Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Warning: This is a long treatise on the trials I encountered searching for the perfect subwoofer in the high-end market -- a fool's errand if there ever was one. If you prefer, skip down to the actual review to save time (the review is long enough). Five-star reviews for subs are everywhere. What is it about subwoofers that create so much appeal? Your main speakers do over 99 percent of the work, while the subwoofer reproduces a small fraction of the lower frequency range (in my case, from 40 Hz down to below 20 Hz). Turn off your main speakers and listen to only the sub. Besides the obvious low vibrations, it's absolutely so underwhelming you'll laugh. But when you turn your speakers back on, one begins to understands why so much money is spent for a subsonic vibrator. You don't miss what you don't hear or feel. But once exposed to the lowest realm, you can never go back. There is a certain class of subwoofer that hits a critical 10 Hz range that performs all this magic. The bigger and badder the sub is, the deeper it goes and the costlier it gets. Reaching that 20 Hz level is akin to breaking the sound barrier. Surprisingly, more and more subwoofers are capable of reaching these depths, and a few even go beyond with shocking power and high sound pressure levels (SPL). I guess I shouldn't be surprised about all the 5-star reviews (including my own). So with all the great subwoofers available, what is one to do? Make a list, of course. Here is my list of the best subwoofers available today based upon months of research: 1. Seaton Submersive HP (Audiophile/DIY) 2. Paradigm Signature Sub 2 (Commercial) 3. JL Audio G213 Gotham (Commercial) 4. JTR Captivator S2 (Audiophile/DIY) 5. JL Audio F212 Fathom (Commercial) 6. Paradigm Signature Sub 1 (Commercial) 7. Velodyne DD-18-Plus (Commercial) 8. JL Audio F113 Fathom (Commercial) 9. SVS SB13-Ultra (Internet-Direct) 10. Hsu ULS-15 (Internet-Direct) Probably not the list you were envisioning and no doubt yours would be different. I mean, where is Klipsch, Def Tech, Polk, Cerwin-Vega, BIC, etc? Take a look at the reviews here on Amazon. Thousands of reviews and hundreds for every company imaginable. My entire top 10 list has how many reviews? One? Well, two now. I understand that popular commercial companies make some really good subs, but I made my selections based on my research. One can place my top four selections in any order for they stand above the rest. All the subwoofers on my list are sealed designs. I chose sealed over ported because of their superior response times, accuracy and low distortion attributes. Why? I intend to use a sub for music and not for the low frequency effects (LFE) in movies. Most are commercial companies with four Internet-Direct companies thrown in, two of which are audiophile DIY companies. No one can research every high-end subwoofer company in the world. You won't see the likes of Wilson Audio's "Thor's Hammer" on my list. I suspect there are subwoofers that make Thor's Hammer at 21.5 grand (without the required mono-block amplifier) look inexpensive. They are not on my list either. Once I created this list, it should be a simple matter of just auditioning each one and then make a decision. Sounds logical, but in actual practice it was quite different. The only way to audition a sub from Internet-Direct companies is to purchase it and use their 30-day trial period and test it out (unless one lives near these companies). Home trial periods are the best way to audition anything. I can't stress this enough. There is no better way to find out how good a piece of equipment is (or isn't), other than in your own home environment. However, most Internet-Direct companies charge you for shipping each way. That can get costly in a hurry. What about commercial companies? I found very few that carry the top of the high-end. I live in Southern California. It should be a magnet for high-end audio studios. Perhaps, but that doesn't mean they carry the top models. Out of 55 Velodyne dealers within a 50 mile radius, I found NONE that carried either of their top two models, the DD-18-Plus or DD-15-Plus. I had a local dealer call around, and he couldn't find one either. I found only one Paradigm dealer within a 75 mile radius of me that carried the Signature series, but it was only the Sub 1 and not the vaunted Sub 2. I had better luck with JL Audio. I found a dealer that had their top three models, but only their second to top model was available for audition. Zero out of three for top models and two out of three for the number two model is not a good average. What's worse, it didn't seem to matter how nice the showroom was or how much great equipment they had on hand, I had problems at each audition. One of the two high-end dealers I visited didn't know much about the product, nor did they have the right equipment hooked up to show off the product, while the other could not seem to set up the product properly (see the comment section). I ended up auditioned the Paradigm Signature Sub 