Velodyne Acoustics SPL-1200R Subwoofers

Velodyne Acoustics SPL-1200R Subwoofers 

DESCRIPTION

The industry's best selling small subwoofers just got better with the perfect combination of beauty, brains and brawn. We took the original SPL Series II's 1000-watt RMS amps, long throw drivers, and compact, beautiful cabinets and added a 6-band automatic digital room equalizer with included mic, a remote control and full DSP control. The result is a subwoofer that adapts to any room's décor and acoustic anomalies with performance that leaves anything else in its class in the dust. The SPL-R Series - Small, Precise...Loud. Simply Perfect.

USER REVIEWS

Showing 1-6 of 6  
[May 16, 2009]
Fat lazy slob
Audio Enthusiast

The Listening Post in Christchurch sold me this terrible sub for 1800 at the begining of the year. I find the disturbing noise coming from this glossy black box to be scary. I have filled my pants several times during movies, and at times have seriously thought of throwing the sub out on the street.
Terrible in that I fear I may never go outside and enjoy the real world ever again. Scary in that my heart gets placed under strain while watching scary movies. The sub carries my emotion easily and I find myself carried along the path the director was aiming for far too easily. The build quality is good. I have pulled the amp out to inspect the way it's ben put together and was not disappointed at all. There are fuses inside. The factory lead is a bit light however, and I have replaced it with a 15 amp max lead. The Sub runs well both using the high level input as well as the RCA inputs. The finish is easy to keep clean and automotive car wax seems to bring thr finish back up to perfect scratch frre shine. The cover is made from a pretty ligh MDF and cheapens the rest of the materials a wee bit.

Bass should be felt as well as herd. This bass maching delivers. Yes there are better subs out there from this company and the new elite range is even better for more money. I think at this price point it's hard to beat even with the same brand. I tried a dd12 also and that was fricken awesome, but alas I only had the budget for this humble sub.

The rest of my stuff is Paradigm Monitor series speakers and a Yamaha VR-X1900 receiver, DVDS-1700, and wireworld cables. Yamaha DPX-830 projector and the Screen Technics Electricinema.

My advice, go get one before something happens.

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Nov 28, 2008]
ThomasG
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Small footprint. Easy setup. Very powerful. Sooo musical.
You will not be disappointed.

Weakness:

I have yet to find one.
I feel my home would fail if I attempted to drive the subs hard enough to distort them.

Just arrived today and I placed it in the opposite corner from my first SPL1200R.
My wife refused to buy me one last Christmas so in the spirit of Thanksgiving I bought my second SPL1200R for a 900.00 delivered. Early today (prior to the twin subs arrival) my daughter was watchig Polar Express and you could feel the train traveling through the house. This subwoofer is excellent for music and home theater. Having listened to the first one for a year I have developed a true appreciation of the 1200r. I usually listen to jazz and my wife enjoys classical music. The sub performs perfectly with the jazz bass strings and kick drums,
and is completely awesome with deep organ and orchestral tympany. I have set up the second sub which took about 5 minutes with the EQ test tones and, having the cable and mic out, ran the EQ on the original one. I ran the test tones through my denon with my decibel meter to match the pair of subs to the the other speakers and now we are off and running. I use the subs only in reference mode and I have never had to have the volume higher than 40 for movies. The matched pair should allow for greater visceral effect at lower volumes. Sirbwilly
will have to put the pair to the test.

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Mar 14, 2008]
joe
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Compact size,amaising power,built in equilization,room calibration including mike,and most of all a very good sounding product.piano finnish.

Weakness:

Will let you know after my next hearing test.

Ten years ago i had a custom built sub built for me, as at that time i had no confidence in the sound quality of powered subwoofers.Anything i heard around the thousand dollar range sounded ok utill you turned up the volume.Then it was clear how poor the quality of those products were.The low end bass was dround out with the constant clipping of these week overpriced subwoofers.What a difference a decade makes.I just reciently purchaced a Velodyne SPL1200R as my old sub was taking up to much room in the new house.I am amaised to find a sub that isn"t much bigger than a cubic foot out perform my older , much bigger sub.It"s a good thing my home theater has lots of volume as to help drown out the shaking windowes,walls, and outside siding on two by six wall construction without any clipping of the subwoofer.There is so much controle on the bottom end of this sub thanx to it"amaising 1000 watt RMS amplefier, 2000 watts dinamic.With the stronger canadian dollar i would challenge anybody in Vancouver Canada to find a better subwoofer with a fifteen hundred dollar buget.If this is a subwoofer your considering,make sure your retailer throws in a roll of two sidded tape,you will need to keep your valuables from landing on the floor.

