I am an extremely frustrated Velodyne customer. Purchased a new HGS-10 around 2001. It performed well until around 2006 at which point the amplifier died completely. This is after very light use over that period. Contacted the factory at which point I was informed of the 1 year warranty, oh well...sent the amp back to Velodyne for "repair" for a flat fee of around $260.00. The amp that I received back was not my amp, but a refurbished amp of older age. I know this because of the dated and used appearance of the graphics. Also, the amp did not perform as well as the original which had better bass performance. I contacted the factory about my dissatisfaction and was told this was their practice. WHAT??? I wanted my amp back but couldn't get it. Anyway, I finally gave up and kept the re-furbed unit. Now the replacement amp has developed a loud 60hz buzz and is no longer usable. Guess what? Velodyne says if I send them my defective amp, they will replace it with another "updated" amp for the not so low fee of ...you guessed it = $275.00. Now I have to admit, I spent many years as a Manufacturer's rep in the Consumer Electronics industry and had the pleasure of repping JBL for years. This whole service policy of Velodyne STINKS and I will no longer consider purchasing or recommending another Velodyne product. If you want a product that works well for an average of 4-7 years, buy one. If you don't mind a speaker that needs it's amp repaired or replaced often, you'll like this product!

I have a HGS-10(that serves Currently as a FIFTY POUND paper weight!!!!) that when initially purchased(almost 10 yrs ago now) was considered top of the line given the HGS technology it incorporates. WHEN it worked, it Was Truly The Best sub I've Ever heard, & had sound tested Numerous diff. subs on diff. systems/receivers. All the reviews were Dead on with it's ability to produce window shattering sound with Incredible audio clarity even at lower levels. After less than 4 yrs of normal home use & NEVER having to turn it up beyond 33%(3 of 10 on the knob on rear outside panel), it began experiencing problems similar to what others have described as an Incredibly Loud scratchy high pitch, which Nothing resolved, including plugging into multiple diff. outlets. I immed. took it back to the local Myer Emco(which has Since gone out of business only After closing their local shop!) & they sent it in for repair. After receiving a repair bill of nearly $500(Almost Half the price paid!), after I was able to stop choking, challenged that a high tech performer such as this unit SHOULD Last At Least TWENTY Years prior to exhibiting problems such as this one. The issue was a bad power board(not circuit), which required replacing and could Not be repaired, per the explanation Velodyne provided Myer Emco. After challenging this Ridiculous fee, Myer Emco was Only willing to reduce the charge based on reduced costs from Velodyne repair by about $200, which I thought at the time was reasonable(Probably just One reason why ME is Out of business!!!). This $1100 unit @ ME was part of an elaborate $7K+ home theater system I purchased from them at that time(B&W speakers, which I Absolutely LOVE as a confirmed audiophile, & Marantz receiver). After only about a YEAR of continued "normal use", the EXACT Same thing happened one time when turning on the system to watch a movie, and I was IRATE after confronting the ME "people" Again w/the Same issue & was told This time I would be forced to eat the ENTIRE Repair cost!!!!

I have Since composed/mailed a letter to Velodyne w/NO response AT ALL from them regarding BOTH of these incidents!!!

WHEN the HGS-10 Actually Worked it WAS The Most Beautifully crafted Sub on the market Hands Down, which I Used to Constantly Rave about. NOW I would NOT Allow ANY Velodyne product in my home Even IF they GAVE one of their products!!! Velodyne's audio technology is TOP Notch, but ONLY When it Works, which is NOT very long in quality audio component years, and their "customer service" is OBVIOUSLY left at THEIR Orifice!!!!

Fantastic Product! HORRID quality control And Customer Service!!!!

bought unit 2001 amp died 2005 replaced at my cost, amp died 2008 had repaired,amp died 01/15/2011looking to change brand not a happy person will talk with rep tomorrow great subwoofer when working.

Tighter bass as compared to sub 12, but not with the $1000 premium over the sub 12.

When things go wrong with it, Velodyne can repair it even if it is an older model.

This sub seems to have a 3-5 year life span before needing repairs.

