Clean Low Bass, Very powerful

Maybe built, Some say they love the looks

I had a Sunfire MK II for about 2 years and I grew tired of it. It sounded good on movies but it lacked speed and punch when listening to audio music. I did some homework and I decided to order this Sub after selling my Sunfire. At first I was a bit skeptical about this sub even after reading all the reviews which state that this SUB can beat them all. When it arrived I was again skeptical seeing its rather unusual built quality and its cheap looking power amp which is rated at 250 watts. The Sub is not very heavy and easy to move around in order to find the sweat spot. After hooking it up and moving it around my small Living room I understood what the hype was all about! This Sub is a serious monster that can move a ton of air and rattle the floors to the point where you feel it will collapse on top of your neighbor’s head. Its far more musical than most Subs I heard and it will Kill even the Sunfire Signature. I did hear it clip at some times, but the output level was at the point where my apartment structure was in danger and things started to move around my apartment as if there was an earthquake. It has speed and tightness, an excellent grip on the cone, music sounds right with this sub. It takes little time for break-in but you must place this sub like All subs in the right position. I moved it far from my living Corner because the Bass was too powerful in that Area, It is placed against the wall at a distance of 6 feet from the corner. I saw a movie " The Matrix on DVD 5.1" and boy was this Sub giving me the chills. On the part when the two are practicing Kung-Fu and the trainer dives down and kicks a hole in the floor with his foot my apartment floor seemed to open up as if a T-Rex just entered the room. Clean Bass without distortion is one thing this SUB knows. In Home Theater I cant think of a better Sub on the market for under 3000$ that can outperform this Monster and I heard allot of Subs. I never got a chance to hear the Paradigm Servo-15, which I regret but I heard from more than one resource that the HSU will outperform even the Paradigm. I cannot Imagine what two of these Subs will do and I’m not going to find out soon because my insurance does not cover self made earthquake damages. If anyone knows if this is HSU's top model Sub please tell me, I might return it for a better HSU Sub because I am hooked. This Sub can, and will go into clipping if you abuse it, Its not a DJs Sub you find in a Club but it should be loud enough to rock a 1000 sqf Home theater space. If anyone heard a better Sub please let me know. I heard all the Velodyne Subs and they don’t touch the HSU except maybe the 18 Inch subs they sell which cost a fortune and weigh a Ton. I can only say that HSU should make there Subs a little more attractive with a bit better parts because they have a clear Winner. For the money and Sound I give it a 6 if I only could.By the Way I upgraded to a 500 Watt and the Guys at HSU allowed me to pay the difference. Excelent people to work with and the upgrade was well worth. Nicer Amp, More power,and seems like its built to last.

Aragon 8008BB
Acurus A250
Acurus A150
Sony TAE 9000ES
Sony DVP7700
Sony Wega XBR250
DH Lab cable
Paradigm Studio 80
Paradigm studio 20
Paradigm CC450
HSU Sub

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Sunfire, Velodyn, You name it I heard it

Clean and deep

Not distorted enough for HT

This got to be the best deal when it comes to subs under the $1000 price range. I don't think I need to repeat what the press and owners have said everywhere, just get it and enjoy the music. Spending more yields small improvements. One more thing, I'd pass this for other models if you like distorted or HT bass and not reality.

efficient

boomy sound, unstable, overly expensive for the type of construction.

I couldn't seem to get decent sound from this sub, despite trying all different room placements, x-over, levels, etc.
The sound is too boomy and directional, and it numbed one of my ears after awhile. I didn't get the Hsu amp, and perhaps this may be the reason. But my same amp sounds very good on other subs, including my cheap dbx sub. Called Hsu and they suggested buying their amp, but I didn't want to chance it. So I returned it and lost $100 (!). I wish I had
the same experience as all the other Hsu users. May be I didn't know what I was doing, or my ears' frequency response
is out of whack.

Similar Products Used:

vmps

Articulate, controlled bass; small footprint

manual stinks, really it does -- how about some pictures explaining the crossover settings and both internal jumpers?

I purchased a TN1220 subwoofer along with the 500W amp and two additional crossover modules last Fall. As others have mentioned, the TN1220 is top heavy and your cat or favorite pet can & will tip it over if given half a chance. Therefore, I would recommend adding the RadioShak 12" grill which covers the top of TN1220 nicely and took the brunt of a bad fall when the cat knocked it over.

