Mirage MM-6 miniature High-Performance Subwoofer (Black) Review

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(More customer reviews)Until recently the speakers on our Pioneer Elite plasma were rarely used since all the audio is sourced through a Bose Lifestyle receiver. However, we recently added a new Home Threatre PC to the mix - mainly to get access to the many internet streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu etc and to play foreign region DVDs and Blu Rays. The PC is connected via HDMI and hence both video and audio are sent to the TV (we could have configured the audio to be routed through the Bose system as well but it would have required an extra cable and we were maxed out with the number of components that are attached to the Bose (so we would have to disconnect one in any case). Also, there was the hassle of turning on another device - our Sony HTPC turns on and controls the Pioneer TV just like it was a monitor. The inbuilt HDMI control turns on the TV automatically and turns it to the correct input when the PC is turned on and when the TV is turned off the PC also goes into hibernation. Everything worked perfectly except the audio from the TV's attacked speakers lacked substantial bass.
Another problem we had was that we live in a high rise condo and space is a premium so we didn't want a large sub. The Mirage MM6 was the best fit in terms of aesthetics and performance that we could find. The finish of the MM6 matches the TV perfectly. Also, the Pioneer Elite TVs already include a subwoofer connection that is active so all we needed to do was to plug in a cable from the sub out from the TV to the MM6.
The sound of the MM6 is very detailed and balanced and does not sound muddled or booming like a lot of cheaper subs. The difference to the overall audio quality is quite substantial to say the least. One way to tell is how the THX audio demo sounds (some Disney movies have them at the start).
Great aesthetics and performance. Set up was really easy and you can pretty much put these anywhere and still the sound is excellent.

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Our smallest powered subwoofer to date, the MM-6 packs full-bodied bass into a miniature 8-inch cube.While you'll feel its thunderous bass, the MM-6 won't steal away from your décor; as it neatly hides away nearly anywhere.Pair the MM-6 with the immersive sound of any of our other speakers and experience home audio entertainment like never before. The MM-6's elegant cabinet is constructed of rigid medium density fiberboard and finished in a furniture-grade high-gloss black, achieved via seven layers of hand-sanded polyurethane.This sleek little cube blends perfectly with any décor but don't be fooled by its diminutive size and beauty, the technology is assassin-like.The 800 watt DSP controlled digital amplifier, high-excursion 6.5" Anodized Aluminum woofer, dual Anodized Aluminum passive radiators are all precisely thrusted by patented Ribbed Elliptical Surround technology, providing deeper bass and lower distortion than ever heard before in this size subwoofer.

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JBL Balboa SUB 10 - 10-Inch Powered Subwoofer Review

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(More customer reviews)I purchased this subwoofer to replace an old subwoofer from a HTIB (Home Theater In a Box) system. I chose this particular subwoofer first because of the brand and second because of the price. I have used JBL products for years (Home, Car, and Professional) and have always been very pleased with their performance. This one is no different.
When it arrived, I was quite surprised at it's size. It is much bigger than I expected for a single 10" subwoofer but still comfortably fits in next to my entertainment center.
As for the sound, I would consider this subwoofer very good but not great. It has much better low end extension than your typical HTIB subwoofer but it's not going to shake the ground. I have never been fond of 10" low frequency drivers and this one isn't going to change my view of them. For some reason, I always find 10" drivers to be more "muddy" sounding than a 12" or even an 8" driver. However, when the next step up (12") costs three times what this one does, I can certainly make an exception. That said, this subwoofer does sound good and has no trouble filling my entire living room with good solid bass.
The features on this subwoofer are also very good. It has speaker level and line level stereo inputs as well as a separate line level LFE input for feeding from a Home Theater receiver. One thing to note, the manual says that the LFE input will bypass the crossover setting. This is actually preferable since the crossover function should be handled by your receiver so that the sub picks up where the main speakers drop off and there is no or very little frequency overlap.
One thing to be cautious of is the power that this thing has. 100w RMS/225w Peak may not sound like much but it is more than enough to fill your average living room/den or to upset your neighbors if you live in an apartment.
All in all, this is an excellent choice for the price and I am very pleased with it.

