Price Paid:  $150.00 from Forgot

Summary:
For a small room this sub works great. It hides very well in a room. I placed mine under a table beside my couch and people are surprised when it booms out when watching a movie. The design is good and seems to throw base in more directions than the side firing subs I have had in the past. You do have to mess with it a bit to get the cleanest bass out of it, but it is worth the time to get it placed correctly.

Strengths:
Price is very good for the way it performs.
I like the design a lot, it hides well in a small room.
Pretty good tuning on the subs back panel.

Weaknesses:
Can be a bit weak in a bigger room or when places too far away from a wall. I had to place mine within a foot or so of a wall to get the full impact. I also have it firing into my couch for an added effect.
Takes some time to get the placement right.
Is a bit late on quick base in some songs, you can tell that the response lags behind just a bit. Perhaps if I hooked it up to the fronts it would solve some of that.

Similar Products Used:
Various ones

Price Paid:  $96.00 from factoryclearancecent

Summary:
I had a JBL-PSWB112 which was seismic and outperformed this AR Sub, but not by much. The JBL was great....when it worked. After my 3rd amp replacement under warranty I basically junked it. The reliability of that unit...sucked. This AR Sub is really nice once you tune it up a bit. My Sony STR-DE835 has an LFE out that sends too much of a signal out to the woofer if you don't watch it. In fact the LFE setting I ended up with after the tuning turned out to be -3. At this point I could have the volume on the woofer at a little over half and the unit began to sound great. I did have to move it a few times to get the presence of it honed. Too deep in the corner and it liked to boom a bit much for my taste. Too far from the walls and it did fade so I ended up about 10 inches from the back wall and not in the corner. In this position the sub sounds great with music to me. My receiver adjusts the output to the woofer depending on how I have the front and center channel speakers equalized. I have the low end for the front and center channel set at 100Hz. So with these settings, the receiver will send everything below 100Hz to get worked by the Sub. Because of this, the receiver manual tells you to set the crossover on the sub as high as it will go and the equalization of the other speakers will determine the rest. For DVD playing I do have to adjust the volume a bit and place the Sub a bit closer to the wall and it thunders good enough for me. I watched The Eagles: When Hell Freezes Over concert DVD and it was just really, really good. I just bought an RCA Scenium 52" HDTV and we are still trying to close our mouths when we watch DVD's or HD signals on it. What an amazing deal for such an awesome TV. The picture is incredible and the integrated DVD/CD-R-WR/MP3 player is such a great feature. It is progressive scan and the images are superb from it. Hell the sound of the TV is even good. Anyways, I'm really satisfied with the Sub and hope that it will much more reliable than that JBL P.O.S.

Strengths:
Looks great and it was easy to tune. It has all the features you need for easy tuning. Thanks to my Sony receiver setting it up was even easier with the LFE out and all the balancing the receiver does electronically once you set your fronts and center up on it.

Weaknesses:
What!!?? For $96.00 including shipping!!! Give me a break. I spent about $400 on that JBL not to mention all the waiting after all those trips to the factory to get it fixed everytime that crappy amp would blow.

Similar Products Used:
That stupid JBL...anyways my system has;
Sony STR-DE835(Great Receiver)
Fronts: BIC Ventury DV62-B(Sound Great)
Center: BIC Ventury DV62CLR(AWESOME!!)
Rears: BIC Ventury DV32
Awesome sounding,

Price Paid:  $177.00 from ABC WAREHOUSE

Summary:
THIS IS A FOLLOWUP FROM MY LAST REVIEW.I DID START HAVING PROBLEMS WITH THIS SUB AT HIGH VOLUMES WITH FLUTTERING.MOSTLY CUZ WHERE I HAD IT I HAD TO TURN IT UP SO LOUD TO GET GOOD BASS.SO WHAT I DID WAS PUT A BASS MUSIC CD IN AND WALKED AROUND THE ROOM UNTIL IT GOT AT ITS LOUDEST AND WHERE I WAS STANDING THAT IS WHERE I AIMED IT SO IT WAS THAT LOUD AT MY LISTENING POSITION.AND WOW IT WORKED!BELEIVE IT OR NOT PUTTING IT IN THE CORNER AND TURNING IT SIDEWAYS WITH THE PORT FACING THE CLOSEST WALL MADE A HUGE DIFFERENCE.AND ALSO SO I DIDNT HAVE TO TURN THE VOLUME DOWN ON THE SUB I JUST TURNED DOWN THE "LFE" INPUT ON MY RXV2300 RECIEVER NOW IT IS BRUTAL AT ANY VOLUME.I DONT KNOW IF THIS WILL HELP ANY OF YOU I KNOW TURNING IT SIDEWAYS SEEMS STRANGE BUT IT WORKED BIG TIME!

Price Paid:  $218.00 from Vanns

Summary:
It's a good sub...just about everything I can say is already mentioned in the other reviews. I just want to confirm the LED issues. It does stay red all the time. The funny thing is that the blue LED in front seems to disappear after about 30 minutes after the music is playing. They bass still plays though. This happens to me many times already. The auto-detect is kind of weak. It does not turn on immediately after the music is playing. Maybe it is because I am using the LFE connection or something.

Strengths:
Bang for the buck.

Weaknesses:
LED and manual.

Similar Products Used:
Yamaha

Price Paid:  $200.00 from Sears

Summary:
This subwoofer is a decent value for the money, but if I had it to do over again I would pay a little more and get a more subwoofer with a little more definition.

I will not upgrade, because this one is fine but it could be better. The bass is just a little sloppy for my taste.

Strengths:
Price
Power
Compatability with other equipment

Weaknesses:
Not a very defined bass sound
Bulky size
Crappy instructions

Similar Products Used:
none