Customer Ratings & Reviews

I just recently upgraded my HDTV to a Sony 75 (luv it - thank you BB) which led me to re-evaluate my home theater components. I have Klipsch fronts and center speakers that I am very happy with. But my two Yamaha 10 inch subs just didn't seem to have that deep punch in your chest feeling that many reviewers here have mentioned. I listened to the DefTech subs that are setup in the Magnolia room, which were played with other Deftech speakers that also have SWs in them. Not exactly a level playing field when you are trying to evaluate a single sub. My research indicated mixed, but generally satisfied reviews for the DTs, but they come with a bit of a premium in price that I wasn't sure I could justify, at least not before I tried the Klipsch subs. BB actually keeps their Klipsch speakers in the cheap seat section, sandwiched between two isle shelves about 4 feet apart. It's nothing like their Magnolia room setup. IMO this is an injustice to a brand that is so highly regarded and has generated many millions, I am sure, for BB. JMO. So, it really leaves no choice but to buy and try, which BB is really good for and I only live a few miles away. So, away I go with my Klipsch 12 SW after work one night. Had to get it right out of the box (wife said I had that little boy at Xmas look on my face :) ), hook it up, plug it in and play the best available action movie I could get my hands on. There really wasn't much to the setup - low pass filter - turn to max per manual, volume-turn to about 1/4, and a couple of other de minimus settings. I chose, what else, but a war movie and sat back to wait for the explosion scenes. And let me tell you, I got punched right in the chest with every artillery shell that landed. Plenty of bass and then some, way more than my two 10 inch Yamaha subs could ever produce. It also produces crisp, responsive bass for music. I really got into listening to the bass player on a number of tunes. I was holding out the possibility of adding a second sub, but that would def be overkill and would make the table I would have to put it under sing too much. My room is 15 x 21 with an open floor plan to the kitchen and I noted some concern about this with the DefTech SW reviewers. I can tell you, hands down, this sub is plenty for my space. I think it would be overkill for a small apartment, though. I keep it at about the 1/4 mark and adjust the volume from my AVR remote. This time out, with some extra coin to spend for a premium brand, Magnolia Room-snooty SW, I found that spending more doesn't necessarily mean getting more. The price point for this item is substantially below the Mag room competition and IMO performed as good, if not better than the DTs. Also, the reviews on this item have been overall stellar from BB, Amazon and Crutchfield customers. For price and quality, Klipsch is hard to beat. I'm very happy with this item.

Overall, great sub for the price. I have this on a 5.1 setup in a smallish room. Pros: Punchy. Large enough for midsized setups. Easy to set up (just single subwoofer cable from the receiver.) Good power and frequency response. The middle gain setting is plenty of "thunder" for most action movies without being too obtrusive. The copper spun woofer is distinctive and looks great. Cons: Fairly large, heavy box. Measure your location first. Not the top of the line klipsch, but adequate for 99% of us. Huge theaters will need the 15's, or consider a 7.2 setup. I would absolutely recommend it.

Purchased this around black Friday 2016 during a half price sale, what a bargain! This thing rocks my entire 6 bedroom Victorian house at a little over 1/2 gain. It's used solely for HT. Neighborhood actually thought I had a pet T-Rex after watching Jurassic World a few times. Have it hooked up to an Onkyo TX-NR646 with an enormous JBL LC2 center and 6 mini Advents (a clue as to my age) on a 7.1 or Atmos 5.1 coupled with a Bravia 65"4K The Klipsch Reference 12 replaced an elderly Yam*ha 12" 100 watt sub that I thought was great until it gave up the ghost and replaced with the Klipsch. Was initially going to get (2) for a complete 7.(2) system, BUT, there is NO need for 2 of these monsters. Bottom line, its the heart of the system, it delivers smiles and wow factor to all who hear it. Definitely a worth while investment, plus, it makes raising dinosaurs believable!

Love the sub. Great sound and bass. I purchased this to replace a 10 in sub which wasn't filling our open floor plan living space. This definitely fills the space and can rattle the windows. I have had no problems with it to date. Easy to set up and instructions are simple.

