Low bass, output. Size!

bit "slow", needs good placement.

Hi!
I´m one of those lucky guys who has friends among the hifidealers. This gives me the oportunity to test a couple of speakers over the years and this review is given in response to "rob".
The sunfire subs are great, epriod. there are some subs thats better in soundquality, for ex Dynaudio contour, but most often more expensive ones oand always bigger. To say that the sunfire cant produce low bass is simply not true! Me and my friends measured it to 18 Hz in a normal sized livingroom, so how low is low bass?!? Remember, this was at an impressive SPL to. Just cant wait to test the Junior, looks like a cigarbox on steriods and got some impressive specs.
Regarding power of the amp, its real. Its not the average class AB amplifier but a "swithcing" amp, class D, witch has better efficiancy then ordinary amplifiers. There are some drawbacks with this construction, but nothing that will ahrm the reproduction of low bass. At least not "psykoacoustical".That is, You want hear the difference anyway so wy not take advantage of more power?
giving this sub a five,five.I was thinking about four, five but because of some harsh words without thougt I´m leaning over to a five.And, the SIZE!!
PS, I had a hard time keeping this little beast in one place but we have different powergrids here then in the US so the sub is shipped with a converter. Its heavy so placing it on top of the sub makes it stay in place. :-)
DS

Similar Products Used:

a few. :-)

Wow "E" Wow Wow!Is this thing fun.
It is a true SUB woofer in that it's strength
is not mid-bass.
I positioned it a few inches in front of my rack,
at the center point between my horns, and it integrates
beautifully. Unexpectedly transparent. Invisible.
If your input is a "Y" use equal length interconnects
between the sub and the other input or you will end up with
a phase shift.
I listened to the 12 and 15 inch Velodynes and the 18 inch Bag End.
They are all probably "better" subs in larger rooms, but they
all drew more attention to themselves. The Sunfire, with
the drivers going sideways did not.
Five stars.

I don't undestand what some of you are hearing. I audition all the equipment I buy in my home. Well, my home has hardwood floors and bot did that thing bounce and splutter.
I thought it might explode! eedless to say, I was disappointed. really didn't need it but wa just curious.
Lets be for real people. This is an inaccurate and outright noisy sub. My Legacy Pacemakers are 3 times the price, but I assure you, that real sub thing is not even near that leauge. Same price? Get a Velodyne or a Hsu system.

2700 watts; Small footprint

Internal fuses

If yours is distorting remove the twelve screws around the outside perimeter of the control plate and slide out. There are two 10 amp fast-acting fuses on the PC Board. Check these. Mine sounded fine except for occasional distortion at certain frequencies. It was NOT constant. One of these fuses was blown. Now it sounds GREAT. I hope this saves someone some grief. I lived with this for over a year before I finally checked it out. Though I love the sound, these are so expensive I can only give three stars for value. I mean, the Cerwin-Vega 12s are only $300. But then, if you want to fill up an auditorium with sound ....

Very Small, Very Small

Placement critical

Bouhgt one early back when they first came out for around 999. Found another one a while back for around 450. Placement of these is very critical as it usually is with all speakers. Found if used in courner produces too mcuh bass that caused it sound very muddy and lacked punch and clarity.

There are many Subs around 800-1000 price range that sound better but have yet to audition any this small that fit this well in my system...

I find it amazing that people who gave this product one or two stars even took it our of the store. I mean can't you tell if it is going to work in your system before you got it home...

Ovation allows for a demo period for you to take it home and return it if you are not happy for a full refund.

Look at all of the four and five stars and take away the few one or two stars and this subs ranks around 4.8. Hell one guy even reviewed it three times and give it one and two stars. That is like me coming in here and giving it 5 stars three time...Home many times can you review a product...

All I can say is make sure you take it home first...It may or not work in your system...

If your dealer will not let you take it home for a demo then I would find another dealer.

Similar Products Used:

KEF, Velodyne, B & W

Small Size

Boomy, Difficult to Integrate

I used this unit for about 2 months and couldn't find a good integration with my M-L Aerius i's. Tried all of the methods of placement and crossovers (high / low, crossover frequencies, etc.), but couldn't get it smooth - we nicknamed it the boombox - (movie time? - turn on the boombox!). I was trying it out against a HSU 1220 at the time, and could not find a way to integrate seamlessly, which the HSU did virtually without effort. The Sunfire seems to have a very "electronic" sound.
I didn't have near the amount of problem integrating the other subs mentioned above as I did with the Sunfire - the effort with it didn't seem worth the results.
For H/T, the Sunfire is fine, as explosions and effects get to the bottom octaves, for music, try something else. I sold my Sunfire to a friend who's into H/T, and he's having a ball with it.

