Klipsch RW-12D 12" Subwoofer (Each)

by Klipsch

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 21 x 14.5 x 19 inches ; 49 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 53.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• ASIN: B000UVWIO0
• Item model number: RW-12d
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,125 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
  • #12 in Electronics > Home Audio & Theater > Stereo Components > Speakers > Subwoofers
• Date first available at Amazon.com: April 18, 2005

Product Description

Capturing all the sonic excitement of low-frequency effects, the Reference Series RW-12d Digitally Controlled Subwoofer (DCS) delivers rock-solid performances. With its class-leading technology and superior design, this hard-hitter perfectly rounds out a home theater or two-channel stereo music system.

The RW-12d shakes things up by employing a 12-inch front-firing Cerametallic woofer and a 340-watt RMS amplifier. Exclusive Corner Port Technology allows the subwoofer's port tube to be as long as possible without bending, minimizing turbulence that can cause port noise and distortion. It also allows the enclosure to be tuned to a lower frequency than would otherwise be possible to create deeper bass from a smaller cabinet. Another important element is a corner-shaped flange at the port's internal opening, which amplifies the benefits of a longer port.

For quick and easy adjustment of all functions, the RW-12d features the DCS digital user-interface that includes three equalization modes (flat, depth, and punch) and three user-adjustable presets (music, movie and night) to create specific listening preferences. Inputs L/R Line-level RCA jacks, L/R High-level speaker binding posts DCS control and feature set w/ 3 system presets Voltage 110/120 VAC 60Hz Export Voltage 220 VAC 50/60Hz Unit Dimensions - 19.2 H x 14.6 W x 21 D, Weight - 49lbs.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best bang for your buck! -an average Joe review, January 29, 2011

By 

R. Samanas "Coffee Addict" (NW Indiana, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Klipsch RW-12D 12" Subwoofer (Each) (Electronics)

First off, I appreciate the lengths that the first reviewer went to in creating thee most thorough and informative review I've ever read. While I'm sure the author was being serious during all of that, in the end I couldn't help but giggle thinking of a scene from "Good Morning Vietnam"

"Excuse me sir. Seeing as how the VP is such a VIP, shouldn't we keep the PC on
the QT, because if it leaks to the VC, you could end up an MIA, and then we'd
all be put on KP." -Robin Willams as Adrian Cronauer

Average Joe Citizen, you are not alone my friend. My review will contain nothing more than my humble opinion written in plain english. Reading it will not require an instruction manual to understand what I am saying.

So here's my review of the Klipsch RW-12d:

I spent at least six months shopping around, reading reviews, pondering, listening to different products, and this is the one that spoke to me. Yeah, the price was more than I wanted to spend, but it was well worth it. I wanted something that was smooth and clean, but powerful enough to punch me right in the chest, and that's exactly what I got!

I'm going skip all the little intimate details as far as quoting specs, Hz, etc., and get straight to what you really wanna know:

Music: I kid you not when I say I am discovering a whole new dimension to the music I've been listening to all my life. I listen to everything from Mozart to Marilyn Manson, and it all sounded (and felt) awesome... even pipe organs sounded perfect. It doesn't overload the room with big boomy bass all the time. The sound is subtle and smooth... and when its time to hit hard, its solid, powerful, and clean.

Movies/Games: The smooth, subtle, yet powerful cleanliness I mentioned above is also the case with movies and games. I played a little Call of Duty on my Playstation. Forget the vibrating controller! Who needs it! I found myself running for cover as if grenades were actually exploding in my living room. Just to test the thing out, I put in Transformers 2 and cranked it up. Explosions are AWESOME. My entire house shakes. I'm not talking just a rumble in my seat. I mean the floor moves up and down, and things like pictures and knick-knacks fall. I turned it all the way up and went outside just to make sure I was pissing off the neighbors, and my mailbox out at the road was vibrating. THAT was EXACTLY what I was looking for in a subwoofer!

Controls: The controls on the unit are simple to use and almost completely self explanatory. I'm not going to tell you what levels of what sounds best. It's all about what YOU, the listener prefers. Play around with it until it sounds good! I am no rocket scientist, and it only took me about 2 minutes to figure it all out.

