20 Best Home Subwoofer Under $500 (Feb 2023 Update)

I purchased one of these back in February of 2019.. at first I thought it was a very good sub and worth every penny I spent then BAM the voice coil melted and I had never run the power volume even at half volume. I contacted them over the issue and got another woofer under warranty.. well after about 3 more months the sub just quit again, this time it was the wire from the terminal to the voice coil that actually broke and lost contact.. of course I contacted Polk Audio again regarding this issue feeling that I should still be covered by their 5 YEAR WARRANTY and after multiple attempts of contacting them regarding this issue over their $600 sub I never got a reply so I decided to contact them regarding another of their products.. low and behold they replied! I messaged back mentioning my issue with this "much better product" as they claim and wouldn't you know it they ignore me again!! If you like to use your product that you have spent big bucks on I certainly wouldn't recommend POLK AUDIO anymore to anyone!! Boston Acoustics blows Polk sub quality away!!! DON'T BUY INTO THE 5 YEAR WARRANTY LINE BECAUSE IT'S BOGUS!!! SPEND YOUR HARD EARNED MONEY ON SOMETHING THAT WILL LAST YOU LONGER THAN 3 MONTHS!!!!!!waterhauler5

Bought a pair for my Denon 11.2 Atmos setup and it genuinely sounded beastly! within a month, the plate Amplifier failed. I ordered another one and the other plate amp failed.. now sitting with 3 PSW505's and only one works., Support has been useless and alot of run around.. As musch as I love Polk Audio, I cant recommend this sub.. Only if you want to eventually add a third party amplifier and bypass the plate amp…jamiejam

Polk Audio makes phenominal products for the money , if your patient enough their products always go on sale for far less . I bought the PSW505 a few weeks ago for 298 & nothing in that price range will beat this imo . Awesome sub no complaints whatsoever great for music & movies .I matched it with some Polk Rtia9s , a Polk S35 and Polk m20s off of an 180 wpc Onkyo & it sounds incredible better than the theater imo all for far less than you would expect & ive never had any issues with anything from Polk . Ive had many many stereos & for the money this cant be beat it rivals my Yamaha/Athena & my Pioneer/Energy set ups for sure . You can not go wrong with most of Polk Audio's products from their bookshelfs to towers to subs to sound bars Polk is one the best budget speaker companies around . You dont have to spend a fortune for high performance audio . Yes there is better out there but how much do you want to spend . For less then a pay cheque you can be rocking the neighborhood if you jump on the deals . Highly recommended & happy customer for years .PolkeMan

My Tanoy subwoofer died after about 7 years of faithful service. I have a Sony STR-DN1080 and operate it as a 7.1 system with small Tanoy speakers. I ordered the Polk Audio PSW10e as a replacement subwoofer and I have to say I’m thoroughly impressed. Watching Lord of the Rings 4k with Dolby Atmos has been a wonderful experience. We could almost feel Sauron’s armies stomping through our living room! Well worth the money!Tincata

I'm currently playing around with a Chinese tube amp which struggles to produce any sort of bass out of bookshelf speakers (and I've tried a few). A suggestion from another owner of the same amp was to hook a subwoofer between the speaker outputs and the speakers. Since my old Mordaunt Short Alumni had suffered the dreaded "thunder crackle" fault, I took a chance on the cheapest sub that RS had in stock that could handle speaker level input. I wasn't expecting much for the price, it was delivered within two days of ordering which is always a bonus at the moment. Initial examination proved rather disappointing. The build quality and controls were well below the standard I was used to on the Alumni, with everything pared down to what I presume is the lowest possible cost. Not a good start! However, once installed and set up, the unit really confounded my skepticism. Without the sub, while the amp was fine with music on the folky side of the spectrum, anything with more prominent bass and drums really suffered. The little Polk brought the missing basslines to life but didn't cause them to overwhelm the rest of track the way that car subwoofers often seem to do. All in all for the price, you can't fault the unit. I could have spent an awful lot more to get the esthetic niceties that I had previously been used to but, under the circumstances, I'm more than happy with the purchase from an audio perspective.1CheesePasty

I bought this a few weeks ago as a temporary stop gap until I can build something that little bit special. Thinking price is representative of quality in this market I thought it was good enough to be decent for now, but wow were my expectations exceeded. The sub is well built and sturdy, coupled with multiple inputs and tone adjustability which I've not personally seen at this price point. The sound is decently punchy without going overboard and drowning out the mid and highs. It's so much better than I expected that I think it will be a permanent mainstay as I see no need to swap it for something else. To that point the design is decent enough to fit in with most setups without looking too flashy l. Overall very impressed with the Polk and I'd recommend this for anyone wanting decent bass for sub £200brad b

Pros: Good value unit. Sound is good. Using with Sony AV receiver. Power output is fine for a living setup. Cons: Unit is a lot larger than kef unit it replaces.Paul

