Good bass

Delay noticed with some music

Overall good sub.
I noticed some phase shift/delay during some music, though.
I spent a lot of time investigating and found that the cause of the delay was secondary reverbations from a doorway I blocked off behind the sub.

I found a product at Crutchfield that solved it. Dynamat 13105 Dynaplate sheets on the back side of the drywall took care of the delay. I had to tear out the drywall to do it but it was worth it!!

I would recommend this to anyone who has this sub & has a hollow cavity that can be set off by some bass frequencies.

Lots of power, lots of bass. It feels like it's changing the air pressure in my living room.

Hard to breath when it sucks in all the air from out of the room :)

I bought this sub because I was familiar with how well Paradigm subs performed after my buddy had purchased the 1200 sub a couple of years ago. I remember back then it outperformed everything else we had listened to. However, Velodyne was practically non-existent in Calgary back then. So when it came time for me to purchase my sub last week I already had a good idea what I wanted. I auditioned the Velodyne cht10 & cht12 which I can't find on this review board. The cht 12 sounded pretty good but it always made itself apparent - not by location but by just playing that monotone bass like a car system. Plus it looks like the cabinet is straight out of a car. Cheap matt black material. The actual driver only had foam surrounding it and looked pretty cheap. The Paradigm looks to be built much, much better. The Paradigm also sounds way better too. Which says alot considering I listened to practically every brand of subwoofer under a $1000 dollars. I don't hesitate to say that it sounds better than a lot of subs that cost over a $1000 that I listened to as well.
As mentioned in other reviews try to play it as much as possible for the first few days to break it in. After a day and a half I was listening to some music when about half way through the song the whole living room started vibrating. This thing is sooo powerful I can't imagine wanting more bass and I have a large living room. I love listening to music on it and had no problem integrating it with my mains. Now music sounds lacking without it. I find it to be fast enough to play music effortlessly. For home theater you could not ask for more bass unless you are hearing impaired or are into self pain.
Bottom line - go listen to everything under $1000, no $1800, and try and find a better sub. That is damn near impossible.

Similar Products Used:

Velodyne, polk audio

Amazing SPL
Deep extension
Both equal to subs costing twice as much

Large
Some amplifier hum

THE BEST AMATEUR REVIEW YOU WILL FIND

Okay, some basic things you'll have to keep in mind when reading my review:
-I have not had much experience with real subs before
-I have not auditioned many subs before buying this one
-I am a bass freak
-I am also a wannabe audiophile, I look for subtle things in music
-I don't care about aesthetics, size, or other things like that. The only thing I care about is the sound.

When looking for a subwoofer, I was looking for monster output levels and low bass extension. I also wanted the sub to perform with music, but that was secondary. I did not care about the sub blendiing in with my mains, because I knew I was going to change my main speakers soon. I will divide this review in 4 parts: output, extension, musical performance, and value.

OUTPUT
This subwoofer has amazing output. In VERY rudimentary measurements, it put out approximately 124dB one meter away in a corner of my small ht room. That measurement was taken at 35 Hz and 50 Hz. Keep in mind those figures are far from being cast in stone, my room is really weird-sounding, and although I did try to correct my Radio Shack SPL readings according to the tables found on the Net, there is inexactitude there. So take those measurements with a grain of salt. Listen to the following, however. This sub is capable of monster output. The bass drum kicks in rock music will pound your chest like if you were INSIDE the drum. While testing it at the highest outputs possible, I got a headache and the kind of muffled hearing you get after spending time in a club. I have never experienced that ever before. I am not going to be fully satisfied before I die from bass overdose, but this sub comes pretty damn close to satisfying me.

