Summary: I have owned this sub for almost a year now, It replaced an ancient Klipsch SW-8 II sub. It stands in the corner of my living room like a monolith. I keep it at about 4 clicks on the Gain (quarter of the way up) and it absolutely kicks. Start with the Gain at 0 and click one by one until you find your desired volume. Set the sub Crossover all the way up, and adjust the crossover from your receiver, if your receiver has that option. This sub pounds, it has a downfiring 12" Driver, the back features the largest Bass port that I have ever seen. It is almost large enough to stick your leg into. The bass reflex port extends through the inside, all the way to the front of the sub. Everything about this sub tells you that Klipsch engineered it maximize the most bass out of it that they possibly could. If you want your movies/music/games to come to life, look no further. I get compliments from guests all time about the experience. If you play Modern Warfare 2 on PS3, and a grenade gets thrown near you.. lets just say, it will wake you up, to say the least.
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Summary: I have had this sub for 2 years now and have no complaints. I mostly use it when watching movies. This sub is better than a 12'' velodyne sub woofer i had before buying this one. The klipsch sub went lower and sounded much louder at the lower frequencies ( 25-50Hz) range. I have pushed this sub very hard and it has held up to everything I have thrown at it. For the money I think this is one of the best subs you can buy new for under $500. I've also had a 12'' Cerwin-Vega sub that didn't go nearly as deep as the klipsch or velodyne.Overall this sub is a real performer and sounds good doing it as well. Music sounds fast and tight never sloppy. Low bass is loud and well defined with demanding movie soundtracks High quality sound for home theater and music.
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Summary: I already have a Velodyne SPL 1000R which was doing the dual duty of home cinema and for hifi listening, but found it messy each time I needed to switch back and forth between the functions. In choosing a new sub, I had 2 primary objectives in mind 1) performance (akin to the Velodyne's) but 2) at a sensible price level of not more than $500. Confronted with a wide selection, I eventually settle for the Sub 12 because of it's awesome performance with a 12 incher. After having used it for some time, the Sub 12 does not lose out that much to the much higher priced Velodyne. Sheer bottom end oomph was comparable with deep, deep bass in the nether regions as both subs rumble in the low 20 Hz. Where the Velodyne was preferred (slightly) over the Klipsch was in the absolute control in the last octave or half. With an EQ feature of the Velodyne, placement was easy with little or no boominess. However, with the Klipsch, you need to experiment a little to get the placement just right to minimize any tendency to boominess (which I don't find in the Sub 12 anyway). Considering that the Velodyne is about 3 times the cost of the Sub 12, I actually have no complaints at all. What a bargain of a sub! For those still unwilling to use a 12" design, you won't know what you are missing until you try the Klipsch. Make space for the Sub 12, it will greatly enhance your home cinema and music experience! A full 5-Stars performance for the price. This is a value proposition sub for every discerning enthusiast with budget on their mind. Highly recommended budget 12 inch subwoofer with great performance to boot.
Strengths: Great performance, extremely good bass extension to the low 20 Hz, articulate both with home cinema application and with music. Easy set up with wide input options. Great power and sound output. Taut and well defined bass. Shakes your walls, even your neighbors!
Weaknesses: Big sub that you need space to accommodate, but not as big as some, so the Sub 12 is reasonably spouse friendly. Front LED light can be disturbing because of it's brightness especially if you have the sub facing you in a darkened AV room. As to sonics, nil weaknesses found.
Similar Products Used: Sunfire True Subwoofer, Wharfedale and Velodyne
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Summary: This is an excellent midrange 12" subwoofer, and is probably the best sub currently sold at Best Buy. It has an overall clean and pleasing sound, as well as having the capability for loudness with minimal distortion.
Deep bass (below 60hz in this case) is where this sub shines. Deep notes are clean, tight and loud, with minimal cone or port noise. They can easily fill a large room, and creates excellent impact for listeners. This is the sub's strongest point.
Midbass is good for a 12" sub, but is by no means amazing. Depending on the source and sound, bass in the 80-120hz range can sound a little muffled or boomy, but if yoiu have relatively large front speakers or a smaller sub to handle this range, then you eliminate the only real flaw in this sub's sound. Let me repeat, THIS IS NOT A BIG DEAL, AND IS TO BE EXPECTED. This sub produces it's best bass below 80hz, so don't plan on it doing anything above that as exceptionally as it does the deep bass.
I currently have the sub in a 13x13x10 room, and the front speakers currently have 4" midwoofers, and I definitely need to get some new fronts with 5.25s or 6.5s to really get the best bridge between sub bass and speaker bass. In a larger room, or for those who really need good midbass, get a powerfull amp for your fronts, and get some speakers with multiple 6.5s or at least 1 8".
The only other complaint I have with the sub is a slight buzz, only noticble when nothing is playing, as it is quite faint, but it is probably a ground loop, making it not really a sub flaw. Even with the gain turned way up, I can only hear this buzz within about a foot of the sub, and it is gone when the sub goes into standby, which by the way, works flawlessly.
Overall, a very difficult sub to beat if you want good quality deep bass for music or theater
Strengths: Bass below 80hz sounds phenomenal, very clear, rich, and accurate;
Similar Products Used: Very Familiar Home Subs:
KLH 8"
KLH 10"
Velodyne 8"
Velodyne 10"
Optimus 10"
Sony dual 10"
B&W subs
Very Familiar Car Subs:
Treo TSi 12"
Treo TSX 12"
various JL 12" car subs
various MTX car subs
Klipsch Promedia 2.1
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Summary: I've had this sub for a couple of weeks now and have to say for the money it's a good deal.After auditioning several subs in this range I was intending to purchase the ten incher.They were out of stock so ended up with the twelve for the same price. I'm running this with a pair of Polk SDA-2 mains and a Polk cs400 center channel from a Yamaha rx-v2400 receiver.This is definately a powerful sub capable of going low and loud without getting too boomy. Klipsch really stepped up the performance on this line of subs and I recommend giving it an audition. More than once it has surprised me reproducing clean low-bass that lower quality subs would never handle. Has enough controls to easily integrate with just about any system and balances well with music as well as home theater.
Strengths: Not only powerful, but really good at reproducing different bass frequencies.
Weaknesses: Kind of large, but comparable in size to subs in this performance level.
Similar Products Used: experience with most mainstream brands such as Sony,Pioneer,etc.
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