Clarity overall was what I wanted the most, and the RW-12d has it. I am a very picky guy who will waste as much time as it takes searching for exactly what I want, and I absolutely do not stop until I get it. Forget all the crap you find at all the big box stores. This is the one. This sub may be a bit on the pricey side for the average Joe, but trust me... as soon as you feed your head with the ear candy this baby produces, you'll forget all about what you paid for it.

On a side note about subwoofer cables... I refused to pay upwards of $100 for the 35 feet of cable I needed. Do yourself a favor, look into regular shielded coax. After examining all options, I decided to go with Monoprice.com and buy the 35 ft. shielded coax for 9 bucks. Yes, I said NINE DOLLARS! I figured, what the hell.. it's worth trying for $9, right? Totally worth it. But coax? I know, I didn't believe it at first either. Despite not being "THX Certified" or some other gold-plated gimmick, magnetically shielded in pure bullcrap, my 9 dollar cable worked just fine. I ran the cable up through the attic amongst a mess of other various wires. There is no humming noise or signal loss. I do have a shorter top-of-the-line cable that I tried, and the sound was identical. I guess if coax is good enough for an HDTV signal to make the 18 mile trip from the cable company, I'm sure its more than capable of carrying a subwoofer signal across my living room.

Anyway, Great subwoofer! I am definitely impressed and I'm sure you will be too. If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up.

-Ryan

61 of 73 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally got it right, after an entire stores top-tier selection was exhausted, now very happy., November 13, 2010

By 

B.Taylor III "B. Taylor III" (Wiesbaden, Hessen Germany) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Klipsch RW-12D 12" Subwoofer (Each) (Electronics)

First off, I puchased this LFE from NFM and this is one of their top-tier Subwoofers. I was foremost interested in a sealed sub, and is what I asked for. Their sales people are not really that knowledgable, I did most of the talking via phone after as many returns as I had.

When purchasing a LFE the important thing to look for is ported/sealed, Frequency response, and RMS. Ported or sealed is a user preference. For Frequency response anything below 16 is not nessasary, and 16hz up to 25hz the sound is felt not heard. High RMS wattage will sound louder and reproduce the sound cleaner, if the Subwoofer is rated at a lower if not equal RMS.

Definitions:

1. LFE= Low Frequency Emmitter (HF is High Frequency)
2. Enclosure= Box the subwoffer is set in.
3. Subwoofer= LFE speaker
4. RMS= Root Means Square, constant wattage a speaker will receive at any time
5. Peak= Maximum wattage a speaker will receive, simply a burst of wattage at a given moment
6. SVC= Single Voice Coil
7. SPL= Sound Pressure Level, yes sound does have pressure and as descibels increase so will pressure.
8. Equilizer= a digital or analog device that incorperates crossovers to filter and adjust sound at the given amplifier.

To start:
This Enclosure is ported (This one is done right!) and atractive, and is very deceptive due to it's design. The port fires at a 60-45 degree angle downward in the direction of the Subwoofer, and was also tuned to the enclosure (and speaker). Unlike many brand x designs that fill the port with a generic plastic tube this one actually works as intended. I feel this is a good woofer for a medium to large room. (mine is 24'x 14'x 8') I think for a Small room I'd go with the 10".

Like the previous rater/reviewer I went through a few LFE that I purchased within days of each other. Follows a "Goldylocks and the 3 bears" search for a LFE, for the sake of time and simplicity I'll leave it at that.

To the quality and function, first I own a Onkyo tx-sr706 receiver and I enable a HF cutoff @ 90hz for the LFE channel. For older receivers without a LFE pre-out or HF cut-off, the unit has a digital crossover that will do this if enabled. The Enclosure is almost 2 feet tall (this LFE is almost a coffee table) the unit is about 2 feet in lenght and roughly 16 inches wide. The controls for the sub are simple to use and are backlit for use in a dark room, and located on top. I have kids, the 2 year old especially, notices the light momentarily come on when it receives a LFE signal and wakes from standby. The 2 yearold wants to investigate this light and thinks it's a toy, oooh lights! This is one of those minute things that I would design differently, maybe a cover/lid. The back of the unit has a 4 post out (2r 2b), stereo coaxial in, and an IR receptor for universal remotes.