OUTPUT = STELLAR

EXTENSION

People keep talking about measured output at below 20Hz. It is stupid. With any subwoofer below $2-3K that is not DIY, the only thing you will get when feeding the sub a 20Hz or below signal is damage to your sub. You will see the driver moving, and there will be a weird dum-dum-dum sound, but you will not have any auditive information, and you will not feel the bass either. This sub is no exception. Of course I measured about 110dB @ 20Hz, but the sound measured was not the 20Hz frequency, it was the dumdumdum sound.
That is not to say the sub has bad extension. It performs flawlessly to very low frequencies, even below 25-30Hz, and you will not lose any harmonics of whatever music you listen to. You won't lose any sound effect in movies. The bass extension is stellar.

EXTENSION = AMAZING

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

People have said that this sub is very musical. I disagree. Of course it has better musical performance than any other sub in its price range, but the 12" driver is too big to achieve any kind of audiophile performance. Listen to "Who Am I" by Beenie man on a smaller driver, preferably a normal speaker with 10" driver, and you will hear that the bass line has very fast variations. Then test your subs with this song at the highest level possible. You will not be able to make out those quick variations, you will only hear a low rumble that changes tone more or less rapidly. Same thing with the beginning of Silverchair's "Israel's Song" on their Frogstomp album.
Still, amazing performance considering the price, but not up to par with the rest of the performance. That was to expect.

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE = VERY GOOD

VALUE

The value offered by this sub is simply amazing. I got it for less than $500 US!! That's including tax. Canadians will have it better than Americans for once, but Yankees will also be able to get this sub at half its worth. This subwoofer performs on par with subs costing twice as much, and its output and extension are comparable to subs costing thrice as much. I'm not joking.

VALUE = ABSOLUTELY CRAZY

-If you are looking for ht parformance, look no further. If you are looking for musical performance, try looking at smaller subs.
-Talking about size, this subwoofer is pretty big (that's partly why it performs so well at such a low price), but that should not be considered more important than the sound quality.
-When leaving the sub at its highest volume (and I don't see why anybody would do that, unless you have a super huge room), there is a slight hum coming presumably from the transformer.
-Don't leave anything close to the heatsink. It becomes VERY hot.
-NO port distortion exists. At all. The port is huge, it lets the air pass by very effortlessly.
-As a fun experience, try to play a 30-35 Hz signal with a piece of paper right in front of the port. I gurantee it will come out all mangled. The air is really moving in and out of this thing.

In conclusion, I think this is the best value I've seen on anything lately. Even if you're in the market for a much more expensive sub, consider this one. Definitely NOT a loss of time.

-Seb

Similar Products Used:

Klipsch Promedia sub

Great looks,high and clean spl to approx. 22hz

Large, a bit placement sensitive, but betteer than most

I've only had this sub for about 2 weeks, and it is just starting to get broke in. WOW! This thing can really woof, especially for a 12". If you are in the market for a sub, you have got to get The Haunting & T2 Ultimate Edition DTS dvds for demoing. These two discs alone will seperate the men from the boys! This sub is probably the best I have heard for even double the price. If you want to take some music as a demo, I highly recomend Toni Braxton's newest disc, The Heat,tracks 1,2,6,9,10. They all have really clean bass, from punchy to low. On track #9, the lowest bass note recycles about every thirty-fourty seconds, and is very impressive. On the 2200, with the sub not yet broke in, set at about 11 o'clock(volume level) the clock on the wall 20 ft away swings! If you are going to spend any decent money on a sub, audition this one, you'll never look back. If you are looking for a sub in Calgary, go to General Audio and try this sub, the guys over there are great, and they will give you a very fair price! If you are a bass freak and have about 925 cdn to spend, just buy this sub. Paradigm's new modo should be "go hard or go home!"

Similar Products Used:

Sound Dynamics ths 3000,Nuance 1w,D-sub David

musical, very low extension, lease-breaking output

lease-breaking output

I just finished auditioning the NHT Sub One ($800), the M&K MX-350 THX ($1900), and the PW-2200 for a week at home. The NHT is a joke compared to the Paradigm. It has limited extension and output, and is just barely a tick tighter in the upper bass. The M&K was an even bigger joke. This sub sounded the most musical (again, not by much), but did not have the extension of the Paradigm (matched it in output, atleast as far as I was willing to go with demos!). I ended up picking the Paradigm, as it is musical, is flat down to 20 Hz in my room, and has more than enough output.