Similar Products Used:

Custom built sub by very well known respected retailer at the time.

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Nov 02, 2007]
Taginusa
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Fast, accurate and very powerful. For average listening I keep it set at 30 with the Velodyne 1200R having a 0-100 range. The set up could not have been easier. I put the microphone on the center seat of our sofa (sweet spot of theater/listening room) and hit the EQ button on the remote. I recommend wearing ear plugs or going into the next room because as this tiny monster goes throug its progressively lower tones it becomes apparent just how low it can go. I set the volume at 20 before set up and it still rattled things in the 4200 cu ft room. However, I do not know if the volume setting has any effect during the test tone because the volume can not be adjusted with the mic plugged in. The music has given me a renewed appreciation with the audible deep bass strings and kick drums of the HD concert on RAVE and Beautiful Noise. With movies the viceral effect is incredible with every stomp and explosion felt. My wife becomes terrified during many of the movie scenes. Like I stated earlier I set the volume usually about 30 for music and I use 40 for movies.

Weakness:

I have not discovered one.

Well, there is one downside, the gloss finish is too pretty to stand on so now I have to get a small step-ladder to reach the books on the upper shelves of the built-ins behind the subwoofer whereas before I would just stand on top of my previous matte finish subs.


Some may think the expense is a problem but save your money and get something that really works.

The SPL1200R VELODYNE is a remarkable subwoofer that is worth every dollar I paid. Amazingly small footprint for a solid enclosure. This sub reveals things my other subs did not. I had two 12" solid enclosure subwoofers, one in each corner. I replaced them with the SPL 1200R. I have only used it in the Jazz/Reference mode because it is so fast and powerful I do not see the need to increase the gain with the EQ presets. A friend of mine has been a Velodyne fan for many years and he finally convinced me to try one. Sirbwilly was right. They do make your system better. Now I want another one to place in the other corner to perfect the set-up.
SPL small..precise..loud
SPL small..powerful..low....
Get one and put it to the test. You will not be disappointed. My wife does not know it yet but she will be getting me another one for Christmas. YESSSSSSSSSS.

Customer Service

Digital Craze has their own warranty so you may wish check other places that may have a factory warranty. Things usually work or they do not so I had no problem with it because of the 400.00 savings. Time will tell.

Similar Products Used:

Solid enclosure 12' downfiring subs

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Feb 25, 2007]
ham500
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

EQ system that actually works well.......nice small wireless remote allows you to adjust quite a bit from sitting even the phase and shutting off the sub altogether if you wanted to....great build quality and feet already put on when you take it out of the box.....good customer support.....a company with about 25 years worth of subwoofer building experience......very quiet amp and sub doesnt make a peep when sitting idle or turning off or on....very powerful bass and deep and sounds great with music as well....heavy but not too heavy to move around.....beautiful black laquer finish like a yamaha piano! .....comes in other finishes too.....under 5% distorton at rated output power................is that enough?

Weakness:

If there are any....you would have to be a pretty anal customer to find them!

I am using this subwoofer with a top of the line Pioneer 59txi flagship rcvr and all Klipsch reference speakers in 6.1 surround home theater. This sub has great deep extension and power. The EQ with supplied mic works great to make it easy to place it almost anywhere in your room. The remote is nice and small and allows you to do many things while sitting in your sweet spot. The cabinet is one of the best looking and quality constructed I have seen at any price level so far. Owners manual easy to understand and not complicated and tech support seems very helpful if you do have questions by phone or email. I highly reccomend this sub to anyone willing to spend over $1000 for a fairly small sub that is less than 55 pounds and beautiful and should have a high wife acceptance factor! Enjoy!

Customer Service

very good

Similar Products Used:

sunfire...Mirage...others

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Feb 25, 2007]
Roy Fowler
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

great looks ....heavy but not to heavy so you cannot move it around. Eq system really does work well.....solid deep bass extension....quality support from velodyne if you have questions....insulator feet already installed...manual easy to understand...wireless remote which not many other subs have.

