Monitor Audio ASW 110 Subwoofers

Monitor Audio ASW 110 Subwoofers 

USER REVIEWS

Showing 1-10 of 16  
[Oct 02, 2012]
richie
Audio Enthusiast

i have the monitor audio asw110 and i love it goes well with my polk rt400 love the bass response and clarity also sounds great in a large room overall great sub

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Apr 28, 2004]
Brewsterlewster
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Phase, frequency adjustment. Bass power for its size.

Weakness:

No subwoofer is really necessary for music only if you have good speakers.

It is quite frustrating to hear complaints about a subwoofer not being powerful enough to boom you off the planet. This subwoofer is fantastic for any application. In my large room with fireplace and L-shaped dining room, I have to keep the gain to a minimum to prevent earth shatter. Subs are supposed to be transparent, especially for music. And this one is very exacting in its phase and frequency adjustment to make it so. Don't hesitate if you want one and see it on sale somewhere. It is also quite unobtrusive and the gold driver is outstanding.

Similar Products Used:

cheap non-powered ones

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Dec 24, 2003]
smokehouse
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Ok for 2ch at low volumes

Weakness:

Horrible for movies. Push just a little and sound quality quickly diminishes

First of all I must state that I work for a Monitor Audio dealership. I have had 100's of hours with this unit and have two verdicts. 1. Music Not bad for music. Mated with Silver series towers or bookshelf units this sub does ok. Most 2ch guys don't want an ear-bleeding experience so turning up the volume to extreme levels is not normally a problem. 2. Movies Don't waste your time, plain and simple. This thing will bottom quickly under the pressure of most LFE tracks. I'm not talking about extreme volume levels either. Average tracks like the Dolby Digital demos on the Sound and Vision home theater tune up DVD will destroy this little thing. Not even worth looking at. Last but not least I would guess that 25-30% or these units are bad out of the box with amplifier problems. Not a good sign.

Similar Products Used:

B&W, Klipsh, Type Twelve, Jamo, Sunfire, Earthquake, JBL, Polk Audio

OVERALL
RATING
2
VALUE
RATING
3
[May 16, 2003]
Eric Morrison
AudioPhile

Strength:

size, application to music and home theater, great sound.

Weakness:

volume. but this is no big deal, b/c you don't need tons of bass anyway unless you're just trying to impress your ignorant friends :) plays plenty loud for me

Well, i first got the sub and the amp didn't work... so after about a month and finally getting a replacement, it sounds wonderful. I'm really picky about bass. I can't stand annoying, thumpy, ugly booms. This sub is great for music and home theater. I played through all my cd's and some scenes of DVD's and it really amazes me. It doesn't get extremely loud, but that's cool with me. All though i am a teenager, i do have a professional ear (just not a professional JOB to Pay for nice stuff ;) ) But this was well worth it. Great, clean, tight bass.

Similar Products Used:

some cheap e-bay asian sub that i got for $100. but i've also heard velodyne, jbl, cerwin vega, sony, bla bla bla best buy crap. don't even bother

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[May 03, 2002]
lcrim
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Cost and while it has a slight metallic ring, it seems fast and musical.

Weakness:

There are better subs for home theatre bash and boom.

I traded my Polk 350 & 250 subs for this unit plus cash. The dealer & I both took a beating on this deal. I''ve got a feeling that this is not my last sub. I have an Arcam Diva AVR 200 and after a some trial and error, set all my speakers to large on the Arcam. fronts Sonus Faber Concertinos, center Paradigm CC370 surrounds Polk f/x300i I use Linn K20 speaker cable, very detailed but inexpensive. My sources are a Cambridge Audio DVD300 for DVD''s and CD''s(connected to the Arcam w/ a Synergistics Research Digital Corridor No.2) plus my satellite receiver which is jacked to the receiver with Audioquest Copperheads. Television sound is set to PLII movie which is very good on most DirectTV channels. I switch to stereo for music channels and when I listen to CD''s. This sub blends very well with the Cocertinos. It draws its signal through the sub preamp out where I plugged in Radio Shack''s best Y connector then Audioquest Copperheads to line level(?) jacks on the sub. It is set to 40 HZ frequency, gain keeps lowering because the Sonus Fabers cover the upper bass range so well that it is now at roughly 40%. I wish I could hear any difference in the phase setting but since I can''t I''ve left it at 0. With this setup I''ve spent many times what I thought was reasonable and acquired a much more critical "view" of the quality of recordings. The Monitor Audio ASW110 sub is a good, fast, musical sub that allows the main speakers to play the music without overpowering things with a boomy sound. It has a slight metallic edge that can enhance the timber of many sounds in this range. On Harry Connick Jr.''s SHE, a great funky test for a subwoofer, the speed is a treat. I recommend cuts 1,2 & 7 as a reference test for subwoofer musicality and speed.