1, the JL Audio F212 Fathom, the SVS SB13-Ultra and the Hsu (pronounced "shoe") ULS-15. The rest, I just had to rely on professional and amateur reviews, along with detailed audiophile head-to-head contest reviews. I will write more on each of the top 10 subwoofers in the comment section. Please note that I could have easily had a top 20 or top 30 list. There are a lot of great subwoofers being built these days, thanks to the home theater market. If you don't see your subwoofer on my list, it isn't because it's not an excellent subwoofer. Most likely, I just couldn't audition it, or, like the Definitive Technology Trinity Signature, it is no longer in production (bummer). If you do see your subwoofer on my list, then congratulations, you have one heck of a sub! Once the auditioning was complete, I now had to get this list down to one. The first subwoofers on the chopping block were JL Audio's Gotham G213 and Fathom F212. The Gotham costs an unimaginable 12 grand and weighs 360 very heavy pounds, but wow, this is one gorgeous sub. The Fathom costs over 6 grand and weighs 220 pounds. Next in line was the Paradigm Signature Sub 2. Price is 9 grand and it weighs 230 pounds (I really wanted this beauty, but common sense brought me back to reality). Sadly, the JTR Captivator S2 came off the list. Its height and 195 pound weight took this brute off my list, even though one can buy this dual 18-inch home destroyer for 3 grand, making it a top value. The JTR Captivators (there are several powerhouses in their lineup) fight it out with the Seaton Submersives for supremacy in the audiophile subwoofer "shootouts". Next up was the Velodyne DD-18-Plus. It will fleece close to 6 grand from your wallet and weighs in at 142 pounds. The sixth to go was the Paradigm Signature Sub 1 (this is another I really liked). The dealer in L.A. only had this model in black ash, so it wasn't as elegant looking as the JL Audio Gotham G213 (but no subwoofer is, including Thor's Hammer). The Sub 1 costs about half of what the Sub 2 costs (4-1/2 to 5 grand depending on finish), and weighs only 109 pounds. Only 109 pounds? Amazing how one's perspective changes. So that is six down and three out of four to go. Not surprisingly, pairing down the remaining four subwoofers wasn't as easy. After all, these are four amazing subs. None are huge or super heavy (but none are light), and three are actually affordable. The next to go was the last JL Audio sub on my list, the F113 Fathom. I had been eyeing this subwoofer for some time, but its weight is a not so svelte 130 pounds (paltry by JL's standards). Its 4 grand price tag, although not too excessive, made me pause. The most difficult subwoofer to take off my list by far was the Seaton Submersive HP. It's not only one of the best subs ever built, it is a terrific value. One can buy this large 124 pound subwoofer for 2-1/2 grand (give or take, depending on finish). I had to keep reminding myself that I did not need a large, heavy sub with dual 15-inch opposing drivers that can easily pressurize a room at 120 dB SPL, and do so without breathing hard. So now I am down to the final two. The SVS SB13-Ultra (9th on my list) and the Hsu ULS-15 (10th on my list). Both of these subwoofers should be excellent. Just look at all the rave professional reviews. I knew I couldn't make a choice between the two without auditioning them both. I auditioned the Hsu first. Fortunately, Hsu is in Anaheim, which is less than 13 miles from me, so I set up an appointment at their research facility. I was impressed during this audition, but not quite enough for me to take it home, at least not yet. The Hsu ULS-15 is a bit nondescript looking in satin black veneer with a black cloth grill. Even so, the finish is very nicely done. Sound wise (once I had the representative turn down the gain by 2 or 3 dB -- it was overpowering the bookshelf main speakers), the Hsu performed quite well. A 2 or 3 dB reduction or gain may not look like much on paper, but one can readily hear the difference, and it was a significant difference. Next, I ordered the SVS SB13-Ultra. It was the only way to audition this renown sub. Yes, that meant money initially out of my pocket, but SVS has free shipping on anything you purchase. And now it's free shipping both ways! If I feel the Hsu is superior, I can just return the Ultra back to SVS before my 45 day trial period is over with absolutely no financial risk. As you no doubt have surmised, I didn't return it;). My review of the SVS SB13-Ultra ... finally: The SB13-Ultra has a single 13-1/2 inch front-firing driver with a 1000 watt RMS (3600 watts peak) Sledge amplifier. Its frequency response is rated from 20 Hz to 460 Hz plus or minus 3 dB. SVS states that normal room gain can extend the frequency down to 16 Hz. The Ultra is beautifully finished in its lustrous piano black (it also comes in black oak). It is the smallest of all the subwoofers on my list -- a 17.5-inch cube. It is larger than my BIC V1220 sub (a ported design with a 12-inch down-firing driver and a 200 watt RMS BASH