Wonderful clean and powerful bass response fitting to a wide variety of uses.

Amplifier dies without warning. Mine was 4 days over a year old and JBL would not even discuss it.

A wonderful sounding sub with a very poor lifespan. Make note of the massive number of reviews stating their amp went bad without notice and of the trouble they had solving the problem. I suggest replacing the plate amp with an HS200 from Adire. A wonderful retrofit requiring only a jigsaw and 10 minutes. Say goodbye to JBL. This is a product they do not stand behind. Adire on the other hand worked very closely with me.

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Cerwin Vega, Infinity

It reaches low and clean, surprising strong 250 watt innards. Much better designed than the older JBL subs that had problems. Never has it bombed out on me or had any problems.

Nothing, so far so good!

This sub has more than met my expectations. I auditioned other subs like infinity, polk, klipsh, etc. all had equal or more wattage than this PB 12. BUT there was''nt a big enough difference to see me spending 800 dollars at this time. I have not been dissapointed sice getting it.

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Auditioned plenty befor choosing this, would like to bump up to a 1000 watt sub. For the meantime this baby kicks and handles much much better than it''s baby PB10.

250watts of 12" Bass that you can feel, musical, great for games and hometheater. Goes Low, blends in well with main speakers.

I don't think there is any.

i used an Audiosource 15" sub before this, it doesn't even compare. The JBL sounds so much better in music and hits harder, the audiosource doesn't hit hard, it just goes low. This sub is the best i've ever got. It's a great compliement to my computer. the audiosource was too slow and sloppy, the JBL is much better. The only thing the audiosource was good for was home theater, and it should only be used for that. by the way, the JBL looks 10 times better.

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Audiosource Sw15

Incredibly deep rich sounding bass. Volume control. LFE switch.

Slight humming sound. Only noticeable when bass signal is off but subwoofer remains active(green lights on). When the lights go red, it disappears. I don't consider this a major problem because it is only a slight noise.

Really good subwoofer. Does everything I need. Works well with my Sony STR-DE335 receiver and my Sony DVP-S560 player. This thing can really rock my house. I don't know if tall ceilings help or hinder, but this thing puts out so much bass I can't tell. Only problem is the aforementioned humming and I've had it serviced once for the power going dead. Fixed under warranty at authorized dealer near my house. Took a week and all is well. Don't know when the power went out as it happened while I was on vacation. I guess I should've turned it off, but a friend was housesitting and I was going to let him watch movies if he wanted. I know he didn't have anything to to with it dying. It was an internal problem. Overall, I am very happy with my purchase, especially at this price. It's very aesthetically pleasing. It's got lots of power. It makes alot of thundering bass. It works great with movies and music. JBL has a 7-year manufacturer warranty on all their speakers. Can't beat that. Very good buy. I highly recommed it.

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None

Small footprint, powerful deep bass

None so far

Well, I have had some problems with my last three JBL subwoofers. The one thing that has kept me with JBL is the outstanding customer support I have received. Everytime I had a problem, JBL was quick to respond to my problem and offered a solution everytime. Special recognition to Joe Chinnici, who was upfront about the problems my D112 had and instead of giving me the run around when it went bad on me, he offered to replace it with the PB12.

Well my first PB12 had problems, but was promptly replaced and the second one is the one I want to review.

This subwoofer is very clean and powerful. Bass response at all volume levels is accurate (some subs, when you turn the volume down on the recvr, power off because the signal is weak - not this one). Hardly any boominess to speak of. I sometimes notice a little directionality but that is very minor. When I compared this sub to the Klipsch KSW12, (441 watt powered sub) I had to use the speaker level inputs to get the bass I was looking for instead of the line level inputs. I didn't like that setup. I have the PB12 hooked up via my receiver's sub pre-out to the PB12's LFE input (Monster Y-Connector).
This is an awesome sub! I feel the rush of blood flow through me when I "feel" the bass. Great for Dolby Digital and DTS movies and music, (Eagles DTS DVD, Gladiator DTS, Saving Private Ryan DTS DVD).
I am not a fan of heavy bass rap-type music, but I put a DJ Magic Mike CD in my CD player and - damn the bass is incredible! When my friends hear this sub, they are impressed at it's power and frequency response at low levels.

A great home theater subwoofer - highly recommended!!

Mitsubishi 50" RPTV VS50501
Infinity SM115 LF/RF
Infinity SM85 LR/RR
Cerwin Vega CC250 CC
JBL PB12 Powered Subwoofer 250 watt
Pioneer VSX D608 DD/DTS Recvr
(Soon to be replaced by an Onkyo TX DS787 - Yeah!)
Pioneer DVC302D DVD 3 Disc Changer
Sony CDP CX400 Mega CD Changer
Magnavox HiFi VHS
Monster audio, video cables

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Klipsch KSW12, JBL PSWD112, Technics SBAS60
Demoed Infinity BU-2

Thunderous bass when called for and deep, rich, smooth bass when needed, sound is tight (not loose and bassy), low price, seemingly sturdy construction, looks

slight humming noise

Keep in mind that this is my first sub, so I have nothing to really compare it to...

