Price Paid:  $850.00 from ebay

Summary:
I bought my black gloss HGS-10 series 2, off ebay in 2006, knowing full well that it could have future amp problems.

I don't know what the original owner did to it (how it was used).
However in my possession, the amp started making popping sounds within a month or so (6 hours a day play time). I always unplug it from the wall when I'm done for the day.

The last thing I remember playing through it was Poseidon(2006), I don't recall it making odd sounds during the movie, but the next morning it was toast. So I figure I either clipped the input signal through my BFD DSP or my other CHT-15 masked the amp failure for the duration of the movie. Funny thing is, that I feed the CHT-15 the same LFE signal, which to this day is still fine, so maybe it wasn't my fault.

I sent the amp section in for replacement, they sent back a new 2007 amp, which has been fine ever since.

The Sound:
The deepest, cleanest bass I have ever heard...
It goes much deeper than anything in the CHT line and other such mass market series, it also has more dynamic range. For example when my CHT-15 is near its excursion/power envelope, this thing is only at 25%.

I've never heard this subwoofer distort under normal conditions, unlike the CT-100 this replaced. Now that I have heard a true sealed servo subwoofer I doubt I will ever go back to a non-servo ported design.

Now that I have finally removed the last piece of nasty distortion in my system with the HGS-10 and Rotel RMB-1075, I can finally watch movies at a decent volume, start to finish, and not have to worry about my gear over-heating or pushing its limits. It gives me piece of mind, so that I can get re-absorbed into the entertainment.

My next and hopefully last subwoofer upgrade will probably be to dual DD-15's, while the HGS-10 is good, I feel like I need more infrasonic capability without pushing the system as hard; but before I do that, I am going to upgrade my fronts to b&w 803's to closer match the bass quality, as my current Athena's AS F1's seem to be masking the HGS-10's true upper bass potential.

Strengths:
Flat to 17hz in my room
The most musical bass I have heard yet, and from an 11" cubed package you can place it almost anywhere.

Weaknesses:
Amp can fail
No power switch (kinda odd) just stand-by or full on, which can make sparks at the wall outlet, so I use a high-current remote controlled power switch.
HGS/DD series could use an improved driver excursion to keep up with JL Fathom.

Similar Products Used:
Velodyne CT-100, CHT-15

Price Paid:  $1400.00 from Soundworks, Rocheste

Summary:
I purchased the HGS-10 from Soundworks a few years ago with a set of B&W 805's plus a number of other items to complete a home theater system.

The HGS-10 is a great sounding sub for a small room. The bass is very tight and goes down to subsonic. The bass is so powerfull I did have some difficulty with standing waves and wall vibrations at certain frequencies. Placement, optimization and room dampening improvments have resulted in outstanding performance.

Recently the HGS-10 started to make the classic popping and droning noises whenever it was on. My dealer "Soundworks" was more than helpful in having the unit repaired. They removed the amp and returned it to Velodyne.

While the unit was in for repair, I did some research on the HGS-10. I was stunned to find many, many other HGS-10, HGS-12 and HGS-15 owners are reporting the same issues. My repair was just like those reported by other HGS-10 owners (power Amp failure) which cost $245 for a repaired (not new!) Amp.

Being an Engineer, I suspect the cost of the components to repair the amp is less than $25 and labor less than an hour.

Based on other HGS-10 owner comments, this is a design flaw that will reoccur.
I suspect it might be another year or so before another failure could be expected (smell of a money pit).

At this point I'm very dissapointed in Velodynes stand on this product. They have a reliabilty issue and the customers perseption is very poor. With a flagship product like this Velodyne needs to step up and stand behind the product . If they have a reliabilty issue, they need to make it right. (eat some of the repair cost or extend the warranty!!)

At this point I'd like to dump the HGS-10 on ebay and give someone else the problem. Unfortunatly, I can't stick anyone with a defect like this. The HGS-10 will be mine to the grave (maybe another year).

I'd really like to be very loyal to Soundworks, but I'm left with a bitter taste from this Velodyne problem. At this point I'm looking for an amp, but will have to consider all options.

If you are looking to buy a used HGS-10, beware, someone is stiking you with a lemon.

Strengths:
Solid, clean bass!

Weaknesses:
Reliabilty!!
Reliabilty!!
Reliabilty!!
Cost of repair.

Price Paid:  $1400.00 from Audio Video Today

Summary:
I've got a similar story..retailer could not say enough good things about the amp when I bought it. It did sound great and was easy to place due to its small size. But before the 2-year warranty was up, the amp started producing odd popping and droning sounds. Brought the amp in to the retailer with reciept and warranty statement. I was told that the amp had gone bad and would need to be replaced. I insisted that the warranty be honored and it was. Two and half years later, same problem emerged. This time the warranty is up. I've been told by the retailer that it's turned out to be a common problem with these subs, and that I can either choose to fix it for $385, or alternatively they would work with me on the purchase of a new sub. I asked if there was any correlation between use and failure of the sub, and the retailer responded that there was no behavior they knew of that would increase the life of the sub. In my opinion, this is a flawed product. It should not have made it to market. Worse still, is Velodyne's lack of proactive response. Every purchaser of this product should have received a recall notice from Velodyne and some remedy. Instead they have left it to communities of their customers to discover the large breadth of the problem in frustration and anonymity. Velodyne has lost a customer for life, while also dealing a blow to the audio marketplace. I'll see what the retailer, who I do not hold blameless, is willing to do for me on a different brand.

