Klipsch - R-121SW Reference Series 12" 400W Powered Subwoofer - Black

I have had Klipsch front, center, and rear speakers for years. But I had a sub speaker box with 2 12" JBL Bass speakers, so never got the Klipsch sub. I thought my system sounded great. As a former professional bassist who worked and recorded with Grace Slick and Michael Bolton, I truly value great bass, and I thought I had it! My slave amp finally died and the 2 12" went with it. So I decided it was time to get a new sub, and I picked the Klipsch Powered 12". The moment I hit the "send" button with my order I felt maybe I had made a mistake. It isn't cheap! As an author with a published book on communication, I loved the contact I had with Best Buy. From acknowledgement to delivery, they kept me informed. I never wondered what was going on with my order. Then the driver arrived with my delivery. I was ready with my phone to take a picture of the damaged box, but it was pristine. Since I had wiring for my old equipment, hookup took seconds. Not only does it look sleek, but I have never heard better low end in a system. Music- awesome! Movies- thunderous when the action explodes. I am shocked. Wasted years not knowing I had inferior equipment are now over! It sits under an artistic display, and blends perfectly!

Beautiful sound, paired with a Sony receiver. The Sony wireless subwoofer (sw5) has good lows but on concrete it doesn’t carry well. This subwoofer does both effortlessly. The demos won’t show you want you want. You will 100% be happy with your purchase, I’ve been looking for a subwoofer for my home theater that gives you the feel of a theater experience and this definitely supplies it. Now I can finish my walls and get this flush mounted and permanent

As soon as you start shopping for a subwoofer, you’re inundated with numbers, specifications, and opinions, and none of them are very helpful. If you’re considering a Klipsch subwoofer, chances are you don’t live in your grandma’s basement and spend all of your spare time online arguing with strangers about $200,000 speakers you’ll never be able to afford. Im not an audiophile and you’re probably not either. If you ever want to feel good about your life choices, spend an hour reading about audio grade capacitors in any of the dedicated audio forums. It’s painful. While not an audiophile, I am a music lover and love watching movies with a powerful audio system. I’ve owned 4 home theater in a box systems and they all left me underwhelmed. They take a low power amplifier and pair it with several tiny satellite speakers and throw in an anemic subwoofer that needs to be turned up to its maximum level to even know it’s on. If you mainly listen to music, then this might not ever be a problem but movies will quickly reveal a subwoofer pushed to its limit. It doesn’t really matter what kind of electronic device you’re using, if you run it at maximum output all of the time, it’s heating up and working hard. Heat is the enemy of all electronics and it’s life is shortened. Having headroom is really important. What I really like about this particular Klipsch subwoofer is it adds headroom that allows me to turn down my other two subwoofers and set the crossover lower on my sub that extends below 20Hz. I believe that this Klipsch is rated to extend to 23Hz but at that point it’s at the extreme end of the curve and it just lacks the power. It’s outstanding at filling typical low frequencies so my other doesn’t need to waste power filling them. While I don’t currently have room correction software or a DSP to automatically adjust each speaker, I do use an SPL meter to adjust all of my speakers. This Klipsch only needs to have its volume set in the 6 oclock position or its halfway point to be balanced. I’m using the LPF built into my receiver so the crossover on the speaker isn’t used. It’s important to use one or the other, not both. It’s also important to use shielded cables so that interference isn’t added to the signal. You don’t need to spend a fortune on cables. You can even build them yourself for custom lengths. They just need to be shielded. I’d also suggest to plug in all of your audio and video components into the same power strip. By using shielded cables, you will eliminate any low hum sounds and by using the same power source you eliminate ground loop issues. Ground loop is really frustrating but easy to fix. I’m embarrassed to say I struggled with GL for several years and bought several commercial “fixes” that didn’t work. Plug them in the same place. It’s free. There’s literally hundreds of subwoofers at this price point and some of them are great but like most people, you don’t have the time or money to buy and test each one in your system. Some are terrible. I’d even venture to say most are terrible. Klipsch integrates well into existing systems but it is also a great stand alone unit. I spent significantly more for my other subwoofers and they are simply on another level but I’m more than satisfied with this subwoofer on tonal and output qualities alone. The value is really the most remarkable thing about this sub. It’s been in my system now for nearly a month and I’m extremely impressed at what it adds for under $400. Klipsch truly dominates the market at this level and for good reason. I hate being cliche but this subwoofer is a bargain. It’s that simple.

I upgraded from an older JBL system and the subwoofer was the last thing to go. Since it is using the lower frequencies I thought it was important to first do my towers and surround speakers. I ended up going with Klipsch. After completing my purchase of Reference series components (RF-14s x4 and RF-620s x 2 and a R-50c) I was pretty happy with my high end. My low end JBL was definitely missing the 80-90Khz range. That’s when this unit went on sale and I went for it. Paired with a Denon S960H and tuned with Audissey, the system now has a full sound. The subwoofer has filled the lower band and I do get the beautiful rumbling during my higher end 4k movies that are are coded for atmos. I do have two subwoofers and I have moved my old JBL to the back. Hopefully I will get an opportunity to by another Klipsch reference series subwoofer.

These hit hard. Once was plenty, but I wanted to shake the neighbors house too, so I bought another. The UPS man loves it when I’m listening to these while working out. He finally asked what brand they were. Get these now, you’ll love them.