Similar Products Used:

ADS, M&K, HSU, Paradigm, Velodyne

Deep extension, high power, subtlety on music, size

None

I've had my Truesub since they first came out (1996?), and have never been anything but delighted with it. I have it paired with a 7.1 configuration of Aerial Accoustics speakers, led by the wonderful Aerial 10t's, Sterophile's speaker of the year in 1995. The 10t's go down to 30 Hz, and I have the crosover for the Sunfire sub set at 40 Hz through a Lexicon DC-1, so they blend relly well. For music I like the smooth integration and real solid, tuneful bass that is indistinguishable as a subwoofer, and just sounds like the music itself. For movies, vavavoom! Fantastic, stupendous, detailed, and intense, yet it never interferes with the mids and highs of the movie content. Setup takes a little work, as the Truesub is intended for a corner. The unit is VERY sensitive to the distance from the corner itself; too close and it can get a little boomy; too far and it loses volume. I have mine about 12"s from the front right corner, with a bass trap (10" x 4'tall cylinder) behind it in the corner itself. I have another bass trap in the front left corner. Smooth, even, musical, and killer powerful. I use stick-on metal cones to stabilize the sub to the floor, and this tightens up the sound nicely. I love this sub, as I'm sure you can tell. I also use a Sunfire Cinema Grand, a 2 channel Sunfire Amp, and a Sunfire Clasic Tube Preamp in the same system. Needless to say, I'm very happy with the Carver products. I did send my Truesub back to them to lengthen the time delay for automatic turnoff to about 10 minutes, to stop the occasional clickoff during quiet pasages.

As an aside, I once had a problem with the Cinema Grand having crossed two speaker wires and fried it. I called up Sunfire and they gave me instructions on how to send it back, and promised to fix it and turn it around right away. I overnighted it to Sunfire on a Monday, they fixed it on Tuesday and sent it back the same day, overnight shipment, at no cost to me. I had it back on Wednesday, and got a personal call form the tech to alert me that it was coming. They've won my business for a ong time to come.

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer Elite, Klipsche, AMC

Not accurate. Needs to vibrate more. Loose Pointers flood the room with "noise". Need to be more tight when hit below 20Hz.

Bought to suppliment base of my original Quads. When first bought it, it was making strange noises, even when music system was off. Was playing Real Time LP "The Power and the Glory", which really rocked the house, but physically I beleive it's to small to handle all the power it's capable to put out, the way this little baby was dancing around on the floor- literally. Actually does seem to match the old quads quite well, much better then MK's I previouly owned.

I owned the Sunfire Mk 2 Sub for four monthes. My enthusiasm for this amazing little machine steadily dropped the longer I had it. I am not able to articulate my reasons, suffice it to say that the sound coming from it was annoying at times with certain songs/movies having exaggerated passages. Don't get me wrong, it's a great sub; puts out lots of bass; just not accurate, audiophile sound, IMHO.
If you are tight for space and want powerful bass; look not further, there is no competition. But if you want a sub that will complement the quality of your expensive main speakers, then look elsewhere.

I traded my Sunfire for a B&W 800ASW sub and have no reason to look elsewhere...

Enjoy the music....
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MY SYSTEM:

Equipment:
Denon 3200 Receiver
B&W 602 Mains
B&W CC6 Center
B&W 601 Surrounds
B&W 800ASW Subwoofer
Pioneer CLD-D504 (w/AC3RF)
Sony CDP-CX90ES 200CD Jukebox
Sony SLV-575UC VCR
Proscan 60690 60" RPTV

Interconnects:
L&R-DH Labs Silver Sonic T14 Biwire
CTR-DH Labs Silver Sonic T14
SUR-AR Home Theater Pro 12 Gauge
DH Labs Silver Sonic BL1 (CD to R)
Monster SVideo 2 (All)
Audioquest Turquoise (LD to R)
Wavecom Senior (to rest of the house)