I gave this sub a 5 star rating because honestly, it sounds killer. It's not flubby at all. The bass reaches around and hits you in the chest. For all intents and purposes, it's a high quality, powerful (and beautiful) sub. However, with that said, the issue I find is it's a little too much. I have a room that's about 30x15 and it's still way too much. I have to turn the sub down to where it's almost off because it's so powerful. I guess I'll never blow the speaker.....???!!! If I had to do it again, I'd probably get the 10". But the 10" isn't as rounded a sound. Oh, first world problems......

Bought this subwoofer to go with four new Polk T15 bookshelf speakers (two front and two surround), an old Sony SS-CN550H center speaker, and an old Infinity RS-1 bookshelf surround back speaker, to form a home theater system for my LG TV. The system is all connected to a Sony STR-DH750 receiver. The 200 watts RMS and 400 watts peak power provided by this subwoofer are crossed over to by the receiver at 80 Hz (for the time being, I may still experiment with different crossover settings), freeing up the all of the receiver's power to drive the other much smaller speakers very loudly without clipping. The bass provided by this subwoofer is deep, but still punchy, and the different bass note frequencies are clearly discernable. It sounds equally impressive with music or movies.

I bought this looking for sub-60hz frequency foundation of my growing 2.1 hifi setup. I was immediately satisfied using this sub with a low mid-class Denon AVR591 paired with a set of Elac Debut B6s. Impressive. Then I bought better wire and a Yamaha integrated amp and it just gets better every time I listen. Not much break-in needed as far as I could tell - YES plenty of ground rattling thunder during movies - Low end in music is warm and rich sounding - with adjusting knobs for gain and frequency response this sub can be tailored to your setup and preferences. I listen to a lot of 70s-90s rock and this sub gets it done. Although not a fan of the gold cones, the sub looks good-if you like black cubes. Only one minor scratch on the black vinyl wrap - need to NOT place anything on top and that can be avoided. No rattles to speak of so far. I have no wants relating to bass after purchasing this sub from Klipsch.

I was very pleased when I bought my first 12" along with the center, a pair of the 8" towers and a pair of bookshelf. Was very impressed with the sound I went out and bought another set of 8" towers and another 12" all Klipsch by the way. If you have the money spend it on the 7.2 system you won't be sorry. If you are a movie buff or like your music loud then look no further Klipsch is the way to go. The sound coming from the pair of 12" Klipsch is outstanding it shakes your body and couch and puts you right in the middle of the action in movies. Speechless is all I can say. I have seen some reviews with low stars and can't figure out why. Just make sure you have the right receiver for your setup and do some tuning and may have to move some speakers to different areas of your room to find that right spot but when you do you will be amazed by just moving speakers a little bit how big of a difference it is.. I would by again for sure....

I have been in the market for a subwoofer for some time and I always heard that Klipsch was a quality, dependable brand. The R-12SW has been on my wish list, and when I caught it on sale for half price I purchased it right away. I am thoroughly pleased with my purchase. The low end sound is perfect for the larger room that I have it set up in. I actually have to turn the gain down quite a bit so that it doesn't drown out the other speakers. Highly recommended!

I bought this 12" Klipsch sub on black friday 2016 and last year i bought the whole klipsch reference system with the 10" sub 8"floor speakers and the sound quality its the Best ever Sincé i became a fan of Klipsch it has a deep bass clear Cristal sound and very loud. This year decided to add a second sub but now a 12" and all I can say is that you will not be disappointed I compared the sound with the pioneer Polk and Sony and this one was the best and loudest.

My neighbors have yet to complain only I know they will if I was to turn the volume on back of the sub up instead of being almost nearly off. Waited years to buy this always second guessed if worth the money, money well spent !

