I got this subwoofer at a thrift store, it was on sale for 34.99 but somehow I walked out the door with it for $17.50. It wasn't blown, but I had no idea what kind of bass it could produce as I tested it at the store with a 30 watt stereo. I got it home, hooked it up to a 400 watt receiver. So far, I've only tested it by itself without any speakers and its got some reasonable bass. Not sure how many Db its hitting but it's shaking my mirror and door pretty easily.

Overall, I can't complain, got it for less than 20 dollars just because I couldn't pass up a 12 inch sub for that price. I'm not worried if it blows.

great value, decent construction especially compared to other cheap subs, decent 12" driver

Very "boomy", but can easily be modified

I'm embarrassed to say that I originally posted this under the SW-12 reviews-- Nope, it's a 14. Ahem.

As I said in that review, and as many of you have already noted, the sub sounds well, substandard right out of the box. But a lot of you also know that a lot of Radio Shack stuff is very tweakable, and this is the real fun.

Stuffing the box with polyester is not a bad idea, but the system really isn't properly tuned as a ported system unless you add an awkwardly-long extension to the duct. It's simpler, quicker and cheaper to simply seal the box by stuffing a sock or a plastic fast-food cup tightly into the port. My kids never pick up their socks, so for me the choice (and immediate availability) of a sock was easy.
Since no or very little midrange sound is being produced, you don't need to stuff the box, unless you want it to act as if it were bigger (which will move the sound in the direction of whompy and underdamped). But if you have an old pillow or two around, why not. Just make sure no fibers can get into the woofer to inhibit its movement. And adding extra bracing to a speaker cabinet is never a bad idea.

With the box sealed, the bass will be tighter and will respond better to EQ. For some of you it may not go deep enough, but I say damped bass is always better than louder or deeper bass. Try it. You have nothing to lose but your socks.

Similar Products Used:

Jensen JS1000 and JBL 250W powered subs

None

Little bass

I purchased this sub for 75 dollars on sale (usually $150.)
There is little bass just a sort of low-midrange to regular mid-range tha is highly distorted. My favorite subwoofer is the Yamaha SW-160, it goes down to 20HZ and has 150 watt amp.
This radioshack sub is passive (not reccomended unless you don't have jacks for a powered sub.) A passive sub is limitted to your amps power and has to be hooked up parrallel to another set of speakers. It has a bad crossover and worsens the sound of the connected speakers.

Similar Products Used:

Many radioshack products, Cerwin Vega, Advent

Time for an update and a correction.

First, I'm pleased that the Sock Mod has given good results to others. Tiny changes in room placement can change the sound of a sub drastically-- sometimes moving the cabinet an inch can do it-- and when you recommend a procedure you have no idea what the result might be, especially if the unit was moved a little during the modification!

My bedroom system still includes the SW14 passive sub but now has includes LX5 IIs whose cabinets have been lined with fiberglass. The blend from satellite to sub is still about the best I've ever heard, which is extremely fortunate considering the SW14 has no controls whatsoever. With the LX5s pulled back from the walls and set at ear height, the system is very satisfying indeed for such a small investment.

I mentioned that stuffing the sub's cabinet with polyester (or fiberglass) fill would make the sub's sound move in the direction of looser bass, and this is misleading. In a *sealed* box, adding the stuffing to make the box acoustically larger *tightens* the bass. So if you go for the Sock Mod, you might try the "rip open an old pillow and stuff it in the sub" trick and see if the bass tightens up even more.

If you keep the port open, however, you'll want to use thin but dense fiberglass (such as used in suspended ceilings) to line the cabinet, taking care not to obstruct the port. In this case, the easiest way to tighten the bass would be to lengthen the port's duct (not easy, since it faces down) or decrease its diameter.

Beginners will find simple explanations and interesting projects in David Weems' series of loudspeaker books. Check your local library.

Price, frequency range

slight boominess, High crossover frequency

At the price that Radio Shack had on these units I purchaced two. ~$75 Each.

As for the weaknesses: The boominess was taken care of by lightly filling the box with polyfill. The high frequency of the crossover was absorbed some by facing the units into my couch and to use it as a natural filter (such as carpet and curtians)

the strengths: Suprising frequency range in the lower octaves. I was impressed. loud enough for use as my surround channel subs. (Dolby digital & DTS running full frequency)

I wired them up with a set of jumpers between the channels on the crossover to the imputs, and then to the 2 left or right surround speakers I use.

