Youthman

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 3.00 votes

Price Paid:  $250.00 from www.craigslist.com

Summary:
Picked up this sub, a pair of Klipsch CF-2 towers and a Klipsch KV-3 center channel speaker off a listing on www.craigslist.com for $250. The sub sounds amazing and can handle very deep bass with no problem. Does not sound muddy or boomy. Bass is very impressive for movies and sounds great for music.

Although this sub is over 10 years old, it absolutely blows my previous Velodyne CT-100 away.

Strengths:
Handles very low bass and allows you to truly "feel" the action when watching movies.

Weaknesses:
Very heavy sub (90 lbs) and is very large (20 in x 20 in x 20 in).

Similar Products Used:
Velodyne CT-100

Price Paid:  $1175.00

Summary:
Beware of Velodyne customer service. They are arrogant and
condescending. When I called the repair department they picked right up on the specific trouble I was having. Right away that told me this might be a lemon issue, but I really wasn't prepared to hear the next words of encouragement. The guy actually told me he didn't trust any local Velodyne authorized dealers to make the repair, and that I should UPS this 100# mother back to the company.
When a company outright tells you they don't trust their own factory authorized repair shops - watch out.
Oh yes - I forgot to mention the repair cost. He told me I was looking at $300-400, but that he might have to replace the speaker too so that might raise it to $400-500.
I gave it to my church flea market sale!

Strengths:
Good clear crossover conrtol

Weaknesses:
Lacks sharpness of bass which became muffled and distorted with volume increase. A sub in this price range and moreover with the Velodyne name should not have this problem.

Similar Products Used:
FSR-1200

Price Paid:  $1300.00

Summary:
very good very good
is superior a hgs series

Strengths:
very good very good
is superior a hgs series

Price Paid:  $600.00 from OneCall

Summary:
Of all the subs listed above my F1500R offers the best overall performance. The M&Ks had excellent slam and speed but they rolled off in the 25-28Hz range and were easy to overload. The Earthquakes had more output than all of the above listed subs but they too rolled off sharply - this time at about 22-25Hz, they were also a little more tricky to dial-in. The NHT had tons of output above 30Hz and was very good on music but it couldn't do justice to Organ pedal. The Paradigms were both very good with the cheaper PW2200 actually having more output above 25Hz than the Servo 15, below that though, the Servo sounded really good, almost as good as my F1500R. The F-1500R is good at fast percussive and string bass sounds as long as you have full range mains and use alow x-over setting, go too high and you become aware that you're using a high-moving mass 15" driver, servo or not. Where it excels is ultra-deep and infrasonic bass, the kind most people have never heard or felt in their own homes. When the blinds start shaking, the walls groan and your ears feel strange air pressure changes yet you can't hear anything then you've experienced bass from a large Velodyne Servo-Sub.

Strengths:
Simply untouchable when it comes to extremely low bass. I haven't heard a subwoofer yet that can do Pipe Organ pedal notes like this one and still cost under $2000.

Weaknesses:
Large cabinet makes placement more difficult, but then, for truely high-fidelity bass those little cabinet subs just don't cut it.

Similar Products Used:
Various M&K subs, Earthquake SuperNova MKIV-12&15, NHT SubOne, Paradigm PW2200 and Ref. Servo 15

Price Paid:  $550.00 from OneCall

Summary:
I was originally going to order the F1800XR that Velodyne makes for OneCall but I couldn't pass up the deal on this brand-new F-1500R. It was advertised as a damaged box unit that had a light scuff on top and the price was only $550!!
I was familiar with this sub from reviews back in 1995-96 so I jumped on it.

Anyway, it is just what I expected. The very bottom end (25hz and lower) is stronger than my M&K and there is also greater clean output at the bottom. On fast acoustic bass it can't match the M&K but it doesn't get left far behind. On Pipe Organ recordings the Velodyne really asserts itself and pulls ahead of the M&K in extension, output and overall realism. Both subs have their own strengths and weaknesses but are excellent nonetheless.

I'll do a more in depth review after I've broken the F-1500 in for an extended duration.

BTW, much to my surprise I couldn't find a scuff mark anywhere on the big Velo, boy was I relieved. $550 for a Servo-controlled Velodyne that cost $1500 a couple of years ago, SCORE!

Onkyo TX-DS777
Panasonic C220 5-DVD
M&K 750 THX Select w/MX-105 II upgrade
Velodyne F-1500R

Strengths:
Undistorted bottom octave output, build quality, remote

Weaknesses:
Not quite as musical as my M&K MX-105 II but it's definitely not a one-note subwoofer.

Similar Products Used:
M&K MX-105 II, M&K MX-90 circa 1992-93. I've listened to countless other subs.