I'm a computer guy, not an audio technician, so I'm not qualified to compare this to other subwoofers, but I can say definitively that I am very happy with the results I got when I added this to my two existing stereo speakers. Both those speakers are those old-school 3 foot tall beasts, and they appear to have decently sized woofers. This particular subwoofer has its own amplifier and takes a straight analog signal through an RCA jack. Because it is a low frequency signal, I assume that any old RCA cable will do, and I would not worry much about spending extra money for gold connectors, shielding, or that sort of thing. This subwoofer has its own gain/volume control, and it took a little while for me to figure out how I wanted it set.Greg

Treat this as a direct replacement for your home Yamaha sub. Gets the job done. Mine had quit working completely and this was all that I needed. You get what you pay for and if I wanted a louder sub I would have ordered a more expensive one. This does just fine for meAndy

I wish I could give it 5 stars but there is a persistent hum at 60hz. This is present even when the sub is not attached to any other device at all. I returned the 1st one thinking it might be defective but the replacement is the same. I think it is literally the physical vibration of the transformer and not a signal being introduced to the speaker. I did get this at a major discount and am keeping it. It works well enough at enough volume to cover the hum, but at low volume listening or in quiet spots it can be annoying.Arnie

Decent sub at a decent price, and an absolute steal when on sale. Won?t shake the plates in the China cabinet, nor will it make your mains ?disappear? or your walls ?fall away? on your 2-channel stereo ? but it?ll certainly add some oomph to most TV soundbars or computer separates. Sure, there?s a slight 60hz buzz as others have noted, but so far it?s only audible when you?re ear-to-driver w/no signal playing. Hookup to my powered stereo speakers w/RCA sub-out was a snap. Best attribute, no question, is the bargain price. Totally worth it.Rob

I purchased one of these several months ago to replace an older 12" sub for my home theatre setup. I was pleased but wanted a bit more. So I recently purchased a second one to balance the system out. The bass is very real and balanced. It now handles everything from movies and every type of music i have tried on it. They pair very well with my older JBL HLS810 (8" low and horn mid/high) sitting right on top. I don't think I could get a better powered sub without spending many, many times more money. I have a very critical ear and have worked with both home audio and live sound for years. I also have spent a lot of time mixing live sound so I think I know what sounds good. After running my DSP and EQing the room I am beyond pleased with this powered sub and the price is a bonus. Both were purchased from Parts Express. The last one I ordered on a Thursday evening and it arrived on Monday! Your ears deserve this sub and Parts Express deserves you business.Rodger

I didn't want to spend $500+ for a sub, so did a lot of investigating, reading reviews, etc. Everything kept pointing to the BIC as I was looking for a great value. This sub lives up to the 'hype'. Incredibly powerful, and after tweaking it via my receiver, and balancing my 5.1 set-up, not really too 'boomy' at all. For those who may have issues with the 'auto setting', turn the volume dial way down on the sub and use the receiver to set the volume level. Mine comes on immediately this way, even at lower volumes levels. For me, a steal at $160 shipped in 'like new' condition. I've always looked for good deals/values when purchasing AV/audio components, and this was a great pick. My only real negatives are the 'cheapy' vinyl laminate finish, and the fact that it looks like a boring big box, but given the bass that comes out of this unit, I'll live with it. Many have stated it does not do well for music and more a 'movie' sub, but I have no complaints with the bass produced for music, but yes, it is great for movies and TV. If set-up correctly and not expecting SVS quality, it's hard to beat this sub for twice what I paid.bkeske1

I have been waiting for a few years to find a great price on the BIC F12 and finally Parts-Express came through. My 22 year old KLH 15" sub finally gave up the ghost after a power surge knocked out the plate amplifier. I shopped around for a replacement AMP but then ran across the F12 and was reminded how much I wanted this particular sub for a while now. I am not an audiophile, but the F12 fits my needs perfectly. Sounds good with TV, Movies and the genres of Music that I listen to most. IMHO the 12" driver and amp in the F12 are more than capable of providing the low end umph! I want. The cabinet is solid, the rubber feet are a nice touch and I can not hear a hint of funky resonance in the port design. One bonus is that auto-sense actually works on this sub as long as your input signal is strong enough. I never could get the auto-sense to work reliably on the old KLH. The cabinet is reasonably sized for a 12" sub, not overly large, but large enough to allow the driver to breath. In fact the cabinet looks downright dimunitive when set next to my old sub, but don't let the size fool you. I'd also like to comment on small features that scream quality. The switches for the power and phase control both have metal levers, which I thought was a nice touch. They could have easily used plastic switch levers, but the choice of metal levers is just overe the top. I'm very happy with the purchase. Price was excellent and shipping was very fast. Great job all the way around. Denon AVR S730H Pair of really old Pioneer floor standing speakers KLH surroundsJerry

