I'm not going to get technical here or anything else like that; however, this tiny 8" sub delivers some of the best bass reproduction I've heard. Energy's exl: ten incher cannot even hold onto what this one does, in my belief. If you're seaching for a beginner or starter.... don't let it pass you by. I love this one and would love to eventually get another - just for my tastes. Yes, the volume nob has to be turned up to around 7, and yes the speaker level inputs are clips - big deal! Doesn't really affect me cause I use that RCA connector input jobber, whatever... I'm no joke - it's worth the money.

Very tight little 8-inch, 100-watt subwoofer. Separate power supply module eliminates hum found on even some expensive units. Mosfet amplification is clean and musical.
Only complaint: no high-level out makes hooking the thing up to an older amp challenging.

Inexpensive. Tight bass for the money. Small footprint.

For the money, none.

I wanted a small sub for listening to music. I'm not interested in Home Theater, and was concerned that all the small, affordable subs were designed for that market. They would boom out sound and sound great when watching "Die Hard", but suck at music.

I read a review of the Energy and heard other comments about their quality so I gave it a shot. I'm very glad I did. I think this little sub excels because of the design principles involved. In my opinion, it appears that Energy concentrated on a nice (although small) woofer and a good amplifier. That's it. No frills, no fancy features, nothing else but good sound.

So this is a very featureless sub. There's no high-pass filter, no outputs of any kind, only one set of speaker posts (and spring-clips, at that), no removable grill, not even an on/off switch! Energy decided to spend all the money on a quality 8" woofer and powerful (100 watts/ 400 peak) amplifier. That's how they can get away with such good sound for only $225.

My Magnepan speakers have a -3 down point of 50Hz. So I dialed the sub to 50 and started with the volume setting at around 2 (it's much more efficient than the Maggies). After a little experimentation over a few days, I arrived at setting the sub about 6 inches from the back wall, but away from both side walls. The volume setting is at 4 and I bumped the xover frequency to around 55Hz. Now they blend very well.

For mating a sub to music, especially music produced by a planar speaker, you need a "fast" subwoofer. Again, the conventional wisdom was that you'd have to spend a lot for this. But by using a small woofer -- which is easier to control than a large one -- and a very high-quality amplifier the Energy is quite "fast". I do not percieve it as not "keeping up" with the Maggies.

Finally, I could obviously put this thing in a corner and crank up the volume or xover and get more bass than even now. However, the Maggies are pretty solid to around 50Hz and I didn't want the sub to "step on" their sound. The bass I'm getting from the sub is smooth, deep and tight.

All in all, I'm very pleased with what I got for the money. For me, in a subwoofer, it was all about the sound. If you need the features, look elsewhere.

My Equipment:

NAD C350 Integrated Amp
NAD Tuner
NAD PP-1 Phono Pre-Amp
Revolver Turntable w/ Grado Cartridge
Cambridge Audio D500SE CD Player
Magnepan MMG speakers
Kimber and Strait Wire interconnects
Audioquest speaker cable (MMGs)
Monster XP speaker cable (Subwoofer)

I have had this sub for about 6 weeks. It has better sound and power than many in its size. For example, I compared it to a JBL 150 watt model and this little Energy unit simply outperformed the JBL in output and sound quality. However, if I had a choice, I would exchange this unit for the 150 watt version because the 100 watt baby is not quite load enough for movies. Recently, I removed my Bose speakers and replaced them with Polk's RT600 which has greatly improved the base output and has made up for the XLS8's weakness in output during special effect movie sceens.

I use my e-XLS8 in a 20'x26' room with a pair of e-XL26s. Must say that this little baby really cranks out the bass. Its 100-watt built in amp provides plenty of kick and the volume and low-pass filter allow you to adjust it to suit your taste. All I can say is that it provides very tight response and is louder than either my wife, kids, dog and neighbors care for :) For the money, you can't go wrong.

Strong tight bass. Compact size.

Port noise when volume is set above 7

I have been looking for a small subwoofer to balance the bass in my home theater. I like Polk Audio but their small subs sound better with music than home theater. This sub hits hard and sounds good...Awesome!. Now I know why the company is named Energy!!

Similar Products Used:

Infinity,Velodyne,JBL PB 12, Polk PSW 120 and 150