Weakness:

none that I can think of yet...

Great sub with remote control for eq settings and adjusting volume, phase and even to bypass sub altogether to see and compare sound without sub on. I have had this sub about a month or so and I run all klipsch reference speakers in my 6.1 suround system with what was the very top of the line pioneer receiver a couple of years ago, the 59txi elite receiver. What I did was run the eq on the sub first then ran the eq on the receiver after that. The sub eq all freq below where the receiver eq system leaves off. The blue led light on the front of the sb can be shut off if it bothers you but my sub is hidden anyway so it is not a factor. I have had some good subs like sunfire and mirage and the like so its not like I have not had quality small sub. This sub hs quality contruction and the cabinet is very handsome...one of the best looking subs ever built! All black laquer finish on mine although you can get it cherry too. Sound is powerful as stated with other review and very musical and def not boomy. One thing that stands out that didnt with my other subs is that...when it is sitting in quiet passages you cant hear anything. It is perfectly quiet sub..no clicks when it turns on or off that I have heard either! Extremely low distortion probably almost as low as the velodyne series right above this series of subs. Feet on the sub come already installed on the bottom and are nice firm rubber spike like feet...nice touch. Eq can be defeated by resetting the subwoofer from the remote if you want to and get it back to like out od the box. I agree about the jazz music setting I tink it is the best tighttest deepest setting with the lowest sub filtering. I highly suggest giving this sub a listen to...it has a lot going for it and it is beautiful in your room if folks happen to see it!

Customer Service

I emailed Velodyne with just technical questions and got prompt replies. I was tryin to decide between Velodyne or Definitive Tech and another Sunfire sub...

Similar Products Used:

sunfire.....mirage ss-1500 and others.....

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Aug 09, 2006]
alex123
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

excellent EQ; very musical; goes as low as 20Hz; powerful 1000 watts RMS, 2000 watt dynamic; small, easy to place, WAF.

Weakness:

pricey; blinking blue led light volume level.

I've had the SPL1200R for about 8 months now and without a doubt this is the best sub I've ever heard. Initially I was hesitant to spend the 1000+ on a sub but the sub has some unique features that make it ideal for difficult rooms. In my case I use the sub in my family room which is close to 4000 cubit feet, open to the kitchen and with open ceilings to the second floor - the difficult part here was getting good sound from a sub to fill this space that at the same time was not the same size as a coffee table or a massive cylinder sub with more volume than a 3 seater sofa... This velodyne is small, easier to place, looks sharp - has good WAF.

The included mic and remote can be used to EQ low frequencies (6 bands). Plug the mic and use the remote to to start the internal tones that sweep through a range of frequencies (20Hz to 150Hz?), EQ, and store the results in memory. This is an essential feature - regardless of where you place the sub it can produce great bass at your listening position. Integrating the sub is a 4 step process: 1) placed it where it looks best and complements the rest of your furniture and components - i.e. location with greatest WAF. 2) Use a test tone CD to adjust the subs volume, phase to match your main speakers (ensure x-over is set in receiver/pre before doing this). 3) Plug the mic and run the EQ. 4) Re-check volume, phase and enjoy.

The remote included can be used to change phase, volume, change the sub into 'night mode' and change the EQ for jazz, movie, rock, games settings. I find most of this useless - the flat, lowest, tight bass is the jazz setting and this is where I keep the sub permanently. The volume can be adjusted with the remote which some people may find useful. However, the volume level is not displayed anywhere and you need to count the fast and slow blinks of the front led light to determine the level. This can be annoying if you plan to be tampering with sub's volume often - not an issue for me and it nonetheless beats having to reach to the back of the sub as is the case for most subs.

Movies and music with this sub take a new level. With movies you will be able feel the explosions, thunder, etc. In War of Words you can see and FEEL the tripod coming out of the ground - the intensity of the scenes increases keeping you on edge thru the entire movie. You will never again pay for movie tickets. Music performance is where the EQ shines - if your preferred placement is close to a corner wall, as is my case, before EQ your system is an expensive boom box - overpowering. After EQ this sub is tight, controlled, fast, very musical - a pleasure to the hear and for some music to feel..

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
Showing 1-6 of 6  

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