I bought the 12 sub because it was 50% off on Black Friday. I am sure the 10 sub would have been plenty of bass, but either way the quality of the bass that comes from the sub brought my surround sound experience out of the realm of cheap sounding boxed speaker set and into the realm of serious home theater experience. It adds the extra depth and punch with distortion-free clarity that immerses you in the movies, shows and video games! Initially I was deciding between adding this to upgrade my old sub or getting the atmos ceiling channel speakers. I eventually got the ceiling speakers as well, but the sub transformed my system 100% more than the ceiling channel speakers did. A quality sub like this is worth every penny and I would buy it again even if it wasn’t at half price now that I know what it brought to the table! Do it. You won’t regret it! Make sure you have a place to put it due to it’s relatively large size. Also it is capable of shaking the windows in your house(still distortion free at those levels) if you turn it up half way or more so be careful!!

The 12" Klipsch is amazing, and definetly doesn't get enough credit. I have yet to hear a home sub put out the volume and clearity of sound, and especially for the unbeatable price. I've heard subs come close but cost upwards of $700. Great deal

I've had a Sony 10" vented, self amplified woofer for several years hooked up to my Home Theater. The room is fairly large (~20'x20') but the main challenge for my sound system is that it is quite open to the kitchen, dining room and foyer. I knew that something was coming from the Sony woofer, but it had no real "impact". I installed the 12" Klipsch Reference R-12SW subwoofer in the right corner of the front wall opposite the Sony and hooked both of them up to the Subwoofer outputs of my Denon AVR-S730H receiver. The effect was dramatic to say the least. There is no longer any doubt whatsoever that there is "something" coming from the subwoofer. Not only do the thumps and explosions from action movies make themselves known with authority, the sustained low frequency notes in the music soundtrack are clear and impressive. I am very satisfied that the cost of this subwoofer was money well spent to enhance my home theater experience.

Got this sub in exchange for a Definitive Technology sub. Holy cow! For a consumer grade subwoofer this thing is really good at making the neighbors upset! I'm an audio geek, and love to play my music on the loud side. This sub pairs nicely with my Defenitive Technology Studio 55's and my Klipsch R15m's I'm driving it with a Marantz receiver. I have the gain on it set to about 1/8 up. This thing is very loud and very clear. I use it mostly for music. Even at high volumes there is zero distortion on the most bass demanding tracks. Very impressed with this subwoofer. In my opinion, it blows away many of the higher end offerings by Bowers and Wilkins and the like. Especially for the price. You just cannot beat it! I have only had it for just over a month, so I cannot report on it's longevity, but with a 5 year warranty, I feel that this speaker is in it for the long haul!

My wife and I just bought a home and we wanted something we would be able to us with the speaker system we had installed to entertain for the holidays, when we have friends and family over and for a movie night. This sub help bring to life every room we have on the main floor and is better than a movie theater in or family room. This was the last piece we needed to complete our set up and it has more than enough power than we will ever need. I hooked this system up as soon as we moved in so we could listen to music as we moved and my wife said it was way too loud but caught her as I was moving a truck in with it turned up even l louder than I had it to start. She tells me that it is too loud but loves it. I can't wait for the football games for today.

This sub is great and produces great sound for movies and music, but it is very powerful. Our living room is 10x15 and we have to keep the volume on the sub very low so it's not overwhelming

Overall, this is a great sub for a small to medium-sized home theater. Response is good, no clipping or distortion at lower frequencies, and that sub cabinet looks great. We have a 13.2 home theater and this provides substantial balance on the low end.

A Black Friday new addition to the family and it rocks! Replaced a 10” Optimus bass speaker I had for 20 yrs. It served its purpose and filled the space, but what a dynamic difference with the Klipsch 12”! I never realized what could have been. Ready to Rumble now! Paired with MartinLogans.

I’m not an audiophile so can’t speak to how well this delivers across the range. Just wanted some good rumbles to go along with movies we watch. Wow! Does this deliver and then some. The kids actually complained a little at first about how loud it was, until I explained that it was barely turned up. Back to the movie sound, had an older Polk 10” which went bad a few years ago, kept meaning to replace it just never got around to it. Didn’t realize what we were missing. Adds a whole new dimension to movie watching. Feeling the walls and couch rumble during a movie is something else. Would definitely recommend.