I tested using DVDs, CDs, test tones, and the Rat Shack SPL meter.

Do yourself a favor, audition several subs, but be sure to include the Paradigm. Hint -- Place this baby far from a corner, mine is 10 feet from the nearest corner and still goes down to 20 Hz. Any closer and it starts to get a little too bottom heavy. This sub might not be the best choice for small rooms. In that case, I'd recommend the Paradigm PDR-12, or the HSU Research VTF-2.

Similar Products Used:

NHT Sub One, M&K MX-350 THX

Great tight bass

No remote

I have owned this bass for about two months now and love it. great bass. Had a relative that lives in Buffalo go to Hamilton, Canada and buy the unit for $525 US after conversion from Canadian dollar. There are numerous dealers across the border that are willing to negociate the price. THe unit was then shipped from BUffalo to Houston via UPS for $25. Unit was about 7 pounds over UPS limit but they took it anyway.
Only dislike is I find myself adjusting the amount of bass for different CDs. SOme CDs just dont have much bass in the music so I go and Turn up the Paradigm 2200. Then later a CD has too much bass and then I have to go turn down the bass. A remote would be nice. Build quality is great.

Similar Products Used:

First SUb

Tight, accurate with low end that will rattle your nuts.

I don't know what Marv's problem is, perhaps he could not afford the sub so he took it back. He obviously did not listen to it. You will not find another sub for less than $1000 that is as accurate but will go flat down to 18 hz. It just does not exist. This sub buries anything by M&K, HSU, and Velodyne...makes you wonder why anyone would by them in the first place.

Similar Products Used:

Definitvie, Polk, M&K, B&W, HSU, Velodyne...none even came close.

Clean, tight fast and low.

Noe really so far, it is big, but I knew that. Instructions weak.

Only had it a few days and have never had a sub before, but so far I am pleased with its sound. I did listen to very many demo models though. I am not happy with my yamaha 800 sub out (at 90hrz and below everything is sent to the sub), so I am going to rum my mains (B&W dm640i's through the sub for more frequency control. I need more time with the sub but it really shakes the house well, which is what I like, I amd much more into home theater than music.

Similar Products Used:

First Sub ever.

low, tight, fast, accurate

isn't more powerful

this is simply the best sub you can buy under $1500, at which point you get a paradigm reference. the power of the sub is amazing, i have recieved many complaints from neighbors.

Similar Products Used:

none that i have owned, but auditioned most in price range

Great sound for the price

Takes some time to place properly and calibrate

I have a large room in which to fill with bass. I auditioned the PW-2500 and found it to be too "boomy" and VERY hard to get to sound right for music and movies. (In my opinion the PW-2500 is a movie only sub.) I tried my brother-in-laws PS-1000 and found it did a good job of filling the room, but it was not quite tight enough for music. (I am 70 music/30 Home theater.) I decided to purchase the PW-2200 from what people have said on this site and on reviews in magazines. I LOVE this sub. I paid ~$650 usd, and that for that money I could not touch another sub that is as good as this one. The PW-2200 is hard to get claibrated and placed, but once you get its sweet spot, it sound better and better. I tried playing one of those bass CDs (doesn't everyone one at least one?) and really made the sub work at levels that took pictures off the wall. The sub sounds better and better the longer I play it. It is tight for music and loud for movies. I love playing T2 and being able to hear and feel the explosions, and the 1812 Overture's cannons sound like they are in your backyard. I would recommend this sub to anyone looking at an mid priced sub that can play like the more expensive big boys. Audition this sub NOW! You will love it.

Similar Products Used:

Paradigm PS-1000, Paradigm PW-2500