Clean. Deep. Loud. What else if there desired in a sub?µ

Hard to carry up the stairs. Big and heavy!9

I''ve had a subwoofer in all of my systems for over ten years. For cinema they are a neccesity; for music a plus (if they are adjusted correctly). Recently the ADS SW in my main system when belly up. Since the main is that system (ADS 970II) have good bess extension on their own what I was looking for was real bottom end, not the disco thump. The Cambridge Soundworks BaseCube 15 seemed to be a good choice. Once it was hooked up and even coarsly adjusted I new, in fact, it was. The Cambridge Soundworks BaseCube 15 has "only" 150 watts RMS. That is not much for a subwoofer. (My ADS had 500) But the BassCube is a very efficient ported design. With the units volume at a shade less than "3" (out of 10) bass volume is balanced with my system (Main power 240 RMS p/channel) Part of this is due to the corner placement, but efficiency is none-the-less very high. I have the Cambridge Soundworks BaseCube 15 running mono through the sub out of my reciever/head. Crossover is set to <70. Bass is remarkably tight and not boomy, remarkable for a 15 incher. I first tested the unit with music looking for sock extension without muddying or exagerating the bass line. I then went to video. Track 7 on "The Patriot" dvd well demonstrated the Cambridge Soundworks BaseCube 15''s sound. The track starts with Mel Gibson hiding behind a tree with his musket. The sounds of the approaching red coats remains clear and unexagerated (foot falls and cart wheels) The Mel Shoots and the concussion is very lifelike (I shoot black power so I know the sound and fell). Next up was HBO''s "From the Earth To The Moon." The index soundtrack it nothing but a low rumble. With the Cambridge Soundworks BaseCube 15 you feel it even more than you hear it. Very impressive. Next test was a pre-doby film with a good soundtrack to see if the bass was falsified. I used "The Great Escape" and found to mu pleasure that the sub put out nothing. That is correct, but unusual. It means that the crossover is steep and accurate. (Many Subs go up into the midrange even with their crossover set low) All and all I could not be more pleased wit the Cambridge Soundworks BaseCube 15. And for $400 (sale price) it is an amazing buy.

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Many.c

Incredible bass! Fast response for a 15", tight bass.

Line level inputs have low sensativity (as noted), speaker level inputs can make the bass too boomy (careful adjutment is needed). Bass can be overpowering.

This is a great sub! I've turned it up only to about 5 (half-way), and the bass was over-powering. Mind you that I was listening to a track by DJ Rectangle.

Careful adjustment is needed when setting up this sub. If using the speaker-level out, the bass can become too boomy, adjust it with several sources (different movies and several music types).

Great bass for the money. I purchased it at eBay through the HIFI.com sales, check it out.

Ross

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Cerwin-Vega LW-15, CSW Basscube 10, Definitive Technology PF-15

Solid bass with very little movement of the cone (probably can push it quite hard and loud)

Not as smooth or quick as some other subs I have heard and owned. This monster is huge, but hey, if size is a problem, don't buy a 15" sub!!!

This is an incredible sub for the money! It is incredible and extremely powerful for movies, a little slow for music, but then again, so are most 15inchers unless you get into the exotics ($0,000.00s). Anyways, it is still pretty good for music considering how cheap it is and it is almost impossible to overdrive this thing in HT. I was playing the 18 wheeler/bike/motorcycle scene in Terminator 2 (most bass i've ever heard!) and this thing didn't skip a beat. I do have to admit though, my Infinity IL100 did cost me twice as much but can produce almost as much bass, but is so much tighter on music and it only has a 10" driver. All in all, great sub CSW for this price point! This one is a keeper! I'll have to give it a 5 stars overall because this sub performs well regardless of price and even better cosidering the price!!!

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Infinity HPS 1000, Klipsch KSW12, Infinity IL100, Velodyne CT12,

Tremendous deep bass. Nice design, and sound quality fit for movies as well as music. Auto On/Off Feature. User friendly owners manual, very helpful.

Heavy and bulky (But what can you expect from a 15" sub.) Has a slight humming noise, but you can hardly notice it. The biggest complaint I have about it is the dials, they are not that easy to read.

