This is a revision to my previous review of this sub. The bottom line is, ya gets what yas pays for. I still think the sub sounds pretty good, but after opening the box to investigate the source of a fairly serious problem (plugging it in results in machine gun noise, but works fine if AC volts is gradually increased on variac.) I found that it was a factory second by certain signs of resoldering (I got it from NetMarket), the AC transformer was quite undersized, good for maybe 5 amps, and the actual amplifier is an all-in-one chip unit, nothing high quality. This, however may be no reflection on the model you would buy in a real store--many brands are known for having a full price model and a Costco model. From most appearances, they're exactly the same, but internal investigation reveals cost-cutting. Anyhow, if you're looking for a good deal, this isn't it, I feel ripped off, as it is underpowered for the purpose.

Got this for $180 at uBid. At first it took me forever to place and set. When I finally got it right I noticed the bass was mushy. After a bit of thinking I found some ratty socks and plugged the two ports. That helped immensly. The bass is much tighter with the ports plugged. It still sounds a bit funky but for less than $200, and some old socks, I am very happy. Would have to spend over $700 on a sub to improve the sound of this when plugged. 3 Stars as is, but I would give it 4 if the ports are plugged.

I've had my BU-120 for about a month now and have waited to post a review until I'd lived with it, tried different placements, tested it with Autosound 2000 disc, etc.
Like others, I bought it online for around $200. At that price, it's a great deal. At $400, I'd keep looking.

My placement options are few and they all involve placing the sub against a wall. Like a previous reviewer, I ended up stuffing the ports (I used a rubber ball, a rubber brain, and a pair of shorts) to tame an 80Hz peak.

I also hooked it up through the speaker level inputs and set the crossover at 50Hz so that the upper bass is minimal. Yeah, theoretically I shouldn't have had any output at 80Hz, but it was there and stuffing the ports helped.

About the hum: because a previous reviewer mentioned it, I listened for it. Lo and behold, with my ear 4 inches from the sub, I could indeed barely hear some hum. Absolutely unnoticeable under normal conditions.

How low does it go? Down to 31.5 Hz on my test disc (the disc steps from a 31.5Hz tone to 25Hz). At 25Hz it's barely audible, but it puts out a lot of energy at 31.5Hz. I couldn't overdrive it (bottom it out) in my living room without making my ears bleed.

Brian (below): If you're getting very little response under 80Hz, something is wrong! Receiver setting? When hooked up through the speaker level inputs, your receiver should be set to "no subwoofer." But you probably know that. Something is wrong with your setup or sub!

I'm giving the BU-120 five speakers for its price point ($200-225). If you paid $399 at Circuit City, you should have received a free Divx player with it!

This sub is moderate for the price but the overall extension of the sub is extreamly evident when playing music, if this sub is being purchased for only movie listing it will do fine but for music I would not purchase this sub again. For a 12in woffer the amount of true bass (below 80hz) is very little and the sub bottoms out frequently.

Low price, good bass

Amp blowing up; loud pops when you unplug it; and the fear that this thing is going to literally explode

I reviewed this product back in November of 1999, the day after I received the unit. I still believe that this sub has good bass and can rattle whatever you want, but after the amp blew up about 9 months later, I decided that this is definitely not good of a deal as I originally thought!

Finally I got it fixed under warranty, but not before MANY phone calls to Infinity Systems, Mercata and Tops Electronics in Massachussets. Get this: I bought this sub from Mercata, which is (or until they went out of business a few days ago) in Washington State, but I live in Canada. When this damn thing blew up, I had to call Infinity Systems, which referred me to some place in Montreal (I wish I could remember the name; they're the ones who take care of Infinity Systems stuff in Canada), whose moronic, impolite yahoos answering the phone told me to call the US line again.

After many calls (sometimes waiting more than 20 minutes just to get to talk to some other incompetent morons at Infinity who didn't understand anything), I was told that I would have to get my unit serviced in the States, since that's where it originated from (but on the back of the sub, it says "Made in Canada"), and that the closest place was in Massachussetts, about 400 miles away! If I'd get it fixed in an authorized repair centre in Canada, they wouldn't pay.

I talked to the people at Tops Electronics who asked me to fax a copy of my receipt to them, and that they would check with Infinity, after Infinity had told me that it could be repaired there if I paid for the shipping. At Tops, one man was very nice, and even though I just talked to him a couple of times, he remembered me; whereas some rude bimbo called Debbie to whom I talked about 10 times never recalled our past conversations every time I talked to her. I'm sure they get a lot of long-distance calls from French Canadians 400 miles away. Anyway, they called me back later and told me that Infinity would NOT honour the warranty, because Mercata was not authorized to sell their products!!! When I purchased the sub, Mercata WAS an authorized dealer!! So after more calls at Mercata and Infinity, I finally got them to understand the situation.

Finally I shipped it to Tops, and they fixed it under warranty. I was supposed to pay for the shipping back, but it seems that Infinity took the bill. Good thing! I had specifically asked Tops to call me when the repairs were done so that I could choose how to send it back to me, but they called me to tell me that they had already sent it out! Plus, I don't know if it's Tops' or UPS's fault, but my sub came back with one leg broken.

The unit? Works well now. I'm more careful with it, now that the warranty's expired. It doesn't hum as much, and I don't unplug it anymore, since I'm afraid it's going to blow up the amp again. Good bass... when it works!

