I've had the PDR-12 for about a month now, and am very pleased with its performance. It's hard to say just how good it performs, but as with any addition of a sub to a home theatre system, it has really changed how the movies sound! I can finally feel the T-Rex approaching in Jurassic Park ! And the stampede in Jumanji (DVD) sounds like it's coming thru my house. Not having owned a sub prior to this, though, I can only say I like it a lot. I found it very hard to tell subs with the same woofer size apart in the store, because not much music comes out of them! It really has to be listened to as part of a system, and how much you like the job it does filling in the low bass for the mains you plan to buy. It's appearance is not entirely like a Borg cube, it's volume and cutoff control knobs are on one side along with the heatsink and ports, so it cannot sit in the middle of the room very well. But otherwise, I recommend it highly. 4.5 stars

I previously posted a review for the Paradigm LCR 350 and was temporarily using a loaner PS-1200 sub. I just recently purchased the Paradigm PDR-12 sub and love it! The bass is deep and fast! It works equally well with music and movies! Got it at Sound City in Manhattan and paid $365.00. Once again, thank you Paradigm! My system: 3 front speakers: Paradigm LCR-350's
Surround speakers: Paradigm Mini-Monitors Sub Woofer: Paradigm PDR-12

VERY STRONG AND LOW BASS

"CAN BREAK YOUR WINDOWS" :-)

This sub-woofer is something Amazing!

It is rated at only 100W rms, but due to vented construction it gives a very high SPL wich shakes the entire house (and neighbours as well...).

I can set the gain control no more than 25%, because my room has only 3m x 5m (9x15 feet). If I go beyond 25% the windows, furnitures, doors, etc, they all shake bad.

But always remember that the positioning of any sub in the room will determine its performance. One need try many positions before getting the best result.

The bass it gives is also very nice to hear (and feel) both in music and movies. Highly recommended! 5 STARS!

Incredibly powerful, clean bass for medium sized rooms. I have to say that it blows my old Bose AM10 passive sub away - COMPLETELY.
Excellent addition for any medium sized, mid-priced home theater budget.

I've been a very satisfied owner of Paradigm Monitor 3's for a few months now, though I always wished they'd have just a tad more bass. So I went to check out the PDR-12 at my local dealer to complete an all-Paradigm setup.

Perhaps it was just the model I listened to, but at loud (but nothing spectacular and certainly within the volume levels of a typical home theater) volume levels the sub bottomed out repeatedly. Not just distortion, but actual voice-coil-banging-against-the-backplate bottoming out. While this may be due to the fact that I was listening to very bass-rich tracks with lots of deep, true 30Hz tones is questionable. But still, to say I was surprised and disappointed is an understatement.

The bass put out by this unit was acceptable, but again nothing spectacular and certainly not the best for the price. I won't mention names, but others in the same price range sounded more musical and definitely hit much, much harder.

Overall, a decent sub for the price. Again, the problems I encountered might have just been this particular setup or sub, but I suggest auditioning this sub at realistic volume levels before buying.

Additional comments to my previous posting below

see below

My previous review dealt with this sub's exemplary perfomance in music. Yesterday i tried it for HT.
I played "Matrix" and "men in black" ... and man it again came out with flying colors. The pdr-12 shook the room with utmost ferocity ... delivering deep floor-shaking bass. The LFE sonic impact is stunning (This sub meshes perfectly well with my JBL northridge series N38 speakers).

This sub never ceases to amaze me ... brilliant performance in HT also.

Similar Products Used:

see below

Very musical. Generates prodigious amount of rich and tight bass ... not thumps but notes. Goes very deep. Economically priced.

Skimpy manual. Non-detachable grill. No phase switch. long auto switch-off time of 20 mts.

This sub should prove to be a delight for any lover of bass. I am primarily using it for music (Nakamichi RE-10 100watts per ch, Marantz CD-57 CD-player and JBL N38 speakers).

The bass generated is wow... tons of it. Pitch definition is excellent, no distortion, dosn't strain when volume is cranked up, no thrumming and the bass output is rich in quality and hence no listener's fatigue. The 12" driver, 2" voice coil, 110w high-current amp and 58L enclosure capacity helps the PDR-12 in pumping REAL, DEEP bass.

Bass is more than sufficient for my mid-size room and I think it should easily handle bigger size rooms with equal ease.