This sub is for the audio enthusiast on a slight budget. It will amaze almost any listener, with its clean deep-thunderous bass in the largest of home listening rooms. It might be a little excessive for my dorm room (one might say), but it blends nicely with my Cambridge Surround 5.1's and my Yamaha 1738's (towers). I am very amazed and pleased with this quality and affordability of this powered sub.
Bass is phenomenal and will shake your walls. The coolest part is that you can reproduce the "water ripple" in Jurassic Park in your own room. Pratically have to nail down all my other stuff. **Warning** Do not use shelves for plates in same room, they seem to make it to the floor fast on half volume. I have not gone past 6 on the dial, do to the extra amount of Tylenol I need to recover from the headache. If you "LOVE" bass, and like to feel the movie encompass you then save a little extra and try out this amazing-tremendous-spectacular-awe inspiring powered subwoofer.

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Cambridge BassCube 10

Tremendous ground shaking bass. Nicely design structure. Auto on/off.

Dials on back, hard to read without a flashlight. Oh yeah and it is huge...which isn't really a weakness--just hurts the back.

This is an update to the review I left a few months ago. I am now using a replaced BassCube 15, apparently the humming noise meant that there was soming wrong with the first sub that I bought--thankfully Cambridge has such a nice customer service policy. The replaced sub works like a charm, the hum and popping are gone. The sound quality is absolutely amazing. Hits deep on both DVD's and music.I have mine on a low frequency (65 hz) and the level is only on 5 (or half way) and this things performs magnificiently. The clarity and richness of the bass is amazing, Jurassic Park will terrify your neighbors. The sound is not muddied, and does what a powered sub is supposed to shake the room not make noise. Sometimes people don't understand the concept. I have found that this subwoofer works the best on a nice carpeted wood floor. I used to have it in a dorm room (concrete cell), and I was amazed at the difference in bass dispersion. If you are looking to purchase a large powered sub. Please give this one a try, don't be scared off by the small 150W amp, this sub really does perform, and is a very good HT unit. Enjoy the sound, I know I am--and my neighbors probably are too, hopefully.

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Plays loud, goes low, sounds fine with music, easy to set up, CSW stands behind their products

Big and heavy, as you might expect.

I'm using this in a HT/music system with CSW Ensembles in the four corners ("New" Ensemble in front, '89 model as surrounds) and an Ensemble satellite (aka the original Center Channel) as the CC.

Because the Ensembles can handle bass down to 40-50Hz easily, I have my Technics SA-DX1050 set to "Large" for mains and surrounds, and "Small" only for the center. The center is rolled off at 100Hz, and the sub set to cross over at 50Hz, so only the bottom octave or a bit more is being sent to the BassCube.

Under these conditions, the BassCube is extremely impressive. It didn't really change the character of the sound except when low bass is present, but when it is it blends seamlessly. If it's musical information -- pipe organ pedal notes, a detuned bass E string, a Bartok contrabassoon -- the BC reproduces the fundamental notes clearly and without mush. The presence of this octave is quite noticeable in the room ambiance in live recordings made in certain halls and cathedrals.

If it's the LFE channel in a 5.1 channel movie soundtrack, this subwoofer will send you scurrying around the room nailing down everything that might move. It's hard to imagine wanting a subwoofer to go even deeper than this one does.

In all, I was extremely gratified by how much performance my $300 bought... but not surprised, given that I've been similarly impressed by many other CSW products over the years.

I'm aware that reconditioned units sell for less than $300 on e-bay, but since HiFi was offering free shipping in addition to the $299.99 price tag on their site, I went with a brand new unit.

It's not pretty, it's big, it weighs like 75 pounds, it's made in China. But it does the job as well as any of the $600+ audiophile brands I've listened to.

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BASS! Wow, this unit can put out! It literally shakes the walls, windows, floor and everything in between.

None, A remote would be nice

This has been an incredible purchase. You can fell the bass hitting your chest from across the room.

I was worried that one, the size of the woofer would make it sloppy, and two, that it might be too loud.

