Customer Reviews

Infinity Powered 12IN Subwoofer 400 Watt

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I purchased this subwoofer in 2007, and it died a year later, nearly to the day. I blame myself, really - when I was thinking about buying it, I read reviews, just about all of which said that it had excellent sound. That was true. What I didn't read at the time was all the complaints. Turns out that the PS12 and PS10 amplifier modules are notorious for failing around a year after first turn-on. In my case, I pulled the screws and yanked the amplifier module. Soot is everywhere. I honestly can't see exactly what failed, though it looks like an area under one of the inductors was involved in a flashover of some sort. In fact, about a one-square-inch chunk of circuit board is actually eaten away from this failure. Now, I'm handy with a soldering iron, but this is clearly unfixable, since a large area of the surface traces are destroyed. At least they had the sense to install an internal fuse - without that, this failure might have burned down my house. $300 for one year of use and the potential for a life-changing fire; you do the math. Anyway, I just bought a Cadence CSX-12 to replace this dog. Do your research, not just for audiophile reviews, but also for complaints!

built solid and tough. packs enough power to get the house shaking and wake the neighbors. very low, tight and undistorted bass. i paid 288 for this baby and i don't know how you can beat it for that price?

I recently heard a performance of Saint-Saens's Organ Symphony at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco, which features a 9000-pipe Ruffatti organ. The very low organ notes are an essential part of the music. When I got home, my recorded version just did not satisfy anymore. I suspected my old subwoofer (Yamaha SW215) was not quite up to the job. It never really seemed to add a lot of range to my main (Bose) speakers (though it gave more control over the bass response) and I thought I needed something that moves more air. The Infinity does the trick. It is considerably larger, which caused me some problems positioning it in the room appropriately, but I guess that comes with the extended bass response. I am also discovering some richness in the bass in movies and other music that I did not miss previously, but enjoy now. Nothing against the Yamaha, which I used happily for two years, but I guess size does matter in some things.

**I have had this sub for 3 years, and it is still pumping out bass that makes my heart thump.**

I am a big time audiophile. So I did a lot of research when I was piecing together my home theater. Here are a couple of lil things I thought you might find helpful:

The wattage is got to match the weight of the speaker. This is a bit of old school science. However, I think it still hold very true for subwoofers. You see a lot of the subwoofers on the market now days advertising 300 watt, 400 watt, or higher, but the sub itself only weighs as much as a center speaker. When you get them home, you wonder why you have so much distortion and rumbling in the sound. The bass it produces sounds very stressed because the sub is stressed from under powering. So when I got this 400 Watt continuous beast, it weighted like a beast too. When listening to bass test or action films, I did not notice any distortion. The subwoofer did not over heat after playing two hours of movie. And the sound was not rumbling, it is the room and the audience that was rumbling.

The construction of this speaker is absolutely solid. I knew it was gonna last after I saw it. This monster being the beast it is takes a bit space. It is Not something you can hide. For those people who are concerned with the placement of the subwoofer in their speaker arrangements, it really does not matter where you put this thing, the bass will get to you, the next room, upstairs, downstairs, your window, your fridge, pretty much anything that shares an attachment to the floor you have the sub on. So you can put it wherever you want. The range of frequency is probably the 2nd most impressive thing about this speaker, next to its power. It really makes your movie watching experience more complete. With its impressive low range, you hear things you have never heard before. This speaker makes you hear more "3D." There is also a lot of verstility in the controls. (normal/reverse, passover, output level and most importantly, cross over frequency.)

Last but not the least, the sound this thing produces is clear, full, never humble, vibrant, and every hit of the bass feels like a Tyson knockout.

Like I said in the beginning, I have had this thing for 3 years, and it still performs like day 1. I strongly recommend it.

