Klipsch RSW-15 in the House!

[Youthman]

Until now, the only subwoofers I have ever owned were Velodyne. I began with a CT-100 (10" with 100 watt amp), then to an F-1500 (15" with 250 watt amp), to a single Velodyne HGS15 (15" with 1250 watt amp) to finally dual Velodyne HGS15's. I have been more than satisfied with the Velodyne HGS15's. They dig to the depths of the Earth without being boomy. They seem to blend very well with the rest of my Klipsch RF-83 setup.

I had the opportunity to purchase an RSW-15 in Maple finish in amazing condition. Last week, I did an A/B comparison using some demo material and a comparison using a test tone disk and SPL meter and to my surprise, the RSW-15 outperformed the Velodyne HGS15.

I used my meter to set both subs at equal volume, turning one on at a time to set the levels to equal.

I ran some demoes from Norah Jones to Bluray movies of The Dark Knight. There are some great songs with a lot of upright bass in them in Norah that allowed me to hear various low frequencies with the RSW-15. Very smoothe, but punchy sound. I was "feeling" the bass notes as well as hearing them.

Switching over to the Velodyne, I didn't feel that it was as musical. Sounded good but I was just feeling more with the RSW-15.

Moving over to the Dark Knight opening sequence, to my surprise, the RSW-15 was MUCH more impactful than the HGS15. I jumped to the tunnel scene where the Joker shows up in the semi truck trying to break into the moving armored truck. Lots of explosions and LFE here to test the subs. Again, to my surprise, the RSW-15 was more impactful and often delivered 2db more SPL than the HGS15.

I put in one of my favorite scenes in the Book of Eli where they are inside the house getting shot up from the guys outside. Again, lots of dynamics here with the gunshots, gatlin gun, rocket launcher and grenade explosions. Once again, the RSW-15 was victorious over the HGS15.

I'll be honest, I'm actually very surprised. I really thought I was going to see the RSW-15 outperform the HGS15 in music but not movies.

I was so skeptical that I went back into the UMC-1 calibration and tested the levels of both subs and they both read the same db level.

Needless to say, I am MORE THAN THRILLED with the performance of the RSW-15.

I'll definitely have to do some additional testing but it might just prove that the RSW-15 is plenty for my room. I just sold one of my Velodyne HGS15's tonight and just may very well end up selling the second. One of the main reasons I purchased the 2nd HGS15 was I wanted to "feel" the bass more during movies. The RSW-15 has proven it is more than capable of doing that on it's own.

I've always heard that the RSW-15's are fantastic for music, yet still very good for HT. If the RSW-15 sounds great for music, my thought is to sell one of my HGS15's and keep the RSW-15 and have the best of HT and 2ch.

The RSW-15 in Maple is definitely a keeper. It is massive, intimidating and drop dead gorgeous.

[PGT]

my second subwoofer was a Klipsch SW12. It was fantastic.

[Youthman]

I have seen that one before but only online.

[PGT]

that thing that was most impressive about it was the speed. It was effortless.

I used to sell Velodyne, Snell, B&W, McIntosh, etc. The HGS series was great for output and fitting several in a room to smooth out standing waves but they never were as effortless as the F series. The F-1800 was badass but you had to commit to wanting something that big in your room.

The SW12 was nice because it had that big box sound with decent output, due to the passive radiator design.