One: Typically 15" woofers are not the most agile beasts, and their reaction time to input is a little slow. THIS IS NOT TRUE WITH THIS SUBWOOFER! It has great response, and performance. I was pleasantly surprised!

Two: Typically large woofers like this, in gigantic enclosures are powered by high-wattage amps. Unfortunately this sometimes means that you get a very loud, but boomy sound from the sub. THIS IS ALSO NOT TRUE OF THIS SUBWOOFER. You can attune the level and crossover, but this sub never gets boomy, or drowns out the dialogue.

It should be kept in mind that the enclosure on this sub is mammoth. It becomes another piece of furniture, so if you're limited on space, perhaps another sub would suit you.

As I've stated before, this is also a very loud (yet clean) sub. It can obviously be tuned down appropriate levels, but its fun to crank it up! If you live in an apartment, or multiple housing unit, you might want to consider.

A remote would be nice to tune the unit while you are engaged in movie-watching, but this isn't a real problem. The placement of the level and crossover knobs are somewhat annoying, one the rear of the unit.

Overall, a great unit, especially for the money. I works great with my HT setup, and fits my rather large room well. I would reccommend it to anyone that wants a great sub, for a minimal price, that performs much better than others at this price level (those guys at CSW can build great speakers), and that doesn't have close proximity neighbors.

My HT setup
- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Yamaha HTR-5280 DD/ DTS 6.1 Receiver
Pioneer DV-440 DVD Player (Main unit)
Apex AD-600A DVD Player (Second unit, w/ hack, for Intl movies)
JVC AV-32230 32" Direct View Monitor (with component in)
(2) Yamaha NS-A200XT Tower speakers
(1) Yamaha NS-AC40X Center Channel Speaker
(2) Yamaha NS-5290 Rear Effect Speakers
(1) Cambridge SoundWorks BassCube 15

and loads of Monster XP cable

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Cambridge SoundWorks BassCube 10, Yamaha, YST-SW320, NHT Sub-One

Customer service, extension, flexibility

line level gain

For HT use this is an excellent value. I bought it because of the good reviews here, reasonable price, the no-risk 45 day return policy and the general good name of Cambridge Soundworks. Based on it's performance so far it looks like I will keep it. While the line level gain is a bit on the low side, I think it mostly affects people who want to crank it to the limit - otherwise the gain range is fine for integration with the rest of your system.

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None

Loud, Musical, Floor Rumbling BASS, Excellent cabinet design, nice finish, has good cone control at high volumes (Less distortion). Overall Size isn't bad for a 15"

Line level has a low sensitivity, so if you have low voltage RCA's you need to crank the gain.

At first I have to say I was a bit dissapointed, as my CAS 10 was louder then the CSW Basscube, which surprised me since the CAS has 5" less in cone area. However just to check to see if it was my recievers subwoofer out (Harman Kardon AVR100 just doesn't have a strong Sub out) I switched to speaker line levels. WHAT A DIFFERENCE. This is a fantastic subwoofer, and what a value! For $207 how can you go wrong, plus with the 45 day listening trial you really have nothing to lose. BTW CSW pays for return shipping, they even include a shipping label for a return. The sub is extremely strong, after a few minutes of Bass Intensive music while testing, I knocked out the light in the shower (Adjoining bathroom) and knocked stuff off the walls... I'm hooked

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SUPER LOUD!!!! I havent heard a 15" sub any louder than this thing!! It will blow you away. VERY nice design, shakes more than u would believe.

Very slight hummmm-thats it!

This thing really is the best sub you can buy for under about $250-300. Im sure a Velodyne HGS 15 or 18 would be better but the price is the difference!! Both I and a friend of mine have one of these and when the sub gets around 35Hz, all of his glass cabinets shake like hell! He has burned out lights mounted on the wall b4 too. As for me im on a concrete floor (basement) but the couch still vibrates 14 ft away, as does the walls and coffee table. This has some serious bass for the price!

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Definitive Technology PF-15tl PLUS 15" subwoofer, Cerwin vega LW-15 15" powered subwoofer, and BIC america D1012R 12" powered sub.