Customer Reviews

JBL Venue Series SUB12 12-Inch 500-Watt Subwoofer

5 star:		(58)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Recently I built myself a new home theater system.

My System:
Receiver: Denon 887 (really like this receiver... wish it was a bit more powerful, but still great)

Speakers:
Front Left/Right:
JBL E80 (Black Ash) 3-Way, Dual 6-Inch Floorstanding Loudspeaker
Maximum Recommended Amplifier Power 200 Watts
Power Handling (Continuous/Peak) 100 Watts/400 Watts
Impedance 8 Ohms nominal
Sensitivity (2.83V/1m) 91dB
Frequency Response (-3dB) 38Hz - 20kHz
Crossover Frequencies 300Hz, 4000Hz

Center:
JBL EC35 3-Way Dual 5-Inch Center Channel Loudspeaker
Maximum Recommended Amplifier Power 150 Watts
Power Handling (Continuous/Peak) 75 Watts/300 Watts
Sensitivity (2.83V/1m) 91dB
Frequency Response (-3dB) 75Hz - 20kHz
Crossover Frequencies 800Hz, 3200Hz

4 surround speakers (2 on sides, 2 on back)
JBL E10 2-Way, 4-Inch Wall-Mount/Bookshelf Speakers
Maximum Recommended Amplifier Power 100 Watts
Power Handling (Continuous/Peak) 50 Watts/200 Watts
Sensitivity (2.83V/1m) 86dB
Frequency Response (-3dB) 75Hz - 20kHz
Crossover Frequency 2000Hz

Subwoofer:
JBL SUB 12 12" (300mm) Powered Subwoofer With 300-Watt Amplifier
Amplifier Power (RMS) 250 Watts
Peak Dynamic Power 500 Watts
Low-Pass Frequency Variable from 50Hz to 150Hz
Frequency Response 25Hz - Low-pass crossover setting


Subwoofer review:
The first thing you notice when the box shows up on your door is that it's very big. The cabinet feels very well constructed. The look of the face (with the cover removed) is a fo-carbin fiber look. Everything about this feels well made.

My pervious `home theater' had been a $250 system in a box (receiver, speakers, and sub). That old system had an 8 inch sub that was probably <100 watt... yet put out a lot of sound.

When I first attached this sub to my new system, I was a little surprised / disappointed (out of my own ignorance). My old sub felt louder. The probably turned out to be with what my perception of a sub was.

My cheap older sub was not really capable of delivering true lows, and was more of a low/mid range speaker and because of this, it sounded louder (because it put out sound in our audible frequency range) .

Now to my Sub-12. Once I researched what a sub should do, and then sat next to it and watched it work, it dawned on me that I was not supposed to hear a sub as `loud', but rather, I was supposed to FEEL the sub... and at this, the sub12 excels.

I had to tweak the crossover frequencies on my receiver, so it would pump the frequency range that my old cheap sub could handle through my new front tower speakers (because they could go lower then the old sub), and then let the sub12 do what it does best, Low lows < 50 hz.

Now that I have come to understand what a true sub should be, I could not be happier. The base is clean and tight... but not boomy. This sub matches perfectly with my other JBL speakers... I don't even realize it's there unless I get in front of it and feel the air displacement.

Great buy, great value, highly recommended.

I highly recommend this sub to anyone looking for a great value in home theater. I did so much research and reading before buying this Venue 12, and had almost talked myself out of getting it because of some saying that 'if you can't spend X amount then don't even bother', and the X amount just kept getting higher and higher. I wound up moving my older JBL PB10 into my computer room to anchor my upgraded computer sound system and put the new Venue 12 in the living room with my 'big' system. The 10 inch sub was great and very solid for what I paid for it, but the 12 has more depth and definition. I think that there is an effortless quality to the sound that a 12 inch or bigger driver can reproduce that a 10 inch just can't. Big solid sound, and I don't feel like I was extravagant with the purchase.

The Venue 12, like my older PB10, feels well made and solid. I especially like the feet on it, as they are big and heavy and 'rubbery' and help it sit very stably on my uneven hardwood floor. The controls and jacks feel very smooth and solid when making connections. To me, the design and build quality makes it feel like an inexpensive model from a high end manufacturer, rather than a top-end model from a cheap one.

I ordered this sub because my my original was damaged in a flood, I was upset about the flood damage and didnt realize when I ordered that this was a 12 inch speaker instead of the 10 inch I had. The 10 inch compared to this is a toy! I'm so glad I ordered this, although when I first received it, it gave me pause, because its so big. But the sound is so amazing I dont care. Movies always sounded okay with the old sub, but I hated the way music sounded. Now the music is full and dynamic, and you dont notice the separation between the low and high frequencies anymore, solid sound, punchy and deep.

