Price Paid:  $870.00 from Stereo Unlimited

Summary:
If you want a sub that completes your system's frequency range with a clean speedy bottom end, you've found a great answer in this AMC. However, if your the party dude down the street who wishes to blow his ears as well as all those within a square block you might want to look somewhere else. This sub is musical, not boastful. Oh and a quick note about setup, don't connect the sub in loop with the pre-amp/ amp. Instead keep things a clear as possible by clipping a pair of interconnects and connecting the bare wires directly to the main speaker posts (the outer insulation wire is negative and the thin inner wire is positive). Lastly, turn the sub's gain all the way down since more juice comes from the speaker terminals as opposed to the pre-amp connections.

Strengths:
This sub blends seamlessly with the mains. Low frequencies are sharp, clean, and super quick. This sub isn't meant to dazzle an audience in the way most subs perform, by making itself undeniably present in the system. This sub instead becomes part of the music, a coehesive instrument in the symphony of play-back equipment.

Weaknesses:
I have a 25' by 25' room and the sub tends to loose its quick clean lows when pushed really loud. On the other hand, the room is large and I do like my music excessivly loud.

Similar Products Used:
Veledyne, Paradigm Reference, Boston Acoustics, Triangle

Price Paid:  $600.00 from Moon Dance Sound&Cinema

Summary:
I purchased the AMC B1-20 to add bass to my Atlantic Technology 351 THX Main speakers in the two channel direct bypass mode. I own an Integra Research RDC-7 Preamp Processor Tuner and companion RDV-1 DVD Audio/Video player and found that the PrePro does not include the subwoofer in the by-pass mode. Music sounds much better in the direct mode but the THX speakers roll off at 80hz, thus the need for a sub.

I had to connect the sub via the amp and speaker connectors since I am using balanced interconnects between my RDC-7 and an Aragon 8008X5 power amplifer. I am using a Velodyne F1800 subwoofer connected to the subwoofer line out of the processor for all the other LFE duties. My main concern was that the two subs would clash and cancel each other out. But so far I've had no problems.

The sound of the AMC sub is very impressive. It has a 200 watt amp and an 8" woofer. It has a very small footprint so it can be use in very small places. But the bass it produces sounds like a much bigger sub. Because of the small woofer the bass is very fast, clean and musical. You can hear timbers and textures in the bass all the way down to 30hz. There are no noticable peaks or valleys in the frequency response. It is very flat right down to the bottom. With music the bass in very deep as well.

The sub has controls to adjust the sensitivity so as to match it with the satellites, a satellite crossover matching adjustment and a subwoofer variable crossover adjustment.

The only weakness I have found is the lack of frequencies below 30hz for home theater. Though it will work just fine in a home theater setup, It doesn't compete with larger subs in the ultra-deep department. But in a small room, you might have trouble noticing. As a music only sub I am extremely pleased with the AMC subwoofer's performance.

Strengths:
Small size; powerful, deep, clean & quick bass; flat response

Weaknesses:
30hz bottom limit

Similar Products Used:
HSU, Velodyne