Wharfedale SW250 Powered Subwoofer (silver) Review

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(More customer reviews)I was looking for a nice subwoofer to replace the one I was using. The Wharfedale SW250 was not it. I wasted $160 dollars in shipping charges on this unit. Live and learn, I guess. What's wrong with it?
It's very heavy, about 65 lbs. This in itself, wasn't a concern for me, but I hadn't planned on having to send it back. The sub appears well-constructed, but that isn't enough. The SW250 doesn't really sound all that impressive. For a 10" driver backed by a 250-watt RMS amplifier, it didn't really have that good a sound. I'm not a person who listens to that overly bass-heavy hip hop stuff, but mostly classic rock or jazzy music like Norah Jones or Donald Fagen. For a sealed enclosure, it really didn't exhibit the tightness I expected. I don't care much for ported enclosures when it comes to music. Most professionals realize ported enclosures don't typically produce realistic bass. There is always a sharp peak in the response curve of such designs.
Another issue was that the sub had a loud hum noise when turned up enough to put out any amount of bass. You could feel the cone vibrating even without the input cables connected. A speaker should make no sound without input.
The remote control is nice for changing gain, crossover frequencies, etc. and it has 4 presets. The problem is, there are no controls on the sub itself, save for a power switch. You can't operate this sub without a remote, which makes me wonder about months or years down the road when it's lost or breaks. The sub would then become rather useless.
Last and certainly not least, the sub doesn't even have an auto-on feature. All it has is "Standby" via the remote and it stays warm all the time, indicating a pretty high idling current. When I called the dealer about it, they told me there was an auto selection on the sub, but there isn't. That feature is only on Wharfedale's smaller 8" model.
So I returned this sub and spent more and I'm impressed with the one I got: Newton Series P300HD Powered Subwoofer http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00345HIHQ
It is simply amazing and utilizes 12 drivers! Yes, six 5-1/4" active drivers and six 6-1/2" passive radiators. It sounds better than the Wharfedale and the fact there is absolutely zero vibration in the cabinet is engineering genius.

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