Customer Reviews

Boston Acoustics Classic Series CPS12Wi Wireless Ready Powered Woofer (Black)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've been beating on this thing for a few days so now it's time for a quick review. I replaced a Boston CS Sub10 with this one and could not be happier. It has great power at 400 watts rms (850 peak). The bass is deep , rich and smooth with no audible port noise which is a plus. This must be due to the heavy magnet structure, tight spider and stiff woofer cone. The woofer also has a high roll surround for long excursion. It has the kind of bass you can feel as well as hear. I have it paired with the rest of the Boston CS line which includes 2 CS 226's, 1 CS 225C and 4 CS 26's for a 7.1 system. It is all being pushed by an Onkyo 806 at 135W x 7 and it has no trouble keeping up at all. The CS Sub10 kept bottoming out cause it couldn't keep up hence the replacement. Those of you who have heard a sub bottom out know what I'm talking about cause it will drive you nuts. I look at other subs but decided to stick with Boston CS line because timbre matching is an important aspect of a great system. It will create a more balanced sound because the tonal chacteristics of the speakers are the same. Overall, I'm very happy with this sub and I only wish I had done it sooner.

I've had a lot more expensive subs that didn't sound as good.

As luck would have it, when the subwoofer arrived, it was DOA. As a techie, I realize that even the best companies occasionally ship a defective product and I have always had good luck with BA, so I wasn't too concerned. I called OneCall and they immediately sent out a replacement and I cross-shipped the defect back to them. The second unit worked exactly as expected... well, up to a point.

When I was setting up my Denon THX Receiver for the new subwoofer, the subwoofer limiter procedure requires the receiver to output a difficult-to-reproduce tone to the subwoofer and you have to turn up the volume in steps, till you hear the first signs of distortion and then back it down one notch. This keeps the receiver from over-driving the sub. The problem derives from the fact that you need to be in the same room with the subwoofer, when doing this, so you can hear when distortion begins. The problem with that is that if you're in the same room, the CPS12Wi subwoofer will do a pretty good job of re-arranging your intestines and other organs, before distortion begins. Focusing on the TV screen can also become problematic, while performing this setup, as your eyeballs will be bouncing around in your head. Neighbors were calling the TV stations to report an earthquake.

OK. I may have exaggerated slightly. But I have had a number of high-end subs over the years - all costing a lot more than this one - and this one stands up respectably against all of them and better than most. BA hit this one out of the park. And if you're going to use it on a THX system, you really should be prepared to have it rattle your teeth, when setting up the subwoofer limiter.

I chose it primarily for the uniformly high reviews that it gets. Now I understand why it gets such uniformly good reviews. It really is an intestine re-arranger and it does it without booming or rattling. I bought it for a smaller home theater room than the room it now occupies. For the time being, it's in a two-story family room that I would have expected to be too large for a 12 inch sub. I was wrong. Certainly, this room pushes the limits of the CPS12Wi, but it comes through in style. The problem that occurs when a sub is too small for a room is that when you get the volume up to where the softer bass lines are the right volume, the prominent bass booms. This problem is not evident with this unit, though that could be partially the result of the THX receiver knowing the size of the room. But whatever the reason, I'm pleasantly surprised.

The Lord of the Rings - Two Towers scene, where Gandalf faces the balroc in the cave can make you feel each step of the balroc. Six Days and Seven Nights has a great bass line throughout and it sounds awesome throughout - particularly the thunderstorm and crash scene. As for music, I have tried it with Jeff Wayne and Richard Burton's War of the World's album and it handled that very wide range of bass volumes and tones very well. It also performed well on Harry Connick's "Lofty's Roach Souffle" album and Dave Grusin's "The Gershwin Connection", both of which have a rather prominent double bass fiddle, both bowed and pizzicato.

Oh, yes. I almost forgot. I am using it wired, rather than wireless and I am using the subwoofer pre-amp out, from the Denon receiver. I also have it set to never power down, since there is either movie sound or music being played 24x7 on this system. In fact, the availability of the the switch to keep it on all the time, was another of my reasons for purchasing the CPS12Wi.

. Build Quality: 5
Sound Quality: 5
. . . . . . Price: 5
. . Value for $: 5

BTW, I almost never rate anything 5-stars, across the board. The Boston Acoustics CPS12Wi is a very pleasant exception.

I bought this sub about 4 or five months ago and just like another reviewer in here i also replaced a CS 10sub, the speakers are the CS 225, CS 226 towers and CS 26 surround and my receiver is Denon avr 889. In anything in life you are as good as your weakest link and thats just what the CS 10sub was to my setup, so as soon as my CPS 12wi was delivered I hooked it up and let me tell you that this sub brought all this other equipment to life, no more bottoming out or distortion just pure clean raw power, this thing is a monster.
My wife hates it and loves it at the same time ha ha, she said this thing is going in my house but after she had a taste she didnt say a peep, poor woman she doesn't know soon I'll have a second one coming.
And I would strongly recomend this sub to anyone and enjoy.