Quality of sound

none

Just got mine from vanns.com for $449 (shipping, 20 foot monster cable for subwoofer and some nice speaker wire included). Good price for quality of sound, was comparing to Paradyme 12 at local store that was $200 more. Speaker is nice, compact and can shake the house. I have Polk Audio LS-90 as mains and this sub matches their sound nicely. I have yet to hear this speaker clip, but it has only been a week.

Similar Products Used:

none

Very clean and articulate sound, good looks, well built, goes down to an honest 20hz in my basement home theater, amount of adjustments and hook-up options, and value

Absolutely NONE

Well, make it 35 perfect scores for this amazing subwoofer.
Rarely (once or twice in a list of about 20 subs) have I experienced such clean, effortless bass from a subwoofer priced under 1000.00. I bought mine for 400.00 and short of my new Magnepan MMG's, I can't think of a better bargain in this nutty world of Hi-Fi and home theater.

Where should I start? How about bass extension? In my basement home theater (room approx 13'X 17' with an opening of approx 7' on the right wall opening into a similar size room), there is enough output at 20Hz to shake the pictures on the walls and the windows. Keep in mind, this is with the level set at 4 (max volume is 11)!

How clean is the bass, you ask? I can here EVERY note, regardless if it's upright bass, drums, bass guitar...it doesn't matter. My Magnepan MMG front speaker are very difficult to match with a subwoofer because of their speed and transparency. My crossover setting on the sub is 70 Hz, and I never find the subwoofer lagging behind. This is amazing since most "experts" feel that you have to spend thousands of dollars to get a sub that will blend with speakers like the Magnepan's and Martin-Logan's

I am one of the lucky ones that has remote capability with this sub because my Sherwood Newcastle receiver has a sub level control on the unit and on the remote. On movies, I leave the receiver setting at neutral (0 db). On music, however, I set the receiver at -6db. I never move the sub's level from 4. For music, the deep, tight bass can become a bit too much of a good thing without lowering the level (it will dominate the soundstage). This is not to say the bass becomes "loose". On the contrary, the bass remains tight at any level- even when I cranked it all the way to see what it will do. Take my advice and don't crank the output unless you have good homeowner's insurance because it is just plain scary what this sub is capable of. If anything, the 105 watts RMS and 400 watts peak is under-rated.

When I set out to buy a subwoofer, I was prepared to spend as much as 1500.00 to get one that would pound on movies and be musical with music. As you can see above, I auditioned some good companies. Yes, I found a few that would go a little lower and perhaps had a a bit more output, but none beat (a few matched) this Klipsch for tight and clean bass. You will be hard pressed to find a better sub for under 1000.00 and you'll likely spend a year trying to do so. My advice- just go buy the KSW-12 and spend the rest of the time enjoying your music and movies.
An easy 10 stars but they won't let me go that high.

Similar Products Used:

Auditioned Infinity, Def Tech, Sunfire, Boston Acoustics, and Velodyne subs before buying the Klipsch

Deep, tight bass...price...looks!!!

No remote...but no big deal!

WOW! What a difference in sound over the JBL! It is a perfect match with my other Klipsch speakers.
I have been VERY satisfied with my purchase. With all the great reviews on here, and my own experience with other Klipsch speakers, how could I go wrong!!

Similar Products Used:

Replaced a JBL psw10

Deep, satisfying bass.

Can't think of any, maybe a remote control would be nice, for volume and lowpass filter, but that's only found in a higher price range I think.

My first subwoofer. Wow. I hit the jackpot. I chose the KSW-12 because of the reviews on this page. I did not audition it or any other subwoofer in the store. The reviews on this page are so positive it's not even funny. What is it now, 27 reviews and every single one gives it the highest possible rating? Well, this is number 28 then. My confidence in these reviews has been rewarded. I didn't want to audition anything in a store because I don't know much about subwoofers, and I don't trust someone to educate me whose job it is to sell me something.

For home theater and for music, I now have all the bass I ever wanted, and it's clean and tight and responsive and all those good things.

At one point I realized that I'm not even curious anymore [well maybe a little bit] about how those high-end subs sound, the ones in the high-end magazines, the ones that cost over $2000. Because I love what I have, and it [barely] fit my budget ($304 + shipping from vanns.com)(this was in December 1999).

Whether I'm listening to Mozart K.491 or to the Apollo 13 launch, this thing does its job and always has power to spare. Thank you Klipsch.

Similar Products Used:

JBL PSW-D112 (never heard it because it died instantly)
http://www.audioreview.com/reviews/Speaker/product_7521.shtml

Bass that is full, deep, and amazingly tight.

Would like to have variable phase control.

I have had mine since last August and have enjoyed them a great deal. I have mine set up mostly to match my speakers in audio listening and I find it very musical and easy to blend in. Experiment with placement and the phase switch and you will surely find a combination that will suit your speakers. The bass is tight, deep, and nonlocalized if crossed over low enough. Even when crossed over at 100hz or so they blend very well and fill in the bottom frequencies nicely. This has been one of my best audio purchases in years next to my YBA Integre. I am even using the speaker inputs as my Integre has no pre-outs :(
This Sub is a great value product and that is a very rare thing. Does anyone find a difference between Line input and speaker input?

Similar Products Used:

1st subwoofer.YBA Integre, Monitor 7 speakers, Rega 3 Turntable, Rotel 855 cd player, nad tuner. Kimber 4tc speaker wire.

