Price Paid:  $775.00

Summary:
The Energy 18XL has a presense that screams try me. The first DVD I tried out to test this piano gloss beauty was Gladiator. I didn't realize up until now the extreme low presense that is accompanied in Chapter 8, "A soldiers death" with the slow galloping of the horses. The next DVD that I tried out was of course Terminator 2. Powerful yet tight, house threating infrasonic sound. I wouldn't even call it bass. A better term that I would use would be ripples of powerful energetic waves that are faithfully rendered with each tone. As far as music the first CD I played was Maxwell unplugged, track 4 & 5. I've listened to these tracks 4 & 5 countless times and understand the clarity of the lower octaves. To my suprise I was looking for a brute thrashing of deep octaves. This wasn't the case. What I have realized now is that the lower octaves were exaggerated with my older sub. I couldn't tell whether the sub was on at first and then I attempted to locate the sub and wasn't able to. Then I put in Bela Fleck and the Flecktones "Outbound" for the electric bass of Victor Wooten. Scary!! Tight, precise not over emphasized grandeur. I have researched for a sub that could put out clean and percise sound and wouldn't slouch or strain on movies like U571 and The Haunting. I have found it. Energy 18XL has opened up the soundstage. If you can find one, purchase it.

Strengths:
Effortless, smooth, powerful, musical......etc

Weaknesses:
The size is its only weakness but if you can live with it there doesn't seem to be one.

Summary:
I was looking for a sub for movies and music. I home-demoed the $2700 Velodyne HGS-18 and the $1300 Paradigm Servo-15. The Velodyne was very powerful and went very low, but it wasn't musical. It doesn't have good transient response. It sounded a step behind the rest of the music - very unacceptable. Would make a killer movie-only sub, though. The Paradigm on the other hand was very musical and it also went very low. Not nearly as powerful, though. For the price, I was considering buying two Paradigms instead of one Velodyne!

Then, I demoed the Energy ES-18XL. Paydirt. This sub is awesome. It has almost the power of the Velodyne and almost the musicality of the Paradigm. We're talking very close in both respects. A power example: In my 3000ft^3 room (with one large opening to the rest of the house) it's able to make my typical wall hanging clock bounce a good inch off the wall!!! And it can be had for $1200 direct from Canada! Great deal. Just remember, it's huge and very heavy and there's no onboard high pass crossover. My fiance was quite upset when she first saw it, but after hearing it she's willing to live with the huge black box. She has better hearing than me (typical of women, apparently) and she says it's very musical. (By the way, she absolutely hated the Velodyne - she said it sounded like one big noisy rumbling sound instead of music. And she liked the Paradigm, which is musical and considerable smaller than the Energy. The Paradigm would have been her choice because it has all the output she wants. I'm just glad the Energy exists as a nice compromise for us.)

The Energy is an excellent sub, and a killer bargain. Do yourself a favor and go listen to one today. And by the way, the Energy C6 towers sound great, too. And at $800 a pair they're a killer bargain also. And no, I do not work for Energy. I just appreciate quality at a good price when I see it.

Strengths:
musical and powerful

Weaknesses:
very large (bad spousal approval factor)

Summary:
Great Sub, can be placed almost anywhere!

Summary:
I've had some people questioning why I preferred the Energy over the Velodyne 18". There are several reasons. When I was using the Velodyne F1800R, on music & movie soundtracks which have very heavy bass, the Velodyne would momentarily "shut off" for a few seconds. I called Velodyne and they explained this was it's internal protection circuitry either resulting from the servo or overheating. Whatever the cause, I haven't experienced this with the Energy. When I'm watching a movie in DTS or DD, the last thing I want to hear is the LFE channel to suddenly "disappear" for a few seconds! The 2nd reason I prefer the Energy over the Velodyne is PRICE! You're talking over $1500.00 difference.

Summary:
I purchased an ES-18XL after reading the review in Stereophile Guide to Home Theater. I had intended on purchasing the Velodyne 18", but after I saw the "AA" rating for the Energy, I decided to listen, since it's considerably less expensive than the Velodyne ($1700 vs $2700 list prices).
In my main home theater, I'm using Legacy Focus (mains), Legacy Cinema Grand (center) and Legacy Classics (rears). I had an older Velodyne F1500R, which I kept from an earlier system, but it didn't provide the bass or volume I was looking for.

I can't say enough about the Energy ES-18XL subwoofer. It lacks a phase control, but I placed it about 2' off to the left of my RPTV, about 18" out from the wall and about 6' in from the left main speaker, and it sounds great. I've adjusted the volume to a little less than 1/2, and it's worked out perfectly for both music and moves (AC3 & DTS). I purchased this subwoofer for only $1,175.00 including shipping from an authorized dealer. E-mail me for more information or the name of the dealer.