Similar Products Used:

Have owned Polk but auditioned everything.

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
4
[Mar 05, 2002]
kalijaga
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

small, tight bass.

excellent sub, tight bass and very musical and sharp. I used it to complement my Mission 773e ...what a different it makes.

Similar Products Used:

mssion sub 70as

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
4
[Mar 19, 2000]
Craig
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Very fast, detialed

Weakness:

Haven't found any yet

In general I have been against subwoofers just because I haven't pictured them in any hi - end systems. I recently upgraded to tower speakers with the bass of bookshelfs so I had to go out and find a sub. I picked the monitor audio because it was one of the few subs I found that advretized speed. I had always thought oof subs like car ones and those bose "subwoofers" that just fling a semi-correct frquency of bass at you. When I got it I was amazed. It is extremly accurate and fast and has yet to reveal it's location. Also instead of a conventional "rumble pack" of a subwoofer this one starts and especialy stops when it's supposed to.

Running great with my system of:
Pioneer VSX-9500s reciever (as preamp)
Carver TFM-35x power amp
Sony CA7ES cd changer
Homegrown audio solid silver interconnect
WireWorld atlantis interconnect
Monster Z1 speaker wire

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Dec 13, 1999]
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Quick, articulate bass. Small size.

I bought the ASW110 to use for an HT mostly system, with Monitor Audio Silver 9's for the mains and the silver 12 for the center and the surrounds.
The one thing I noticed during the demo of this sub, it doesn't have a "rolling thunder" bass sound like many subs. Most I've heard just fling low frequencies at you, the room and your neighbors wihtout much structure. Thats never sounded good to me. But given that the goal of this system was mostly HT, the nines don't go that low, it integrates well with them, and its small size, I'd live with it.
Once I brought it home and set it up, I was impressed. It articulates low notes clearly and quickly, without sounding muddy or thuddy. Kick drums on rock CDs and DVDs sound like kick drums, not thumps on wallboard or the cruzemobile driving past. And it's had no trouble at all handling movie soundtracks. Explosions, falling objects, footfalls and other fun movie fare have been no challenge for this little unit. Nor has it had any problems with the room its in, 14X22, with an ajoining room open to it. The 110 fills the space with sound you can feel when the system is turned up.
Overall, this is an amazing little unit. Its more flexible than many subs I've heard and given its list price of $699US, I consider it a find.

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Jan 29, 2001]
Hish
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Extremely tight and fast bass. Small and very good looking.

Weakness:

May not have enough "punch" for some people, but unless you live in a gymnasium, you won't need anything more than this!!

What a great product. In these last few months I have become a true believer and fan of Monitor Audio. I have the 10i centre speaker and the 8i towers. I thought I'd trade in my velodyne and complete the set. What a difference. The bass is truly tight and extremely fast. There isn't that typical "rolling" bass sound you get from most subs (including the velodyne). The best way I can describe it would be to say that the bass doesn't overpower the rest of the sound. A good example is the Matrix. In the lobby shootout scene, my old velodyne would block out the mids and highs and I couldn't hear the music in the background. I tried to solve this by lowering the sub volume. Although this worked, it took away from scenes (like exposions) that were supposed to be loud. With the MA 110, that problem is solved. I can keep the volume at 5 and still here the background mids and highs while maintaining LOUD explosions! Nice job MA!

Similar Products Used:

Velodyne CT-100

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Mar 14, 2000]
Lance Garcia
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Relatively small in size, tight sound, blends well with 7's

Weakness:

Not enough punch

I purchased this product in August of 1999 and for the most part have been happy with sound quality. This sub does very well with music reproduction. I listen primarily to jazz and this sub does a nice job...no overly boomy sounds...rather, it deomonstrates tight sound reproduction.

Home theater is my main use of my system however. It does a very good job for explosions and aircraft fly-byes. Again, very tight and articulate...not just low vibrating muffled junk as with some other subs. While I really like how articulate and punchy this sub is, it still does not have enough impact for my tastes. I am currently considering purchasing a secondary sub - perhaps the ASW 210 or maybe a Bagend sub (concerned about Bagend's ability to keep up with the rest of my Monitor Audio System however). Overall this is a very good sub though.

BTW - My room size is 13.5 x 22 ft

System

Toshiba TW65H80
Denon AVR 3300
Monitor Audio Siver 7's (fronts and surrounds)
Monitor Audio ASW 110
Toshiba 3109 DVD
Silver Wire Encore

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
5
Showing 1-10 of 16  

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