Goes deep enough to be satisfying for home theater and fulfills expectations of a large sub. I have the Klipsch R-12SW also which has 200 Watts and you can hear the difference (Klipsch is louder, faster transition and tighter bass). I raised the Dayton another 4 inches off the ground using furniture risers and the sound opened up more. The Klipsch R-12SW pops up on sale occasionally to rival the price of the Dayton sub, so if you're still shopping and have space for just 1 sub, go with the Klipsch. I have room, so I went with 3 Klipsch subs and 1 Dayton sub and it satisfies my home theater and music listening needs.NESTOR

I purchased two of these because the price was very good for a sub this size. Unfortunately they lack power/strength. I expected more dynamic output. I already have 2 12" Klipsch subs. They are strong and dynamic but lacked a bit of lower end punch. I mated these one with a Klipsch in my movie room and another with my other Klipsch in my office on near identical Yamaha receivers. At first I thought the first one was defective because even at high volume levels they were hard to hear over my existing speakers. It wasn't until I received the second one a day later that I realized it was the same. I almost sent them back. I guess this is why they were such a good price.Paul

Bought one of these from the Amazon store August 2020. Package was double boxed with thick foam top and bottom on the inner one as you would expect and consequently the sub appeared in perfect shape and was fine internally. I have been using it in conjunction with a 10" cherry wood JBL sub from my 2 story Townhouse living days, before retiring to a large Rancher with a finished basement a few years back. After a year now of these disparate sized subs working well enough together, I have just now bought a second 15" for my admittedly oddball speaker setup of 4 Wharfedale Emerald 97 towers and Polk CsiA6 CC. After the usual placement experimentation, I actually ended up placing the 15's under my Wharfedale front tower speakers and later will move the 10" JBL to a place under a table in the HT seating area and fire it toward the HT to help with cancellations. The tower speakers and 15" subs are separated by thick black foam panels to eliminate any unwanted SQ issues/vibration and work very well. This arrangement is very similar to what is offered in many tall and very pricey single cabinet speakers with subwoofers out there. While Audyssey has always selected all of my speakers as full range and run a 40Hz X-over (speaker preset 1), I choose to also adapt a manual setting of 80Hz X-over for each individually (speaker preset 2). I like to able to switch from one to the other, from Theater to Music. These subs are well known as being one of the best values in Audio for anyone not interested in spending a fortune for uber-quality subwoofers. They are extremely easy to calibrate for musicality and elimination of unnecessary boom and thump. Having recently replaced my Onkyo pre-amp (dead HDMI board) with a Denon X3700H used in pre-amp mode, the Audyssey setup for 2 subs worked very well. It is a pleasure to be able to dial in 2 large subs more or less permanently. When I bring the 10" JBL back into the mix I will have to run the front subs off of a Y and split the Mono and treat the 10" as subwoofer 2. Hopefully this will work with little fuss. FYI, I tend to run these subs with a high gain level in my setup, especially the underpowered-for- their-size Daytons, as my basement theater is quite a large space, which though finished, is not acoustically treated except for the drop ceiling panels. The correct High Gain level, even without Audyssey, is easy to find when listening to certain music or movie tracks to eliminate unmusical Boom or thump. Since all 3 subs have a relatively low 150W output each, I prefer the High Gain approach. Using the pre-amp to dial down the Channel level one click at a time always reveals when low Bass becomes truly Musical and not just bump and thump. Once the 3rd sub is properly in the mix, the basement HT will likely be a project completed.Paul

Well, this product was quite a surprise. I was planning to build my own powered subwoofer when I saw the PartsExpress offer and price on this unit. Changed plans and have this installed. We just used this outdoors for a dance party. Went most of the night! Excellent build quality, comprehensive controls, deep bass response controllable by varying the input level and the gain and crossover controls on the subwoofer. Phase reverse switch is quite handy, too. I use the L & R RCA inputs to drive this subwoofer and am very pleased all around.THOR

I have both the 8" and 10" version and that extra $20 goes a long way. The 8" has surprising output but doesn't get very low. The 10" is quite a bit larger and that extra 10hz of frequency response makes a huge difference, even for just music. I am hearing low bass notes in some of my songs that were completely inaudible on the 8" (I listen to allot of trap/bass heavy edm). I assume this is even more beneficial for home theater. One thing I did notice on this is there is a hard cut off at 30hz. So if you were hoping to stretch the frequency response a bit with EQ, thats a no go. The two main downsides of these subs is they have a cheap foam surround that will likely disintegrate after 10+ years, but the internal amp will likely die long before than. The other downside is the bass is kind of slow, especially at lower notes, there is a slight build up delay after the bass hits. Others have pointed out the crappy auto off feature but I have always just run it with always on mode since this is a class D amp so it draws next to no power when there is no signal, so basically a non-issue for me. Even with these slight drawbacks, this is seriously the best bang for buck sub you can buy, nothing else even comes close. Of the whole line up I think the 10" is probably the best value. I am using it with some Dayton MK402x bookshelfs for a mind blowing and powerful PC setup for a mere $260 including an amp. And with the 5 year warranty, you can hardly go wrong with Dayton stuff. Huge fan of Dayton audio products after my experience.Jacob