Placement of the sub took some time as there is no phase switch and I had to experiment with a number of positions before getting optimum base at the listening position.

The built quality is solid. Clean, clutter-free and cuboidal looks which is very appealing to the eyes.

On the whole a great buy, a quality and professional grade product from paradigm. ...So guys, I recommend you go and give this sub a listen and you won't be disappointed.

I love this sub !!!

Similar Products Used:

Aiwa

Price, Quality, Neutral Sound

None Found

I currently own a pair of Magnepan MMGs, which are a excellent pair of speakers and image quite well. The only thing they can't do very well is bass. So I decided to look for a subwoofer to blend with my Magnepans. This turned out to be a hard task unless you want to spend 1300 plus dollars on a subwoofer. I find this to be unreasonable for these speakers since I only bought them for $550 from the factory. So I have listened to just about every thing from 1200 to about 300 dollars. My main purpose for this sub was to be musical. I do about 80% music and 20% home theater. I started by looking at Klipsch sub woofers in specific their 12 and 15 inch models. These were a great disapointment. The sub in my opinion was booomy and mostly a distorted sound. Not very clean and accurate. In movies it was boomy and loud, but not low. It is disapointing seeing the pricetag on this item. Next was Definitive Tech. Defintive Tech was far superior to Klipsch, but was still too boomy and not accurate by any means. Next I tried my father's M&K MX-80 which uses the push-pull system. It sound very good, but it sounded very exagerated and slow on low noted and wasn't that great on anything beyond 50Hz. Then Velodyne was the next option. This was a huge disapointment. The Polk Audio model beat the Velodyne in how much for accurate and lower it could play. PSB and Sunfire were looking to be my final options and they both were disapointing. The Sunfire though very low and impressive for movies was very sloppy on music. The PSB was unpopwered and boomy for the money. As I was preparing to end my search and just forget it I went to Fred's Sound of Music. One of their sales people directed me to Paradigm and said it would be the best match for my Magnepans without going out and spending 1200 plus dollars. So I gave it is try and I'm gald I chose it. By far it is the most musical subwoofer I've heard in a while. It is very neutral sounding in the sense that it doesn't exaggerate certain frequences to the point where the lowere frequences are not even noticeable compared the the exaggerated frequences. Plus it is very fast and aggressive. As for home theater I have no problems with it. If anybody out there with a set of Magnepans wants a cheap but excellent subwoofer for their Magnepans then this is the sub for them. The tight and accurate bass is just what the doctor ordered when it comes to qualities required to blend with Magnepans speakers of any kind. I highly reccommend this subwoofer to anybody. This is the best bang for your buck by far compared to other subwoofers twice the price.

Similar Products Used:

M&K, Velodyne, Sunfire, PSB, Klipsch, Defintive Tech, Polk Audio

Very strong bass, Sounds great with music. Not overly picky about placement.

Front cover is not removeable, Has no high pass filter built in.

This is a great sub and i would recomend it to anyone . I dont like that it dont have a high pass filter built in. I use it for mostly music, and it sounds great. It sounds good in home theater as well, but if your primary purpose is movies, go with the ps series. If you are in the market for an all around high quality speaker, and dont have thousands to spend buy this and you wont be sorry. I have an older set of kenwood four way speakers with 15 inch woofers in them so i wasnt sure if a subwoofer with add much to my sound, but im really impressed to find out what i was missing. I love this speaker. I cant give it an overall rating of 5, because you cant take the front off
( I would love to see that cone move).

Similar Products Used:

Cheaper subs.(That sounded good , but didnt add that room shakeing bass)

Good low bass, very musical

No speaker outs, no phase switch

I have been wanting a sub-woofer for a long time but wanted to get the best bang for my buck. I listened to several including M&K, Velodyne and Klipsch. They all had their strengths but the best sub for my money was the Paradigm.
It may not be the loudest but it is very musical.
I play about 75% music to 25% movies. The Paradigm is perfect with my system. It gives the added bass that my Boston 1030s need. I really did not know what I was missing until I added this sub. I paid $400 and I feel it was well worth every penny. For those that don't want to spend a fortune, and still get a quality sub, this is the one.

Similar Products Used:

Boston Acoustics 1030s, Pinnacle surrounds