Powerful, 500 Watt amp, Low freq. response.

This is a great subwoofer, musical, fast, powerful and small! The controls are versatile. I have used it for about 5 years in a variety of rooms and settings and I love it. The LF-10 is known to develop a "rattling" problem when reproducing very low frequencies. I have heard that Klipsch fixes the problem under warranty. However, I took my LF-10 outside of the US. So when it developed the rattling problem, Klipsch US referred me to the local Klipsch representative who basically knew nothing about the LF series, would not honor the warranty, said that the speaker had to be replaced, and quoted a ridiculous price to repair it. With nothing to loose, I’ve decided to try to repair it myself and was successful. I am writing this review to report what I’ve done for those of you who have the rattling problem and don't have warranty. The fix is simple so any reasonably skilled technician can do it. It turns out that the rattling problem results from a loose speaker connector. The speaker coil wires are terminated in contacts mounted on a piece of bakelite. That bakelite was loose and rattled against the driver. I glued the bakelite to the body of the speaker and that removed the rattle. You can reach the connector by dismounting the amplifier in the back. After fixing the bakelite, I replaced the amplifier in place. Then I tightened the speaker screws which are terminated in metal washers. I also tightened those of the passive speakers and of the amplifier. Those screws go into the wood so they must be tightened with some restrain to avoid destroying the threads in the wood. After gluing the bakelite and tightening the screws my LF-10 plays again like new. So in sum solving the rattling problem may not require replacing the speaker. It is a simple fix that any reasonably skilled technician can do. Hope someone out there finds this helpful. The LF-10 is worth the effort.

Similar Products Used:

JBL-12 inch subwoofer.

Its one thing that makes my music listening experience Good to Intoxicating. Nuf Said.

Neighbors will whine and complain.

This is more of a followup for my earliar review on LF-10 that I have just grown to love. #1. First of all, the problem of having to turn the level way up high to hear anything is not really a problem. I discovered, just like any other good equipment you have to break it in. Over last 3 months I have had to gradually keep lowering my level to now where it is at 1/3rd the level and just plays awesome. Initially the moulding around the SUB was too tight and that kept the drivers from moving freely. #2. If you can (your amp will have to allow it) feed both the LFE and the RCA inputs on this SUB. I have discovered that the movies play awesome if you have an LFE out on your receiver, which takes true advantage of the 5.1 DTS Dolby digital technology. Where the regular music doesnot output any signal on LFE and the RCA preamp output from your receiver should be fed to LF-10. Thats when you really start enjoying this SUB. #3. Be patient, and play around with placement. Placement is one thing that can make this sub really shine. Corner placements with the passive drivers at 45 degree to the walls really worked for me. Now the lows are absolutely non-directional. #4. Donot waste your money on Monster cable. Buy the cheaper Acoustic Research Sub Cable. I could not tell the difference so I even tested it with both using the sound meter and just as I suspected the difference is minimal (absolutely not worth the price difference). #5. Adjust the crossover properly. and by and by you will unconditionally fall in love with this SUB.

Similar Products Used:

Listened to several but none came close.

Sound quality, detail, Value

Shipping from Ubid is outrageous, original active driver was torn, Various air leaks on back panel, slow service from Klipsch

My experience with this sub and Klipsch has tested my patience. The unit came from Ubid in 4 days but the front driver had an air leak that was audible below 30 hz. Sent the woofer in to Klipsch, got a replacement a month later after being told it would only take 2 weeks at the most.
Got it up and running with the new driver, heard another air leak on the back panel coming from the power cord output. A bit of super glue fixed it, but shouldn't have had to. Finally, after replacing a fuse, it worked.

The performance of this sub is excellent. I've listened to all the Velodynes, Paradigms, etc. This would be an average sub for the 1400$ MSRP, but for 500$ its out of this world. With solid response to 20 Hz and excellent output between 25 and 40 Hz this sub is unbeatable under 1000$. The bass is really detailed, fast, and contrary to last posters thoughts, mine is also very punchy. (as in tight) BTW, its a 500 watt sub not 1640 watts. Still, 500 watts for a single 10 inch driver is a lot of power.
According to Klipsch, the woofer has 2 inches of peak to peak excursion. I haven't tested this yet but I have confirmed it visually using a 15 Hz signal which induces incredible excursion from such a small woofer. (The woofer on this thing is only 6 inches with a 1.5 inch surround, its not 10 inches by any stretch of the imagination)
Last time I checked Ubid they weren't selling these anymore, but if you do see one grab it, its easily worth twice what I paid for it and thankfully, Klipsch stands by their products.