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JBL Balboa 10" Powered Subwoofer

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Polk Audio SurroundBar360° DVD Home Theater System (Black) Review

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(More customer reviews)Observations
Pros: Built like a tank
Simple setup
Cool factor of 10
Cons:
Should have blue ray at this price point.
Frankly I think it needs a subwoofer, Tried it for a few days with a Polk subwoofer and without. Yes it sounds decent without a sub, but only decent, not great. I have yet to hear anything even close to 5.1 or any type of surround. Upon contacting Polk, I was advised that this bar was NOT (unlike the soundbar series) designed to be used above the tv only below with the optimal placement directly in the front of the tv. Frankly the soundbar sitting in front of a 56 inch tv looks horrible, under it it looks built in. Polk indicating that could affect the sound field. Well thats just cute, the whole POINT of this system was it was supposed to give you the 5.1 effect regardless of placement or your position in the room!
It is a nice system, could use a tad more volume, not amazing with the surround, even though the wide open setup I heard at best buy was nothing short of amazing, but in my 12 X 12 living room, far less than spectacular.
Finally save your money, at this price point the 360 is not ready for prime time. If you are looking for solid tight sound in a high end soundbar this is it. If you are expecting the results Polk claims you will be badly disappointed.My old 5.1 theater in a box $300.00 system sounded a tad better frankly.UPDATE:
After owning this a few months I must say it is a complete waste of money.
There simply is no separation in the soundfield regardless of the input signal.
I have tweaked this system to no end with lackluster results.
For a grand there is a endless amount of equipment that you could purchase that would put this system to shame.
Polk missed on this one, if your heart is set on one, wait a while as the price is certain to go down due to the LARGE amount of people disappointed in this system.
This is nothing more than a fancy expensive 2.1 system. Save your money.

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Polk Audio SurroundBar 360-degree DVD Theater is a complete home entertainment system. It incorporates the enveloping sonic benefits of our SurroundBar SDA technology and our patented PowerPort bass venting technology with the convenience of a control console that is a DVD/CD player, amplifier, and an AM/FM radio. The SurroundBar 360-degree has sleek, contemporary design and simple, single-cable speaker hookup which makes it ideal for anyone who wants big, rich surround sound home entertainment without any of the hookup hassles of multiple speakers and wires. The SurroundBar 360-degree DVD Theater employs 8 drivers. A patented combination of signal processing and acoustical geometry produces the vivid three dimensional surround field that exists on the original recording. What you hear is essentially the same as if sounds were actually coming from all around and behind you.

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NHT SubOne 250 Watt, 10" Subwoofer (Single Speaker) Review

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(More customer reviews)I ordered a subone online and it arrived with a terrible 60cycle hum. I exchanged it, and the second one had very audible distortion/resonance from the speaker surround at most frequencies. NHT said it needed to be replaced, so I got my money back, and bought the Sunfire True Junior -- a really good sub at the same price. I also bought the True from a local high end dealer where I did not have to worry about arguing about returns and Fedex pickups.

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NHT's SubOne subwoofer combines a high-grade NHT driver with a powerful 250-watt amplifier and versatile outboard controls. The SubOne amplifier employs innovative Sunfire technology (designed by Bob Carver) for tight, dynamic control over its 10-inch woofer, which is capable of an impressive 26 millimeters of linear peak-to-peak excursion.The SubOne's outboard controller provides volume and bass-tuning functions, as well as a front-panel switch to tailor the sub's sound for music or movie listening. This subwoofer offers flat response for articulate musical reproduction, while the video contour mode is geared to deliver gut-wrenching punch from demanding home-theater soundtracks. A variety of connection options and a selectable high-pass filter, which lets you curb unwanted low frequencies to better suit your listening space, make the SubOne a flexible addition to any audio system.

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Boston Acoustics Classic Series CPS12Wi Wireless Ready Powered Woofer (Black) Review

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(More customer reviews)I've been beating on this thing for a few days so now it's time for a quick review. I replaced a Boston CS Sub10 with this one and could not be happier. It has great power at 400 watts rms (850 peak). The bass is deep , rich and smooth with no audible port noise which is a plus. This must be due to the heavy magnet structure, tight spider and stiff woofer cone. The woofer also has a high roll surround for long excursion. It has the kind of bass you can feel as well as hear. I have it paired with the rest of the Boston CS line which includes 2 CS 226's, 1 CS 225C and 4 CS 26's for a 7.1 system. It is all being pushed by an Onkyo 806 at 135W x 7 and it has no trouble keeping up at all. The CS Sub10 kept bottoming out cause it couldn't keep up hence the replacement. Those of you who have heard a sub bottom out know what I'm talking about cause it will drive you nuts. I look at other subs but decided to stick with Boston CS line because timbre matching is an important aspect of a great system. It will create a more balanced sound because the tonal chacteristics of the speakers are the same. Overall, I'm very happy with this sub and I only wish I had done it sooner.

