krishtrinity
Active Member
Introduction
My knowledge of subwoofers are rather limited,but i have used many speakers to know that too much bass doesn't equate to good quality audio,that is one of the reasons i sold my speaker with 6.5 inch woofer to a fairly small montior audio Radius 90,it has a tiny 4 inch woofer.While the larger speaker had the advantage in bass it meant drowning out the rest of the frequencies while my current speakers are capable of amazing performance in the entire frequency range to about 90hz.The lack of bass was noticeable every time i played music and i started to look for a budget subwoofer.Living in India means it is very difficult to get a good budget subwoofer,checked almost every brand that sells in India and every single brand has made some kind of sacrifices.After a long search accidentally stumbled across the Thonet and Vander SW10 subwoofer which was amazingly priced at very affordable 15k(150$ in amazon US) which is less than the most affordable made in India Subs.
Build and Features
When it comes to build quality in a budget subwoofer,people naturally assume it will be average.So i didn't have any huge expectations in build quality but because it was made in Germany i was sure it was not going to be terrible,after opening the box i was shocked to see it had a very nice build quality.The 10 inch driver was made of aramid fiber and was secured to the box.I was not exactly sure if the box was made of wood or not,their website show it as wooden box HDAA.I have no idea what exactly that is,but it is defintely very good material.Coming to the back of the sub there was plenty of options to connect to amplifer or speaker.It had high level speaker input and output,low level speaker input and output(RCA),i had gone with connecting RCA because it was much easier than speaker wires.Other features are gain dial,crossover dial,phase control,you don't see this many feature in a budget subwoofer everyday.Only one negative thing i found is that the gain and crossover dial doesn't rotate very smoothly,doesn't know if it may cause any problem in the long run.
Performance
SW10 is rated from 30hz-180hz and i tried some subwoofer test tones to check the frequency response,the frequency roll off started from 35 hz-38hz which is respectable considering the price.Since my main use is for music listening 35 hz is plenty of power for me.For music i tried mainly rock,metal and EDM genre also some piano music by highly talented Ludovico Einaudi.The track "FML" by Deadmau5,the bass was so powerful that i was not able to move the gain dial more than quarted of the dial in my small room,there was no port noise and the subwoofer blended with my monitor audio Radius R90 speakers creating the feeling that the sound was coming directly from the speaker.The fact the subwoofer doesn't try to grab attention to itself is a sign that it is very good.My friend owns a sony HT system and the subwoofer constantly vibrates and boomy with music aswell as movies,it is rated at 400watts power and in theory it might look more powerful,but sony HT subwoofer is not even half as powerful as the 100w rated SW10.Next i tried some rock songs mainly from Steven Wilson,Radiohead,the drums and guitars benifited from the low end and it was a completely new experience compared to listening just with the speaker.My radius 90 has very fast and agile sound,the fact that the subwoofer can keep up with the speaker was more than i expected from a sub at this price point.Piano and Orchestra music Divenire was also a fantastic experience,when listening from the speakers alone while enjoyable,i always felt something missing.Now i know exactly what was missing,the scale and the bass of piano notes that is essential when listening to orchestra music.The more expensive subwoofers from svs,REL will undoubtably has way better performance than SW10 but they are several times more expensive.At this price i doubt there are many competition,heard the pioneer sw8mk2 while it has very good performance it lacked the low end power of the SW10,i have yet to try the Martin Logan dynamo 300 so the pioneer is the only competition i could find at the price.Coming to movies,i played the bluray of Mad Max Fury Road,and it was better than i imagined it would be,when i set out to buy a budget subwoofer.The amazing soundtrack by Junkie XL while with speakers alone are drowned by the explosions and action,but with the sub soundtrack was much more alive,the scene where the Immortant Joe is getting ready for chasing Furiosa the drumming by warboys was much more enjoyable,i never realized before how much the subwoofer was integral part of the enjoyment of this movie.
Conclusion
Overall one of the best audio related purchases i have made recently,wheather you are using SW10 for desktop use or hometheater use,the subwoofer delivered an amazingly competent performance for the price.I admire that the manufacturer Thonet and Vander has not sacrificed quality control of the subwoofer to sell the subwoofer at this pricepoint.I have yet to find any issues with the subwoofer and i plan to add a second subwoofer in the future.
Note:this is my first subwoofer review,although i have heard high end subwoofers before in my friends houses,this is my first time owning one.So if you find any mistakes please bring it to my attention.
