Small footprint,lots of power,fast & tunefull,intagrates well,front mounted volume (more subs should have this feature!)

Become punchy & draws attention to itself if freq?XO is turned up to high

Before purchasing this sub i went in to Circuit City to audition the POLK AUDIO Monitor Series psw10. The psw10 is about $120 cheaper but has much less power! I then went in to good guys to listen to this sub becuase i could'nt find it on the net any cheaper, & then i would have had to pay shipping. They had it hooked up to some very small Bosten Acoustics satalites (3.5 or 4") & it sounded OK. The salesman wanted to play some music for me, but after a couple of minutes i asked him to turn the volume down. The reason for this is so i could see where the volume was set at...it was only turned up about 1/3 of the way. I purchased it & although it was going to be used in a small room with some bookshelfs i put it in my 16'x17' living room first to see if it could fill the room with sound. Hooked up to the sub out on my Yamaha 2092, with my main speakers set to high pass (90hz) i set the crossover frequency on the sub to about 85hz & the volume about half. The sub was not placed in a corner, but instead left center of the front wall (about 3" away). I imediately knew it had enough power, but with the freq/XO set that high the sub was very punchy & drew too much attention to itself. I tried adjusting the phase, which has a lot of effect compared to the Sunfire sub which is normaly used in this room. Eventually i turned the freq/XO to 70hz & the sub smoothed out very nicely. The true test (IMHO) for a budget sub is when you turn the freq/XO down, the power does not go away. I have a cheap (really) Advent Marble (should be named sponge) & when the freq/XO is turned down all the power goes away! I read a review on another web site where the reviewer said he could'nt get it to integrate with his speakers. My thinking is he had the freq/XO set too high, (like me at first). This sub is very fast & tunefull, & for its diminutive size has a lot of reserve power & blends well with most speakers. It's literately about 1/2 the size of the Velodyne CT120 which i have in my bedroom, but has simalar power. The side mounted volume is a nice feature, something most subs seem to be missing. Who likes to bend over behind the sub, usually with a flashlight trying to adjust it? Not me! One last note: On the + side it has a derect LFE in, on the - side no speaker pass-through, just high level input.

Similar Products Used:

Sunfire True Sub,Velodyne CT120,Advent Marble(Marble?)

Huge sound, very efficient-even at low volumes. Also, very affordable.

I really haven't found any yet.

Was amazed at the power that this 8" sub has. Thought I was listening to a 10 or 12" at first. My living room is 20x20 and it fills it easily. Has a very nice, tight sound and goes well with movies or music of any style.

Similar Products Used:

This is the first subwoofer I have purchased for my home. I have heard many others with 10-15 inch drivers in them and would consider those to be overkill.

looks good, sound is powerful

This reference series subwoofer really puts out solid powerful sound. I like bass and want good low end performance for music and movies. But I don't need to be knocked over by the bass. For my purposes, The RW-8 fills my large room with sound that is strong and well ballanced, I'm glad I didn't upgrade to the 10 or 12 inch sub.