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Pinnacle Speakers Subsonic Dual (2) 6.5-Inch 350 Watt Powered Side Firing Subwoofer (Black) Review

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(More customer reviews)I have an Onkyo TXNR609 Reveiver hooked up to this Subwoofer, & the two of them work very well together. My TV room is a medium sized room about 12ft x 12ft & the door shuts so it's an enclosed environment. This Pinnacle woofer is side-firing so it sends its bass both left and right, I think it does a pretty good job filling the room, and I feel the bass even though it doesn't fire right toward the people viewing the TV. So far I've watched a few action movies such as "The Book of Eli," and "Predators" and this Subwoofer has done great with my system, there's no question you can feel the theatrical effects that were intended. It's a pretty good product and it hardly takes up any space which to me was important. If you have a huge room and want the best possible set up you should probably look elsewhere & get a big mean subwoofer. If you want a nice looking Sub woofer that's small but packs a pretty good punch, then this is the one for you.

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Bose 901 Direct/Reflecting Speaker System - Walnut Review

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(More customer reviews)I owned a pair of 901s in the early 80s, they are excellent speakers in term of dynamics and their ability to fill a room with sound. Back then I used Phase Linear equipment to drive them. Phase Linear was designed by Bob Carver and were considered entry level high end at the time. Paired up with the 901s they produce some of my best memories of music. As I grew older and purchased a home with an open floor plan their limitations started to become more apparent. These speakers use reflected sound waves to produce a wide sound stage and excellent imaging, in an open area this effect is loss and you experience what others have called no highs or lows. The equalizer can compensate for some of this but not entirely. My advice is to carefully consider where you will use these speakers and if they fit the environment they can sound spectacular. They are not everyones cup of tea but they just may be yours.

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Polk Audio LSi9 Bookshelf Speakers (Pair, Ebony) Review

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(More customer reviews)I've owned many speakers in my time and auditioned some high-end numbers from Paradigm, B&W, Axiom, among others, and believe the Polk LSI9 to be the class-leading bookshelf speaker in the $1000-1500 price category.
External: The first thing you will notice when you get these speakers out of the box is how incredibly heavy they are. To give you an idea, they feel twice as heavy as Polk RTi6 bookshelves (commonly available at box stores). The construction of the cabinet is absolutely top-notch and fit and finish is truly impressive. The top and bottom have a beautiful piano black, high gloss finish and the side panels have rich, dark oak wood paneling. The back has Polk's standard diffusing bass port that allows placement of this speaker right up against a wall (or on a bookshelf) without degrading the sound or creating boomy bass. The gold-plated 5-way binding posts have been upgraded on this line to be more robust and replaces the red and black plastic binding post nuts common on most speakers and receivers with robust metal versions. The dual binding posts allow for use as a full range speaker with included jumpers in place or as a bi-amped or bi-wired unit. Nice touch. After you remove the front grill, you are greeted by that beautiful piano black surrounding two 5 1/4" poly woofers, a rare ring-radiator tweeter (seen in other luxury speakers selling for multi-thousands), and two front resonance ports. Harmonic resonance in this cabinet is minimized with the ingenious use of these tuned ports (these are NOT bass ports, that's on the back). I am very impressed with the build quality, fit and finish. A note about placement: These speakers are over 15" deep and extremely heavy, so they don't actually fit on many shelves. These truly work best on speaker stands or large table/desk units.
Sound: Form must follow function, so do these speakers sound as beautifully as they look? In a word, ABSOLUTELY. These speakers manage to competently handle an extremely broad frequency range. The ring radiator tweeter handles treble with grace and agility, without being harsh or shrill like metal dome tweeters. The ring design is much more acoustically accurate than similarly priced dome varieties and builds an upper-end high above its pay grade. The midrange is very full and warm, thanks to one dedicated woofer. The second woofer is reserved for midbass and bass frequencies and when combined with the rear bass port, accomplishes something stunning. If you close your eyes, you would swear this is a large floorstanding speaker with 8" woofers. The bass impact is so visceral, so low that I thought I still had my sub connected, no joke (I checked). This coming from a 5 1/4" woofer in a bookshelf speaker is an amazing achievement. I have never heard a speaker this size with this amount of quality bass. The frequency response appears fairly linear down to about 60hz, so in combination with a subwoofer actively crossed at 80-90hz, this setup is flat-out unbelievable. The sound stage of these speakers is impressive as well. Properly positioned and with the right recording, these speakers can give the impression of sitting in a large concern hall. They handle depth of soundstage with particular competence, but width is nice as well.
Logistics: We talked already about positioning of these deep, heavy guys, now about power. The LSi9s are rated for 20-200 watts into 4ohms. Make no mistake about it, these speaker love power. I currently run a Denon that puts out around 160 watts into 4ohms (100 watts into 8ohms) and it handles them well. I have them crossed over at 80 hz, which removes a bit of the energy-intense bass frequencies and gives me a bit more efficiency. If you want these guys to really sing, get an amp that can handle them. Additionally, biwiring them has yielded improved frequency separation and a tinge more crispness to the presentation. I can only imagine the kind of improvement you could get from biamping them. One more thing, while these speakers sound fantastic out of the box, you will get a noticeable improvement out of them after about 200 hours of burn-in.
Conclusion: What you have here with the Polk LSi9 is an audiophile-grade speaker that competes well with audio heavy-hitters costing $1500-2000 or more. This is a fantastic bang-for-the-buck speaker that is an immensely satisfying purchase. PLEASE don't make the mistake of seeing the name Polk and thinking these are typical box-store speakers. I have owned many of Polk's other speakers (RTi6, RTi4, RTi55, FXi5, FXi3, CSi5) and this is simply in a different class altogether. That isn't to say anything negative about Polk's other speak lines, I really enjoy them. It's just to say that this is truly something special. Do yourself a favor and audition these speakers, you'll be glad you did.