This JBL 12" subwoofer is a fine product, and a great value when purchased through Amazon. The price was about 40% lower compared to what they were asking for it at Best Buy, all I had to do was wait a few days for it to arrive. Plus there is no additional cost for sales tax, which where I live is nearly 8%. This pushes my total savings up to 48%, nearly half price! There was no additional cost for shipping, either. This was my first Amazon shopping experience, and I'm quite satisfied. I may continue to shop at Best Buy, but I doubt I will purchase from them anymore when I can get the exact same thing on Amazon for so much less. Best Buy: $430(price) + $34(tax) = $464(total). I paid $240 total for the exact same thing new-in-the-box from Amazon. Heck, if you really insist on spending that much then get 2 from Amazon instead of 1 from Best Buy and have twice the power to annoy your neighbors!

This is a very good sounding sub for the price. I compared others at higher prices and liked how this produced a full range to compliment the other speakers. It fills a 1500 sq ft room with cathedral ceiling very well. I would buy another.

Very satisfied with my new 500-watt sub. My advice to all you home theatre audiophiles...........never purchase a new subwoofer below 400 watts and a 10 inch cone. Five hundred watts with a 12-inch amplifier cone means longevity and no required fuses. I sincerely recommend this subwoofer to everybody. The price was especially satisfying. This is a $700.00 subwoofer but purchased it (brand new) for $248.00!

Amazon is my #1 online vendor.

Looks good and sounds good. Very good for the price I paid ($209.88).I would say 5 stars for that price. I do not think it could be beat for for the price. I have the JBL Venue 250 watt subwoofer also. The 500 watt one is bigger and louder. I use the 500 in front and 250 in back with a surround sound system, it sounds great. The price I paid for the JBL Venue 500 watt subwoofer ($209.88) was listed as 51% off.

I started out reading a lot of different reviews, and as usual they made me less sure of my decision than when I had started. I was trying to decide between the 10" JBL and the 10" Klipsch as both are pretty similar spec, and sound very much the same. I checked out Amazon, who had the 12" JBL on special, which is pretty much what made my mind up for me. $179 with free shipping! A lot better than what I was looking at paying. It took exactly 1 week to arrive and I could not be happier with it. Bass is very responsive, wasn't too sure what to expect as running some large floorspeakers which could handle down to 35hz, but what it has done is free up the mid's to deliver a clearer more defined sound, with a much lower and more controlled bass. The JBL fits in perfectly and is very easy to setup. I wasn't sure what to expect with the silver/grey grill but I don't have any complaints, and the down firing port means I can have it up close to the wall. I am running at just over half volume and you really can feel the bass, makes my DVD experience come to life. Would recommend to anyone.

I had to get this sub to replace a Klipsch monster. I do not have the same amount of money to throw around like I used to. But I needed a new sub. I decided on this one because of the reviews ,size and watts of this sub. Oh yeah and the incredibly reasonable price. I was expecting decent but not exceptional performance. I can say with no hesitation. I was more than pleasantly surprised. It sounds great. It pounds when needed. What impressed me the most is when the volume is turned down (that is when the wife yells at me to turn it down.) It still delivers a good punch without washing out the mids and highs of my system. Bottom line you you would be hard pressed to find a better sub for the price. I thought I was going to be disappointed going from my Klipsch to this. I am not and would recommend it to a friend.

I bought this contraption in spite that I had been reluctant to the inclusion of a sub in my stereo system for many years. But my amp was running out of juice for the bass I demanded for the music I listen to ( heavy metal, hardcore, crossover and punk). I really didn't have the notions of how it worked/how to set/hook it up right and man was I wrong !!!

This was the ticket to perfection, and the best bang for the buck ! It's like I'd added 250 more watts to my amp and traded my main speakers for much bigger/efficient ones, only 1000 times better and more accurate, for a fraction of the cost to boot !!!

Its front-firing, floor-ported design makes it ideal for music listening in that you don't need the floor to ¨shake¨ that much as you would in an HT system (floor doesn't shake at concerts) making it more nighbour-friendly and less critical to position it (ideal, corner location is OK ONLY if you're gonna cross it over at the lowest, 50 hz setting, otherwise it might become very directional).

The design is OK ; it's a huge box with an silver grille that won't blend in with any decor or another brand of speakers and makes it look like a radiator stove but personally I could'nt care less about it. Without the grille things are different; the front is a nice fake carbon-fiber fascia with a grey polyplas speaker cone..

Sound is tight, deep, accurate and powerful enough to meet my demands in a 12 X 12, high ceiling, semi-hard room (no drapes, wooden floor, lotsa wood on the walls). Great connectivity but I really could have used the volume knob located elsewhere but at the back of the thing where it is on almost every sub but that's just me.

Get the Klipsch 300 watts Synergy sub for your HT system, it's a huge improvement over this one and a much better and efficient all-terrain subwoofer at not that much more money.