Great power, punch and price for your home theater setup.
By adjusting the cross-over and volume settings you can use this sub for home theater and as a good low end for music.

My only complaint is having a bit of booming while playing music with a lot of bass. This is probably because I'm a bit too close to the corner of the room, but the placement works excellent for movies. I just about jumped out of my skin during the airplane crash sequence in Fight Club.

I've had this sub for a while now and it blends in well with my Mission fronts/rears/center, Yamaha 595 amp, and Toshiba 3109 DVD. If you're looking for an economical sub with decent power and punch, there's a good chance this one will end up on your short list. I'm not sure if it's widely available in the States, but you might be able to get a good deal online... The list of $439 US is pretty high. I paid under $400 Canadian, (nowhere near the $270 of the first reviewer!), which is around $320 US

Similar Products Used:

DIY 12" sub powered by an older amp I had taking up space.
Also demoed Mission, Energy and JBL subs.

Great punchy sound, Deep rumble

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I got this subwoofer for an AWSOME price ($270), and was worth at least $80 more. Good crisp, clean bass, very thumpy and rumbly. GREAT for HT systems. I am running this sub with a Pioneer VSX-D508. Good features, awsome buy.

Similar Products Used:

Yahama YST-45 (It was on sale, ok?), PSB Alpha SubZero

Well Controlled Bass, extra punch at the low end, not too big, features, a wolf in sheep skin.

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Purchased this PSB Alpha Subsonic 5 to replaced the Jamo SW400E to have greater impacts for my home theatre needs.I owned the SW 400E for two years and it was a total disappointment. I have auditioned the Rel Acoustics 100E and it was found to be a killer sub but it will cost me another 300 dollars more. With the PSB Alpha subsonic 5 movies sounds real with full-bloodied impacts. I tested it with a few Dolby digital LD's and DVD's and it was found to be very satisfying. In one of my favourites DVD " The Braveheart " battle scenes was so real that it shakes my whole room, from the charging of the heavy horses to the tweaking of arrows from the English arches, it was detailed and filled with impact. Finally on conclusion: The PSB Subsonic 5 is one of the very best subwoofer that I have ever come across. It was a little off coloured when compared to the mighty Rel Acoustics 100E but at this price range I rate it 5 stars.

Similar Products Used:

Jamo SW400E, very old Technics passive sub.

The variable crossover control (continuously variable from 50-150 Hz), a phase switch, and a volume control, making it easier to match to the rest of your system. Also the size is nice, not so huge, my wife doesn't seem to mind it. It was very easy to set up, place, and hook up. Also the price is very nice for the product to receive, great bang for the buck. Also an auto On/Off feature. Just a clean attractive unit.

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So far I am very pleased with my purchase. I felt the fit and finish were very good, the look, and hopefully the long term quality will also be there.
The unit also seems to adapt very well to my modge-podge system:Denon AVR2800
Panasonic a120 DVD
Sony 27"
Polk Audio RT/55: front channel
Realistic Minimus 7: b: front channel
Polk Audio CS300: center channel
Bose 301: rear channel
The Sub 5 filled the bass void in my system. I am very happy with the choice.
I also have to add that I spent the extra money to buy a Monster Cable;cable to go to the sub, without trying a lesser cable I don't know if it makes a difference but the sound is very crisp and clear.

Similar Products Used:

B&W ASW500-lacked the variable crossover, and auto On/Off. Also the unit had a bit bigger cabinet for the same size woofer,10 inch.

Solid construction,responsive sound

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A great sub and more than enough for most peoples application. I though 65 watts would not be enough as other reviewers have mentioned, in this sub it is plenty. Greatly enhnaces movies and fast moving bass sounds in music and DVDs. Originally purchased a Def Tech 12" sub for $550 but felt the construction was kind of cheap for that money. A friend mentioned this unit, I listened and was pleased. It is more responsive, built better and saved me over $250, that is almost half the Def Techs price.

Would highly recommend this sub. I would only go bigger if you had a Huge room. My listening room is 20x25 and this sub easily fills it at normal listening levels. Can't imagine what it might knock down if I turned it up.

Similar Products Used:

Def Tech, JBL

Compact and value

a little boomy at times

I am satisfy with this unit. Sony store and A&B sound sells it for $499 CAD, Audio Plus for $398CAD without any squabble.

strong base that doesn't distort when listening to any type of music and or Dvd's. Don't be fooled with the amount of watts from the amp it pounds out awesome sound.

I wish they made a 12 incher because if the 10 inch sub sounds like most 12 inch subs imagine what a 12 inch in psb would sound like. AWESOME!!!