This is 10 star value and 5 star product, but because of the slow service, poor quality control, and the fact thats its already discontinued, I'm gonna have to knock off some points. FYI, if you do buy this sub from UBid now, I think you will have a better time of it because Klipsch is (or was) checking all units at the factory after getting so many complaints.

Similar Products Used:

Ksw-12, JBL subs, auditioned many

Nice looking, with a small floor size.

It has had a bad past with quality control issues.

I purchased mine from U-bid which was a little scary because they list them as new products which made me skeptical. I found out from Klipsch that they recalled their LF-10's and factory tested all of them and then sent them to U-bid to be auctioned off.

I have had mine a couple of weeks and have really enjoyed using it so far. Mine actually worked straight from U-bid which was a miracle by itself. If you check the Klipsch bulletin board on their web site you will see that quite a few people have had problems with their's straight out of the box. I am using a Monster 351 THX cable to connect it to a Denon AVR 3300. I would suggest using the connection method that Monster Cable provides which requires the use of the inclosed y adapter. The other options would be straight into the LFE in or the method described by Klipsch in the product brochure. I would not recommend using the brochure method because it is way too in depth and does not provide any better sound than the other two methods I described above.

I have noticed that by following Monter's connection advice you can really control the volume of the sub versus the LFE in option. I had the cone dancing so hard I thought it was going to blow up. This little baby can really pump out the bass. My wife is constantly telling me to turn down the music. I have only used the sub while listening to the radio and CD's. I would recommend Madonna's new song "Music" or a CD from Sublime to help you with the setup.

I am rating it a 5 for value because it retails for 1300 and I only paid 549 on U-bid. If I had to pay the retail of 1300, I would be hesitant to buy because for a ten inch sub that just seems over priced to me. I am also rating it a 5 overall because for a 10 inch sub it does all I can ask of it and more.
Good Luck!!!!!

Similar Products Used:

None

Price, Sound Quality, Size

I was one of the many to purchase this sub when it became available on Ubid. Mine arrived in a box that was obviously beat up, and the sub was DOA. The people from Klipsch were very helpful, and agreed to replace the amplifier. When I opened it up, however, I saw that the positive lead cable to the active driver had come loose. I re-attached the cable and the sub has played great ever since. For anyone who thinks that their sub is defective, I would recommend checking the internal connections out before sending it back. If you are like me, then it might just be a 30 second fix.

As for the actual sound of the sub, I have been pleased but not ecstatic. I bought it to replace a 15" Cerwin Vega sub that was loud but muddy, getting old, and was also HUGE. This sub delivers output levels that are nearly as loud and are much tighter. In addition, it is at least half the size.
Still, I expected a little more sound out of this sub, especially given the 1600 watt amp (yes I know this is really a 500 watt amp).

Overall I am pleased with this sub and would recommend it to others...as long as they are able to acquire it at a similar price point. Five star value, four star piece of equipment.

Tight & accurate bass. Great for HT, espcially music.

Power, break-in time, reliabilty issues (I read about them)

Deep,tight and accurate bass that goes down to 18 khz, plays true to music CDs and HT DVDs. So many people bragged about subwoofers of other brands, but when I listened to them, they were just artificial, boomy, loud, and overpowering. This is definitely the unit for audiophiles who wants accurate bass, but dont get me wrong, it can also shake the walls. You can get something similar or better but you probably have to pay 3-4 times the price. I think the LF-10s are being compared to the Sunfire (Carver) True Subwoofers, who claimed to revolutionized the subwoofer technology. They looked similar and comparable in specs.

I was quite concern about the reliability issues when I read about on this web site, but mine work Ok right out of the box so far.

I have a 200 per watts A/V amp, and I have to turn the sub's volume dial to 70% (2 o'clock) to get to the bass level I wanted. The sub can use some additional power.

It took a few weeks to break-in this sub based on playing period of two hours a day, there is a signifant difference in performance before and after, therefore be patient.