I bought this behemoth after reading the numerous favorable reviews on this site. I went with the PB-12 over the PB-10 because I figured, what the hell, I might as well get the bigger/louder one (plus, I've read some horror stories about the PB-10's having problems lately). I got it for $285 delivered from www.bestpriceaudiovideo.com. I've got to give it to 'em...these guys are great! They answered all of my questions and put my mind at ease about ordering something like this from an online store. Not only that, but I ordered this sucker on Friday morning and it arrived on Tuesday via UPS Ground! Hell, it took longer (a week)for my Sony remote to arrive!

Now to the review...

For lack of better words, this thing rocks! It puts out some serious bass! I live in a townhouse and it shakes the entire place. Fortunately, I have it placed against a side wall that leads to the outside so it doesn't piss off my neighbors. Believe me, it easily fills the room with the rumble associated with an oncoming tank (Saving Private Ryan-DTS), a bus being dragged by a train (The Fugitive) or a stampeding T-Rex (Jurassic Park-DTS). Explosions also bring out the beast in this black box. Even little nuances like approaching thunder or a raging fire bring this sub to life. The PB-12 will leave you scrambling for other DVDs to audition...I went back and re-watched most of my DVD collection in search of cool sounding movie scenes with low frequency effects/bass parts. Not only did I find MANY scenes, but the sub made the overall sound of my system a lot better which was readily apparent upon re-viewing these movies.

The only thing that concerns me is the faint hum that I've been hearing recently. Sometimes, if I REALLY listen, I have even begun to hear it during ultra-quiet parts of a movie, but that may be because I know that it's there and am more in tune with it. As far as some of the other problems that I've read in the reviews below, I've experienced none of these (crackling, popping, etc.). I mean, I completely understand that this thing has a standby mode, but for God's sakes people, turn the thing off when you're done! Is it that big of a deal? I've been powering it down when I'm done using it and I've had no problems whatsoever.

Now, I'm sure there are some other subs out there that sound as good or better, but for this price, you can't beat this sub! Pick this sub up and you'll flash the same s@#t-eating grin I do when I hear this bad boy rumble!

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This is my first sub.

Just a follow up to my review, this thing has been broken in and sounds better and better each day.

None

This thing is the best bang for the buck i have every got. Thumbs up JBL!!!

Hard hitting, powerful, earthquake maker, floor firing

On Off lights.

When I first tried it out on my brothers receiver, it made poping sounds. After about 5 minutes into the movie we never heard the sounds. I have a 9yr service plan, so it dosen't bother me. I have it on my Yamaha 5280 receiver and its beautiful. I love THX intros with this sub.

Digital amp, strong low bass, loud clean & tight

Size

This sub is a great upgrade from the JBL PB-10 which i used to own.
Since my floor is carpest and the subwoofer is a downfire sub i bought a peice of 1" think slab of granite which is a 18" square it relly helps and you will notice a difference in the bass it will be more roomfilling a smoother. I even measured the sound output with the granite and with out the granite.

--------------------------
Without the granite slab
--------------------------
25Hz @89dB
30Hz @99dB
35Hz @106dB
40Hz @109dB
50Hz @113dB
-------------------------
With the granite slab
-------------------------
25Hz @92dB
30Hz @103dB
35Hz @108dB
40Hz @110dB
50Hz @115dB
------------------------
All of those mesuruement were takin from 3 meters distince using a Radio Shack Analog SPL meter, the room size was 19 feet by 28feet with 8 foot celings.
The subs volume was set in the middle, when i turned it up even more i measured a higher SPL

20Hz @82dB
25Hz @96dB
30Hz @107dB
35Hz @112dB
40Hz @115dB
50Hz @118dB

---------------------
That was distortion free bass it was contolled and not boomy, it was tight and deep the bass was VERRY loud it gave me a headach after 10 mins of testing.
This sub proves to be verry impressive for both music and home theater, but it has to be the best home theater sub under $350 with out a doubt.
I think you should check out this sub, you will love it.

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JBL PB-10

Powerful with a clean sound.
LFE output for Digital Home Cinema

My neighbor comes banging down my door complaining:o(

Great sound, a little expensive, but worth the cost.
Once you've used this baby in your DD and DTS compatible Home Cinema, you don't ever wanna see another flick without it again!

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JBL PSW 1000