The sub broke down again. Cost $1400 new + $235 for repair of amp which happened about 4 years ago. Velodyne suggested I send the whole sub back because the amp start popping, made a relatively high pitch sound at high volume, and hummed. Cost this time would be $235 if just the amp or $450 in the servo and amp need replacing.

So I started to look for new sub. HHGregg had a black Friday deal on Klipsch Sub 12 for $249, half price! Was lucking and got one. Not as tight as the HGS10 but hits the low frequencies just as well as HGS10 and just as loud in my room, 10' high x 14' wide x 34' long with 2 door openings.

Decided to go this route due to the money pit the HGS10 was becoming and the inconvenience of sending it back for repair. Have another sub from Yamaha, 2 x 8" drivers, 150 watts that has preformed for 13 years with no problems.

Similar Products Used:

Klipsch sub 12

Yamaha sub

Flat to 17hz in my room
The most musical bass I have heard yet, and from an 11" cubed package you can place it almost anywhere.

Amp can fail
No power switch (kinda odd) just stand-by or full on, which can make sparks at the wall outlet, so I use a high-current remote controlled power switch.
HGS/DD series could use an improved driver excursion to keep up with JL Fathom.

I bought my black gloss HGS-10 series 2, off ebay in 2006, knowing full well that it could have future amp problems.

I don't know what the original owner did to it (how it was used).
However in my possession, the amp started making popping sounds within a month or so (6 hours a day play time). I always unplug it from the wall when I'm done for the day.

The last thing I remember playing through it was Poseidon(2006), I don't recall it making odd sounds during the movie, but the next morning it was toast. So I figure I either clipped the input signal through my BFD DSP or my other CHT-15 masked the amp failure for the duration of the movie. Funny thing is, that I feed the CHT-15 the same LFE signal, which to this day is still fine, so maybe it wasn't my fault.

I sent the amp section in for replacement, they sent back a new 2007 amp, which has been fine ever since.

The Sound:
The deepest, cleanest bass I have ever heard...
It goes much deeper than anything in the CHT line and other such mass market series, it also has more dynamic range. For example when my CHT-15 is near its excursion/power envelope, this thing is only at 25%.

I've never heard this subwoofer distort under normal conditions, unlike the CT-100 this replaced. Now that I have heard a true sealed servo subwoofer I doubt I will ever go back to a non-servo ported design.

Now that I have finally removed the last piece of nasty distortion in my system with the HGS-10 and Rotel RMB-1075, I can finally watch movies at a decent volume, start to finish, and not have to worry about my gear over-heating or pushing its limits. It gives me piece of mind, so that I can get re-absorbed into the entertainment.

My next and hopefully last subwoofer upgrade will probably be to dual DD-15's, while the HGS-10 is good, I feel like I need more infrasonic capability without pushing the system as hard; but before I do that, I am going to upgrade my fronts to b&w 803's to closer match the bass quality, as my current Athena's AS F1's seem to be masking the HGS-10's true upper bass potential.

Customer Service

When I sent in the amp for repair the customer service answered all my questions, and actually replaced the whole unit, so I got a brand new amp for the same price as a repaired. It took them about 2 days start to finish.

Similar Products Used:

Velodyne CT-100, CHT-15

Solid, clean bass!

Reliabilty!! Reliabilty!! Reliabilty!! Cost of repair.

