Price Paid:  $55.00 from ebay

Summary:
After thinking about getting a subwoofer for a long time i went for this one because of the price. I didn't expect it to be a top range woofer (SONY) but when i first used it i was realy suprised. It got far below my B&W 601's 70 Hz with an amazing deep bass efect. I didn't know you could make it better by moding it either, but after reading the reviews on here i did the mod podge and polyfil thing to it. The bass caricter is now more defined, lower and it packs even more punch. So if your looking for an affordable sub this realy is the one to get.

Strengths:
Deep bass, cheap only £55, easly moded,

Weaknesses:
?

Similar Products Used:
none

Price Paid:  $240.00 from best buy

Summary:
The subwoofer sucks a waste of money

Strengths:
sucks

Weaknesses:
breakes up

J Scudder

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 4 of 5

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 1.00 votes

Price Paid:  $89.00 from Circuit City

Summary:
I bought this subwoofer2 weeks ago to add bass to my stereo which has 2 Paradigm Monitor 5 Speakers. I felt that a small 8 in. subwoofer would handle the size room our speakers are in, and that I only needed to add the lower frequencies below 100 HZ to enhance the sound where the Paradigms start to roll off, more the idea of a woofer than subwoofer. The subwoofer put out bass with plenty of volume but lacked definition. I could hear and feel the bass, but it did not sound like the instrument that was playing the bass line, very muddy. I read the review about adding sound deadening to the cabinet, and mod podging the speaker cone. The speaker had no sound deadening in the cabinet at all, so I added polyfill, with sheets of polyfill quilt batting, layered up to about 2 inces thick, and attached to all inside surfaces, leaving a clear space around the resonance tube opening. This improved the sound some. I was reluctant to add the mod podge, until I found several other sites that confirmed the effectiveness of this treatment for all kinds of papercone speakers. I guess people have been using this for years. The improvement for the speaker in the Sony Sa-WM250 was dramatic. It cleaned up the muddiness, and the bass is now a lower extension of the bass line from the Monitor 5's. Am happy with it for all kinds of music, from classical to rock. The subwoofer is a good value if one is comfortable taking it apart to do the tweeking and not worried about possibly voiding the warranty, which the modifications might do.

Strengths:
Low price, not too large, good volume for a smaller room. Can be modified to give more musical bass.

Weaknesses:
Needs to be modified for cleaner bass. No automatic power on.

Similar Products Used:
Acoustic suspension 3 way speakers with 12 in. woofers

kfilly

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
1.00 of 5, 1.00 votes

Price Paid:  $250.00 from Local Retailer

Summary:
I bought the SA-WM40 because my original stereo had absolutely no bass when in surround mode. At the time, I was on a fairly tight budget so I decided I would take a chance. I am by know means a Sony fan especially for audio stuff. When I hooked the sub up, I got what I expected from a Sony product/speaker. I am currently upgrading my stereo, and I was in the process of getting ready to list the sub on eBay. I was going to purchase a new and better sounding unit. As a starting point in the purchasing process, I started checking reviews of different subs to see which one sounded the best. For laughs, I went to see how the Sony I bought had rated. I read a few reviews, and I found out that is easy to modify the sub to make it sound better. I followed the modifications (treating the speker cone with Mod Podge and insulating the interior of the enclosure with poly-film), and I have to say that I am quite impressed. The sub got a second lease on life at least in my eyes. It sounds good with all of my other speakers which are Cerwin Vegas (RE-25 Fronts, CLS-6C Center, VE-5M Surrounds).

Strengths:
Decent amount of bass. It shakes my house. It sounds pretty good after being modified. Low price to buy and modify the speaker.

Weaknesses:
Had to modify the speaker to get it to sound better. Sony should have done those things from the start.

Similar Products Used:
First powered sub

Cerwin Vega speakers
Harman Kardon 7.1 receiver

dogboy_from_nz

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
3.00 of 5, 2.00 votes

Price Paid:  $200.00 from trade me

Summary:
I was on a tight budge when purchasing my sub and couldn't afford something I wanted after the Mrs put her foot down. After reading so many good reviews for this sub, I was able to purchase a second hand unit. I was very sceptical, Sony in my opinion are good for PlayStation and TVs, and not much else. When first hooking up the sub..........yeah it made a few loud thuddy booms, made the windows rattle, but he sound was very ordinary. The old story, you get what you pay for. All was not lost, after getting a sheet of pollyfill, some mod podge and four wood screws to use for carpet spikes (costing about $10) I went to work on the sub. I lined the inside of the sun with 1 inch pollyfill, covering all the inner surfaces levels, leaving room around the port. Four wood screws through the bottom for carpet spikes, then coating the driver with three layers of mod podge (the paper cone only) on both sides. The difference was quite amazing. It does add a lot of punch to my system, and surprisingly sounds quite good, even musically. I have a RXV1300 Yamaha amp, yamaha dvd, yamaha cd, JBL L3's for mains, the center and rears are paradigm The neighbours certainly know about it! Out of the box, this sub is very typical of a sony speaker, pretty ordinary, maybe ok to satisfy the masses who have not used half decent audio equipment. After the mods it was able to do it's job very well, for a bargain price tag. Sony still don't score any brownie points from me becuase of the mods that had to be done. When all of the mods have been done you will have a whole new sub.

Strengths:
Plenty of grunt for the money
Cheap to modify

Weaknesses:
Ordinary without the mods

Similar Products Used:
JBL, Paradigm