32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
KSW-10, musical, balanced and great for small rooms
Of course the 55-watt RMS output (225 peak) and 10 driver of the KSW-10 is best suited for smaller rooms and mid-fi systems. I found it balanced well with my JBL Control 5 with the crossover set at about 50-60 Hz, taking over only the lowest tones. In fact, it was nearly "invisible" until you turned it off and missed the little bit of lower end support it offered. I'd...
45 of 71 people found the following review helpful:
All Boom, little bass.
I listened to this subwoofer today in a high-end audio shop and I agree this thing is a bit slow on the response and overly boomy without much definition. It's very heavy on bass, but the overtones are excessive, which might lend themselves to bass-heavy rap music and movies, but for anyone interested in crisp full-frequency music reproduction, this is not the subwoofer...
Of course the 55-watt RMS output (225 peak) and 10 driver of the KSW-10 is best suited for smaller rooms and mid-fi systems. I found it balanced well with my JBL Control 5 with the crossover set at about 50-60 Hz, taking over only the lowest tones. In fact, it was nearly "invisible" until you turned it off and missed the little bit of lower end support it offered. I'd describe it as balanced, natural and musical. However, if you're into boom-boom over EQed kickdrum look elsewhere. If your system has only mono sub out, be sure to use a Y-adapter as a single channel input yields extremely weak bass.
The bottomline is the KSW-10 is great for natural bass reinforcement, excelling at music. For shoot 'em up movies it's okay but you won't "feel" earthquakes, etc., in the seat of your pants like a 1000 watt Sunfire True Subwoofer. The KSW-10 is a great buy for the money, often discounted to $200 or less.
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This review is from: Klipsch KSW-10 10-Inch 225-Watt Subwoofer (Black) (Electronics)
First off, I am not an audiophile. This speaker sounds great with my 5.1 system. The bass is strong and sounds great. I like that it is downfiring because my kids can't find the actual speaker to destroy it! Also is great for a time out chair as my wife has turned it into.
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This review is from: Klipsch KSW-10 10-Inch 225-Watt Subwoofer (Black) (Electronics)
I've been using this sub with other Klipsch speakers in a 5.1 system for the past 5 years or so.
While low frequency response tends to be omnidirectional, I've found that corner placement of this unit smoothes out the reponse quite a bit and eliminates a lot of the "boominess" that some complain of.
So much depends on the acoustics of the specific room that it's difficult to know what this or any other sub will sound like prior to installation and some experimentation.
It might not compare to some more expensive and more powerful subs, but it works nicely for my situation. Considering that my situation is a New York City apartment, anything much more powerful than this would likely get me evicted.
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This review is from: Klipsch KSW-10 10-Inch 225-Watt Subwoofer (Black) (Electronics)
I upgraded from a Sony 10" sub to the klipsch 10" sub. The sound quality is night and day. The bass is very clean and deep without causing anything in my living room to rattle. The Sony was loud but not clear. The Klipsch is both,great sub.
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This review is from: Klipsch KSW-10 10-Inch 225-Watt Subwoofer (Black) (Electronics)
I'm using this sub as the .1 element of a 2.1 stereo system with Infinity bookshelf speakers, an Onkyo receiver, and a Denon disk player. The room is a fairly narrow L shaped room of moderate total size. I picked up the sub primarily for low frequency support while viewing TV and movies, as the 6.5" woofers in my Infinitys have their limits in this regard.
First, the sub is small and unassuming, with no exposed parts on the top and three sides. This makes it easy to tuck behind a chair or in a corner. My housemate (female), said, "It looks like a footstool!" That's about the size of it. The finish, while not luxurious, is even and clean looking. The down-firing woofer looks solid and the port at the rear is big enough for even a person with a huge hand to put their fist into.
A few things:
1) There is no high-pass output from this sub, so if you're looking to control the low frequencies passed to your main speakers, you're out of luck. I like running my mains full-range and blending in the appropriate level of low frequency support, so this is not an issue.
