B&W dives deep with its ASW 12 CM subwoofer
By Steven Kim 
posted Aug 25th 2009 7:06PM
posted Aug 25th 2009 7:06PM
For those craving just a little more bass -- or, let's face it, bragging rights -- than afforded by the 10-inch ASW 10 CM subwoofer, Bowers and Wilkins has gone ahead and added the ASW 12 CM. Guess what? It's a 12-inch model. Going along with the B&W calling card of a cone with Kevlar, the ASW 12 CM adds a 500-Watt switching amp and a three-way switch for selecting between the 18, 23 and 28-Hz low frequency cutoffs. Insecure audiophiles may never consider dialing things back from the 18-Hz rating they paid $2,000 for, but sensible folk will heed our advice -- if your room can't handle really low bass, don't even try to make it work; definitely go for bass quality and not just quantity. B&W agrees, and has added controls for low-pass frequency, roll-off alignment, and phase so you can tweak to your ears' content.
I think most people would freak out if they heard a really good room/sub that played to even 30 Hz. - people are used to hearing some noise down to maybe 80Hz. with cheap systems, bad movie theaters, and other stuff.
Truer words were never spoken, Ken! To go along with that, most people would probably be better off with multiple smaller subs than the one biggie-sized one in the corner -- IF they could be persuaded to spend some effort with setup.
Auto room tuning will get better, but I suspect truly low bass will always require some fiddling with physical placement.
I agree wholeheartedly with both you. Many people out there think that their Bose system with a matching sub is da bomb, including those Home Theater in a Box Systems sound kick ass.
Many of the ported subs produce lots of distorted bass. When I hear a car stereo out there with all that "boom boom" bass, they think they have a kick ass system. Unfortunately quality bass do not sound "boomy", but rather tightly controlled, deeper sound.
I am very fortunate to own a JL Audio F113 sub which goes down to 16Hz with built in 2500watt amp. There is a famous scene from the movie U-571 when the ship drops the depth charges....
OMG. That scene literally shakes my house...
Are these made in China? Are all B&W speakers made in China nowadays? I know mine were still made in the UK.