good low bass with my extra big box setup

it doesnt blow up when you want it to!!!

I hear everyone talkin about how they stuff socks in the port to get rid of the booominesss but i like the booominesss and to make it even boomier i faced the sub into a much bigger box and the sound became fatter I then wired the speaker outputs from my amp into the tweeter outputs on the sub wich made the power of the sub even higher and if you put the sub in a bigger box you cant even here the distortion when the volume is high

Similar Products Used:

Its way better than my 2 15" car subs i have.

Very Low but pounding bass which is good. It makes the car sound like there's 3 12inchers in there but you only have 1.

None that I have found.

The Optimus SW-12's are good subwoofers. I bought these subwoofer's for $50 and they still bump. My brother Chris said that Optimus suck and they'll blow and I have a 400 Watt JL amp and they havent blown. I had Cerwin-Vegas before on that amp and they blew the cones.

Similar Products Used:

12 inch JL Audio W0's. and 12 inch Cerwin Vegas.

Yes,it is very strong.

Available in pawn-shops everywhere. Cheap.

When they designed the SW-12,they underestimated the capacity for low-brow humour that audio enthusiasts can display when called to do so. But,in this case the derision is deserved. To put it mildly,this subwoofer has gas. I mean F-L-A-T-U-L-E-N-C-E. It so reminded me of a woman I once knew that I gave it to her. She really liked it! I had to stuff a sock in her to tone her down some,and looking back,I now wonder why I did not think of doing the same to this old subwoofer. I am sure it would have tightened things up a bit,making for a faster,more articulate bottom-end. Actually,a more professional looking plug is available nationwide in adult stores everywhere. It is marketed by Dr.Johnson in his line of marital aid products. I am quite serious in saying that this sub produces the flabbiest "bass" that can be imagined by the brain of a primate. Also,the fixed crossover is set at 200 HZ.,so this sub is really only suitable for the tiniest of speakers with no bass at all unless you want to detract from a larger speaker's "voice-region",for which the crossover should be set no higher than 100 HZ.,preferably 80 HZ. I became permanently immune to Radio-Shack audio- equipment after this purchase. But,at least I know that in one living-room somewhere,the SW-12 and Janice are making beautiful music together...

Similar Products Used:

You get the picture.

Good strong low bass for Home Theater.

Not used for music. A little too boomy

I drive thi Sub with an old Kenwood Amp rated at 70 W/Ch. I does a nice job on movies , especially when you consider the price (Usually $99 on Sale) I would not recommend it for a 3 piece system but if you have an old amp lying around it does a nice job.

Similar Products Used:

Sony DVD,Recvr and CD. Paradigm 5SE's

Price. Loud. Rather deep bass. Price. Included crossover (for the main speaker and the external speakers). Price.

Boomy. freq. response should be lower on both ends. (250hz is too high for a sub)

I got this off of ebay for 68 dollers with shipping. you can by one for 50 at radio shack. The price is unbeatable. it really pumps out the bass. i currently have it hooked up with my Pioneer sx-980 (see the reveiws on it). it brings out a thump in all music. The port is horribly tuned. i haven't try the sock trick yet. if you try using it with out modifying it, make sure your other speakers are louder than the sub to cover up the boomyness. I congradulate Optimus on a very powerful but cheap (not quality) sub.

Similar Products Used:

none.

Cheap, for the money you can't beat it.

A little boomy but correctable

It's funny but the salesman told me to stick a sock in the port when I bought it.

Since I had an equalizer that was not being used, I decided to try it as a crossover for the sub. I hooked up the EQ between the preamp and amp, then using the 31 to 500 Hz controls you can tighten up the bass extremely well. For movies you can have deep bass or for music you can have nice tight bass. I'm using 1 channel from an Adcom GFA-5500 bi-wired to the sub and 1 channel to my center speaker. Anyway, this setup works very well and is more versatile than a regular powered sub.

I recommend this sub, a great value.

Cheapo.A good way to satisy your 14-year old's first HIFI-CRAVINGS,which will probably mean Rap music.Loud,low,etc...

Cheapo.Produces the tubbiest bass you will probably ever hear.Truly startling,barbaric,loose,flabby bass.This might be a cult-classic,especially if dug up 200 years from now by holocaust-survivors who will like it for use in their cannabalistic rituals.I sold it to someone who listens to Country,Madonna,etc...No volume controls,phase switch,etc...