I purchased the HGS-10 from Soundworks a few years ago with a set of B&W 805's plus a number of other items to complete a home theater system. The HGS-10 is a great sounding sub for a small room. The bass is very tight and goes down to subsonic. The bass is so powerfull I did have some difficulty with standing waves and wall vibrations at certain frequencies. Placement, optimization and room dampening improvments have resulted in outstanding performance. Recently the HGS-10 started to make the classic popping and droning noises whenever it was on. My dealer "Soundworks" was more than helpful in having the unit repaired. They removed the amp and returned it to Velodyne. While the unit was in for repair, I did some research on the HGS-10. I was stunned to find many, many other HGS-10, HGS-12 and HGS-15 owners are reporting the same issues. My repair was just like those reported by other HGS-10 owners (power Amp failure) which cost $245 for a repaired (not new!) Amp. Being an Engineer, I suspect the cost of the components to repair the amp is less than $25 and labor less than an hour. Based on other HGS-10 owner comments, this is a design flaw that will reoccur. I suspect it might be another year or so before another failure could be expected (smell of a money pit). At this point I'm very dissapointed in Velodynes stand on this product. They have a reliabilty issue and the customers perseption is very poor. With a flagship product like this Velodyne needs to step up and stand behind the product . If they have a reliabilty issue, they need to make it right. (eat some of the repair cost or extend the warranty!!) At this point I'd like to dump the HGS-10 on ebay and give someone else the problem. Unfortunatly, I can't stick anyone with a defect like this. The HGS-10 will be mine to the grave (maybe another year). I'd really like to be very loyal to Soundworks, but I'm left with a bitter taste from this Velodyne problem. At this point I'm looking for an amp, but will have to consider all options. If you are looking to buy a used HGS-10, beware, someone is stiking you with a lemon.

Sound and power - while it works

Unreliable

I've got a similar story..retailer could not say enough good things about the amp when I bought it. It did sound great and was easy to place due to its small size. But before the 2-year warranty was up, the amp started producing odd popping and droning sounds. Brought the amp in to the retailer with reciept and warranty statement. I was told that the amp had gone bad and would need to be replaced. I insisted that the warranty be honored and it was. Two and half years later, same problem emerged. This time the warranty is up. I've been told by the retailer that it's turned out to be a common problem with these subs, and that I can either choose to fix it for $385, or alternatively they would work with me on the purchase of a new sub. I asked if there was any correlation between use and failure of the sub, and the retailer responded that there was no behavior they knew of that would increase the life of the sub. In my opinion, this is a flawed product. It should not have made it to market. Worse still, is Velodyne's lack of proactive response. Every purchaser of this product should have received a recall notice from Velodyne and some remedy. Instead they have left it to communities of their customers to discover the large breadth of the problem in frustration and anonymity. Velodyne has lost a customer for life, while also dealing a blow to the audio marketplace. I'll see what the retailer, who I do not hold blameless, is willing to do for me on a different brand.

Similar Products Used:

None

1250rms 3000 peak amp watts", high gain servo and 2"excursion on woofer and its small 11x11x11.5 enclosure

not all people that have this sub writes a good review on it here

The hgs 10 is a fast sub but very true to all bass from 125-20hz . i love the way this sub handles low bass i get from any action movies or any movie with good bass in my home theater. it is also a very clean sub when it comes to playing music. and is a small but heavy 45 pound sub that you can just about hide it any where in the room .i have had no problem with this unit for 3 years it is a series II yr(2000+) velodyne had problems with their first series yrs(1996-1998)

Similar Products Used:

polk audio, d box,klipsh,b&w 2500, sunfire

Good solid door stop

Terrible customer support Only one warranty center in Ontario - Cash only repairs Noise, Sparks, Quality

