dollydoo

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
Fantastic allround SubWoofer! Strong bass for such a small sub AAA+++

Summary:
Good sound for the price. I actually bought them off an individual whom won them; paid US$195 for PSB Subzero, two Alpha Minis and the stands. A real steal to complete my 5.1 system.

I'd love to experiment more with this sub but I'm living in an apartment and am already conscious about the vibration when the volume is turned to 3. I wonder though...

When I buy a house, I think that I'd like to team this guy up with one of it's bigger brothers. Maybe a Subsonic 5 or 7...

Strengths:
Strong bass for such a small sub

Weaknesses:
Drill your own feet or tape them on? Unheard of...

Price Paid:  $280.00 from Hippo's Home Entertainment

Summary:
I needed a little sub for a medium sized living room. About 14 by 14 foot square. Being I live in one wing of a larger home, I didn't tempt myself with any larger beasts, so as not to get evicted. I demoed this in the store only briefly, as the gentleman I talk to knows my tastes and recommended it. I was very surprised with this little guy. I was a bit wary at first, because as a rule, I never buy a speaker when I can't see the driver. Obvious exception being a bandpass, but in this case, it is behind a non-removeable grille. Once I got it out of the box, and taped on the feet (the only bad part, but it comes with some CRAZY tape/glue stuff that holds well), I installed it with a high-quality sub RCA and Y adapter. I am running with a Marantz SR-7000 receiver, and I took a couple hours to play with location to get it right. It's very sensitive. Or it could be the square room, which doesn't help. I listened to various rock and alternative tracks, tuning the crossover, and volume until it sounded good at normal listening levels. Let me tell you... this sub adds some serious punch! Very tight response for a ported box. The bass drum definitely thuds, and it hits enough for you to feel it. One thing I think plagues the little value class subs is shuffle, but the Alpha didn't exhibit any. The real test came watching some DTS titles, particularly Saving Private Ryan, which has some REAL tough passages. I waited for the neighbor to leave for this one. The alpha did well. I could actually hear glasses rattling in the kitchen. Nice and clean, no clipping, quite loud. And it blended with my mains very nicely. You can feel the bass well, but it the adrenalin doesn't flow like with some of the bigger subs, which is expected. Using a woofer excursion test CD, it hits hard until about 30-35 Hz before it falls off. Not bad for an 8 inch. Overall, I highly recommend this for small to medium sized rooms, or for someone on a budget. Later, you can add a second one since its so small, and double your pleasure.

Strengths:
Tight, controlled bass with no shuffle. Decent volume. Quality connections and cabinet.

Weaknesses:
scotch tape feet? low frequency dropoff not all that low

Similar Products Used:
various. Velodyne, Sunfire Jr., home built.

Summary:
My SubZero is being used as part of a home cinema set-up in a very small (7 foot square - I can touch all 4 walls simultaneously) room, along with Tannoy M2.5s, M1s, and an MC.

Take the time to work out where to place this, like any sub. A nice tip I heard was to put the sub in your listening position - like on your sofa - turn it on with some decent tunes playing, and crawl around until you find a place where the sound is tight and clear. Then whack your sub where you stopped crawling. I didn't bother with this, but within 15 minutes and a few tracks and clips from my favourite stuff I was confident I'd found a good place for it. It was - horror of horrors - in an alcove, which, against all conventional wisdom, it would seem, works a treat.

Then - and this is most important - take the time to tweak those volume and crossover knobs to you heart's content. I now have mine set up just the way I want it. I hardly know it's there until I change the settings on my amp (Yamaha DSP-A595a) and realise just how much it was adding to my listening experience.

The weight and depth this sub adds to my music and movies is tremendous. Nobody else in the house is a big fan, cos it does tend to let them know when it is on, and that is at a pretty low volume. I am confident that in all but the biggest rooms with all but the most accommodating neighbours you will not need much more than this. That said, the UK idea of 'home cinema' does seem a little more restrained than the US 'home theater' concept, so maybe I'm just too easy to please.

For value, this has to score top marks, and for performance likewise. They aren't easy to find in the UK, but if you have a limited budget, have a look and have a demo - my dealer put on MJ's 'Jam' from 'Dangerous' and the first ten seconds convinced me. I now love my little PSB, and if I ever need an upgrade - when I win the lottery and get a MUCH bigger place - I will certainly have a good look at their range.

Weaknesses:
Those drill-it-yourself feet. Who thought that one up? You probably don't need them, though.

Similar Products Used:
Old Yamaha computer sub

Price Paid:  $210.00 from A&B Sound

Summary:
Excellent bass for a small unit. I wanted something to fill in the bass I was missing. My Celestion 5 speakers are mounted up near the ceiling (I have a lot of "stuff" in my house. Although the Celestions have a pretty good bass sound, having them up high seems to decrease the bassosity. I have to small speakers (too embarassed to mention their name) in my dining room adjacent to the dining room. The bass that the Subzero provides fills both rooms nicely.

Strengths:
Good bass reproduction, decent looks, (relatively) inexpensive,

Weaknesses:
The self sticking feet are, um, well, um well they suck!
Although it does give you the option of horizontal or vertical orientation. I also fear some visiting kid will pop a handful of lego or something in the mighty tempting opening in the front.