Earthshaking yet light-as-a-feather, powerful, accurate bass. Goes very deep! Amazingly affordable Cool design

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I've finally had this thing long enough to feel like I can write a useful review. In a word, amazing. I can't believe the way it sounds. It delivers every note all the way down into the subsonic range with equal ease and power. And the sound is incredibly accurate, you can hear every nuance of the sound waves coming from a stand up bass. It's easily the best sounding, most accurate subwoofer I've ever heard. The amp is built like a tank, and looks completely badd-ass. Set up was a simple matter of playing with things till it sounded perfect, which came easily. It turned out that it sounded best with the volume knob in the straight up, 12:00 position. The whole thing is very dialed. I must say that the first amp that I received died about a week after I got it. HSU immediately took care of it, and the new one has worked perfectly for well over a year of nearly constant use, in poorly ventilated spots. The sub it's self is a thing of beauty. A tall black pillar lurking in one corner of the room. There's no grill on top, so you can walk over and look right at it jumping up and down. HSU includes a test CD with the sub that has the most amazing track on it, featuring a 16Hz note, presumably from some mysterious giant stringed instrument. The sub reproduces it with awesome clarity, you can hear and feel the note in the air. The house quakes. Also on the CD are some pure test notes, so you can actually play notes that go down below your hearing. Very cool. All in all, one of the best things I've ever purchased. For $1000 I made my totally mediocre little system into something extraordinary. It blends with the little Klipschs beautifully, and totally outclasses every other sub I've listened to, including mega high dollar subs. Actually, it outclasses everything else in my system as well. It belongs in great company.

- Price. Exceptional value. - Small footprint. - Light, easy to move around. - Fills the room like no other.

Easily topples over. Needs a better platform.

Wow! Good clean, tight bass down to 20hz. They integrate perfectly in my system. They play as if they are not there; sign of a good sub. Turn them off and surely you will miss them. Highly recommended. (2) TN-1220HO subwoofers + 500 amp. Purchased from HSU factory direct one year ago.

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Velodyne

Deep, tight, low bass.

None that I have found. The cannon shot in Russell Crowe's movie Master & Commander will make the hair stand up on your head.

I bought 2 TN-1220HO's & the HSU Research 500 watt amp at the same time. Never had I has such a remarkable improvement in my system with relatively low cost. 3 years later I am still in awe and the bass just gets better and better depending on the cabling upgrades. I auditioned all the subs available and found these to be perfect for my room space. I was prepared to pay considerably more to get the kind of tight, deep bass I wanted. The organ music CD that came with the subs showed it was clean down to 12-18 cycles. All I can say is if you have never listened to these subs you owe it to yourself to go to a dealer and hear them. As a demo get the CD SuperBass with Ray Brown, John Clayton & Christian McBride recorded live at Sculler's. Use this on all the subs to demo them. You won't be disappointed.

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Sunfire sub Velodyne subs

Small footprint. 1220s are very musical; smooth when needed to be and fast (for a sub) and scary also when needed. The 800 watt amplifier has all the power you might possibly need. Can be laid horizontally on floor behind couch for really tight spaces. A high-quality company with staff who really care about pleasing their customers.

Needs pads for the spikes if you have a really hard wood floor. Easily toppled because of driver mounted on top. There is no grille supplied or recommended and it doesn't bother me, but uncovered speaker cones may bother some.

After much trouble with the Fed Ex people kicking and gouging through the excellent DOUBLE-BOXED packaging, I finally got two of the 1220s and the 800 watt amp. Dr Hsu said these the most musical subs he knew about and I agree. I had tried a Vandersteen sub but couldn't get it to work. (DOA, I guess.) It was incredibally heavy and really took up a huge footprint. The 1220s are about 12" in diameter. I put them both in a corner behind the 3ASigs. I'm using the high pass filter in the 800 watt amp to take the lowest sounds away from the Vandersteens. The 1220s really crank out the subsonics! During setup, I ran them fairly hard, and I found that the front door began to vibrate in multiples of the frequencies produced and the screws of the door handles and hardware were being loosened. Clearly, too much of the really low sounds can damage plaster walls. Mine were hopping! The 1220s can produce constant sound in the lower region as in a pipe organ or synthesizer. They can be scary if you use them for the LFE stuff in home theatre. The demo CD included is a terrific collection of fun stuff to show off the speakers. Dr Hsu and the staff really care that their speakers make you happy. They willingly offer to take back merchandise and fix it at their expense. They even offer a 30-day return if you don't like what you get. My Vandersteen dealer recommended Dr Hsu to me, and I'm glad he did. I cannot imagine any other speaker that produces the sounds of the 1220s, including subsonics, for anywhere close to this price.

