Price Paid:  $360.00 from SOUND ADVICE

Summary:
This great-sounding, over-priced piece of garbage lasted one week. I've owned it for 4 years. I bought it with leftover expiring warranty money. The kind of warranty that,if you don't use it, you get the money you paid to put toward something else. It has to be used within 6 months after the expiration date.

The sub was in a box in a climate controlled environment until my home theatre was complete. I used it for 5 days and it was great. Great bass for an 8" and very tight. But, one night I left it on overnight and noticed it the next morning and shut it off. That night I switched it to the "on" position and waited for the light to turn green...it never did. So I switched it to "AUTO" and when it recieved a signal from the receiver it turned green and it played fine. When I turned off the receiver the green light turned to red (normal). That was the last time it worked. The following night I turned on the receiver and nothing. I never played it more than half-way and it never "kliped". The warranty for all Klipsch products is 5 years, unless it has a powered amp, then its just 2 yrs. I took it to Sound Advice and they wanted a $65 deposit just to look at it. Avg. repair price $155. These things are recyclable just like VCR's. So I'm stuck. I will never buy another Klipsch product...never again. You've been warned.

Strengths:
Clean, tight bass for an 8" sub, small, good build quality

Weaknesses:
Won't last, worked for 1 week. Cheap, low-budget KLH-quality amp.

Similar Products Used:
Infinity, Polk, Energy (awesome)

Price Paid:  $250.00

Summary:
I have a fairly small listening area. I do not have the room for a large sub. I've used a KLH which was mediocre and later blew up, and also a Polk. This sub blows both away, and it's hard to imagine that there are any better subs out there at this compact size and low price point.

Strengths:
Very clean sound. Small and inexpensive. Tremendous punch for an 8" sub.

Weaknesses:
Won't rattle your teeth as much as will some of the much larger and more expensive models. Notice that I wrote "as much", as it will still rattle your teeth.

Similar Products Used:
Polk, KLH.

Price Paid:  $220.00 from Bryn Mawr

Summary:
This was the last great year for subs by Klipsch. This sub is the best 8" sub period. I use this sub in my dolby digital system in my bedroom. It is incredible. It hits low, clean and loud. I had to have my Velodyne 18" from my home theater to serviced. I used the KSW-100 as a temporary fill in and my friends didn't even notice that I didn't have my Velo. (I have my Velo somewhat hidden otherwise it wouldn't be too hard to notice an 18" sub that is missing) The sub line that replaced the KSW-100 can't even come close. The new 10" and 12" are inferior. This sub originally sold for $499 but I purchased it for $220 at closeout. I wish I had purchased a few more. I have some other 8" subs in my family room system. A Mission and Atlantic Technology. They can't even come close to this sub.

Dino

Strengths:
Size

Weaknesses:
None

Similar Products Used:
Too many to list

Summary:
I have an 8" KSW-100 here in my dorm room (It's a single, else my room mate would kill me). This was my favorite toy in my stereo, but now it's sharing the spotlight with my week old sony amp. We'll see how time sorts things out.

The bass response and flexibility in this amp puts those Bose pseudo-subs and other similar products to waste. Even in an 8x10 concrete box (with crazy standing wave patterns) the sub usually comes out clearly on any pitch, while the other subs I've herad here sound like they're playing 1 note all the time.

Of course, the I can't complain about the room size too much - with the sub at about 30% I can shake most things in the room enough to make my remote crawl across the desk, or even skip my CD player (another reason to stick with MP3s).

Strengths:
Small size, great power, excellent clarity

Weaknesses:
Ok, it was a bit expensive , but I'm glad I spent the extra $ over the yamaha

Summary:
Great SPeaker! It has revolutionized my college system. I use it with my book shelf system to provide "adequate" bass to my system.

Strengths:
Terrific depth for an eight inch speaker. Compared to Yamaha subwoofers the Klipsche dominated. Can find great deals on this discontinued model. Room filling power.

Weaknesses:
The high level in cross over doesn't seem to filter any frequencies from my satillite speakers. That's about it.