I'm not so sure Johnnie here below me even looked at the back of this sub. There's an RCA in and out, as well as spring jacks. What a dolt. Second, I too own the HK computer speakers/sub. And of COURSE an 8" will be tighter than a 12". If you like punchiness and not boominess don't buy a 12". Plus, the HK PC speakers are awfully colored and don't sound one-tenth as good as he makes them out to. Plus, their sub clips at high volumes. Plastic amp? TOO funny right there.
That said, listen to an actual intelligent buyer. I have to keep posting my thoughts because people just don't know how to analyze sometimes.
12" subs are not going to be tight enough for music. The Sony does its best work in movies. That's not to say it's not at all musical. If the cutoff is set low and the sub only puts out 20-50 Hz, all one will hear is boom. I recommend crossing over at around 120 Hz to incorporate a punchier midbass section. And as for the gain- a LITTLE over half is usually good. Too high a volume will encourage boominess and won't sound right. I would believe Frankie down below when he talks of the sub's distortion- but something like that at this low a frequency won't really change what we perceive. All in all it's a pretty decent sub and great for what it costs.
Caveat emptor- we've now laid out all the pros and cons. Buy what you will, just don't be an idiot and post here acting like you didn't know what you were getting when you got it.

Seems to have a good bass

Damn energy star system

I like the bass this sub provides. I brought it home and like an eager kid hooked it up and started using it I set all dials at full and then sat down to leaf through the instruction book. By the time I was done with the book the sub had given me a mild headache.

Again like the reciever I bought I got an online price matched at sears and payed the tax but not shipping.

As far as the energy star weakness. The sub has this feature which you can turn on that will turn the sub off after 7min of no signal. Well I turned it on when I first go the sub and it just seems to me like the system is too eager to turn the sub off.

Similar Products Used:

cheap computer sub and speakers ($20 for the set)

Strong bass, price

???

After making the mistake of buying the KLH, I returned it & bought the Sony. I am still experimenting with placement, crossover frequency & the phase switch to "tweak" the best sound. For those experiencing "Muddy" sound, it's because of Sony's short sightedness by not including spiked feet with the Sub. I got a set of 4 & some foam insulation (since it really is a ported design, and not a "bass reflex" as Sony says on their web page).
The combination of these two tweaks have tightened up the bass without sacrificing deep bass & boom when necessary.

I got the pars from www.partsexpress.com for $30. This plus the initial investment is a steal! Sub sounds great for both movies & CD's.

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KLH SW120 CRAP!

could someone please explain to me the difference to me between tight and boomy bass. please. audio jargon confuses the hell out of me. i am just getting into audio. please help. my e-mail address is noj@peoplepc.com. help!!!

n/a

i just want to know the difference between boomy and tight bass

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n/a

Good sound for the price, controls, compact size

Wife doesn't like when it rattles the windows...

So this review is helpful, I too would like to warn others to simply ignore previous comments about plastic amps, paper cones, etc. They are just foolish comments made by people that know absolutely nothing about engineering or the properties of the materials used in consumer grade electronics. I've heard lots of stupid comments about speakers over the years. Some had techical merit, but often in the big picture, they had no relevance and therefore were useless (like the paper cone comment). The big picture you ask ? One must also factor in things like price, usage, and most importantly, your ears.

I've owned this sub for about 3 months now. I watch lots of DVD's and listen to everything from Mozart to BB King and I'm very pleased with how this sub has performed, good solid window rattling bass (it's in a room thats about 17' by 25' with 9' ceilings and a hardwood floor). Depending on what I'm listening to, I sometimes have to make small adjustments to the volume and/or crossover controls, however volume at 2 o'clock and crossover at 9 o'clock seem to about optimal most of the time. I don't find this sub boomy at all, and for a 12 inch sub, it's not too big (smaller than my father-in-laws 10 inch Mission 70AS). I like the side mounted woofer. It allows you to choose where to point the sub. Bottom mounted woofers obviously always point into the floor which in some cases may not be desireable (i.e angry neighbors, acoutics of carpet vs hardwood vs concrete, etc).