makes everything sound so REAL ... clearly articulates sub-bass musical notes ... fast attack, fast decay ... very high output.

can be terrifying on program material with a "kick" ... tall, top-heavy tube easy to topple ... outboard amp is ugly.

wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Athena 10" sub.

deep bass! works great for HT and HA Price Customer Service

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I bought this sub upon recommendations from this website. I was a bit weary of buying online. Glad I did. When I had questions and Dr. Hsu wasn't in the office they gave me his cell phone number! This sub can really shake a room, I have seen my windows vibrate back and forth.

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Sunfire Monitor audio Paradigm PW-2200

Deep, strong bass. Moderate price. Flexible crossover options. Easy location in corners.

Difficult to match with other speakers. I'm not convinced that they can be used as "wide range" bass units, but are perfect as true sub woofers. Very top- heavy. My dog knocked one over- and although no serious damage resulted, it could easily have been far more serious.

I purchased a pair of TN1220HO's plus dual amps direct from Hsu to mate with my Martin Logan Odyssey speakers. The HSU amps are driven directly from the second outputs of my Hovland Hp-100 preamp and are set up in the corners of my 16x32x14 listening room.. The crossover is set at minimum (c.32Hz), the phase to 180deg. Unlike the experience of the user with the CLs's- I was successfully able to mate the speakers together. The 35Hz low end of the Odyssey's match the Hsu's perfectly. The bass is very deep- it measured within 3dB to 16HZ, powerful and not at all boomey. After about 6 months of use the performance has been superb, and I have discovered (and fixed!) all sorts of low frequency room induced rattles. I also tried a Martin Logan descent subwoofer, and could not justify the extra cost. In my application it was neither faster nor tighter than the Hsu's, and by no means a better match with the Odyssey's. I will say that the ML subwoofer seemed much less sensitive to room placement, but in my case the corner position worked perfectly for the Hsu's. I used a radio shack digital SPL meter to set up the correct gain at my listening position. The combination, to my ears, sounds better- in particular the bass seems quicker and better integrated, than a friend's ML Prodigy's, but with a substantial savings.

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Martin Logan Descent.

Relatively easy to place and hide. Not too expensive for the specs.

Lousy sound quality. Not suitable for really high performance speakers.

This is the top of the line Hsu combo, with two 1220HO subs and the Hsu Research 500W amp. My main listening room is about 800SF and I'm using these with a pair of Martin -Logan CLS stats that are driven by C-J Premier 8 mono amps. These subs produce plenty of bass in terms of quantity, but frankly they sound boomy, flabby and poorly integrated with my fast ESLs. What is worse is that they started to rattle after 3 months of use and I cannot figure out where it is coming from. I have contacted Hsu about this but they seem to think that I just want to return them because they sound so bad. They claim that something in my room rattles or that the rattle is the "bass sound" I was previously missing. Go figure. I have now replaced them with a pair of Martin-Logan Descent subs and there is simply no comparison. The M-L's are far superior in every way and actually add to my music listening experience unlike the boomy Hsu that ruined it. However, I would not surprised if the Hsu was the perfect sub for the rap, car audio, cruiser crowd. It certainly does boom like no other.

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Velodyne ULD-15 & FSR-18, Aerial Acoustics SW12, Martin-Logan Descent

Read the review.

Could be used to locate poor construction in your home.