Great lows! Can you say FEEL the music? Mixes well for music and movies.

None

A little over a month ago, I bought the sb-2, sc-1, ksb=2.1 and the ksw-12 for a new home theatre set up. I have not looked back. This sytstem is great. If you want to you can set this sub to shake the whole house. However, I have turned it down a bit so that it compliments both music and movies. For special occasions and heavy films I turn it up a little over half, but usually it sits at three quarter. This sounds tight with music from jazz to rock and I will never give it up. And I got it for 375$ Canadian. BUY IT

Similar Products Used:

JBL, Pioneer

Good sounding bass.

Every other problem I had getting it to work

Let me say this initially: This is a good sounding subwoofer. It is great for home theater, and is pretty good for music as well. And the price is very fair as well. However, I had a lot of problems getting it to work. I have posted a description of the problems I had at the Klipsch message boards on www.klipsch.com Here is what I had to say:

It all started happening about 2 weeks ago when I was doing the THX test on the Fight Club DVD. It was doing the test for each speaker, and when it got to the LFE test, nothing happened. I checked the KSW-12 to make sure it was connected properly on turned on. It was. The green light was on, and the cable connections were the same as they had been since the end of December when I'd bought it.
I was confused, so I turned it off and then on again. Everything seemed to work fine. (BTW, I take EXTREME care of all my home theater stuff, only touching speakers and such to dust them off or to change connections).

Anyway, over the next few days, the KSW 12 would randomly work and then NOT work. The green light would be on and connections would be fine, but no bass would come out. I decided to put a little pressure on the on/off switch toward the "on" direction. When I did, and held it there, the subwoofer began playing again. When I let go, the switch would still be in the on posistion, and the light would still be lit, but no sound was emmitting.

I moved the switch, and it was very loose. I could even push the switch IN. I know it's very screwed up because the phase switch below it is very tight and has no problems at all. Now I'm having difficulty even getting the KSW-12 to work. I have to mess with the switch for 5 minutes at times to even get it in a posistion where it will play. What should I do? If it has to go in for repair how long will it take? Thanks for any suggestions you may have.

And then, two months later:

Ahh update to this story... I sent in the amp a while back, and they sent me a new one about 1 1/2 weeks later. Put it in, seems to work fine. But the next day, it won't turn on. No power indication either. I eventually discover the fuse blew... weird. So I bought some new ones with the exact same specifications. Those all blow the second I turn it on.
I call Klipsch for a new amp and the woman I talk to said she can't send a new one because my warranty is void... WTF. I told her that the one that is broken is the one THEY sent ME; they should have a responsibility to replace it. She was rather rude, and I just said goodbye. I called back the next day and spoke to some other people. I told them my story and they understood; they let me send my second broken amp in.

I just got a new one a few days ago, and finally... FINALLY it is working fine. Of course, I have to break it in all over again, but at least I have a subwoofer that works after two months of hassle.

So... that's what I had to go through to get this thing to work. When it works, emphasis on WHEN IT WORKS, it is a great sub. But I would be very cautious to buy a Klipsch subwoofer again.

sexy looking

none so fay

Just received my KSW-12 an hour ago as a replacement of my old Infinity BU1. Very solid and sexy looking. Got it hooked up in 20 sec. Sound is tight and beautiful so far. The controls are easy to use with levels marked by numbers.
I got it at brandnamez for $309 free shipping :). The store's customer service is aweful though - no one was answering phone.

Similar Products Used:

infinity BU1

Powerful, musical

When I have it turned up too high, it vibrates so much that the whole thing slides around on the ground like an air hockey puck

I bought this unit from HiFiBuys without auditioning it mostly because of the reviews on this site. I have too say, thank you to everyone who reviewed it because DAMN! This thing cranks out the deep, tight bass my system lacked. The room is only about 10' by 14' with a 10' ceiling so this unit is probably overkill, but when it comes to bass, there's no such thing. Its fast, muscial, and powerful. My roomates and I turned it up and walked about 200 yards down a hallway that twists and turns and we could still hear it fine. If there's anything this sub doesn't do, I don't know what it is. Also, if you want to have some fun, throw on some RHCP or Cake and sit on the sub.

Similar Products Used:

just some crappy computer subs

Clean and tight

Barely fit in my car

I returned from Hong Kong with a bunch of bottom of the line components that I bought there to while away the time. I've spent the past 2 weeks trying to choose the best speaker system in my price range as I rebuild my HT from scratch. I bought the KSW-12 based SOLELY on what I've read here. After hearing it with the Klipsch Reference series Fronts and Center I bought the whole package (except rears, that'll have to wait 2 weeks) for $1450.00. I get them tomorrow (as I write this) and I can't wait! I auditioned Infinity's, Polks, JBL, Yamaha, and KLH, and while I was greatly impressed (in comparison to my current setup) the Klipsch system totally blew me away.

My question here to you all, assuming you read this, is, what is the ideal setup, connection cable, and level settings to get the most out of this system? I've read every review here and there are a few diverging opinions. I guess if I need one question answered, it's how should I hook up the sub? Someone said don't use the LFE. How do most of you have it hooked up? Also, do you recommend setting the fronts to small? These are Klipsch Reference Series, I don't have the model #, only Sound Advices stock #, but they sold for $399.00 (I paid $340.00).

Thanks in advance for any info you can give me.
Cheers

Similar Products Used:

SONY bottom of the line 5.1 speaker system