Please dis-regard my earlier review of the ASW 500. I just returned it today. I picked up a Mirage FRx S10. Now that is what a sub should be for the same $$. It has cross over control that the B&W lacked. It has 25 more watts as well as auto on/off. Plus it just sounds better. I have been demo'ing the mirage for the past week and realised just how the B&W was either ON! or off, no matter placement in room or volume control and rec'r settings. So unfortunately, inspite of loving my CC3 and DM302's, have to recind my earlier review.

Price.

None for this price

First sub I've ever owned. My home theater setup is in an apartment, so I feel this sub is perfect, maybe even too much. I bought a sub for home theater only. My fronts are bassy enough, B&W DM580s. The ASW 500 really fills in the bass lacking in my B&W center channel. If I find that it isn't sufficient for a bigger room, I'll move it to the rear channel receiver in the 7.1 setup and get the 2500. If you plan to move to 7.1 sound or a bigger listening room, I don't see this as a wasted investment. Hardly anybody has bass in their rears like they're supposed to, so this sub will be utilized in the future for rears. I don't find crossover issues a problem, because my receiver allows for crossover configuration. I'm not in it for the boom so much as precision. This doesn't sound muddy to me. It's a great little sub. Listen for yourself. Sounds great in a small to medium size room. I thought for $350, I can't do much better than that.

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none

Tight, and accurate response. Fast.

Can't think of any at the moment.

I've had this for just about a month now, and have to say that I'm very, very happy with it. I'm using it with a pair of AudioPro Image 40's, and the sound that comes out is exceptional, even in my less than optimal listening environment. It's a very musical sub, and won't overpower the speakers unless you crank up the gain. I tested the musicality with a couple of Rush recordings, as they tend to get really low. There wasn't a hint of rumble on Signals, and Geddy Lee's bass lines were very much three dimensional. Another great bass solo is in Bauhaus's "She's in Parties". In my old car stereo, it used to rattle the windows. Through the 500, it rattles your bones but still sounds absolutely lifelike. That says a lot. This is a sub I'd recommend to anyone looking for something in this price range, and who wants musicality over boominess. It's tight, and will give you what you want. So far, it's handled everything I've thrown at it with clarity, and detail I hadn't expected before. I've positioned the sub just a few inches inside the left channel. The user's manual suggests the optimal positioning as being between the two speakers. This is the best I can do. I tried various positions for it, but where it sits now seems to be the best.

System:
CD Player: Onkyo Integra 788F
Amp: Marantz PM-17 Integrated
Turntable: Rotel
Speakers: AudioPro Image 40
Interconnects: PBJ
Speaker Cable: Kimber Kable 4TC
Sub connected through low level outputs from the amp.

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Tried out a bunch of stuff from AudioPro, Sunfire, Paradigm, and the B&W ASW 1000.

I recently purchased the ASW500. It is matched to 4 DM302's & CC3 powered by a Denon 2700. The ASW500 has been fantastic. If you are looking for something to fill in the bass in both music and home theatre this is the sub for you. If you are looking for something to shake the house while listening to the latest Ice Cube rape album try a JBL. The majority of my use has been listening to music and the ASW 500 takes over from where the 302's end. Don't be fooled by the size of the box it can shake the house. I auditioned many subs, Energy, Paradigm, M&K, Boston's, as well as the ASW 1000 & ASW 2000. Like the 302's this is a great speaker inspite of its low price.

I recently purchased the ASW500. It is matched to 4 DM302's & CC3 powered by a Denon 2700. The ASW500 has been fantastic. If you are looking for something to fill in the bass in both music and home theatre this is the sub for you. If you are looking for something to shake the house while listening to the latest Ice Cube rape album try a JBL. The majority of my use has been listening to music and the ASW 500 takes over from where the 302's end. Don't be fooled by the size of the box it can shake the house. I auditioned many subs, Energy, Paradigm, M&K, Boston's, as well as the ASW 1000 & ASW 2000. Like the 302's this is a great speaker inspite of its low price.

Natural british sound. solid.

the plugs (RCA and others) are not as good as the sound performance...

It's all about music. this sub lets me enjoy the music with a clear, smoth and sweet bass. It has very cheap speaker cable plugs in my opinion.
But the sound is what matters here. it has a very musical bass. May be not to boomy for Home theater. but for Stravinsky's "Le Sacre du Printemps" works very musical. It's a B&W... don't forget that.

B&W is not a brand like Sony, who makes the best CRT video monitors in the world (trinitron), but also makes horrible home sound machines... so I think each B&W product do what it has to do for the price.

Value, Matching with B&W DM302s, Size, Sound

I bought the ASW500 today after almost 6 months of procrastination. Let me say this, it is like I have an entirely new system! The sub is great, fits perfectly into my system and sits as my big purchase for the year (obviously everyone is on a different budget). I have the sub sitting to the right of my front left speaker (DM302s). Along with the CC3, this is a nice little package. I wish I had Dolby Digital to get the full throw, but hey, time will bring it.

I dont even have the volume at half way and it is plenty loud. I agree with some of the other reviews that it seems a little more loud on CD than DVD, but I dont think that is the ASW500s fault. One question, how important is the interconnect to the reciever?

Go out and get this if you have some B&W stuff. You wont be disappointed.

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Tested Boston, Klipsch, Paradigm in similar price range

Good sound for music really detailed sub

Does not play sound efects for home theater especially dvd

I love B&W don't get me wrong, but this sub seems to be real picky about it's output. When listemimg to an audio cd or the tuner the thing takes the walls apart. It has a good extended freq. range from puncy midbass to real low bass for such a small box. My problem occurs when in pro-logic or dolby digital modes. Especially in DVD mode the sub seems only to produce the lowest of low bass and is not real loud compared to when I play an audio cd. It's a little better in pro-logic but no where near I want to be. It seems that when playing dvd it only reproduces the music portion of the audio, the boomy effects are not there. It may be a victim of the way I have it configured or setup incorrectly for DD. If anyone has suggestions about what to do then I would love to hear. If I can't figure it out I will be forced to buy another ten that has some crossover controls which the bw lacks.