I've auditioned the Energy ESW-V10, Polk Audio PSW12, Velodyne "###" , Paradigm "###", and Klipsch KSW12 subwoofers a few years ago. Energy was the best of all and wanted to buy the Energy ESW-V10 to replace my old Dahlquist PDQ-XII, but I accidently bought the Infinity PS212 for the heck of it even without audition it (what an idiot). After listening to it for couple days, I give it 5 star for now, and I'll wait for a few more months after break in period, then I may change the rating again.
Pro
1) Heavy and solid built
2) Tight bass, more power than what I needed. The whole house was shaking when I crank up my Marantz ZR6001 to db -6. Its bass match up with my Energy Connoisour C-5 very well.
3) nice looking design
4) One of the the best user manual with short and clear explaining how to set it up. I've been using powered subwoofer for a while and didn't know that I made a minor wrong connection to my old subwoofer until I see the Infinity PS212 instruction. All of the other electronic manufacturers should learn from this.
5) Respond to the music and movie sountrac (Lord of the Ring - The return of the King) very well, way much better than my old Dahlquist PDQ-XII.

Cons: Well not yet, but I hate to see it when it says "MADE IN CHINA" :( . Isn't there anything made in America nowaday?? besides the newspaper? :)

One thing I want to add that setting the Subwoofer is one of the most difficult task ever. There are many different ideas of how to set up the LFE and volumn on the internet and you won't ever find the same answer. For me, I set my receiver LFE at 80Hz, SW level at -5db on the receiver, and my subwoofer volumn right in the middle, and LFE at 80Hz. I found out that this is the best for my system.

So far, I'm not regretting buying this Infinity ( I did in the past for the Infinity PS8 - piece of junk), but I still want to buy the Energy ESW-V10. If I have a chance to choose again, I would buy the Energy ESW-V10 in a heart beat even it costs a few hundred bucks more.

Update: Cons - Annoying thumping noise during speech, I still study to see what is going on. I removed 1 star because of that.

I love this subwoofer. It is worth every penny. First night I tried it out with Terminator 2 and created an earthquake in my house. Things literally shook in my house with the explosions. I think of this as a higher end subwoofer. Probably could by one comparable in a store for twice as much. The bass from this thing makes movies much more realistic, very intense. And I only have it turned up half way!. I replaced a sony 10" 100W sub with this one, that one would distort at any big sounds in movies, whereas this one just reproduces the sounds and doesn't bottom out. It is incredible.

I was shopping Velodyne subs for months when I came across this guy with approximately the same specs as the $1000 Velodyne at only $300. It seemed too good to be true, but I got a chance to hear them side-by-side at a Fry's Electronics. I just couldn't see any excuse for the $700 price difference, this speaker is a monster with pure and accurate sound. Playing GTA4 at home, it gave not only the sound, but the actual FEEL of being on a busy street. Watching blu-ray movies, the sense of movement of the sound source is astounding... I frequently find myself feeling the impulse to dodge oncoming vehicles because the sound feels so real. This product is an absolute steal at this price.

this sub is absolutely amazing. i have a very large living room and worried if this sub would fill it and give great sound. no question this one has the power and quality to fill even a very large room and give great quality sound. i have it matched with 2 beta50's and a beta C360 and together they sound fantastic. it's hard to beat for the money, i found it for about $199 on amazon. i originally wanted the sw12 but at $399 i felt this one would be fine. i was right, the 400watts is plenty and i guarantee you won't be disappointed.

Great sub for an even better price. The PS-212 definitely is has enough sound to fill the whole house. I only have it turned up half way and little over half on the receiver and it sounds awesome. Any louder knocks stuff off the walls! (It really does, my wife got mad at me for it!) I researched long and hard, in fact I looked at subs for over two years.

Buy it, and ENJOY IT!!!

I replaced an old 8" no-name subwoofer and initially was worried that the Infinity would either not make much of a difference, or be way too powerful. In fact it is perfect in every way I had hoped. The bass is excellent, and the volume knob gives you a great range of control (my old subwoofer didn't have such control) to give you exactly the bass you are looking for. If you want extra punch to an action movie, you've got it. If you want to help knock your neighbor's house down, you can do that too. You can't go wrong with this sub.