# Monoprice sub



## JoeESP9 (Jun 29, 2009)

Has anyone seen the new sub from MonoPrice? 

It's a 12" ported sub with 150 Watt amplifier. It has curved side walls and looks real good.

The price is $84.10. Yes, that's not a misprint. I'm going to order two next month.

One of these subs and a pair of their $54.33 8" three way bookshelf speakers has got to be the bargain basement price for "halfway decent" gear.

That's $138.43 for a pair of 8" three ways and a powered sub, all new, not re-manufactured used or "B" stock


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## Guest (Sep 8, 2011)

I thought that 12" was sealed, but after taking a 2nd look, I see the port. Please let me know how you like them. With raw driver prices going up and up at partsexpress, I'm wondering how monoprice is able to sell a sub for so cheap. 

Unless they put a fake over sized dust cap on that thing, it actually looks like it has a stout voice coil on it to prevent overheating.

I installed monoprice in-walls for a family member to upgrade from Onkyo HTIB speakers and they blew them out of the water. If this sub follows their crazy deals that deliver, it should be decent.

I'd still like to hear your reviews. If this thing isn't boomy at all, it will be an amazing deal.

The 8" is on sale today for $41. Just crazy. I love monoprice.


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## mr.chill (Aug 25, 2011)

Wow, never heard of this brand before. 84.10 for a 12" subwoofer thats incredible, I would have bought like 8 of them and stacked 4 and 4 in each corner  The subwoofer doesnt look bad either


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## AndyInOC (Dec 15, 2010)

I saw that sub the other day and would really love to hear one in comparison to the lil prefab Dayton 10" sub100 that I got a few years ago. Cabinet is attractive enough, the driver itself doesn't look too bad, could be a nice lil budget buy if it sounds decent. I'll stay tuned hoping for updates


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## JoeESP9 (Jun 29, 2009)

Were I not retired and on a fixed income I would have already ordered two. They should still be available at the end of October. If not, then I'll have not wasted money.


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## eugovector (Sep 4, 2006)

Please post your impressions. What are you using for a sub right now?


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## gorb (Sep 5, 2010)

I really want to see some reviews or even just general owner impressions for this unit. It's so cheap, but I want to know if it's worth buying first


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## diggles (Jul 23, 2010)

I want to see the video review of the cabinet dancing all over the floor LOL. This should be good.

Cables are one thing, speakers, well, tougher territory. We'll see.


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## JoeESP9 (Jun 29, 2009)

eugovector said:


> Please post your impressions. What are you using for a sub right now?


My subs are listed in my signature. They are folded 12" PVC sewer pipe approximately 4' tall including stands. Each one is composed of two 3.50' sections, two 90° angles and a 1' section. The transmission line is a little over 8' long. For more information see the Pass Labs DIY site, The Legend of El Pipe-O.


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## Guest (Sep 15, 2011)

Anyone get theirs delivered yet? Any impressions or reviews to report?


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## sagerion (Jan 22, 2010)

I finally got around to ordering the remaining monoprice in-wall speakers for my living room. I saw the 12" sub and said why not? Should be here by the end of the week. Has anyone actually got one yet?

I don't expect it to compare my Klipsch Sub 12 in my theater room.


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## eugovector (Sep 4, 2006)

Who knows, you might be surprised. Try a side by side between the two.


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## sagerion (Jan 22, 2010)

Sub arrived and my initial impressions when opening it were it looks way more expensive than it really is, as do most items from Monoprice.

Current living room setup (not dedicated theater):

Sharp 46" Aquos (Bought the TV in 2007, still looks great)
Monoprice 6.5" in-wall speaker (FL,FR) 
Monoprice 10" in-wall woofer (FL,FR)[bi-amped with above]
Monoprice 5.25" in-wall center channel (C)
Monoprice 6.5" in-ceiling speaker (RL,RR)
Yamaha RX-V667

Monoprice didn't ship the RCA Y-connector I ordered for the sub not sure if it will make a difference, there is a line level input for both the left and right channels, neither is specifically marked connect here if one input if available. So I have connected the left input for now and it appears to work.

