Smooth bass, digital control...

No

No better sub for the money. I tryed a few different subs and this one is the best.

-Strong clean deep bass
-affordable price
-looks good nice clean finish

-volume and DPS controls. Just give me a freakin knob! holding down the volume buttons for almost a minute just to adjust can get annoying.
-Bright blue LED lights, brightens up the room when lights are off.

Originally wanting the JBL 12" model but was out of stock so they sold me the DPS-12 for the same price! saved about $100.

This sub is amazing lots of power to play with and with the monster THX sub cable i got for free it sounds clean and very deep.

Ive tested it to almost full capacity and it still sounds undestorted, Even now after placing it in a room with ceiling tiles that absorb most of the bass it still sounds amazing!

I definately reccomend this sub, For the price its the best deal out there.

While I do not consider myself an audiophile I do appreciate good sound. My brother on the other hand with his B & W 803s now that's another story. WOW they sound amazing! Well back to the review of my new Velodyne DPS-12. I recently researched and decided on this sub always having heard great things about Velodyne subs. Having always used JBL subs in the past (Northridge series) can't say I was disappointed at all. For the money it blew away any of the JBL subs I have used at comparable prices in the past. The JBL subs were OK for movies but terrible for music as are the other JBL Northridge speakers I have owned. The Velodyne is less distorted and muddy especially at louder volumes and to my surprise really performed well for music. I think you would be hard pressed to find a sub that can perform like the Velodyne PB-12 for under $400!

Clean, rich, smooth, DEEP bass without boominess or rattle. Excellent response, even at low levels. Power to spare.

Lack of availablity and a dealer network where Velodyne products can be auditioned and compared side-by-side with other brands.

I thought the 8" downfiring sub that came with my Onkyo home theater system was adequate but wanted to go a little more upscale when I upgraded my receiver to the Onkyo TX-NR901. I read many reviews and actually preferred the Klipsch until I managed to find a lone Velodyne DPS-10 at a local Circuit City store. After talking the Home Audio salesman into hooking it up so I could listen I was sold on the Velodyne. No store within 100 miles carried the DPS-12 so I was forced to order one online. I was not disappointed. Within five minutes of hooking it up I was impressed by the quality of this sub...clean, effortless, silky-smooth bass without a trace of the boominess or boxiness found in other brands that I had auditioned. It's able to reach depths that cause the whole house to rumble, even at very low levels, with amazing ease. And I haven't been unpleasantly surprised by flutter or rattle during sudden and sometimes absurdly high level FX or explosion passages in movies. Since I live close to neighbors I haven't dared to explore cranking this sub up to higher levels for fear of being arrested. Some might say it's too much sub for my relatively small abode, but since this unit delivers so well even at low levels, bigger IS better. At around $500 the Velodyne DPS-12 is actually a bargain. You'll be hard-pressed to find another brand that performs this well, even at twice the price.

Extremely power amplifier Great cosmetic design Very tight and controlled Good lower 20hz performance Price to performance ratio Relatively small footprint

No volume control knob DSP modes are a little over the top

Ok my home theater is now a finished project (or atleast that's what I told my wife). I've been around the block a few times, owning several different processors, receivers, amplifiers, dvd players, cd players, power conditions & speakers. My system has now reached a performance level that I am completely satisfied with. Most home theater enthusiasts understand that having a good and accurate subwoofer is a critical part of the home theater experience. My review of this subwoofer pertains to movies only, I have not used this sub for music, my speakers are full range and they go down to about 31hz, so I felt no need for a sub on the music side of things. First let me say that this subwoofer is truly beautiful, it is definantly among the most attractive subwoofers in its class. It's sloping piano black surface should blend well with most room decors. I have this sub standing next to a pair of NHT ST4's and they all look great together. Now the Sound: After setting the correct volume and db levels respectively on my receiver and the subwoofer using my SPL meter, I was ready to go. The first movie I popped in the dvd player was The Lord of The Rings: Fellowship of the ring, the opening battle scene has amazing low frequency action well into the lower 20hz range, pure torture for lesser subwoofers, but the Velodyne never skipped a beat, it handled the lower frequencies wonderfully. Amazed by the prior scene, I then popped in Independence Day, all I can say is 'WOW', if your sub can handle the low frequency of the spaceship flying over the White House scene, without distortion or port noise at loud volumes, then you truly have a special subwoofer. Needless to say, the Velodyne is a special sub. This sub is rated as low as 25HZ, it seems to go down to 20hz without any noticeable distortion. What truly amazed me about this sub is how tight it is, it expossed some of the weaknesses in my room. I have the crossover on my receiver set to 60HZ, so the Velodyne also picks up some mid bass in addition to low bass frequencies, the bass always sounded full and clear. There are some things about this subwoofer that I don't care for, first is the the volume knob. Instead of a visible volume knob with numbers there's a digital blue light that blinks every time you increase or decrease the volume, being that there are no numbers, it is impossible to know what volume the sub is set to, without testing it out. If they are going to use a digital readout, it should have a LCD with numbers. If you have small children or pets, be careful, they're usally attracted to pretty blue lights, fortunately for us, these lights can be disabled. I also found the presets for Jazz/Classical, Movies, R&B/Rock, and Games to be a little over the top, they're useless for my taste. Not that they don't work, they're just not needed. You'll find yourself amused by them for the first couple of days, but that's about it, the Movies mode for example is way too heavy on the mid bass, emphasizing effects that are not necessary causing it to sound unnatural. The flat setting for the subwoofer is Jazz/Classical, although the term 'Jazz/Classical' sounds whimpy, it is more than capable at this setting. This subwoofer is truly amazing, I didn't know what to expect from a 200 watt front firing sub, but I didn't expect to be as happy with it as I am. I have concrete walls and floors, so for this sub to rattle my cynderblock floors is very impressive. I was going back and forth between this and the HSU VTF-3MKII, HSU makes great subs, but if you live in a co-op or an apartment building, down firing subs may not be ideal, if you want a comparable front firing sub, this is the way to go. My System: Panasonic PT-50LC13 LCD RP 16:9 HDTV Sherwood Newcastle R-865 Receiver Nad S-200 2channel Power Amplifier Panasonic DVD-S97S Dvd Player Sony DVP-NC555ES (SACD/CD Player) Philips DVDR77 Dvd Recorder Belkin PureAV PF40 Power Center NHT ST4 (Fronts) NHT SC2 (Center) NHT SB3 (Rears) NHT SuperzeroXU's (Suroound backs) Velodyne DPS-12 Subwoofer Monster Cable Reference Interconnects

Similar Products Used:

Polk PSW-505 Velodyne VRP-1200 Sony SA-WX700 (Better than it should be)