cure that I got from one of the other reviewed subs (Infinity BU120), that is to stuff some heavy wool socks in the ports. I used three in each port making it a somewhat none vented sub. It substantially tightend up the bass. It sounds pretty good with most music and great with movies. Not being an audiophile I can't see spending 2, 3 or more times as much on a sub and getting anywhere near the bang for the buck. Anyone not into the latest and greatest audiophile gear should save the extra 2 - 4 hundred dollars they would spend on one of the big name "entry" level subs and put it towards some other aspect of their home theater. The money I saved nearly payed for the 5 disc RCA DVD/CD player I also got from Costco (reviewed on this site) for $299. Anyone just starting out or looking to add some bass to there system should get on down to Costco or wherever and give this sub a try. It really rocks (literally)--- everything in my house.

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This is my first experience with a home audio sub, although I have a 10" bazooka powered by a fairly high quality amp behind the seat of my extended cab mini-truck

Inexpensive, good quality construction

Requires field modifications

I don't usually take the time to post, but I appreciate the help here, so I'll add my $.02. Well, I listened to the Polk, Velodyne and JBL (along with Sony, Yamaha and Bose) at the local Circuit City and Best Buy, and I had decided to go for the 15" Velodyne CT-150. The folks at Velodyne make a good product. I want both music and home theater and the Polk just didn't cut it. I'm not sure I ever got a good listen to the JBL, but after hearing the depth of the 15" woofer, I realized that the 12" system would probably leave me wanting. After reading the reviews here I realized I could go to Ubid and try TWO of these and still have a lot of money left over opposed to the Velodyne. I decided to try it. It seems like a lot of people like having two subwoofers - makes sense to have one handle strictly the bottom of the range and one a bit wider range. Anyway, I won the bid and they came and I tried them without the polyfill. Very muddy and boomy. The kick drum, etc. were just not anywhere close to lifelike. I opened the subs up and there was fill over the back of the ports. There is a front and rear section of the box walled off with vertical slats along the sides. I put fill in the front section just behind the speaker. Big difference. Now each one sounds almost as good as the Velodyne on music. Maybe not quite as distortion free and tight, but better to my ears than the dual-speaker 12" Polk. Having two makes the bass totally transparent. Star Wars, etc. shakes the floor with the LFE. Explosions sound and feel right. This is a great buy, and I give it five stars for value. The only thing significantly better has a servo, and those $1,000+ boxes truly are better, so comparing to the "best" I give it three stars overall. BTW, one of mine had a corner damaged in FedEx shipping (which was over $100), so I'm curious to see how Ubid and/or FedEx respond. If someone has experimented with polyfill and has better suggestions, please let me know. I went to Wal-Mart and got the 5# box of poly for $8 and used maybe 1#. Just for the record, I have a budget-minded system, bought on clearance and from the pawn shops. A hodgepodge, but the results are quite pleasant for me. I don't listen at very high volumes, BTW, so quality and consistency of sound is a whole lot more important to me than volume. The Kenwood is a bit harsh and underpowered, but I bought it before I had studied much.

Receiver - Kenwood VR-206 (Service Merchandise clearance)
Front Speakers - Advent 1123 (Pawn shop)
Center Speaker - Infinity Video (Pawn shop)
Rear Speakers - JBL DC38 (Clearance at Montgomery Ward)

Similar Products Used:

Polk, Velodyne, JBL

Many thanks to all reviewers.
I have some questions, to beg your indulgence.
Should I attach the extra fill to the walls of the unit? How?
Any suggestions for an interconnect between my preamp and the unit (10-15 ft or so) and web sites that sell same? I do not want to have a gotten a great deal on the subwoofer and waste a lot of money on the interconnect.

Thanks for your help.

fdfmn@aol.com

Price and extended low response.

Doubling problems, poorly tuned ports, and shallow cross over slop.

This sub does the basics very well. It goes loud and low. However, there is a problem of doubling (1st order harmonics distortion). If you send it a test tone at 30hz, you can clearly hear 60hz tone being produced. Test tones below 50hz should not present with much pitch differences to the human ear. This problem makes this sub sound somewhat blurred and "unclean". The crossover is either inaccurate or has a very shallow slope. Considerable amount of 50hz energy is emitted even when the cross over is tuned to 40hz. When the cross over is set at the highest setting, 500hz and above tones can be heard! However, this sub is quite efficient and produces healthy volume at 30hz and below. It is great if it is only used to suppliment output below 60hz to 50hz (with the cross over set to the lowest 40hz mark). However, it is a steal for the price.

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Advent