I didn't really do any special setup, made sure the new speakers I hooked up ,including the sub worked. I turned the dials for the low pass and the volume somewhere randomly in the middle to get an initial impression. Grabbed a blu-ray copy of fast five and watched (after some dinking around on the computer I really hate copy protection working against me on something I bought!).

My initial impressions for the sub were good. During the movie the sub was not boomy I did not here it clip. The tone on the sub seamed to mate pretty well with the other monoprice speakers. The volume on the low end was a little lacking, but that was probably more of setup error on my part, will have to spend some more time getting all the settings just right. Also the response on the sub was not as tight as I would like for a dedicated theater, which is "ok" here because this in my living room and the sub still gives you the feeling of the lows.

Now all the reviews on Monoprice seam to be a little over exaggerated, it certainly does not have a heart pounding punch the reviews lead you to believe. Not even worth doing a side by side with my Klipsch Sub 12, now that sub will pound not just the theater room, but the whole house. I don't think this sub is the hidden gem the in-wall speakers are from Monoprice, but I do believe the sub is a good deal definitely an upgrade from HTIB subs I have had in the past. I probably wouldn't recommend this sub for a dedicated theater unless someone is on a really tight budget, but I would recommend for a second listening (given they can afford to spare the floor space, it still is a 12" sub) room where you want to round out the low end nicely.


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## eugovector (Sep 4, 2006)

To begin with, congratulations on your new purchase and thank you for sharing your impressions with us. However, without doing a proper setup, you're not getting anything close to an honest impression of what this sub sounds like. Those knobs are there for a reason, and just spinning them blindly can really affect you sound.

If your gain is not set properly, your sub may sound boomy at one extreme or anemic at the other. If your crossover is off, you might have whole frequency ranges unreproduced by either your speakers or subwoofer. It looks like this sub doesn't have a phase control, but if phase is not set properly, you may have spots around the crossover frequency where out of phase signals cancel each other out.

Fortunately, setting this is easy as your Yamaha includes a setup mic which will set the Gain, Crossover Frequency, and Distance (phase) of the signal running to your sub.

With an AVR such as yours, the correct settings are:
Gain: 12 O'Clock (to start with)
Crossover: Bypassed or as high as it will go (150HZ in your case)
Phase: 0 degrees (you don't have this setting)

Then, plug in the little mic that came with your AVR and let the auto setup routine do it's thing. Keep it quiet; turn of your HVAC, children, and anything else that makes noise during this process. After the setup, if the level in your AVR on your subwoofer channel is set to it's maximum (+10 or 12dB), turn the gain on your sub down ad rerun the setup routine. If it's set to it's min (-10 or 12dB), turn your sub up.

If you do this, I think you'll be much happier with the sound of your system. If you really want to get everything dialed in, experiment with placement of your subwoofer using the "crawl-test" or room analyser software like REW. Please let us know your impression after setup.

Thanks,
Marshall


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## sagerion (Jan 22, 2010)

Any suggestions on a remote setup mic? My receiver for my living room is tucked away in the basement with my other receiver, media servers, networking, HDMI distribution and IR repeater network. No way is the setup mic long enough to reach my living room. Wife will not allow any more holes in the walls...


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## eugovector (Sep 4, 2006)

You could get a 3.5mm extension cable, or move the AVR temporarily. Otherwise, you're stuck doing it the old fashioned way: get an SPL meter, some test tones or REW.


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## eugovector (Sep 4, 2006)

Cnet review here: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13645_3-20118768-47/monoprice-subwoofers-how-low-can-they-go/

Damning with faint praise is my evaluation of the review, but Steve has heard them and I haven't. Even at twice the price, Monoprice vs. Dayton sub shootout would be quite interesting.


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## eugovector (Sep 4, 2006)

Another review with measurements: http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/article/review-monoprice-msub-a122-subwoofer

Synopsis: The sub is well engineered, but he limitations of its pricepoint are quickly revealed. 

My opinion: I love monoprice, but for any semi-serious application, probably worth spending twice as much (another $80) on something like a Dayton.


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