As most did,I bought this on sale as a "first" sub,not really knowing much about HIFI.I now know better than to use a passive sub for HIFI,especially a ported one(although I sold it before hearing about the sock trick).The one good side effect provided by this sub is that since the fixed crossover is set so high (for use of the tiniest,satelite- speakers),the midrange is improved because it has so much less in the way of "conflicting tasks".But,because the 200-HZ crossover is so high,midrange details wallow out of the bottom and so you must try to place this sub between your speakers to unify the sounds direction.The only really legitimate,carefree use of this sub would have to be as strictly for High-school or college keg parties where a strong backbeat that no one really analyzes is required.All others should save their money a bit longer and make a real buy somewhere.It does look big,impressive,well-built though.

Similar Products Used:

Sealed,acoustic-suspension subs.(what a relief!)

Still better than almost any cheap powered sub

Not the most for the money any more

An update, even though the model's long gone and we're not inundated with similarly-priced powered subs:

First, it's gratifying to see that many have tried the expedient of converting the sub from badly-tuned ported enclosure to sealed-box.


Everyone who's done the "sock trick" has learned an old speaker designer's rule of thumb: sealed-box is a far more forgiving design than ported-box. There are many worthwhile advantages to ported speakers, but the box and port must be carefully tuned or else.. well, you've already heard what happens: you get a resonant bass which cannot be corrected by any kind of equalization.

Second, instead of disabling the port, could you re-tune it and gain the advantages of the ported box? Yes. You'll have to drastically decrease the diameter of the existing port and flare the ends properly for good aerodynamics. With some polymer clay and a toilet-paper tube, it can be done. This will give you roughly an octave on the bottom end with the same efficiency, but of course it's far easier to do the sock trick.

With the socks, a moderately good amp (I've got an inexpensive Sony receiver) and a pair of LX5s, the sub/sat blend can be astonishingly good-- and the sub can act as a night stand or CD-changer table.


Think of anything you buy at Radio Shack as basically a DYI/tweak/mod project, and you'll have the original old-time Radio Shack spirit. Add an active crossover, a class-D amp... but above all, have fun!

--Oh, and do read David Weems' books on speaker design in your library. Easy to follow, chock full of projects.


Walt "Doctor Sock" Brand

Price Loud, rather low bass. Price. Power handling. Price. Tweakable.

BOOOMY!!! freq. response should be lower on both ends. (250hz is too high for a sub). Badly tuned Port.

First off, I realize that I already posted for this but I needed to update my poast. If you need to remove my poast, please remove the first one and leave this one. Thank you.

Anyway, I got this off of ebay for 68 dollers with shipping. you can by one for 50 at radio shack. The price is unbeatable. it really pumps out the bass. i currently have it hooked up with my Pioneer sx-980 (see the reveiws on it). it brings out a thump in all music. The port is horribly tuned. Stuffing the port didn't bring the results I wanted. instead I took a slimfast can and duct taped it tightly to the port to effectively lenghten the port to nearly the right size. (this requires you to lay it on its side) I also took out the crossover (almost uneeded with the longer port) and wired the coils in series (would that be 8 or 16 ohms?). I have it hooked up to one channel only. (bass is normaly mono) and my main speakers use the other speaker outs on my amp which keeps all the bass in them. The blend is awesome. When I switch on the sub, the bass becomes deeper and punchier but otherwise, almost unoticeable except a little boomyness. I even have it underneath my desk which acts somewhat like a horn. I don't recommend you use this alone for bass. Your main speakers should go down to between 50-100hz. Otherwise, the midrage may seem directional. For all that you get, the price made this sub awesome.

My System:
CD Player = Sony CDP-CE335
Turntable = Pioneer PL-50
Tuner = Pioneer SX-980
Pre-amp = Pioneer SX-980
Amp = Pioneer SX-980
Main Speakers = Zenith Allegro
Subwoofer = SW-12

Similar Products Used:

Computer subs

Got it Cheap, great addition to a system with no sub-out.

Boomy bass...unless you use the "sock trick" and stuff the port.

Even though I'm looking to replace it(well not actually, just going to move it to the rear channels) it's not a bad sub. The port is horribly tuned, and a pair of socks rolled tight and stuffed into it makes it sound oh so much better.