Value, Hits 20Hz, shakes my whole living room....

A tad boomy at 1st, a little big

I wanted to move my Velodyne to my music only system and needed to replace my HT sub. I was skeptical at first of this thing, but after all the positive reviews I said, "Why not?". Anyway, on paper this thing for $199 should eat my Velodyne for lunch and you know what?? In many ways it does! The Velodyne has a 10" woofer and 12" passive radiator and is a 100 watt sub. Overall comparison is that the Audiosource goes much louder and deeper with sacrifice in accuracy and tightness. BUT for my home theater the audiosource wins, hands down. My velodyne never made my glass window rattle like the audiosource does. Watching Saving Private Ryan was unbelievable in dolby digital. My advice- THIS IS A HOME THEATER SUB! For music, you may want to look elsewhere, but it is still semi-competent in that arena (after I moded it).

I went all out on modifying this thing too..the cabinet wall thickness is very thin and the box has a "hollow" sound to it, especially if you cross the sub over too high. I had some extra sondex acoustic tile left over and lined the entire inside of the sub with it, (looked really cool in there) next I bought some fiberfill and packed the whole sub full of it, I also moved the fiberfill away from the two ports it was blocking as it came from the factory. WOW!!! The boominess is totally gone! These improvements are making me think about getting another one, just for future use somewhere.

Also, I would like to commend Audiosource for there great customer service. Upon arrival of my sub the corner of the speaker grill was badly torn in shipping (damn UPS). Anyway, it was just cosmetic but I'm very anal about my stuff so I called there service line and they are sending me a new grill at no charge!! I must say that this sub was one of my best purchases EVER!!! Great sub, great company! Rating is for price/performance.

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I own a Velodyne 1210XII as well (list $750)

Cheap, low bass, Massive.

Boomy before insulation, $50 shipping.

Great sub for the money. Just add plenty of fiberglass insulation inside the box (remove woofer with 8 screws) since it only has a handful of polyfill by default making it too boomy due to large echoing box. Don't choke the woofer, must leave room for it to breath. BIC works great except for the amp hums, pops, and other interference noises with manual DVD track skips. SW-15 amp is dead quiet until bass hits you in the chest. Must find sweet spot by putting sub where your couch would be and crawl around the room until you feel the most bass then move woofer there. Don't waste your money on expensive sub cable. Just by Radioshack shielded RCA 12 foot and extension cables to desired length (mine is at 36 feet) to go over door frames and such. Amp hums is worsened by unshielded cables but if cables are shielded you should be OK. Get this while you can. Amazon has it for $175 after $50 discount and free shipping. Ubid is hit and miss.

Similar Products Used:

BIC D-1210R
Audiosource 8" 50 watts powered sub

Price, versatility

Boomy; THIS THING IS HUGE!!!!

I purchased this item at ubid for $144. I got it in the mail 2 days later. WOW!! I have a pair of Dalquist Towers. This sub showed me what they weren't playing. This subwoofer adds that low low ongoing bass. I like my bass a little boomy. If you adjust it correctly, it sounds great. When I first got the sub it overpowered the other speakers. All you heard was treble and bass. After adjusting the crossover, which is at 120 Hz and my volume knob is at 9 or 10 o'clock. Right now it's hooked up high level, until I get my Denon Receiver in the mail. I've heard Klipsch, Polk, Velodyne. None of these sounded as deep as this sub. A lot of people reviewing this product have added insulation in the cabinet. What i did that increased the sound quality, in my opinion, is to plug up the ports. This makes it less resonant at the higher sub frequencies. If you want to try it quickly to see if you like it, try jamming socks, I know it sounds funny, into the ports. If you like the way it sounds, you can permantly close them off. I give it 5 stars for value and 4 stars for overall rating.