Velodyne products ---- WARNING STAY AWAY OR PAY THE PRICE ----- This article is being written as an attempt to prevent unfortunate consumers from getting ripped off royally by Velodyne Electronics. Approximately 3 years ago I purchased a Velodyne HGS10 subwoofer at a retail price of approximately $2500.00 Canadian. At this price I was expecting a high quality, high-end piece of auto equipment. What I go was a piece of junk!!! Within a few weeks of getting the unit I noticed it had a popping noise coming through the speaker each time in flipped on using the auto power-on feature. I called Velodyne support and was informed that this feature was something they hated incorporating into the unit and had done so only due to matching features on similar systems offered by their competitors. I was also informed they have had a lot of problems with this feature and that I should simply leave the unit on rather than paying expensive cost of shipping the unit back to have it repaired. I decided I could live without the auto on feature but wasn’t overly happy with the idea. About 1 ½ years later I began hearing a popping sound coming from the speaker at various times. Unfortunately I couldn’t identify the pattern and the since the unit was out of warranty and it didn’t happen all the time, again I would live with the problem. Now that the unit is approximately 3 years old the main amp section has completely failed. I called Velodyne customer service to complain about how it’s possible a unit this costly could have so many problems. Velodyne’s own customer service informed me that they have had a lot of problems with this unit. They gave me the name of the only repair centre in Ontario and said I should take it there to have it fixed. During this time I started browsing the auto/home theatre review sites specifically looking for articles pertaining to the HGS10 sub. Unsurprisingly I found numerous unhappy customers that have had everything from tripped breakers, sparks flying from the wall outlet, amp problems, etc. By the way, the spark problem was noticeable from my unit as well, my wife refused to go near the outlet. As you unplug the unit from the wall the sparks jump out of the socket. I have now been informed by the repair centre that the price to fix the unit is going to be approximately $600.00. Initially I was informed by the repair centre it would cost around $385.00 to replace the amp but when they called Velodyne they were informed this amp was no longer supported (too many problems) and has been replaced with another model. The dealer informed me the new replacement amp was substantially more expensive but when I called Velodyne customer service they said the price between the two models had changed very little. I will leave it to you to figure out which one was lying. To summarize: I would not recommend you purchase any Velodyne products. Their customer service is absolutely terrible. If you have any doubts simply search the web for “Velodyne poor service”, you will be amazed at how many unsatisfied customers are out there. Velodyne have gone form a formable speaker manufacturing company to what appears to be a guy in a garage with a soldering iron approach. When they manufacture a dud they simply pass on the problem to the customer (no recall, no free patches no reduced cost fixes). In fact I even went to the point of asking Velodyne if they would at least forgo their profit on the replacement amp given they were aware of the problems with this unit for some time and had replaced the amp with a different model due to the number of issues. Unfortunately they wouldn’t even agree to that. Another thing to consider before buying Velodyne is their support centers. There is only one in Ontario and they know it. Their service is also very poor due to the “if you don’t like it go somewhere else” attitude. Their claim tickets state that repairs generally take up to a month and that they are not responsible for any units left on their site after a month. You must sign this or you will not get your unit fixed. When I got the call that my unit was now fixed I was informed the $600.00 had to be paid in cash or cheque, no debit or credit transactions are allowed. I was also informed this expensive repair only carries a 1 month warranty at which time I am back to square one if the unit fails again. Velodyne products ---- WARNING STAY AWAY OR PAY THE PRICE -----

Similar Products Used:

Klipsch, Paradigm

Tight bass diminuitive size

gloss finish attracts finger prints reliability? cost doesn't pack home theatre whomp

Well, I bought this unit over a year ago on ebay in mint condition. You never know what to expect on Ebay so do not interpret this review from the standpoint of a brand new retail unit. I use the HGS10 with my main Bohlender Graebner speakers. They do not have the heft/impact for LFE channel that I am looking for so i have a cheaper Hsu Research tandem for that purpose. The HGS works very well in this capacity. Several months after purchase, the unit started making very violent woofer popping even at low volumes. I sent it off to Velodyne (not cheap given weight/size) and was told that the accelerometer was faulty and they also upgraded the amp to MKII ($205). Not bad I though. After just 3 months, the unit started to make popping noises at high volumes. By 6 months, the unit was doing this all the time and finally was dead. I opened up the unit and found that the voice coil had cracked where the wires attach to it! I sent it off to Velodyne yet again, just 8 months after the first time. I had trepidation at doing so because they had estimated from the first time that a new driver would cost $400+(!). Sure enough, I get a call saying that the driver would need to be replaced. However, he said that in light of my recent servicing, he would only charge $165(!!!) which is great since shipping alone is some $45. I get the sub back promptly and find that the driver is very much different from the original. They also tested the amp and found that it distorted at high volumes--they replaced the whole amp/back plate assembly gratis! The amp works great and sounds great now. I hope it lasts! I know people have been down on Velodyne customer service but maybe they are turning it around because they treated me more than fair! The only thing negative now about the amp is that there is some noticeable hum to the high pass satellites--most probably something with my system though. Very pleased about the performance after this repair.

Similar Products Used:

Hsu Research