Customer Reviews

Klipsch XW-300d Premium Compact 8-Inch 270-Watt Subwoofer (480 Watts Dynamic Power)

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

 

 

This is one heck of a sub. It looks great, and is a small sleek design that tucks away nicely into a corner, or in my case underneath a table. This is great, because it's less a piece of furniture and more a sound producing device. Once I hooked it up, I was right away blown away by the power. It punches hard, but remained tight into the lowest of the lows, without resorting to that echo-y "trunk vibrating" bass that so many of us hear in cars. Even at low levels, it was enough to cause one of my windows to rattle a bit, causing me to caulk it a bit to stop the vibrations.

I was also impressed by the flexibility of the control menu on the top of the unit. A small screen will show volume levels, EQ, and personalized settings, with a simple intuitive 4-button input that does everything I need it to. It's nice being able to control the volume on the fly, and I appreciate being able to manage the EQ, although I prefer to leave mine on the "flat" setting. My only gripe is that it's located on the top, so that every time I want to adjust it, I have to pull it out from underneath the table, since there's very little clearance. I would have preferred it on the side. But knowing that it's compatible with universal remotes gives me some hope, in that once I eventually get one I can fully control this from the comfort of my man-throne.

This is without a doubt one of the better subs I have heard anywhere near the price it's going for now, and a very welcome addition to my HT experience. I would highly recommend this to anyone that wants big, tight sound from a tiny package. I had almost decided to go with their bigger 10-inch model, but given the sound coming from this little 8-inch wonder, I'm glad I kept it cheaper and smaller.

Great sounding, compact sub! Easy to use and install. I haven't even calibrated my system yet, but it is even better than I thought it would be. I'm not into the wall-shattering bass, so this is the tight, low and clean bass I like.

I purchased the Klipsch XW-300D subwoofer along with a whole theater room 7.1 surround system of klipsch icon speakers 18 months ago. They sounded FANTASTIC in my house... up until this last weekend. The subwoofer gave a few vibrating buzzes during some music and then cut out all together. For a subwoofer that was almost 800$ new after taxes... you expect it to last more than 18 months.

EDIT: Review edited because after another few hours on the phone with Klipsch they have agreed to send the replacement parts that I need to fix the subwoofer. It's a fantastic sounding subwoofer, particularly for its size, but it really should have lasted longer without needing repairs.

I'd certainly give it a 4 start just for sound alone if I had not had to spend most of a week in a run-around between some people saying that it should be covered by the warranty, and others saying that it shouldn't.

This sub sounds great with the right system. I paired this sub with the Klipsch Quintet 5's. These are satelite speakers which are great but they can't produce the mids/lows that big speakers can. This sub really picks up where the quintets leave off. Set up right they blend toghether well and sound great. I recommend this sub for a similar set up to mine. This sub would work for a larger speaker system but I would go for a 10" or 12" sub. I am very happy with this set up and recommend it for anyone who doesnt have room for floorstanding speakers or is on a budget. I definately prefer this to bose.

As I'll take this subwoofer abroad (I don't live in USA), size was an important factor in buying choices. I've searched for some other options like Polk PSW-111, Polk DSW MicroPro 1000/2000, Mirage MM-6 / MM-8, and others.

What I was searching for is sound quality above power, and it is what I've got. In addition, this subwoofer has a digital processor and some config options available on the subwoofer itself.

I didn't make the final setup yet, but some initial testing revealed the potential of this subwoofer. Sound was great even without any equalization, and it is very musical, not only the boom-boom we hear from another subwoofers (which are powerful, but one-note only).

And finally, it is very nice looking!

P.S.: I'm using 5 Polk VM-10's as sattelites and one Marantz NR1601 as a receiver.
P.S. 2: Very good deal, I've got it for about half the MSRP, brand new.

I bought this subwoofer to go with my new Klipsch icon x series center channel and sattelite speakers. This subwoofer is totally awesome. Read the expert reviews online and read the customer reviews on other Klipsch speakers sold on Amazon, like the Quintets for example. I bought this subwoofer when everyone on line had it for $699. I went to Best Buy and got it for $499. One of the semi-rare times that BB could beat Amazon. I did get an amazing deal on a pair of Klipsch xb-10 satellite speakers from amazon at $237.

Anyway, bottom line is that this subwoofer at this price is a steal and I can't see it lasting long. I would not hesitate and now wish (hindsight to so great) I could have waited til now to buy mine. Well actually the xb-10's are going for more now so I guess it all worked out in the wash.

Jeff Rogers

The bottom line is that this subwoofer, while small and capable, doesn't hit hard enough. It also is not for the plug-and-play set. I bought this subwoofer to replace a 10 year old 10" ported 150 watt Pioneer subwoofer that quit on me (it did have a decent BASH amp in it). I hooked it up to my Pioneer Elite SC-05 receiver, without calibration, and began to watch the desert battle scene in Transformers 2 and it sounded muddy and boomy. I watched the opening fight scene and got the same reaction. I moved on to scenes in Iron Man 2, then Dark Knight, and all sounded pretty bad. Before ruling it out, I ran my receiver through it's auto-calibration (MCACC). There were drastic improvements to the quality of the performance, particularly during Dark Knight scenes (great mixing done on that film). HOWEVER, the desert fight scene in Transformers 2 continued to disappoint. While sounding more cohesive than before, with respectable bass, it lacks the wall-shaking power of a larger ported sub. Same goes for music. If you're listening to Black Eyed Peas, for example, you'll be left wondering where the BOOM BOOM POW is. I haven't decided if I'm going to keep it yet, as it was still a great price, but if you're looking for more thump then look elsewhere.

...if it didn't fail the very day BB was about to sell me their floor model at a discount. This comes as little surprise to me, though, as I've experienced a history of short-lived Klipsch subwoofers, of the 5.1 Pro Media kind. I'm going to take this as just another omen that I should never again buy Klipsch products, as much as I want to, and will likely stick with Def Tech or another brand like HSU. I gave it 3 stars, because when they work they do sound nice, but I had to knock a couple off for reliability issues.