Let me tell ya, folks...it's all true. The product is that good, the value is unequalled, and Dr. Hsu cares about your happiness! I purchased the "ultimate" Hsu combo, which means two 1220HO subs and the Hsu Research 500W amp. My main listening room is about 650SF , and I had already gotten used to running two powered subs, so I figured what the heck? What prompted the purchase of the new subs was my recent speaker system upgrade to Vandersteen 3A Signatures and matching VCC-5 center channel speaker. Frankly, my M&K MX-90's sounded tubby/flabby and strangely "unintegrated" with the new, faster speakers. As such, I was thisclose to purchasing a pair of Vandersteen 2Wq subs, but this forum and the scores of glowing testimonials persuaded me to think outside of the typical subwoofer "box". And for that I am thankful. I'm a "tube" convert now. Here's my setup: Denon AVR 5803 (used as surround processor) Adcom GFA 5503 (2) Adcom GFA 5802's Hsu 500W Amp (2) Panamax 5510 A/C Regenerators Musical Fidelity A324 DAC Denon DVD 3800 Mitsubishi Diamond 73" RPTV iScan Pro Dish 6000U (2) Vandersteen 3A Signatures Vandersteen VCC-5 (4) Vandersteen VSM signature surrounds (2) Hsu 1220HO's I'm running these subs through the built-in X'over in the Hsu amp, and the blend with my Vandersteens is SHOCKING! As pleased as I was when my Vandys appeared (the 3A is an awesome speaker, BTW), I feel like I just bought new speakers AGAIN. These things aren't even broken in yet, but I'm already at a loss to say whether the improvement is more profound on music or movies...both are so much better. Jazz, pop, classical...all better. And movies...there's a scene in "Toy Story" where a jet flies overhead...I swear my hair russled! This sub/amp combo is quick, detailed, and hugely powerful. The only bad news is that there is so much deep bass energy that all of annoying rattles in your listening room will leap to life. Guess I'll have to spend some time with a caulk gun and some insulation. Now, about Dr. Hsu. I had a little buzzing noise problem (ground loop) and I fired off an Email on Saturday to get his input. Maybe he'll respond Monday, I thought. I'll be damned if he didn't get back to me with a suggestion (it worked) the same day. So I spent the rest of the weekend enjoying my system instead of obsessing over background hum. Anybody reading this forum appreciates instant audio gratification, I'm sure. Very impressive. Thanks Dr. Hsu.

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M & K, Legend, Paradigm, Vandersteen, Earthquake, Velodyne, JBL, Klipsch

Genuine 20 cycle bass extension with very low distortion. Absolutely, seamless integration into YOUR system using the easily-changed crossover chip sets. 1220 sub unit takes up virtually no floor space. Excellent build quality on both the sub and 500A amp. Flexible hook-up options (high-pass and keep the lowest octaves out of your main speakers) or low-pass. In my 20 years of high end listening, the VERY BEST CUSTOMER SERVICE I have yet to experience from a manufacturer or dealer. Hsu should hold seminars for high-end dealers and manufacturers on how to treat their customers.

The 1220 is a tall and top-heavy sub that could easily be tipped over by a young child, dog, or cat (not much of a problem if you wind up with a corner placement).

Of the several subs (Paradigm, Sunfire, Vandersteen, et al.) that I have tried in my system (using Maggie 1.6QRs) or auditioned at dealers, none have offered the combination of performance and value of the Hsu 1220 (and Hsu 500A amp). The Hsu 1220 will give you VERY low distortion, 20 cycle (a genuine 20 cycles) bass in your listening room and will integrate seamlessly with your main speakers (using Hsu's easily-changed crossover chip sets--just order the amp with the appropriate chip set to match your main speakers). I suggest buying the sub with the new 500A amp (which I also own); at less than $1200, this is an absolute steal and worth far more than the price. Alternatively, you can go to your local high-end "outlet" and allow a salesman to convince you that the brands THEY carry (costing $1000-2000 more than the Hsu) are "better" (by which he will mean "better" for his profit margin). While you're at it, ask him if he will let you use the Sunfire, Paradigm, or Vandersteen for a month in your system to see if it's right for you. Hsu Research will let you do just that.

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Paradigm Servo, Vandersteen, Sunfire.