I loved it

Similar Products Used:

sony, infinity, quest, reel, jamo, kenwood and cerwin vega.

Very strong and tight bass output. No fluttering at high volume. Fills the living room (25'X15') easily.
Sets up really easily, hooks up to my Kenwood receiver, and the LFE setting works well.

None thus far.

Unit works well with my HT system:
Front (PSB Image 2B)
Centre (Polk Audio C245i)
Rear (Pioneer satellites)
DVD (Panasonic K520)
Receiver Kenwood V405
TV (JVC D520 36")

Excellent sub for the price, extends quite low, front-firing ports

Looses a little clarity at extremely high volumes

I purchased the PSB SubSonic5 as part of a PSB package from www.yawaonline.com For $699 the package included four Alpha Minis, one Alpha Center, and the SubSonic5. The speaker package is mated to an Onkyo 595 and installed in a 25x15 foot carpeted living room.

I didn't audition a lot of subs by themselves, but did hear many subs from various manufacturers such as Paradigm, Definitive Tech, Atlantic Tech, B&W, Polk, and Infinitiy during my shopping for a 5.1 speaker system. I found most of the subs bordering on adquate-to-poor, with the Definitive Tech, B&W, and Atlantic Tech's subs performing well-to-excellent. In particular I found the Atlantic Tech's sub to produce excellent, even, room-filling low end. Unsure if this is due to it's non-ported cabinet, but I really liked how it sounded when auditioning it with the T70 5.1 system.

I found the SubSonic5 sub to sound best in my living room when placed in the farthest corner opposite my couch. This produced the most even bass throughout the room. Placement near the TV (middle of the room) produced extremely heavy bass in a corner where a recliner was installed while the couch received the appropriate bass levels.

I also found that it is very easy to tweak the sub to the point where it's overpowering, at least for my tastes. Not that it sounds bad or isn't performing well, it's just that with the volume control much higher than 10 O'clock it adds too much bass and low-mid to the overall sound in the room. However, the sub provides adequate controls to adjust the levels and frequency cutoff to tune it to blend well with your system. I now run the sub at a hair over 9 O'clock and tweak it for music VS movies with the level controls on my Onkyo receiver.

High points for me are a larger 10" cone VS the 8" cones typically found in the $300 price range, the auto-on/off feature (fairly standard on most subs), a nice long power cable, and front-firing ports which I feel allowed me to successfully place the sub in a corner without it negatively affecting the sound the sub produces.

I've cranked the sub to volume levels far exceeding what I plan on using it for and I didn't find it to clip, "buzz", or otherwise become unusable. Instead I found it to rattle my windows and pump air from the cone and out of the dual front ports with enough force to extinguish a flame. This sub produces an insane amount of bass if demanded, though it did appear to get a bit mushy at these extremely high volumes. Again, I'd never personally run the sub that loud, but was impressed it could if demanded.

Overall I'm very pleased with the sub, and am very happy I chose this VS any of the 8" subs on the market as I feel it fills my large living room with very adequate bass without having to really push the sub as I found I had to when auditioning the 50watt 8" Polk sub, or the 8" or 10" Paradigm Sub.

I don't feel like I have enough experience to recommend this sub VS another sub if it were a stand-alone purchase, but I definitely would recommend this sub over the SubZero when paired with any of the low-end PSB speakers including the current PSB Alpha line or PSB Image 1Bs.

Similar Products Used:

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Solid deep bass, small foot print

bass good be a little tighter

It took me many months to decide on my sub. I auditioned and re-auditioned all the subs mentioned above and drove the sales people crazy but I chose the PSB. It offered what I was looking for in a price I could afford. This sub works and works hard to deliver clean tight bass down to the around 25-28 Hz. It never sounds strained at high volume levels. Although it doesn't offer the tightest bass, (the Axiom did this at the expense of slam) it is still controlled and never sloppy and can easily be used for music. It provided much more slam than the Paradigm could muster but it's always controlled and never boomy.

I'm still in awe to the realism of the bass produced by this sub when playing Richard Strausse's "Also Spracht Zarathustra" (theme from Space Odessey 2001) or Bach's organ music. I feel like I'm in a cathedral.

It really showed its stuff in "Independance Day" never once straining to put out the deep bass.

I recommend this sub to anyone. Its bass is still tight enough to be used for music but its strongest suit is delivering the punch in home theater. It delivers much better bass than can be expected from a $350.00 sub.

Similar Products Used:

Axiom Epicenter175 and Paradigm PDR10