What a Difference
Written: Jan 25 '02
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Pros: Price, looks, bass response
Cons: None, really.
The Bottom Line: This is a high-quality subwoofer that looks good, sounds good, and has the amplifier power to drive it to more than adequate levels.
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| monkuboy's Full Review: Infinity BU-80 Subwoofer Speaker |
Finally my "why do we need a subwoofer" wife caved in and we bought a subwoofer! We happened to take a weekend off and go north to Ventura (CA). On the way home we stopped at an outlet mall in Oxnard and I headed for the Harmon Kardon outlet store. Lo and behold they had just gotten in a shipment of Infinity subwoofers - 8, 12 and 15" models. The BU-80 (8") was a "mere" $103, and with "such a deal," I talked her into getting one of these things that I sometimes think only men obsess about (no offense, women!).
These were demos or return units but they looked new. This particular model is about 11.5" on each side, finished in flat black with rounded edges, and features a down-firing 8" driver. The finish is high-quality; no rough edges, looks like someone took good care of it. There is also a port on the right side as you face the subwoofer. A volume and on/off switch sits on the back, along with connections for a dedicated subwoofer output or a low-pass connector from the regular speaker outputs of a receiver or amp.
I have read consumer reviews on other websites that criticize this subwoofer because they have blown out the amp when they cranked it up all the way. Personally I don't understand why anyone would do something like that and I feel that's really a stupid thing to do. The purpose of a subwoofer is to faithfully reproduce the low bass that is present in recordings, not to see how loud you can play something, or how much you can shake the house. I have never been to a concert at which my chair is constantly shaking and the floor rumbling because the bass is so prominent. So why would you want to do that at home?
Anyway, I experimented with placing the unit in a few places and wound up with it about 6-8" from the back wall, but about 3 or 4 feet from the corner. It's next to the right front speaker in a 5.1 setup. The volume control is set at about 10 o'clock (12 o'clock being mid-volume) and it gives me plenty of tight bass that you can both hear and feel. There's no need to turn it up anymore! In fact, on some dvd's it sounds too loud, but I am too lazy to constantly adjust the volume level and I've found that the current setting is a good all-around place to leave it.
As far as directionality, even though it is not in the center of the system, I can't tell where the bass is coming from. It blends very well.
I am using an Onkyo TX-484 receiver that has no loudness button/switch. The difference between using the sub versus not using it is obvious in the good sense. It fills in the bottom register on music cd's, and for movies, it makes scenes with explosions and other low-frequency effects much more realistic because you can feel the vibrations. The transient response seems very good - crisp and generally not boomy. I say "generally" because being an 8", it can't reproduce the extreme low end. But unless you are actually sitting there intentionally feeding it very low-frequency material and then listening to be negative, you won't notice anything negative.
I am very happy with this purchase, especially for the price. It does exactly what I want a subwoofer to do, and it blends very nicely with my existing system (the rest of the speakers are made by AR - Acoustic Research).
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 103
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Epinions.com ID:
monkuboy
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Location: san gabriel valley, ca
Reviews written: 12
Trusted by: 1 member
About Me:
I'm just another person who wants to add their two cents!
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