2) This sub is built for strong output in the bass range from about 40-100 Hertz. Below that, in the extreme low bass and structural frequencies, it has diminished abilities. While it's possible to blend this sub into your system, it's not going to let you hear the full tones of the lowest organ pedals or synth effects. It may also sound slightly ponderous with some prominent kick drum effects, though this can be remedied with tweaking of your levels and phase controls.
3) The little KSW-10 has its limits in terms of output. If you have a big room, or listen to a lot of music/soundtracks that have sustained, powerful bass swells, you may sometimes hear some "pumping" or "chuffing" from the port.
In conclusion: This is a great little sub for the money. It won't bring the rafters down on your head, and it won't play as loud or as low as a much larger or more expensive sub, but if you want some low frequency support in a small to mid-sized room, and don't have a lot of space or money to throw at the problem, this is a good solution.
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This review is from: Klipsch KSW-10 10-Inch 225-Watt Subwoofer (Black) (Electronics)
I thought like many the more watts the bigger the boom, but I got a lesson in acoustics, Klipsch, B&W, Polk, Velodyne and Sunfire, these here are good, better and best, but you still need the receiver or amp to get the sound you want. Now I have to admit that Velodyne and Sunfire are tops, but this KSW 10" sub, could handle its own. I put in Jurassic Park, Transformers, Planet of the Apes and it passed with bounce to the oz, some have said that it doesn't shake the floor. well don't know what they were running. but I shook the walls and windows and the vibe in the floor. I liked it so much that I got a 2nd and they work in tandem, talkin' about bouncin' off the walls, it can. Playin' my music is also an experience, I have never gone past half, the quality is excellent w/o loosing any quality of the bass, from R&B, Hip Hop, Classical, Jazz, Acid Jazz, Alt Rock, Rock 'n' Roll, just a nice tight sound w/o the muddy muck. For the money it is worth the bump, unless you want to spend a few grand on the Sunfire or Vely's
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This review is from: Klipsch KSW-10 10-Inch 225-Watt Subwoofer (Black) (Electronics)
Why the 4-star rating? It's all about the price. For some the subwoofer is essential, but for me it's a luxury. I was really wondering if I'd lost my mind when I ordered this subwoofer because of the cost. That was until I hooked it up and dialed it in, and was wowed as I tested it out by watching HBO's "Band of Brothers" for some good 'booming' additions to the surround sound.
The subwoofer comes with minimal documentation, thus not a lot of info on how to customize it to your system. A bit of tweaking with the sub and your AV receiver will be needed to get things to your liking, but well worth the effort. Setting the sub on 'automatic' allows the sub to sense when a signal is being offered by the AV receiver and thus it's on standby mode when not in use. A 'Y' plug and subwoofer cable like this one that I used: Phoenix Gold RCA Cable 6 Meter with 1 RCA Female to 2 RCA Male Y - Adaptor should be purchased to hook up this unit to your AV receiver. You may also need two speaker wire connectors with banana plugs for the right and left audio channels on your receiver (outputs on the sub).
This 225 watt thumper is a powerful, well-built addition to any home theater sound system. I wish it came paired with Klipsch Quintet III speakers, as I believe that would be an ideal pairing for home theater seekers and audiophiles alike.
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This review is from: Klipsch KSW-10 10-Inch 225-Watt Subwoofer (Black) (Electronics)
It might not be the best sounding sub, but for the price, the quality is excellent and the sound is great at moderate levels. For an apartment or smaller room, this subwoofer is more than ample. If you are building up a high end surround sound system in a larger room, you will probably want to move up to a 12" speaker and a higher end series. I definitely will always recommend klipsch speakers though. They consistently have shown me high quality and great sound over the years.
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This review is from: Klipsch KSW-10 10-Inch 225-Watt Subwoofer (Black) (Electronics)
I don't claim to be a 'speaker guy' but this sub paired with my Yamaha 3 channel in ceiling speakers and my Polk Audio center channel speaker are all plugged into a new Yamaha audio/video HDMI receiver - This system hits hard. The Sub sounds great. No complaints here.
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