Seamless blend, when properly adjusted. Good looks and fairly cheap on the secondary market. THIS is the unit to use with Magnepan, Quads, L3/5 etc.

Music only, no home theater

some of the reviews I read really DO NOT do this design justice. This is a music lovers unit. This is not a home theater boom boom box, which many are use to. if you enjoy clean real sounding bass from instruments, not synthsized sounds this is the unit and still is. For the maoney NO competition.

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Velodyne boom boom boxes.

nice looking, sonically a solid role player

lots of rejects floating around on used market give product a bad name

I use a pair of Janis W1 systems with the Interphase xover and a Bryston 4b amp with QUAD ESLs in a large room. As long as you set it up correctly, and use it as a system, the JANIS system does its job very well. The mistake many make is to turn it up too high, or to cross it over too high or with too gentle a slope. The Interphase is transparent, so there is no reason to use another xover unless you already have a Bryston or a Marchand tube.

I listen to about 50% classical and the rest is everything else. It's amazing how many records/CDs have no bass below 50 Hz on them, even live recordings in large halls. Live FM broadcasts of the BSO often do, though. However, one can use the bass level control judiciously as a sort of loudness control. I would repurchase, and I found the Janis folks easy to talk to and work with.

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Entec

No bombastic bass. Accurate. Blends seamlessly with any speaker. High grade furniture quality enclosure with star configured top veneers. Very efficient.

Unlike subwoofers designed for home theater, the W-1 is very much a high end audio speaker. Designed with a passion by Jon Marovskis, this subwoofer is finished like fine furniture and lives in any room of a house with a high W.A.F. (Wife acceptance factor). Not a bombastic sub, the W-1' 15" driver melds seamlessly with the most difficult speakers. Ls3/5a's on stands with a W-1 make an incredible sound. The same is true of any pair of high end mini monitors. Oten described as a very efficient woofer, the Janis W-1 can be driven by any clean amp. If one doesn't use the Janis Interface crossover/400w amp, a Bryston 2b/lp at 200 watts works fine. Unlike many of the current "black" finish subwoofers, the matched veneers of real walnut, rosewood, etc. make the W-1 a contender in the gorgeous category. The character of the bass is of the musical variety an opposed to the analytical one. I have heard this sub used very successfully with Martin Logan Sequel II's (electrostatic w/10" sub), And for the Boomers...I have heard the W-1 with Dahlquist DQ-10A's...awesome!!

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Earthquake Super Nova

Fast,seamless,real bass and fine furniture

none

I purchased a W1 used with no xover/amp. I use it with my
Lexicon Cp3 xovered at 80hz@24db per octave slope.
I can honestly say this is one of the best subs ive ever
used..even without servo feedback. This baby puts out
some lows better then most ive ever heard in home audio
gear, and ive heard alot of subs. I would recomend this
sub to anyone on the face of the planet for a seamless
real subwoofer. Were not talkin thumpin boomin trash.
Were talkin a quality "bass there only when its there"
sound. :)
If you write the company with your serial number they
have the specs on your sub on paper with test charts they
will send you. Every one is tested and documented
:)

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Velodyne, Infinity, M&K, Jamo, Jbl

seamless integration, attractive finish,

seemed somewhat soft

I formerly owned a pair of W1's with the electronic crossover mated to a pair of modified DQ10's. Easy setup with various amp combinations. The sound was there I suppose, but the setup didn't impart the solid bass I expected and the crossover was too noisy for my taste. The DQ10s did their part, but after about four years, I sold the W1s.

The furniture finish was first rate, so if you need to please the significant other, the box is not that objectionable (but you still will have wire running everywhere). We tried these with some friend's electrostatice, and they blended very well. Just my $.02!

From both the Company's literature and my own measurements, theJanis appears to be a bandpass design, but it had begun appearing
on the market way before such designs were made popular first by
KEF and then by Bose. The tuning of the bandpass, though, is different
from the conventional. For a sealed box bandpass such as the Janis,
the standard tuning of the resonance is the middle of the pass band.
The Janis is tuned around 30 Hz, near the low end of the pass
band. As a result, there is a 6 db hump at the high end of the pass
band near 200 Hz, which, if not sufficiently attenuated by the
electronic low pass filter, can make the subwoofer very boomy and
muddy. The slot serves as the vent.

I have listened to several samples of the Janis W-1. The results
varied, apparenlty because of production variations. The better
samples were tight and deep. The particular one I bought was
way off spec, with the sensitivity 9 db lower even by the factory's
own measurement. As a result, I had to drive it very hard to get
any sound volume, and it became very distorted. I called the
factory. They told me just to drive it 9 db harder, and what's
the big deal? I sold it.

Lots of low bass,but not particularly natural or "musical" sounding.Probably impressive for its time,though.Think twice before acquiring.

Subwoofer seems to provide extended lows, some "whoof" port noise at volume.My pair are powered by separate amp w/ old M&K paasive xover. Looking for other opinions of these speakers and variation for installation.

I was looking for awsome bass on the cheap, and was lucky to find one of these, used, with an accompanying Interphase 1 electronic crossover/amplifier for only $350! I later found out that this particular component was probably over 20 years old because Janis replaced this crossover/amp model circa 1977. Figurine it was at the end of it's usefull life, I didn't expect much. 2 1/2 years and some really heavy use (6+ hours a day@95+ decibels) later, I am simply blown away by this component! Since I'm a fan of hard-core techno and varoius other types of mostly electronic music, I doubted I would ever find in the polite, buttoned-down world of high end a component that would possess the refinement typical of this genre while simultaneously quenching my thirst for fast and accurate response in quantities that can aid one's digestive process. This subwoofer does this and more! Probably attributable to the active equalization and in line amplification a single 15" woofer slot loaded in a cabinet who's finish quality puts the rest of my bedroom furniture to shame. So how can I possibly (and reasonably) upgrade?Hunt down another deal like the first and switch to stereo Janises. (the thought gives me goosebumps). Highly recommended for any listening preferences (if it can handle mine..)

high efficiency, clean fast response, low end to below 20hz, blends perfectly with high efficiency speakers

The W1 must be set up properly to perform properly. This includes room placement, an appropriate crossover (at least 18dB per octave), and phase compensation (the Janis crossover/amp is very useful here).

I use only one W1 in a recording studio with three Tannoy NFM 8 studio monitors and two Tannoy System 8 monitors in the rear. As you can tell, I monitor in both stereo and surround modes since surround is becomming so common. I'm able to get a seamless match and all the bottom that is actually there (always tempting to turn it up beyond its proper level). I set it up by ear and then follow up with a spectrum analyzer. I have in the past used low frequency eq though as I am sure you know this has both positive and negative consequences. It's realy not necessary, however, if you take the time to set it up.

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I've had the W1 for over 20 years and have never fealt a need to look at anything else.