I have cracked this "egg" open and the internal bracing is very acceptible, the wiring is a thick guauge wire, 12-14 guage with spade connectors at the speaker. The amp uses 340watt RMS (850w peak) BASH Amp which is an amp design that Klipsch uses, as they hand make it. This internal amp is more than enough power to drive the SVC 12 inch subwoofer.

Klipsch has excellent customer service and is a very reliable company and product(built in the USA by experts that have been doing this for many years)

For those that are designing a home theater do your self a favor, do not use this on a hard floor and/or in an empty room and expect it to sound awesome. The ideal room is rectangular and carpeted. Any negitive reviews would lead me to believe that reviewer is inept, and should just stick to a HTIB and nothing else. Putting the this in a Highly reflective(hard surfaces) enviroment or room increases the amount of Standing/canceling waves. Leaving the listener fatigued or worn out because as musical moments are canceled by negating soundwaves that leave the listener with Sound pressure for the listener's ears. LFE's are suppose to be warm and richen music and movie soundtracks.

For starters, I do not recommend turning the LFE's amp volume up past -5 to increase the bass response(mine is -8, still shakes the 1600sqft house). The sub is producing a sound that is in-audible and it won't get any louder by turning it up. Second Flatten the LFE's built in Amp, using the receiver's pre-amp settings to adjust the sound, by going into the equillizer menu add volume to the 25hz, 40hz, and 60hz range till the sound is warm(+2,+1,+1,0,-1 works for my room). Move the Enclosure around in the room until it sound's right to you, lastly LFE's produce a soundwave that is omni-directional so placement is not a set in stone. There are people that say that up against a wall increases the sound, but that is based off of Bass-reflex (ported enclosure) principle, and isn't as applicable to this unit because the port fires at an angle to the ground. This enclosure is by design and function on a different level than most low-end crap and higher reference LFE's I have owned.

Bottom line, I feel that the price is high, but "that keeps the riff-raff from owning it." No really, truth is you are paying for someones expertise and handwork, not just the name like _ _ _ _. It is a awesome LFE when setup the right way, the average to enthusiast listener would be happy or impressed with the sound. This LFE complements my 5 speaker HT setup: Yamaha NS-777 3-Way Bass Reflex Tower Speaker(Bi-amped),Yamaha NS-333 2-Way Bass Reflex Bookshelf Speaker (Pair), and Yamaha NS-C444 2-Way Center Channel Speaker. A complete Klipsch setup is not necessary, However, they are designed to work seemlessly together. The different speakers need to be tuned to match crossover points and the room, as would be true with all speakers to include Klipsch's. There are other LFE's that come to mind but this one shines in most HT settings without spending more money than necesary. If purchasing this by Amazon the packaging appeared to be more than adaquate so rest assured, it should be delivered without damage. It is cumbersome and slightly heavy. Yet I have never had a hind-sight moment with this LFE.

Thanks for reading I know it is kind of exhaustive as well. I hope it was informinative as well. Enjoy which ever LFE you choose! By the way THX is just a standard and there are cables that exceed thx certification and and sound the same as ones that don't meet those certifications. I have a set of Belkin PureAV AV50500-25 25-Foot Subwoofer Audio Cable with zero interference issues that I compaired to a Monster M-series 850 Sub cable and there is no difference.

edit 10:00pm 11-13-10 added links and paragraph continuity fixed.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best Sub I've heard., January 7, 2011

By 

Charlie Millthorpe - See all my reviews

This review is from: Klipsch RW-12D 12" Subwoofer (Each) (Electronics)

To start, I must admit that I can't outdo the previous review. All I can add is that this the best subwoofer I've ever experienced. Since the price has come down, it is truly a bargain. The bass is smooth and refined. It blends with my other speakers and doesn't produce that crude booming sound that I've heard from other subs. From Klipsch Forum advice, I wired it with a single wire coming from the "Sub out" connection on my Harman Kardon AVR 3600. This is real audiophile equipment at a bargain price. In the past, I paid just as much for a low end HSU Sub which doesn't come close to matching the Klipsch sound.