Similar Products Used:

Klipsch, Polk, Velodyne

Loud and Low

Construction kind of cheesy but fairly solid

Being new to the subwoofer world, I started with one that came with the KLH 9006 surround-sound speaker system. It was a pretty good subwoofer but very touchy and easy to overload. Then I found this site and read all the reviews on the SW-15. When I had the chance to pick one up at a bargain price I did it, figuring I could always sell it to someone else if I didn't like it.

First let me say that I didn't just unpack it and start listening. I tried to, but there was no sound at all. After a bit of sleuthing, I found that one of the speaker wires had come loose in shipment. While I had it open, I went ahead and did what everyone else said to do, add some Radio Shack speaker insulation. Then I got a RS "Y" connector, hooked my Pioneer 509S AV receiver up to it, and started my tinkering. Since I never had a chance to hear it before adding the insulation, I can't say if it was boomy or not, as others have said it is. I can say that it isn't now.

My first impression was that this thing was really hard to adjust. I did a LOT of tweaking just to get things sounding right when I was watching movies. Even so, some movies had a very irritating background low-level bass pop. When playing CD music, mostly classical, the SW-15 didn't do well at all, at least with my Klipsch Quintets. No amount of tweaking helped. There just didn't seem to be enough mid-range to make music sound good.

After much hand wringing (including the urge to change back to my KLH sub)I trotted out my old dbx Soundfield VR speakers, rather large old dinosaurs that include five speakers firing at different angles, one being a 12-inch woofer. What a difference they made! After a lot of level adjustment tweaks on all the surround speakers, I finally had the sound I wanted. The SW-15 could now be used as a low frequency supplement to the dbx's. And do they supplement! When the bass is really low (I have several pipe organ CD's) the SW-15 jumps in and adds organ sounds you can feel, just like you were there in person. The auto-on detect works perfectly.

In judging movie sound, I have two benchmark movies, "Saving Private Ryan" and "Pitch Black". Now that I finally have the SW-15 integrated in my system, playing either of these movies is akin to a fine vibration massage. I am surprised that my neighbors havn't been by to see what is causing the explosions in our house. After the opening sequence in "Private Ryan", I feel wrung out just like the soldiers who were there must have.

For the price, the SW-15 is a fine value. If you can still find one of these my advice is to grab it if you don't mind doing a bit of work to get it in proper listening condition. After you do, sit back and enjoy some of the biggest sound you'll ever hear. It can purr like a kitten or roar like a lion.

In closing, I have heard several large subs, and none of them sound very "tight" to me. The SW-15 is on a par with most I have heard. I have yet to hear it distort. I have it placed near a corner but at a 45 degree angle from both walls, and it seems to be fine. I should also add that AudioSource tech support is very easy to contact, and they are very polite and helpful.

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KLH 8" downfiring 100w subwoofer

GOES LOW

Not much Punch

I just hooked up the sw15 and it is definitely produces low frequencies but it is sloppy. I am not sure where to stuff it as I have read in the other reviews. It seems to be well made for the price. I am still playing with the unit, if anyone has any tips please let me know, I am considering returning it as I really wanted something that would punch me in the gut and this one gives me more of a massage. It's in a 15x15 room, and my options for location are limited.

Powerful, deep bass, very good buy

no high pass outputs, flimsy speaker clips connection

Just recieved my SW15 today. Very impressive. Bought it for $179-plus ($225 delivered) at Costco after reading reviews on this BBS.

The SW15 does a reasonably good job of deep bass production comparable to similar subs in the $500 (list) range. My brother has a BagEnd 400W 18" ELF Reference subwoofer (that lists for about $1800) so I know deep bass when I hear it. the AS SW15 doesn't match it, of course, but does a good job in a moderate size room. By my ears, I would say it has pretty good output in the 30-40Hz range.

I have a ADC 12-band Equalizer with a Spectrum Analyser and the lowest band shows output in the 25Hz range. In movies and music that reegistered output at that frequency, I could hear and feel it without undue booming. I thought booming might be a problem with my front Cerwin-Vega AT-12's
(12" with rated low-end to 28hz) but with careful crossover and level setting I got excellent results. My old 8-year-old 70W 12" Pioneer sub used to boom in the 60hz range, and I hear none of that with the AS SW15.