Similar Products Used:

Cerwin Vega, Mirage PBS400 and others

Powerful, articulate, reaches way down to the feel it more than hear it range, and is very compact

Needs spikes as a alternative to rubber feet, could be more sensitive as I usually like gain set at unity (12:00), yet this one need a bit more...not any big problem

First off I need to say I am a bonafide dyed in the wool BagEnd fanatic. There is not subwoofer one below $3K that bests the Infra 18 IMHO. That said, I am fairly blown away by this Klipsch overachiever. Until I heard this sub while I loved the Klipsch K-Horns, Hereseys, and Fortes I was less than impressed by many of their post Paul Klipsch designs, including Klipsch sub-woofers. This always made me scratch my head because I always thought that the Hereseys had the outright best bass ever for a bookshelf speaker. My friends Fortes seemed like the best of the Hereseys made better, more definition in highs, mids, and great bass that really didn't beg for any augmentation. So I was wondering why this company had not produced a state of the art sub when they obviously know more than most companies about bass, driver loading/coupling, and the like.

Well, they have that state-of-the-art sub I always believed they had in them with the LF-10. It's everything a sub should be. It's very visceral yet articulate. It really goes down low and makes bass you can feel. It can blend well due to the fact it is fast and has a phase switch for help when placement dictates. I only wished that Klipsch would not have discontinued the LF-10 and LF-12 subs. BTW, the LF-12's never went into production past those made for samples which some dealers got to demo and critique so the final production could be made with improvements per their suggestions.

My advice if you can buy either of these for a decent price, buy them. In the rare event you fail to totally fall in love with them I know you can sell them easily because so many folks who hear mine say it's the best bass they have heard and then are big-time miffed when I show them how the sub itself. I think they are usually thinking bass like this can not come from that small box. Hey I love it. y value rating is based on a price of $650. My overall rating is based on how well these compare to my BagEnd which is twice the price.

Similar Products Used:

Innovative Audio Sub Table, Infinity RS-12, BagEnd Infra 18

Tight, Accurate and clear Bass. Small foot print.

I am not knowledge enought to find any week point of this sub.

I read some of the review here before I bough this sub. If the price truthly 1300 detail price, then most of us got a awesome deal. I like the design and small foot print of this sub. I don't like show it. There is some air coming out at the back on one of the switch, I wonder if that is function as design or that is a minor problem. Please email me if you don't have that problem, so I can contact the menufactor for instruction on how to repair it. So far I love this sub and hopefully it will last for a while.

Similar Products Used:

sun fire Carver

WOW! does that say anything.

You have to turn the input levels all the way up.

After reading the reviews here, I was pretty torn between KSW-15 and LF-10. I heard KSW-15 and some other subs including velodyne, Infinity at the local Sound Advice. But wasnot impressed with the lows. The salesman attending me was not very competent either. SO I decided to go with LF-10 based in the reviews here. Mine worked right out of the box [fingers crossed], but it took me a while to figure out
how to connect it to my Denon receiver. Then I couldn't really hear a whole lot of bass. (With my old subs, I just had to put the setting at 1/4th of the full level and that did the trick. I was expecting something similar with this esp. with 1640 Watt amp. But nope, nothing at 1/4.

But then I remembered one of the reviews, and I cranked it 3/4 of the way up. VOILA!!!!! One of the photo frames came screeching down.

I am very pleased with its performance. KSW series doesn't even come close to this monster. It left all the velodynes and all the infinitys in dust.

And for what I paid, you just can't beat it. Absolutely not. Its a champ.

Similar Products Used:

Klipsch KSW-12, JBL Sub

DEEP TIGHT BASS AND VERY POWERFUL

Manual

As an electrical test enginner, I always burn in the equipment a couple week before normal use. As a result after two weeks of burn in. Before go to work, I turn the whole system on that include: new KLIPSCH KLF-10 for front, new KLIPSCH KLF C-7 for center, KLIPSH KG 4.2 for rear and KLIPSCH LF-10 subwoofer. With YAMAHA RXV-1000 receiver. I turn to a local FM station with volume loud at around -30 dBm. The wall was really shake at this sound level, I came back in the afternoon to turn them off then do it again on the next day. Don't try this if you live in an apartment. After two weeks, I can give you my two cent comment: Moive now can come very close to real theater and music is great. I am limited to find the right word to discribe it. I am very happy it it.

Similar Products Used:

Too many to list