amplifier), and although the height and width are within 1/2-inch of each other, the Ultra is about 3-1/2 inches deeper, not including the curved front metal grill, which arches out another 3 inches. The Ultra may be small dimensionally, but that doesn't make it light. My BIC weighs 41 pounds, while the Ultra more than doubles that weight at 92 pounds. It's a superbly engineered cabinet, solidly braced and well dampened. Just tap anywhere on the cabinet and you'll find no resonances. The Ultra has a small digital panel on the rear. I have no problem with its location because I placed the Ultra about a foot from the wall. For those that place it very close to the wall the panel's location may be a problem, but furniture sliders can remedy that. Various adjustments can be made through this panel via a single push and turn button, which helped cut the setup time. It has both high and low pass filters. The high pass filter limits the main speakers lower frequency (I am using my speakers full range, so I did not use this setting). The low pass filter is used to set the sub's highest frequency, which I set at 40 Hz when using it with my main stereo system. It also has two parametrical equalizer adjustment controls, a phase control and a room gain compensation adjustment setting to help curb room peaks. There are several companies that provide more sophisticated equalization and setup hardware and software, which runs a group of sound tests that are picked up by the supplied microphone, then equalizes the sub to your room automatically. JL Audio, Def Tech, Velodyne and Paradigm certainly have put a lot into them, as have others. It seems to be a new wave in subwoofer design, thank goodness, but whether the auto settings work any better is debatable. The SB13-Ultra comes with both balanced and unbalanced (RCA) low level inputs / outputs, but no high level inputs / outputs (speaker wire connections). I'd be remiss if I didn't mention SVS's top rated support. They have an industry-best 5-year unconditional warranty on their products (well, kinda unconditional -- don't mar it or take a hammer to it and you'll be fine), as well as an industry-best 45-day in-home trial period, which includes free shipping. Decide not to buy it? You can now ship it back for free (this was implemented in late May). I know of no other company that does this (many charge for shipping both ways). SVS also has a consumer "bill of rights" that is expansive, so it's best to go online to their website and read it. Like all Internet-Direct companies, their support staff will help get the sub hooked up properly and troubleshoot any problems (on the phone or via emails, of course). I have a unique situation in that I have a dbx dynamic range expander in the mix (for vinyl only) and Ed Mullen at SVS helped go through the rather unorthodox wiring situation. Ed also solved a low rumbling problem from my turntable. When ordering from any Internet-Direct company, one needs to believe that particular company has your back. It is readily apparent to me that SVS is a leader in customer service (I haven't had better support anywhere), so one can buy with complete confidence. As I stated, I will be using the Ultra for my stereo system and not for a home theater. Why not test it for both? I actually set it up for movies first, since all I had to do was swap out my BIC, knowing that its location was ideally placed in that room. And let's face it, I was curious as to how much performance gain I'd receive over the BIC. After several days of breaking the Ultra in, I did receive a performance gain. Must have been crushing and devastating, right? To a point, yes. Hey, that inexpensive BIC is a very good sub, and produced real audible chest-thumping results (it's the inaudible subsonic, gut-busting spectrum that was missing). Yes, the BIC was outclassed by the Ultra, as it should have been -- the Ultra costs 8 to 10 times more (BIC prices on Amazon change fairly often). This is an example of the "law of diminishing returns" (one pays a lot to gain a little better performance). While the Ultra is clearly better (I have large paintings on various walls and items throughout the house that I needed to silence -- I never had a problem with the BIC), it is not 8 times better, and neither is any sub on any list. It's simply the price of admission to the real subsonic realm. Auditioning a subwoofer for music can be problematic with full-range speakers that go deep. Why? One may not hear much of a difference, unless there is music lower than the capability of your speakers to reproduce. Most people are very critical about music reproduction. In music we look for anything that might add unwanted side effects. We are more apt to focus on what is wrong than what is improved. We listen for anything that may take away from the breadth and depth of the sound stage and crystal clarity. Yes, we need the subsonic sound to be there, otherwise why buy a subwoofer? But we don't want it to overwhelm the speakers, as it did in the Hsu audition. I had to lower the gain of the Ultra to -6 dB to try and match the Maggie's output. Even then, the change was not always subtle. I was shocked at what I had been missing in so much of my music. The track "Shabda" (cut #4) of Mike Oldfield's "Music of the Spheres", is just one impressive example of many (I jumped a foot when hearing/feeling those passages for the first time). And if the music doesn't have subsonic passages? This is where it gets subtle. The Ultra added a weight and presence that seemed to bring out more texture to the music. Rating: If I were to rate the Ultra prior to breaking it in, it would rate about 4 stars. After breaking it in, I rate the Ultra a 9 out of 10 (or a 5-star rating). So yes, one needs to break in speakers, and don't let anyone tell you different. It took almost 6 months to break in my Maggies (the Magnepan dealer stated it would take over 200 hours). And no, the Ultra is not the best sub in the world. When one talks about the best, one needs to think about a small group and not a single model. The Ultra was never really on my radar, and only made my top 10 list because of my research. But don't kid yourself, this subwoofer is a beast -- an elegant beast, but a beast nonetheless. The separation between the top of my list and bottom is not nearly as large as one might imagine. During my home audition, I was elated to find there was nothing that the Ultra couldn't handle musically in the deep bass regions, even down to the lowest organ note (I had the SACD of Camille Saint-Saens Organ Symphony #3 playing often). In Poulenc's Organ Concerto in G minor, Tempo Introduction, Largo, the sustained low pedals at or near the 16 Hz level rumbled with silent authority throughout the house rattling any and everything not nailed down, and this is a very low volume piece. I have heard the term, "room lock", but didn't know exactly what it was, until then. I don't know if I achieved actual room lock (my floor plan is rather open with cathedral ceilings), but I can tell you that I felt enough pressure that I had to force a yawn for my ears to pop. I was also relieved to find out that the Ultra wasn't adding anything unwanted (other than feeling I was suddenly at a much higher elevation on that extended organ note). I never thought the Ultra interfered with, lagged, over embellished (once I cut back the gain) or added a fog of coloration to the deepest parts of the music, and I listen to my music carefully. What it did do, and what I was looking for, was to help solidify an already outstanding speaker system, and then go that extra subsonic step further, but only when the music called for it. Yes, the best subwoofers in the world can kick louder, harder and deeper. They are in a different league and often have multiple drivers of 15 inches or 18 inches that pumps out tremendous amounts of air with their over-the-top 2,000 watt plus amplifiers. They can even unscrew light bulbs (this actually happened at an audiophile subwoofer shootout -- I think it was a JTR Captivator), but either the price or extreme weight and size put them out of range for most buyers, including myself. In the SVS Ultra, I saw not only one of the 4 best values for my dollar, but possibly one of the 10 best subwoofers in existence today. And that puts the SB13-Ultra in a very elite class. After making some final adjustments that Ed at SVS suggested, I loved everything the SB13 could do with LFE. I was shocked that a 13-1/2 inch driver could shake walls and floors the way it did. And yes, for movies I set the gain higher at -1 dB instead of -6 dB for music (-6 dB is half power). There are larger subwoofers that can shake walls just as hard, and several even a level or two harder (I've already noted which ones). Yep, the big boys can hit 110 to 115 dB rock concert levels with ease, and do so at even lower frequency levels. And while the Ultra performs at a very high level with LFE, especially considering its woofer size, it is music where the Ultra shines with ease and grace. After all this searching for the "best", I find that I don't really mind that the SB13-Ultra may not be the best, for it is the complete package of elegant looks, a relatively compact size and great performance, and all wrapped up at a weight and price I can actually live with. So is the Ultra the perfect subwoofer? For music, it is about as close as I'm likely to ever come. For movies, it performs shockingly well and is only outdone by some of the biggest and baddest (and most expensive). There are a plethora of excellent subwoofers out there, but only a rare few can be considered the best of the best. If you have the room and deep enough pockets (and a fork lift), either the JL Gotham G213 or the Paradigm Signature Sub 2 should bring the house down. These are the most reviewed subwoofers I've seen, and with more superlative adjectives than I've ever read. Every reviewer was salivating to get their hands on these monsters. They are beautiful and engineered to the hilt. If you want the maximum output, go with the Seaton Submersive HP (if their website isn't still under construction -- it's always under construction) or the JTR Captivator S2. The bang for the buck value is simply amazing. Audiophiles are a passionate and a highly opinionated lot, so when they reach a rare consensus on how great these two subwoofers are, it might be wise to pay attention. It's hard to believe there is a better subwoofer anywhere on the planet, except for possibly the Gotham, the Sub 2 or Thor's Hammer. Hsu fans out there may be wondering why I chose the SVS over the Hsu. After all, the Hsu has a 15-inch driver vs. the SVS 13-1/2 driver. The Hsu is significantly cheaper ($550 cheaper during their sale, instead of $500 cheaper) and comes with wireless capability. The specs on the ULS-15 are flat out amazing: 15 Hz to 200 Hz plus or minus 1 dB. One dB? Are you kidding me? The company states that the ULS-15 can reach 10 Hz with normal room gain! Plus, Hsu Research is less than 13 miles from me. So, was the SVS that much better? The only way to find out was to buy it and test them head-to-head. What I discovered surprise me a bit. The SVS beat out the Hsu in music reproduction on every disc I tested it with. It wasn't that the Hsu was poor at music reproduction, although on a couple of CDs I might rate it as poor (but I'll wait to make a final judgment after I do more tweaking), while other CDs I would rate as good to very good. The fact is, the SVS is simply fantastic at music reproduction and it clearly showed. I got it to integrate with my Maggies easily and flawlessly. The LFE in movies, on the other hand, is where the Hsu showed its muscle (and its 15-inch driver). As hard as the SVS hit (and it hit wall-shaking hard), the Hsu hit perhaps a tad harder and lower (it is really too close to call). But here's the odd part (at least I found it odd). On the aforementioned "Music of the Spheres" cut, the SVS hit those musical subsonic passages much harder and deeper than the Hsu (perhaps a faster attack, perhaps more in the audible 25 to 30 Hz range, I'm not sure). As good as the Hsu is, and there is no doubt it is a great sub, there were problems and things about it I didn't like or thought were cheesy, however, the ULS-15 was so amazingly impressive with LFE content, I just couldn't talk myself into returning it, and certainly not at their sale price. Hsu has a knack for making superior products at a fraction of the cost of anyone else in the high-end. Yeah, I stated I was looking for a sub only for music. After listening to the SVS and then the Hsu, I changed my mind (the only real dilemma I had was buying a second Ultra or keeping the Hsu). Well, the Hsu in my TV room blasting out wall shaking LFE, while the SVS is doing absolute wonders with my stereo system. A win-win situation if there ever was one. One final note: I think it's a shame that more attention isn't paid to the audiophile/DIY companies. Ignoring this segment does a disservice to us all. I will say that Dave Upton at Home Theater Forum did acknowledged the audiophile subs in the conclusion section of his Paradigm Signature Sub 2 review. I will paraphrase what he said in his Jan. 2013 review about these DIYers (feel free to read it yourself). Essentially he admitted that no commercial subwoofer has ever come close to the bracing, damping and rigidity of these DIY subs. Nor could they ever match the subsonic depth of sound and power that audiophile subs have achieved for years, that is, until the Sub 2. Those statements are quite telling. It takes a $9000 subwoofer with six 10-inch drivers and 4500 watts to just be in the same league with audiophile subs (whose prices are a fraction of that of the high-end commercial offerings). UPDATE: I'm sorry to say that I ended up returning the Hsu because of the above problems and an additional problem I encountered just prior to the end of my 30-day trial period. Update: July 14, 2015: The subwoofer world has changed a lot since I posted this review, but the reason I chose the SB13-Ultra has not changed. For my 2.1 music setup, it’s everything I thought it would be and more. Also, the high end remains the same in the Seaton Sound, JTR Speakers and Funk Audio (along with the commercial JL Audio and Paradigm manufacturers). But new and exciting companies are springing up because of the demand of impressive home theaters, and the other companies that I’ve listed all have new and exciting products. Reaction Audio entered the fray when I wrote this review, and should be high on your list because they are putting out some impressive sealed and ported designs. Also, Deep Sea Sound just released their mammoth Mariana 24SR which I auditioned at “The Show” in Irvine/Newport CA. It’s everything the name (and company name) implies. Update October 15, 2016: Sadly, there have been issues with Reaction Audio (shipping, rebates and quality control problems), so Jeremy is shutting his business down to work out these problems. Don’t know what the future has in store for Reaction Audio, but as of this date, I cannot recommend them. Please go to the comment section for more details of my top 10 subwoofers.