If you want to see more about my Home theater, then take a look at my web site.....

http://www.megagate.com/~trigger/_Home_Theater/Home_Theater.htm

Similar Products Used:

Cerwin vega, Definitive Technology, Celestion

price is right, good low frequency sound, great for tweaking

needs to be tweaked or it can be boomy..placement critical

for the money($65 for demo; scratched up with a leg broken off) this sub is fantastic!! i did not like it at first.... was gonna return it... but after playing around with it for an hour or two i reassessed it lol yes, its boomy and yes it doesn't want to play anywhere but near a wall or corner but give it a couple tweaks,put it near a wall or corner and it'll recompense you lol i took it apart and screwed and glued some 1x2 pine strips on the sides and top, stapled some dampening material on the sides and top reassembeled it, stuck it in a corner, hooked up the 2 sets of terminals on the sub's dual coils to the left and right channels of an old sony receiver driven by my denon avr-85, and trust me, this sub does the job well!! its getting down to 29 hz plus... great sound not boomy at all i love it!! highly recommended.. if tweaked...

Similar Products Used:

klipsch promedia

Awesome sound for the money

passive x-over

I just bought this sub today on sale ($75 at Radio Shack) for my dorm room's sound system and I'm running it straight off of my harman/kardon avr 100 with awesome results for what I want to use it for. I'm going to be using it primarily for listening to cd's so being able to tell where it is doesn't matter too much to me personally. As far as I'm conserned, I'm sure I will replace it when I get the rest of my system put together(looking at a klipsch 12 inch powered sub eventually), but that's not going to be anytime soon on a college level budget so I'm glad this sub turned out so great for me. I really wasn't expecting these results at all after spending so much on car stereo subs for mediocre results in comparison in the past few years.

Great Price, Deep Bass

Boomy Bass, Distortion at higher sound levels, Upper crossover frequency too high

This is an excellent value. The low price coupled with the deep bass is an unbeatable combination. I drive this from a separate amp using an electronic crossover at 50 Hz thus bypassing the internal crossover. In order to do this you must open the cabinet to bypass. In doing this I noticed the apparrent low quality of the driver and the complete lack on internal damping. I could do nothing about the low quality driver but I did add damping. This greatly reduced the boomy bass but not the distortion at higher sound levels. I recommend that this sub only be used at lower sound levels. In summary a great price and deep bass make this sub worth getting.

Similar Products Used:

None

An incredible buy!!! Bought one for my little brother theater/stereo setup in hi bedroom. Definately better than my Cerwin Vega HT-12D passive sub with twice the power pumped through it. It's a 12" passive DVC sub. (Don't open the box and look at the speaker, you'll be disappointed. Just get it next to a wall or corner and listen to it.) It handle 100 watts RMS per channel, has a 200hz 12db lowpass + 6db highpass crossover. Mates very well with Infinity Minuette 5pc set. It goes very deeper and is much smoother than the CV. Will rock with his small receiver (50x2 watts in pro-logic mode). Can't be beat for low budget setup. Found out about it in Home Theater Magazine in 1995. They described it as an incredible $150 sub. Highly recommended. Goes on sale often for $99. Easily a five star unit if this were bang for the buck.

hi guys, i read about this subwoofer over 1 year ago before i purchased it. instead of the famous sock-mod, i have gone with the old-boxer-mod :) ...my Fruit of the Looms have been tightening my bass for a year now...

i just wanted to add a few things with my experiences. first my setup, consists of a 2 Bose 301V's, and 2 subwoofers, the SW-14, and a MTXT4000 10". i run them off a 100x2 Pioneer amp. yes, all 4 speakers are tied into two channels...a sub and speaker on each channel.

using all 4 connections of the subwoofer is NOT necessary. i currently run a +,- wire into the right channel of the sub. it plays just fine, and loud enough to make decent bass. i just wanted to inform everyone that it did not need to be used in-conjunction with other speakers.

i'm upgrading my stereo presently, with a newer 5x100 amp, and more Bose for surround. i am also getting a powered Cerwin Vega sub...but i'm keeping the SW14 as well...i love the sub, and everything it does.

thanx for the reviews, and happy music to all...

Adam

reinkster@hotmail.com