I have this hooked up with some monitor speakers in a bedroom on a computer. It's overkill for bedroom for sure. I have it at 1/4 volume and it's still way too much. These are on the boomy side as others have stated and in a small room. I think two of these would cost less than the sub woofer I have in my theater and probably be louder. That's sort of sad because of how much I spent on my own diy sub. Dayton always puts out quality for a cheep price. I had a cheap velodyne subwoofer before in my room that I couldn't stand and sold it. The whole kit seems to work together and not an extremely cheap press board box. It's however not a 3/4" mdf box either. Can't be beat for the price though I am sure of that. Just don't expect a great musical sub for this price.Sandy

I was looking for a quality subwoofer for my fairly compact PC setup. Dayton Audio is constantly mentioned and highly regarded in many "budget audiophile" and "best-for-price" audio hardware reviews from many different corners of the web. The SUB-800 delivers on these promises. It does indeed seem like one of best compact subwoofers for the price. Excellent gain and crossover abilities, and inputs, allowing it to fit just about any need. Mine was combined with Micca MB42X speakers and Micca OriGain amp (thanks to its very handy pre-out, easily connected to the sub's RCA inputs). Sounds fantastic all-together, and makes for a quality stereo setup if size is an issue. Moving on: Five year warranty sounds amazing (although I worry about shipping costs). The "Auto-On" power mode doesn't work particularly well with my setup (fairly low-powered, reasonably quiet): sub just doesn't power on until pushed louder, but full "On" is working perfectly fine. I wonder if constantly switching on and off is healthy, and how it compares to heat from always being on. More specs and highlights: Woofer: 8", long-throw. Design: Bottom-firing, flared port, bass reflex. Power output: 80 watts RMS. Frequency Response: 40 – 140 Hz. Inputs: RCA line level, speaker level. Crossover frequency control: Continuously variable (12 dB per octave). Dimensions: 13" x 13" x 15" (H x W x D, rounded). Weight: 26 pounds. Color: Black and black.Thomas

I purchased this compact subwoofer for use with the Dayton Audio HTA100BT Integrated Amplifier. My review is based on a "bang-for-the-buck" principle and not on a comparison to a $2,000 sub that can rattle a 1,000 sq ft home theater. The Dayton 8" sub is simple and clean … unobtrusive even in my 100 sq ft. home office. With a little effort, listening to many genres and at multiple volume levels, I was able to dial in the sub to match my bookshelf speakers. Once this was complete, I was impressed. For a small room, the Dayton 8" filled in the bottom end very nicely with a near-seamless transition to the mains. It was tight, not boomy, and extended plenty deep for most types of music. It is possible it could fill in as a home theater subwoofer for a small room, but that was not my purpose. I wasn't looking for subsonic extension. For the music I normally listen to – jazz, blues, classical, rock, and some metal, it is fantastic and pairs well with the HTA100BT and my bookshelf speakers.Perry

Bought this subwoofer to fill in the missing bass from my vintage Mission 737 Renaissance speakers, recently upgraded with Polypro capacitors and Peerless By Tymphany D19TD-05 Poly Dome tweeters. It works great in my application, which is exclusively for music listening of many genres. It blends seamlessly with the Missions and extends the bass to the depths I need, even for low organ notes in classical recordings. I use the speaker-level inputs, as my Marantz amp has no pre-out or sub-out connections. I may get a 2nd one and then use them as stands under the Mission speakers, as they would be just about the ideal height.KENNETH R

This sub is phenomenal. You can either have super clean bass or rattle your neighbors windows. Its the best of both worldsUWWU

I used this for music only , have not tried for movies. Following the recommendation from The Next Best thing studio and PS Audio to add a subwoofer to stereo listening, I gave it a try. I was already contented with my pair of Klipsch bookshelf speakers, adding this greatly enhanced the bass. Bass goes down deeper and fuller. The sub disappears physically, the added lows seems to come from the 2 bookshelf speakers. Listening to Diana Krall and Norah Jones would never be the same. It's more livelier than without the subwoofer.Mikelo

Paired these up with the edifier R1280DBs. The sub really gives them a huge punch a little too much maybe but pretty sure I just need to tweak it. Little pricey but it is what it is the quality is amazing.BestBuyer