My only gripes are the flimsy spring-clip speaker connections. I have'nt had a problem with the auto on/off (I just hook it up to my reciever' switched AC output anyway). I would have like a high-pass feature, but I can live without it. Also you have to use either the speaker or line-level inputs, not both.

Construction is on-par with a $500 sub. And it comes with exellent customer service and a tranferrable 5-year warranty
(which is pretty good warranty these days for a powered sub).

Over-all, hats off to AudioSource. A terrific buy for quality for cost folks. Pick one up at at Costco while you can...these are being discontinued and being replaced by AudioSource by a new sub ..a 15" 300W with digital amplifier.

Highly recomended.

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Reference BagEnd ELF subwoofer, Pioneer Sw100 Sub

Deep extension, goes real loud, minimal artefacts

Some cabinet resonance, auto-on doesn't work well

I was unconvinced about this speaker for awhile but after allowing it to settle down and playing with the crossover frequency I got it to integrate with the rest of my system (front speakers are Linn Saras which do a reasonable job at the bottom end in the first instance, which is why I wanted a 15"). Now I'm really very pleased with it on a range of sources and I'd recommend to anyone. The auto-on doesn't always, so I leave it on permanently. I have a suspicion it sounds better when it's been left on anyway. Note: I bought the display model at local Costco ($145 - in good condition with all the bits) and was told they won't be stocking it anymore... be warned.

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Various smaller devices

much base

i have owned this subwoofer for over a year now. i bought it from costco at 199.00. i dont care if its not high end because im not a snob using my toys for social acceptance. i love the low freq. this puppy puts out. i did fill the unit with some stuffing and it made a difference. my brother has a klipsch sub and my audiosource blows his 1200.00 piece of high end crap out the door. although i do have a klipsch center so i shouldnt call it crap,(although i bought that as open box for 100 bones so that doesnt qualify me as one of those snobs.;) bottom line, if you just want to enjoy some good home theater sound, this is the subwoofer to try. if you dont like it, take it back. by the way, costco has the best return policy i have ever encountered. enjoy!!

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none

Good price, Good tech support

slightly boomy

Another Costco purchase. Stuff it with poly & it's good, tightens right up. Put it in a ported closet(as I did) and it is great. I keep the woofer's volume towards the low side for music and at almost 3/4 volume for movies. It's very easy to adjust with the volume knob on the back. I have never had any issues with the unit not turning on at low volumes. Buy one and play with it. Costco seems to have a good return policy if you do not like it.

Raw Power, Value

Rough Resonance @ higher volumes, BUGLY

There I was on U-Bid wanting a little 8" sub for my daughter's room. I won a bid for an AudioSource SW8, but a week later, U-Bid wrote that their inventory was screwed up. They were out of the SW8, but they offered to substitute the AudioSource SW15 at the same price.

Ok, twist my arm. Let me think..... sure, why not.

It was laughable to get this sub @ $59 bucks (plus shipping, no tax). It felt like a Monopoly card was given to me. FYI: I've had great luck & fun buying audio stuff on U-Bid. My costs run about 30% of MSRP.... which translates to 30% to 50% below the big discount audio warehouses.

About the sub: I had to reorganize my various subs & rooms. No way this monster was going in the teen's room. It ended up in the HT. My main speakers have a very good bass range, but I tinkered with the crossover & ended up around 40. The AudioSource sub is my foundation for the big effects. It is pretty useless for HiFed music, except for some pipe organ music (some of the big pipes drop to 8 cycles per second!). This sub gets close to handling them all.

I appreciate the review suggesting polyfill additions to mute the heavy resonance. I'll give it a try.

Your mileage may vary.

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Klipsch 12, KEF 12, Harmon Kardon 8