Velodyne Acoustics FSR-12 Subwoofers

Velodyne Acoustics FSR-12 Subwoofers 

USER REVIEWS

Showing 1-8 of 8  
[Feb 23, 2002]
claud
AudioPhile

Strength:

Tight musical bass and dramatic bass for HT.Nice size and style.

Weakness:

none that I have noticed.

Very good musical sub that also does HT. For most of us with average size rooms(mine''s 13'' x 17''), this sub is all you will ever need. I don''t like auto-on so the remote is great.Had crossover bypass before most other subs on the market at the time of purchase. Not a cheap sub, but you usually get what you pay for.

Similar Products Used:

Velodyne CT-80 in my beach cottage HT

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Oct 13, 1999]
audiomoose
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

deep bass. Great for all types of music and hometheater.
Just finished watching The Matrix.
The overall response of the subwoofer
was extremelly accurate with tons of bass.

Weakness:

none

Just Bought it In September From
Rich G at sound city for 799 inc freight
in gloss cherry. the finish is great.
"the wife loved that". By far the best subwoofer i have ever owned. That JBL
i used to have is firewood compared to
this sub.

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Jul 27, 2000]
Patrick
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Tight, Accurate Bass and a strong woofer cone assembly

Weakness:

Heat protection circuit kicks in if level is set too high or driven at high levels for an extended period of time

I ordered this unit from SoundCity and was very happy with their customer support. It was delivered double-boxed on the day promised in good condition.
As far as the performance of this unit I must say that it is well worth the money.<800 on sale. It is servo controlled so there is very little distortion. The only distortion I could hear is cabinet resonances which is easily cured by securing the front baffle to the sides of the speaker with screws. Being a sealed sub the pressure inside the box is too great for the design. I put two screws in each side of the box/front baffle and it was a difference between night and day. The Bass tightened up even more.
Now for the heat overload protection circuitry problem. The protection circuitry engages for three possible reasons: 1. High amplifier temperature
2. Low voltage at input stage
3. Overexcursion of the woofer
I assume the reason my goes into protection mode is due to the fact that I do like deep bass and being a sealed enclosure makes the amplifier work harder than a similar amplifier in a ported box. The amp gets very hot to the touch. FYI- the amplifier in the FSR-12 appears to be the same amplifier velodyne uses in the CT-120. Once you set the subwoofer set up and get it dialed in correctly these problems should go away- except for the heat on the heatsink. I only score 4 stars on overall because the neglect in craftmanship for the enclosure. Velodyne should try to correct this problem and then you would have a truely awsome subwoofer.

Similar Products Used:

JBL subwoofer, Velodyne CT-120

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
5
[Jul 18, 1999]
Tad Syper
an Audio Enthusiast

I could not believe the deep, natural bass that can come out of this 12" powered sub. One day, while upstairs, my wife and I were taken aback at how the house was vibrating. We though a helecoptor was hovering over head but it was the Chemical Brothers CD crankin' out some deeeep base even at a low volume. Even the missus was impressed.

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
[Nov 17, 1999]
Dmitry
Audio Enthusiast

An absolutely awesome sub for small to medium size rooms. It works great for both music and movies, providing very tight, deep bass that you (and maybe your neighbors) will feel. Blends well with smaller speakers crossed over at 80Hz.

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Nov 25, 1999]
Robert Vieira
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Uncanny, gutteral lows. Ins/out aplenty.

Weakness:

I'm worried about ruining its beautiful black gloss finish.

The FSR-12 goes down to an incredibly low 20hz with less than 1% distortion. Although that sounds like a quote from Velodynes literature, I can vouch for it. If you've never heard one of your favorite recordings on a sub of this caliber, you may be missing a great deal of presence in the music. I went through my entire cd, ld and dvd collection as though I hadn't heard them before. At times, you'll experience bass signals so low they'll make you nauseous. I'd recommend hooking this one up in a pre-out/main-in loop for best blending with your fronts.
I'm only going to give a 4 star rating for now, but after some research with other subs, I'll make a final decision.

Similar Products Used:

Most Velodyne subs, Paradigm subs, Klipsch, etc...

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
4
[Nov 29, 2000]
Bill
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Goes to 20Hz. Integrates well. Good with music or HT.

Weakness:

May not be sufficient SPL. Challenging to place.

Other components:
- Snell E-IV mains, CR.5 center, SR.5 surrounds
- Denon AVR-3300 receiver
- Pioneer DV-05 for DVDs and CDs
- Usage is 65% video, 35% audio

This sub integrated well in my system. It's good on both HT and music. Unless you're an SPL freak or have a HUGE room, this sub can be very satisfying.

I couldn't believe the price from soundcity.com. It was under $800 to my door!

Similar Products Used:

None. First sub.

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
5
[Aug 25, 2000]
Bob
Audiophile

Strength:

performance per dollar

Weakness:

Could use beefier box/packing. Spike feet would help performance (I know, makes it hard to move).

This is my first subwoofer, and I'm completely satisfied with it, especially since I got it for well under list price. I used the FSR-12 with Magneplanar MG-III speakers initially, but recently got the MG-3.6, the bass panels of which are being driven by a Krell KAV-150a. Using an active crossover at 85 Hz/12 dB slopes (Velodyne crossover switched out), the blend is seamless.

I mostly wanted to relate what I found when trying different setups for the FSR-12, and I suppose these points would be relevant to other subwoofers also. (1) Anchor the unit to the floor as solidly as possible. Don't just plop it down on a carpeted floor! I made a base with downward-pointing spikes that penetrate through the carpet, and upward-pointing spikes that anchor into the bottom of the FSR-12 cabinet itself. I also stacked on 40 lbs of weights. Each of these measures individually made a MAJOR, immediately noticeable improvement in perceived speed and control. (2 Use a good quality, "fast" interconnect. I got some low-cost Mogami interconnect just to get started, then later tried some Straight Wire Rhapsody which had become surplus after a cable upgrade. The Rhapsody cable is too bright for my taste/system for general use, but sounded much tighter than the cheaper Mogami when used with the sub. Yes, cable CAN make a difference, even with a subwoofer. (3) Remove the grille cloth. This makes a much smaller difference than (1) or (2), but it is definitely noticeable if you are attuned to your system's sound.

So my subwoofer has no grille cloth and it has cast iron weights stacked on it. It's appearance is not as nice as originally designed, but it sounds like a completely different and vastly superior unit compared to the day I brought it home and just set it on the carpet. One last comment: as control over the bass got better and better, the initial impression was one of LOSS of low frequency response. The sound is now so much tighter that you don't get a huge sense of bass on as many recordings, but when loud, low bass is really there, it becomes a much more solid, physical presence in the room, with much improved low frequency detail.

4 stars overall, since I'm sure there are better subs from other companies, if not from within Velodyne's own product line.

Similar Products Used:

none

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
5
Showing 1-8 of 8  

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