I've had my PSW108 for a couple of years now. This thing is so cheaply made it's maddening. I think the driver (actual speaker) in it is probably pretty nice, but it's hard to know since the grill is made of cheap plastic and the little nubs that hold it on broke on mine for no reason that I can ascertain as I hadn't touched it or even gone near it for a while before I found them broken. And because they were broken they rattled. Then when it kept rattling and vibrating and shaking, I inspected further to find to places in this thing rattled that could have been prevented at the factory for pennies on the dollar and just a hair of effort. First is the wave guide (the plastic ring around the edge of the speaker), and second is, well, I'm not exactly sure what purpose it serves but a crosshair looking piece of plastic that just dangles at the inside edge of the port. And when this thing starts rumbling, both of these start vibrating making a a horrible noise. I took some mounting putty and put around the edges to keep the rattling down and that seems to have helped a TON. But also on the inside, it's really poorly braced. There are right angles everywhere (which is a pretty big no-no in speaker building). The port is just a cardboard tube. And the feet, oh my god the feet. Don't put this thing on hardwood unless you want it to vibrate everywhere, they're just tacked on hard plastic. Would some rubber feet and screws really be that much more expensive Polk? Now that I have unfortunately had this thing for longer than the return period (which I have no idea why I didn't return it then), I'm kind of tempted to build another box for this thing and put the driver in it, just to see how much it would be improved. My guess, quite a bit. Also, the amp on this thing is pretty weak, and there's no LFE input or crossover defeat. LAME. There are much better subwoofers for less.AXington

Superior sub, compact quality cabinet design. Far better tight accurate bass response & acoustics with far much less distortion than the older garbage Polk PSW10 that has awful terrible port noise, poor cabinet design, junk subwoofer, sloppy inaccurate weak bass & a cheap older style constantly overheating amp. You want a great sub to add to your awesome 4K Sound Bar or Surround System this is the ultimate sub to get for the money hands down. Mines in my 16×20 living room & it sound amazing. 10 ⭐'sTruth Be Spoken

I already have a klipsch RW-12d bought in 2011 from another seller, which recently stopped working but was able to replace the power module and still working great. So when I needed another one for building a home theater in the basement, didn’t think twice. Bought this one and happy with it. If you ask me which one is better, I have to say the RW-12d is better but no more available to buy. It has the Corner Port Technology that allows the subwoofer's port tube to be as long as possible without bending, minimizing turbulence that can cause port noise and distortion. The new one is not bad at all. It gives enough punch for movies.MattNY

My second one of these, one for the main home theater system and this one to pair with my Klipsch R-51PM powered bookshelf speakers to bring more boom to my bedroom. An 8” or even 10” would probably be a more suitable choice for the size of my room but this was on sale and who doesn’t like the massive punch and rumble of a 12” powered sub? This thing knocks hard. It’s massive though and finding a suitable place to place it while still maximizing bass potential wasn’t easy. Good luck finding a subtle place to put it if you and or your spouse/partner has a love for aesthetics and design. In a home theater setting it’s perfect and probably way more powerful than many would actually need but it’s nice to have more if you ever wanted to use it. I highly recommend Klipsch speakers as I love my whole Klipsch HT setup.JoeyTsunami

Ok, I was going to purchase the 10 inch version of this subwoofer but it was suggested the 12 inch version would be better for my setup. Boy was I glad I followed that suggestion. The bass is amazing! If you like the bass thumping sound during those TV movies this is the one for you. I have purchased a isolation platform to keep the vibrations down a bit which happens with hard wood floors. This unit comes with LFE so you can set the sub and once done you don't have to make changes between just listening to music or sound tracks played during movies. Using this with my Polk speakers has me watching more TV due to the enhance thunderous bass provide by this unit. So far the sub has enhanced the listening to of music, the sound provide as one watches tv or the sounds tracks of movies as well as speech of both tv an moves sound a lot better with this subwoofer. To test my setup I have played music from country to classical with amazing sound across all. I know this item can be a bit expensive for some, however remember "you get what you pay for". Besides you don't buy this type of unit very often so get a good subwoofer and enjoy it for years unless you abuse it by driving it so hard that you constantly cause distortion to be played which can destroy any speaker regardless of the unit. Would I purchase this subwoofer again in the future. You bet I would. It is being powered by a Pioneer Élite that was purchase from Best Buy.GamerButNoYoungster

My Tanoy subwoofer died after about 7 years of faithful service. I have a Sony STR-DN1080 and operate it as a 7.1 system with small Tanoy speakers. I ordered the Polk Audio PSW10e as a replacement subwoofer and I have to say I’m thoroughly impressed. Watching Lord of the Rings 4k with Dolby Atmos has been a wonderful experience. We could almost feel Sauron’s armies stomping through our living room! Well worth the money!Tincata