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Polk Audio RTI A7 Floorstanding Speaker (Single, Black) Review

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(More customer reviews)I have been in the process of replacing my HT speakers, moving away from my piecemeal 5.1 setup (old Altec fronts, Bose surround satellites, Boston Acoustics center channel), to an all-Polk 5.1 configuration. From the research I did prior to actually buying anything, reviews seemed to stress that the RTI-A polk line sounds just about as good as other companies' speakers that typically run for twice the price. After listening to a bunch of options at the now-defunct Tweeter, I came to the same conclusion; I purchased this set of RTI-A7s for fronts, a Polk Audio CSI A6 Center Channel, and Polk Audio RTI A3s for rears. I got the RTI-A7s for a song at Tweeter right before they closed, even cheaper than here or other sites.
These were also the first new items I bought as part of my replacement project, so it really gave me a chance to listen to these in comparison with my old Altecs. I did an A-B test, and the detail and sound field these babies put out really blew away the older, more conventional (and aesthetically speaking much uglier) Altecs (running on a Yamaha RX-V1800). Mid- and High-range detail are exceptional on the RTI A7s, really light years ahead of my old dinosaurs, and perfect for HD formats like BluRay or SACD. The only area where the Altecs win by a slight margin is deep bass (

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Polk Audio TSi500 Floorstanding Speaker (Single, Black) Review

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(More customer reviews)Exterior Finish - Got the speakers and unpacked them to an amazing sight of cherry finish with the high gloss back top. My wife absolutely loved it. They are one of the bigger towers and will dwarf even a 40inch TV.
Sound - Listened to a lot of speakers..Paradigm studios, klipsch Icons, reference series, Polk Rtis, PSB image towers and Infinity towers....to me the paradigm studios were the best in sound but they were astronomical in terms of price. Finally it was between these and the PSBs, the klipsh Icons and the polks RTis sounded bright to me. Did a lot of listening with my own cd at Frys, my friends place, bestbuy and a whole list of places. The psbs seemed to have the best mid range but lacked the clarity at the highs these provided. The klipsch Icons were ruled out as even the TSI400s sounded better than those. Since i was looking for beefier mids I went with these and have not looked back since. Running them using an Emotiva amp. I have pushed them to a true 100 watts and they were wanting more. I could not go past this point as I dint want cops at my door...:) needless to say these performed like champs.
For HT these are beasts...provides an in theater experience once the lights go out. Pair them with a CS20 and you will have an extreme front sound stage.
Value - Must buy for the sheer value provided at this price range. An absolute yes to an audiophile who knows the law of diminshing returns or a practical person who wants most from his purchase.


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Polk Audio RTI A1 Bookshelf Speakers (Pair, Cherry) Review

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(More customer reviews)I researched bookshelf speakers for two months. I wanted a speaker that would fill the room with clean, rich sound for all types of music, especially jazz, classical, bluegrass, and rock. Everything sounds great on these speakers. I had Boston Acoustic floor speakers. I still love the the BAs, but I have not lost anything with the Polk and I have gained space. The speakers sit on top of a bookcase, about 6' off the ground, in a 14' x 14' room. I could not be happier.

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Polk Audio Pa1100.5/Aa1100-A 5-Channel 1200 Watt Stereo Amplifier Review

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(More customer reviews)I had a feeling I would be pretty happy with this thing when I saw how big it was and heavy it is. This thing is a beast and it doesn't disappoint. Much like the longer reivew written above, I've never heard such crisp clear highs and solid bass in a car system until I put this in mine. I am running this with Focal 6 1/2 components up front, 6x9's in the rear and a 10" power coustic sub in a ported box. I have the gain (amp volume) on all the channels at just under half and it's already incredibly loud and clear. I would definitely recommend this amp, I acutally never write reviews but I'm so impressed with this that I just have to. GO BUY IT NOW< TRUST ME lol, you won't regret it. Just make sure to get speakers that can handle the juice this thing can pump out....and Enjoy!!

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