Overall, I think the TN1220 is a bargain and it is much more defined than my PhaseTech sat/sub combination ever was. The TN1220 fits in well with an audio system as well as being a blast when watching DVD movies. Others have sung the TN1220's praises when watching DVD's and I have nothing to add there. I think that TN1220 gives just enough well-defined bass to nicely complement the splendid treble, o.k. midrange, and anemic bass of my Magneplanar speakers. As wonderful as the Magneplanar 3.5R's sound, I really miss the TN1220 when it is taken out of the system.

I do have reservations about the "instruction manual" that comes with the subwoofer and amp. These reservations could be easily addressed and they should be, in my opinion. I ordered two extra sets of crossover modules as I wanted to experiment between a crossover at 51 Hz and at 43 Hz with my Magneplanar 3.5R main speakers. The modules are just like the termination chips that you used to have to pull from SCSI hard drives: they look like little insects on dual rows of easily bent feet. If you have something like a USRobotics pocket screwdriver, removing the modules and swapping in a different set is not difficult as long as you take your time and remove the modules gently, taking a couple of tries from either end until the module wiggles free. If you try to pry the module up all at once, you will bend the "legs" and then have to straighten them out should you ever want to reinstall the module. These legs are tiny and re-straightening them is not a fun exercise.

The manual does not explain this procedure, or include line drawings or photos, or even mention the proper orientation of the modules, or the fact that top two "feet" need to overhang when you insert the modules into their proper sockets. I mentioned this to Dr. Hsu and he replied that most people prefer to have the factory insert the modules. Fine and good; but it would be easy enough to add two pages to the manual to cover this procedure and how it can be safely accomplished at home. Nor does my manual explain what to do with "Jumper 1" and "Jumper 2". Dr. Hsu may be only a phone call away, but I prefer to read manuals and see if I can figure something out before making long distance phone calls to tech support.

Other anomalies about the 500W amp: if you read every other review, no one sets the volume control beyond the eight or nine o'clock setting. Now, at first this seems kind of cool as you wonder about all that unused power. But when you think about it, this is a waste. Why not have a volume control that allows for finer gradations in volume? I'm not crazy about the volume control knob. The faceplate on my unit is unspectacular. When I opened the unit up I noticed that the main board is marked "Bag End Amplifier 400-A," which led me to wonder if Dr. Hsu designed this board for someone else, or if he purchased these cheaply for integration into his own amp. I don't know. Other than that, the only remarkable thing about the inside is the large and heavy transformer.

There is one 5-way speaker binding post at the back of the unit. You run your speaker cable from this post to the posts under the subwoofer. I am not crazy about the speaker connection under subwoofer: speaker cable that is terminated with spade connectors connects just fine to the back of the HSU amplifier but doesn't really fit the very different speaker posts underneath the TN1220. I basically had to bend one side of each spade connection and slip the bent side into the hollow part of the speaker post to connect the speaker cable to the underneath of the TN1220. Not the most solid connection. This may sound confusing but it really just means that "5-way binding posts" on the bottom of the TN1220 are spaced so close together that even medium sized spade connectors will not fit easily, if at all. You are better of with plain wire ends. Again, this difference is not made clear ahead of time from hsuresearch.com's website or from the manual that comes with your purchase.

I realize that I've picked a lot of nits in this review. I am sticking with the five star rating because I feel that it is deserved. There are some simple improvements, especially to the manual, that I hope Hsu Research will make in the future.

Associated equipment:

Adcom 5802 amp, modified by Stan Warren of SuperMods
SAS 10A line level preamp with Amperex tubes
Magneplanar 3.5R speakers
PS Audio PP300
Proceed CDD
EVS Millennium II DAC
Panasonic DVD-434
Kimber wire
Tara Labs speaker cables
Harmonic Tech power cords

Additonal info available at http://www.hsuresearch.com

Similar Products Used:

PhaseTech sub

lots of placement options, can put it anywhere

walks around the floor if not careful

When I got my first sub, it had been dropped, the magnet was out of alignment. Called Hsu, and they sent a new one off that day. Got my new one before fedex even picked up the old one, excellent customer service. It's very easy to get ahold of Dr. Hsu. Now to the sub. I recieved the new sub, and hooked it up to a very low quality system. Broke it in, and in about a week it was sounding excellent. My reciever was giving it some flutter at the high 20Hz. It's a cheesy Technics SA-DX940 reciever, so I expected this. Hooked it up to a better reciever and everything went away. It sounds very musical for being in a small cinderblock room with tile floor (aka, dorm room). Blends in extremely well somehow. It's on the opposite side of the room from the mains, but it blends perfectly. The only problem I've had is that my floor is tile, and the subwoofer actually starts dancing. Just to see how bad it could get, I grabbed an uberzone cd, and pumped it hard (with the sub sitting on the tile). I could nearly get it to tip over on the right songs. Folded a blanket up a couple of times, and put it below the sub and it doesn't bounce anymore. I imagine they'll do something about this soon. The 150W amp works seemlessly, and will push the woofer with ease.

It's got tight response, hits the lows well, extends good, fits nearly anywhere (I have NO space in my dorm room and still found 3 or 4 places to put it), blends with even extremely low-dollar systems very well, and has a very good price for a subwoofer. So, what's not to like?!?!?

If you look extremely close, you can see the cardboard seem through the fabric. If they made the fabric a little thicker, then you couldn't see this. Some complain about the cardboard, but after hearing it I think I might prefer it over wood. It's solid, thick, yet lightweight.

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couple of half a k subs

cool look, simple.

just a little top heavy. but i built a solid base to fix that problem.

i had posted that i was unhappy with my first pair, they did not work, after 2 months of waiting for them to come in. they were droped during shiping, which knocked the voice coil out of wack, so neaither would work. hsu told me how to fix the problem or they would ship me new ones. went with the new ones. they arived 1week latter. they played excleant. just what i had expected. i`ve used many subs but nothing hit as hard or as clean as do a pair of thease with the hsu 500watt amp.so what getting at it was well worth the wait. i love them.

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JBL. {not as good}

Non-powered sub. Lots of bang for the buck! Nice match for Magnaplanars.

None that I can think of, unless you are partial to little black boxes!

I run all Magnaplanar speakers, 3.5 RL in front, the maggy center and surrounds.
I power all of the speakers with older Crown amps, the 3.5's with a Crown SA-2.
I use HSU's "Bass Optimizer" and a TN-1220 powered by a Crown DC-150A strapped in Mono.

Cut to the chase: This is an awesome sub. Best I know of for 500.00, maybe the best there is. Use the Bass Optimizer; they need the equalization and use an amp with lots of damping factor, it likes that, too.

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RTR DAC1, Klipsch, others

seemless compatibility with the rest of the system, crossover by-pass on amp

top heavy / big.... none acoustically

the thing rocks. running it with hsu's model 500 amp. i had to add a review because these reviews caused me to purchase one. i'm currently running the sub with:

denon avr 3300
acoustic energy aegis 3's (fronts)
aegis center
crappy klh rears

the denon has a built in crossover at 80hrz and it seems to be the perfect match. the amp/crossover has a crossover by-pass which is rare to find on other quality subs.

this sub has dramatically improved music as well as theater. granted, the sub cost more than the speakers (i bought the hsu used), but whoa, what a difference it makes.

at extremely high volumes, the sub makes a bad noise, almost grating, but at all other times the sub is fast, detailed, and deep. all of these reviews are right on the money. i haven't listened to any subs over $2k, but i can't imagine them being any better. thanks dr hsu!

Similar Products Used:

sunfire jr, sunfire true, various m&k, monitor audio subs...

i was real weary about the mail order thing, but the 30 day guarantee gave me some confidence. i love this thing and don't know how i lived without it. it does require a radio shack grill cover to clean up it's looks, and i ended up ripping the middle out and replacing it with speaker fabric to get rid of the metallic resonation, but this thing is a steal at $945 including the amp and shipping.

Mere words cannot express my happiness with these subwoofers (I bought two with the 500w amp). They are a terrific addition to my Paradigm studio 100s. For music they provide deep and melodic bass that is completely comparable to and (in my humble opinion) better than the Paradigm Servo-15 subwoofer that I also auditioned. For home theatre they provide powerful (but not boomy) LFE channel action. The mail order delivery was great! They arrived double boxed and pristine. I might also add that they look really cool. Even my wife likes them! I also asked Hsu research to install magnetic shielding (to make sure that all options were open for positioning. This they did for an additional minor fee and it works like a charm. Highly recommended!