I'm currently playing around with a Chinese tube amp which struggles to produce any sort of bass out of bookshelf speakers (and I've tried a few). A suggestion from another owner of the same amp was to hook a subwoofer between the speaker outputs and the speakers. Since my old Mordaunt Short Alumni had suffered the dreaded "thunder crackle" fault, I took a chance on the cheapest sub that RS had in stock that could handle speaker level input. I wasn't expecting much for the price, it was delivered within two days of ordering which is always a bonus at the moment. Initial examination proved rather disappointing. The build quality and controls were well below the standard I was used to on the Alumni, with everything pared down to what I presume is the lowest possible cost. Not a good start! However, once installed and set up, the unit really confounded my skepticism. Without the sub, while the amp was fine with music on the folky side of the spectrum, anything with more prominent bass and drums really suffered. The little Polk brought the missing basslines to life but didn't cause them to overwhelm the rest of track the way that car subwoofers often seem to do. All in all for the price, you can't fault the unit. I could have spent an awful lot more to get the esthetic niceties that I had previously been used to but, under the circumstances, I'm more than happy with the purchase from an audio perspective.1CheesePasty

I bought this a few weeks ago as a temporary stop gap until I can build something that little bit special. Thinking price is representative of quality in this market I thought it was good enough to be decent for now, but wow were my expectations exceeded. The sub is well built and sturdy, coupled with multiple inputs and tone adjustability which I've not personally seen at this price point. The sound is decently punchy without going overboard and drowning out the mid and highs. It's so much better than I expected that I think it will be a permanent mainstay as I see no need to swap it for something else. To that point the design is decent enough to fit in with most setups without looking too flashy l. Overall very impressed with the Polk and I'd recommend this for anyone wanting decent bass for sub £200brad b

Not that this is a problem, necessarily, but be aware if you buy this for use in a small space, the actual size of this unit is massive. It's low to the ground, but wide and has a substantial footprint compared to a traditional subwoofer. It takes up much more floorspace than my current 10" Polk Audio rig, and I literally have no room for it in my apartment. It looks like a coffee table compared to my current sub. It's beautifully built, though. Hefty, a built in heatsink and great build quality on knobs. Can be wall mounted with included brackets. I really wish I could keep this unit, but it's a literal unit. Caveat emptor.ISAIAH

I had high hopes for this, even though the first one was humming the second I plugged it in and turned on the power. The replacement had the exact same issue. I have an old Sony powered Subwoofer that I wanted to replace that has no issue using the same exact outlets. So I know the root cause isn't power delivery, but the Monoprice units. The power on the two units is so bad it would 'thump' when you first hit the power switch. The longer that it was turned off when plugged in, the larger the 'thump'. This was before adding the audio cables. Connecting it to audio didn't matter. So clearly there's an issue with the transformer / electrics in the two units I was sent.Erik

Plenty of power out of this amp and sub. I had to turn the level and volume down to a fairly low setting despite my house being open concept to the dining room and kitchen, 9' ceilings, and an 19'x19' living room. I have the sub in the back corner of the room with the breathe hole facing towards the space behind the couch. We get a nice smooth rumble with on screen explosions and beautiful sound with bass from any music. It is a bit too tall to fit under my couch but I knew this before purchasing so it was no big deal. Setup was easy as well. Great product especially for the price. The speaker and casing all feel solid and high quality.Stephen

This subwoofer is probably too much for my living room. The plumber was working in my attic when I set up the subwoofer. He could hear it from there! If I sit with my feet on the floor, I can feel the beat. If I am in my bedroom, I can hear the beat. I think the design helps to keep the bass low in the room. I have a 16ft ceiling, so I was concerned that the sound would get lost. It hasn't. Now, for the bad news. The auto on doesn't work. Hasn't since I got the unit. I have to unplug the unit, wait for the red light to go off, then plug it back in for the green light to come on. Then, it works great until I watch a program/movie without dolby digital (like SD channels on TV). Then the light switches to red, as it should, but won't switch back to green when I go to a channel/movie with a signal to the subwoofer. I sent an email to Polk. Got a reply several days later with 2 suggestions. Neither worked. So, I called. Support had me send documentation of ownership within warranty — not a problem. I sent sent a pdf file of the BHPhoto Invoice which included the Serial Number. They are mailing a replacement part (all of the electronics in 1 board for me to replace myself. I watched a UTube video. It looked simple enough. We'll see when the time comes. I have kept the box, just in case. This is the first time I have an any problem with any Polk product and I have lots of them. I would rate the Support Response as a 4 star so far. That might change if it takes too long to get the replacement part or too difficult to replace the part myself.Jan

I needed to upgrade my ancient Velodyne subwoofer. I researched and narrowed it down to this Polk Audio and the Klipsch SPL-120. Both are 12 inch subs that pack a punch. For half the price of the Klipsch, and better looks… I pulled the trigger on the Polk Audio. No regrets. Big, clear bass for my open space living room. It was a nice xmas gift to myself!Ringer