Infinity's service was pretty bad, except for the guy who finally told me that they would honour the warranty. When I call a customer service number, I want to talk to someone; not listen to elevator music and carols for 20 minutes.

For the price I paid (150$ US), I think I got what I deserved, but for the MSRP of $499 stated above, there's no more of a better explanation than: rip-off.

Infinity should quit producing subs until they can make ones that actually work right.

Infinity must be embarassed to read the reviews on their subs on this site. They embarassed themselves.

Low price, good bass

Amp blowing up; loud pops when you unplug it; and the fear that this thing is going to literally explode

I reviewed this product back in November of 1999, the day after I received the unit. I still believe that this sub has good bass and can rattle whatever you want, but after the amp blew up about 9 months later, I decided that this is definitely not good of a deal as I originally thought!

Finally I got it fixed under warranty, but not before MANY phone calls to Infinity Systems, Mercata and Tops Electronics in Massachussets. Get this: I bought this sub from Mercata, which is (or until they went out of business a few days ago) in Washington State, but I live in Canada. When this damn thing blew up, I had to call Infinity Systems, which referred me to some place in Montreal (I wish I could remember the name; they're the ones who take care of Infinity Systems stuff in Canada), whose moronic, impolite yahoos answering the phone told me to call the US line again.

After many calls (sometimes waiting more than 20 minutes just to get to talk to some other incompetent morons at Infinity who didn't understand anything), I was told that I would have to get my unit serviced in the States, since that's where it originated from (but on the back of the sub, it says "Made in Canada"), and that the closest place was in Massachussetts, about 400 miles away! If I'd get it fixed in an authorized repair centre in Canada, they wouldn't pay.

I talked to the people at Tops Electronics who asked me to fax a copy of my receipt to them, and that they would check with Infinity, after Infinity had told me that it could be repaired there if I paid for the shipping. At Tops, one man was very nice, and even though I just talked to him a couple of times, he remembered me; whereas some rude bimbo called Debbie to whom I talked about 10 times never recalled our past conversations every time I talked to her. I'm sure they get a lot of long-distance calls from French Canadians 400 miles away. Anyway, they called me back later and told me that Infinity would NOT honour the warranty, because Mercata was not authorized to sell their products!!! When I purchased the sub, Mercata WAS an authorized dealer!! So after more calls at Mercata and Infinity, I finally got them to understand the situation.

Finally I shipped it to Tops, and they fixed it under warranty. I was supposed to pay for the shipping back, but it seems that Infinity took the bill. Good thing! I had specifically asked Tops to call me when the repairs were done so that I could choose how to send it back to me, but they called me to tell me that they had already sent it out! Plus, I don't know if it's Tops' or UPS's fault, but my sub came back with one leg broken.

The unit? Works well now. I'm more careful with it, now that the warranty's expired. It doesn't hum as much, and I don't unplug it anymore, since I'm afraid it's going to blow up the amp again. Good bass... when it works!

Infinity's service was pretty bad, except for the guy who finally told me that they would honour the warranty. When I call a customer service number, I want to talk to someone; not listen to elevator music and carols for 20 minutes.

For the price I paid (150$ US), I think I got what I deserved, but for the MSRP of $499 stated above, there's no more of a better explanation than: rip-off.

Infinity should quit producing subs until they can make ones that actually work right.

Infinity must be embarassed to read the reviews on their subs on this site. They embarassed themselves.

Looks nice. Plays loud. Sounds strong.

Poor quality control. I have already gone through two of these units. The first was DOA when I got it. The second one just died a month ago (just out of warranty). You should consider the extended warranty.

Good performance, poor quality. Two of them have already gone bad.

none

dead!

Alas, my sub is dead too. I actually never noticed that it died ... i guess my mains did their job. It's odd that the lack of a humming sound didn't cause me to notice.

Anyhow, mine blew a fuse, and that was an easy fix. However, as soon as I put a new fuse in and plug it in, POOF, there goes the fuse again. I tried again with the driver disconnected, and there went another fuse. Everything inside looked just fine; there weren't any signs of a blown cap.

So, I got the bright idea of replacing the amp since I thought that was the culprit. Stupid me, I bought a replacement amp w/o measuring the size. My new amp is too big, and enlarging the hole is useless. Anyhow, I still decided to connect the amp to the driver to give it a try. Ack, the dreaded hum was still there! Woe is me.

Does anyone have any suggestions for the sub? Is there nothing worth salvaging?

I guess I'm the only one who got one of these manufatured right. A cricket wandered into it once so I had to turn
it sideways for a while. It's taken everything I've thrown at it so for 250 I'm happy with it. I'm not using it now though. I have a pair of Infinity IL50's but the tweeter just blew in the left one, I hope this isn't a sign that these speakers suffer from the same quality control issues.

Good deal

Possessed, it occasionally goes nuts and wakes up the neighborhood at 3:00AM

Well, I'm somewhat comforted to know that I'm not the only one that's had problems. 3 months from purchase, my wife and I woke up in the middle of the night thinking there was an earthquake or explosion. It turned out to be my BU-120. It was oscillating at near maximum volume until I pulled the plug. Took it in for repair. Bad capacitor or something. Good think it was under warranty. It still does the same thing on occasion when we turn first turn it on, but cycling it seems to remedy the problem.

As for the sound, it's fair compared to what I've heard. It's certainly not as tight as other subs in the same price range. But it does it's job fairly well. I'm now awaiting it's imminent failure, based on the other reviews I'm seeing. I love my RS-5s and RS-4s though, as a consolation.

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