I've been into audio for 25 years now and I'm picky about what I buy. However, I'm also realistic. I don't have a million bucks to spend on a sub, so I'm not going to trash this Sony sub because some ya-hoo dragged it into a lab and said it has 867 % distortion! How much distortion is detectable by the human ear ? If you can't answer that, then don't make ninny comments regarding distortion in this kind of a forum.

This is my first sub, but all in all, for the price I paid, I'm happy with how it enhances my Home theater and my music.

Similar Products Used:

Mission 70AS

Price!!!!!!
Bass!!!!!!!

spring clips, lots of plastic and paper...

This sub is USELESS to me.......



Why?



Because I can't use it....it's going to get me evicted!!!!

The sub puts out MAJOR BASS, nuff said. For the price, I don't think there is a better sub out there. The woofer looks cheap, as does the plastic housing around the amp, but it doesn't seem to affect the performance. To everybody that doesn't have this sub, you may be outta luck. They are getting hard to find, especially at Sears. I went to inetshopping.com and printed off there price for 129.99, took it to Sears (it was there last one) and they matched the price. But they did charge me for shipping ($34.00) and of course, tax.

I like my sub crossed over at 50hz, I'll let the Polk's take care of the mid-bass. Besides, 12" subs are really meant to be all that tight.

Similar Products Used:

DVC 12" passisve sub, Boston Accoustic powered sub on my computer

Price, Size

Slow response on music

After using the sub, I noticed the response during music seemed to "lag" behind the main speakers. I have a Denon AVR-4800 which allows you to set the "delay" of each speaker by setting a distance for each speaker from the listener. By increasing the setting distance I was able to eliminate the lag. During music playback I also reduce the volume setting a bit.

During DVD playback I have the volume set about the 11:00 o'clock position with the crossover at about 10:00. This seems to work well with my listening area. On some movies at higher volumes, there seems to be a little "booming", again lowering the volume a bit eliminates the problem.

I cannot attest to the ability of the sub to shake the house, as I have a conrete slab floor, but you do "feel" the LFE in movies like "Saving Private Ryan", "Fifth Element", etc.

Overall, for the price, this sub cannot be beat!!!

Price, strong deep bass, smaller cabinet size

None yet

I recently purchased this one at Best Buy for $210 (179+29.99 for 4 extra years warranty). I had a JBL 10 that fried itself in the middle of the night, scared me to death. The sony has deeper and stronger bass,I had to turn my sub output down on my receiver. I liked the JBL but was leary of buying another one since it quit one month after warranty expired.
I looked at several subs Polk, JBL, AR, KLH(junk) Yamaha, and the sony. In this price range, this has to be the best there is.
I have it set at one half level and the x-over about midway, and about 8" from the wall. It performs brilliantly. I would highly recommend this one for someone who wants to stay under $350 for a sub.

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JBL dps-10

Deep low and LOUD

it goes so loud you will piss your pants it's so scary

This is a great sub for the price it sounds better then subs costing up to $600 when i heard this sub it was so loud it was no even funny it's scarry when your watching a movies and a deep bass sweep comes along it goes so loud and low my 5 year old son pissed his pants and started to cry it was sad.
This subwoofer has great pefromance with a 12" cone that exceeds frequencys of 20Hz delivers ground shaking bass
with room filling thunderous bass
i love this sub

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Hsu Research

small , this sub plays loud, Clean sound at low volumes,
120 watt amp

extreme port noise, Frequency cuts off around 40Hz ,
does not go deep , boomey

When i read the subwoofer reviews here i thought this was going to be a cool subwoofer.
When i got this sub i was excited but when i heard it i was so pi$$ed off it would only play deep at verry low volumes
but when you cranked this sub it whent loud indeed.
it has a verry clear sound for home theater but for music it was to boomey theres a few drawbacks on this sub first of all when the sub is playing at high volumes in the deep zone all you could here is port noise ( air rushing through the port ) and the second drawback is this sub does not play deep at all.
I liked the lookes and every thing i just whished that it had better pefromance so i made a larger port hole on the back and bought a new woofer that can extend down to 20Hz flat and lots of polyfille.
Now i get a verry deep deeeeeeeep bass responce down to about 23Hz at 87dB but the sound is not clear.
dont buy this sub if you whatnt it to shake your house or play deep .
kinda waste of my money .
it's way cheaper in the states about $250 cheaper

Similar Products Used:

JBL, KLIPSCH