I have this paired with Polk R200 speakers and a Denon AVR. I used the Audyssey room EQ in the AVR to set it up. It set it to come on at 40Hz. So for solo piano, the L200's can cover the frequency range but it is interesting to see how much low frequency content is in tv commercials.The sub comes on automatically when triggered. No need to turn it on by the switch.I'm loving this set-up and will take it a step further and add another HTS12 soon. Polk customer service has been great. Really fast shipping. My other stereo has Polk SDA-2B's which I bought in 1988 and they still work fine.Bob K

It's not the biggest or most powerful subwoofer, and might not fill a large room for home theater, but for clean, uncolored sound, say for jazz or classical, it's hard to beat. This sub has a solid pedal low C (think the Saint-Sans Third Symphony or certain passages from Holst's The Planets) and for intimate listening to jazz it will give you rock-solid (no pun intended) bass without overpowering the music. Pairs beautifully with other Audioengine products; a pair of self-powered speakers plus the S8, and a passive preamp for a volume control, gives you a super-clean small system at a fraction of the cost of a big component setup, and no compromise in sound quality. If accurate timbre and fidelity are your goals, this is an excellent choice. And for the icing on the cake, it's beautifully hand-finished in glossy white or black.Gary

I'm using this with a Rega P1 turntable and Audioengine shelf speakers.. so some pretty nice gear. This is the perfect subwoofer for my system. A warm but tight bass response that is more than enough to fill the room. I've read reviews that say the bass is flabby but it all depends on where you put the crossover and if you have the subwoofer on a wooden floor (best response) or carpeting (not good). It looks pretty sexy in white too!Spiderfingers

Build specs: .6 cuft w/passive radiator tuned to 30hz at 450w rms. Xover @ 80hz No bass boost. Details: This build is for a Miata. Which is tricky to make decent low bass in. Being the trunk not fully coupled to the cabin. And there's not much space. Polk dbs on a Rockford amp in the doors handle the punchy bass around 80hz really well. But generating good output below that, is where this sub came in. The design is targeting SQ over SPL. Modeling small sealed boxes, peaked to high with the woofer. Ported was really the way to go. However, port length became an issue. Which is how I ended up with the PR. The PR in use here is the Earthquake SLAPS 8 tunable PR. With an additional 160 grams of mass added. And a half pound of poly in the box. Design: carpeted, "bass tube" inspired design. With white trim around the baffles to match the vehicle. Baffles wider at the bottom for additional stability. Bottom mounted terminal for a clean look, with a groove for the wire to sit in. Results: Overall output is more than reasonable. Plenty of bass to be had. Kick drums punch hard, and hit high in the chest. Synth bass is well controlled and can get down below the seat, as if it's coming from the floor. Output at tuning is acceptable, followed by a very sharp drop off. But there is a strong cabin gain in the upper 40's. Despite not using the amps bass boost. The sub handles the amp well. With very little breakup up, only when pushed. For the price, with the end result I've experienced in this particular build. The tropo is tough to beat.N.P.

I put four of these in my 2021 Nissan Titan. I’ve been running them for about two months now, with a RF T1000-1 bdcp pushing them. The box has two side ports tuned to 38Hz, and they have 1.8cuf of air space. I’m not flexing my windshield, but these little suckers bang like crazy! I listen to a lot of EDM, and metal, and the sound is clear. I did lose a little kick drum tightness by going ported, but I’m still happy with the results I’m getting. If you’re tight on space, and you don’t want your wallet to cry when buying subs, you’ll be more than pleasantly surprised with all you’ll get in this small, affordable package.Eric W.

if this is your price range and sound quality is a must don't hesitate. I've never had a skar but I was torn between this or the svr and I think this I made the right choice. Definitely likes to be inverted but response is much more profound in a very narrow hz range. They take clipped power at 800 plus watts for up to 5 minutes and I just smell the coil getting hot moderately. This was done accidentally of course my stock alt couldn't support rp1500.1 power thirst. It's definitely stout can't wait to build a custom enclosure but 1.5 cubes seems too small when it sounded louder and cleaner down low inverted in a 2 cube prefab at 36 hz tune. But idk definitely best I've owned will see how long it lastsP.w.