Strengths:
Sound and power - while it works

Weaknesses:
Unreliable

Similar Products Used:
None

Price Paid:  $750.00 from audio video speclist

Summary:
The hgs 10 is a fast sub but very true to all bass from 125-20hz . i love the way this sub handles low bass i get from any action movies or any movie with good bass in my home theater. it is also a very clean sub when it comes to playing music. and is a small but heavy 45 pound sub that you can just about hide it any where in the room .i have had no problem with this unit for 3 years it is a series II yr(2000+) velodyne had problems with their first series yrs(1996-1998)

Strengths:
1250rms 3000 peak amp watts", high gain servo and 2"excursion on woofer and its small 11x11x11.5 enclosure

Weaknesses:
not all people that have this sub writes a good review on it here

Similar Products Used:
polk audio, d box,klipsh,b&w 2500, sunfire

Price Paid:  $1700.00 from US

Summary:
Velodyne products ---- WARNING STAY AWAY OR PAY THE PRICE -----

This article is being written as an attempt to prevent unfortunate consumers from getting ripped off royally by Velodyne Electronics. Approximately 3 years ago I purchased a Velodyne HGS10 subwoofer at a retail price of approximately $2500.00 Canadian. At this price I was expecting a high quality, high-end piece of auto equipment. What I go was a piece of junk!!! Within a few weeks of getting the unit I noticed it had a popping noise coming through the speaker each time in flipped on using the auto power-on feature. I called Velodyne support and was informed that this feature was something they hated incorporating into the unit and had done so only due to matching features on similar systems offered by their competitors. I was also informed they have had a lot of problems with this feature and that I should simply leave the unit on rather than paying expensive cost of shipping the unit back to have it repaired. I decided I could live without the auto on feature but wasn’t overly happy with the idea.

About 1 ½ years later I began hearing a popping sound coming from the speaker at various times. Unfortunately I couldn’t identify the pattern and the since the unit was out of warranty and it didn’t happen all the time, again I would live with the problem. Now that the unit is approximately 3 years old the main amp section has completely failed. I called Velodyne customer service to complain about how it’s possible a unit this costly could have so many problems. Velodyne’s own customer service informed me that they have had a lot of problems with this unit. They gave me the name of the only repair centre in Ontario and said I should take it there to have it fixed. During this time I started browsing the auto/home theatre review sites specifically looking for articles pertaining to the HGS10 sub. Unsurprisingly I found numerous unhappy customers that have had everything from tripped breakers, sparks flying from the wall outlet, amp problems, etc. By the way, the spark problem was noticeable from my unit as well, my wife refused to go near the outlet. As you unplug the unit from the wall the sparks jump out of the socket.

I have now been informed by the repair centre that the price to fix the unit is going to be approximately $600.00. Initially I was informed by the repair centre it would cost around $385.00 to replace the amp but when they called Velodyne they were informed this amp was no longer supported (too many problems) and has been replaced with another model. The dealer informed me the new replacement amp was substantially more expensive but when I called Velodyne customer service they said the price between the two models had changed very little. I will leave it to you to figure out which one was lying.

To summarize:

I would not recommend you purchase any Velodyne products. Their customer service is absolutely terrible. If you have any doubts simply search the web for “Velodyne poor service”, you will be amazed at how many unsatisfied customers are out there. Velodyne have gone form a formable speaker manufacturing company to what appears to be a guy in a garage with a soldering iron approach. When they manufacture a dud they simply pass on the problem to the customer (no recall, no free patches no reduced cost fixes). In fact I even went to the point of asking Velodyne if they would at least forgo their profit on the replacement amp given they were aware of the problems with this unit for some time and had replaced the amp with a different model due to the number of issues. Unfortunately they wouldn’t even agree to that.

Another thing to consider before buying Velodyne is their support centers. There is only one in Ontario and they know it. Their service is also very poor due to the “if you don’t like it go somewhere else” attitude. Their claim tickets state that repairs generally take up to a month and that they are not responsible for any units left on their site after a month. You must sign this or you will not get your unit fixed. When I got the call that my unit was now fixed I was informed the $600.00 had to be paid in cash or cheque, no debit or credit transactions are allowed. I was also informed this expensive repair only carries a 1 month warranty at which time I am back to square one if the unit fails again.

Velodyne products ---- WARNING STAY AWAY OR PAY THE PRICE -----

Strengths:
Good solid door stop

Weaknesses:
Terrible customer support
Only one warranty center in Ontario - Cash only repairs
Noise, Sparks, Quality

Similar Products Used:
Klipsch, Paradigm