I added this to the 50W Hybrid Tube amplifier paired with the Immersive Satellite Speakers. The speakers themselves do a nice job filling a medium-sized work office space with a nice sound at a conversational level. But the 4" woofers needed help. The 12" subwoofer connects directly to the amplifier with its own dedicated line level. Optionally, one may also drive additional satellite speakers from there, but I haven't tried that myself. This unit adds the extra bass response that the satellite speakers lack, but it's not an "in your face" bass response. I find it a very balanced pairing.Craig

Picking a subwoofer was the most challenging part of setting up surround sound in my living room. My house came with 5 speakers mounted in the ceiling, so the only devices I needed to buy were the AV receiver and a subwoofer. Choosing the receiver was easy. I needed a 7.2 channel receiver so I ordered a Denon S750H, and it's awesome. But for the subwoofer, I had too many options like the brand, input/outputs, and size. When I saw that Monoprice makes speakers, I was surprised and excited at all their low prices. So I decided to get a Monoprice speaker, but which one? It really came down to this one and the 8 inch version. Monoprice also sells slim subwoofers, which I might get later, but I found out that they take up lots of floorspace due to their low heights. So I went with this traditional shape. For less that $120, you get all kinds of subwoofer inputs and outputs, WITHOUT LFE. Usually, receivers like to output LFE signals, so having a sub that takes this signal is nice to have. But this subwoofer recommends to split the LFE signal from the receiver using an RCA Y adapter or splitter. This worked flawlessly, as long as I used RCA cables ONLY. When I played some music with some bass in it, I couldn't hear any sound from the subwoofer. After checking the receiver settings, I found out that the receiver supports outputting MAIN+LFE signals to the subwoofer. After fixing that setting, this sub finally made some noise and finally, all my music, shows, and movies sound much deeper and fuller. So if you're new to surround sound, struggling to find a good subwoofer, and have a large room (like my living room), then you can't go wrong with this sub. Easy to set up, instructions are simple, and Monoprice has excellent RMA service in case you need to return/replace it. Also, don't worry about the LINE OUT and all the speaker connections if you have a receiver powering all your speakers. This sub, like most in this size, have speaker connections for a stereo receiver, pre-amp, or some device that doesn't have a subwoofer pre-out. Besides that, this sub is an excellent choice for people new to surround sound and have a tight budget.Aurva

Picked this up for $84 and some change, using a black Friday code. Not even sure how that is possible in this day and age! Outstanding build quality for that price. Works flawlessly, not a fast pounder though, more of a slower, warmer, musical sounding sub that is perfect to fill the bottom end on the Classic rock and traditional metal I listen to. Running it with a pair of JBL stage 130 book shelf speakers and it sounds awesome in my 12? by 16? listening room. Couldn?t be happier with my purchase.Alan

I love the Polk HTS10 subwoofer. Perfect for both music and movies and fits right in with my older Klipsch k series speakers. 1st one I bought had issues with it not coming back on after it went into standby mode. Sent it back for a full refund, but didnt hesitate to buy another one. Second one works fantastic and sounds amazing. If you cant lay out big money for a high end subwoofer, then check out the Polk Audio HTS10 or HTS12.tama8263

Bought 2 of these to match my Polk S15 main and S35 center channel. Needed 2 due to the size of my open floorplan. So far very happy with the sound, still tweaking a little bit to match the acoustics of the room and placement, but overall for a 10" sub its very capable and responsive. No port noise from the design and punches very low. Don't read too much into the power rating (100w Continuous with a peak of 200w), I think the efficiency of the driver and amp, as well as the power port design make up for the somewhat low power. Low the aesthetics as well, very good looking since it has to sit out in the open, and build quality is excellent. Bottom line: looks great, sounds great and is compact enough to not overwhelm your space. Plays down to 25/30 HZ. No complaintsJosh

Using the New Denon S660H (2021model) receiver. This sub hits better than most 12 inch i have had in the past. I also added Polk xt60 floor speakers and have a Polk CS-10 center. This combo really sounds good while watching 4K movies with doby atmos and or doby ditial surround 5.1. Note: a friend and i noticed that on a 5.2 receiver, the height sound from the doby atmos i coming through the rear surround speaker.Burner

I am very happy with this subwoofer, but let's get this out of the way – I do not think it will please those who want extreme bass output, or sub -20hz bass. I have a separate audiophile 2-channel setup, so I was particularly concerned with the quality of bass, which is outstanding, with texture and quickness. I also wanted an overall balanced system across the frequency spectrum, and this Rel achieves that, blending seamlessly with my JBL Studio 580 towers. I was upgrading from two Andrew Jones-designed Pioneer 8" subs.MICHAEL

Had this a few weeks now, I originally purchased another sub that did not fill the room (from another brand) called Richer sounds up and they arranged for me to swap to this sub (obviously paying the difference) this sub really can output some serious bass. Richersounds customer service was on point and after explaining why i was not happy this sub was the suggestion. If you really want to test the strength of the plaster on your walls this is for you! I added the REL HT-Air wireless adapter so i would place the sub a long way from the amp. I got this from richersounds by asking for it but they dont list it on their siteRandall8

Solid subwoofer. Bass is slightly tighter sounding than your average home theater sub so it's plays well with both movies and music which can be hard to find. If you're looking for a sub for just music or just movies there are better and more affordable options. RSL, rythmik for music or SVS and monolith for movies.Mike