Description
Klipsch R-100SW 10″ subwoofer | Incredibly deep bass and an all-digital amplifier.
From the manufacturer
SPUN-COPPER IMG WOOFER
Injection Molded Graphite (IMG) woofer cones are exceptionally light while being extremely rigid – providing remarkable low frequency response, with minimal cone breakup and distortion to give you the deepest, cleanest bass possible.
All-Digital Amplifier
The built-in, all-digital amplifier of the Reference Series subwoofer delivers ample power with high efficiency and true-to-source accuracy reproduction – thus providing maximum output, detail, and power that fills your home.
CUSTOMIZED BASS
The Reference Series subwoofer gain, low pass crossover, and phase controls ensure the low-frequency tones blend with other speakers and establish the ideal level of bass for your room.
Line level/LFE RCA inputs provide maximum compatibility with standard home theater receivers.
FLEXIBLE PLACEMENT
The high-performance, front-firing driver was designed to provide deep bass regardless of its location in the room to give you more placement options.
Chris Hudson –
Impressed when added to The FivesBought a set of Klipsch The Fives not long ago for a large finished basement. Very happy with them but knew a subwoofer would probably make a nice improvement. I’m really impressed with this addition. This seems like an entry level sub when compared to the other Klipsch offerings….at least at this price, but it made a huge difference in the system and has plenty of power to fill the room. I can’t imagine needing anything more. Would recommend.
BNell –
Klipsch Subwoofer Booms!I returned a loaner subwoofer which had a great soud, not even imagining it could be improved. What a difference, the Klipsch is awesome. Not only for the sound it can be felting whole room. Great equipment!
chris allmon –
Great sub for non-audiophilesThis sub may not have the lowest hz range or perfect sound curve compared to other subs at its price point, but I’m also not an audiophile and just wanted a good sub with a certain aesthetic to fit my office. This sub accomplishes that 110%. I absolutely love the bass on this thing, and I have it hooked up to Klipsch R51-PM’s and they work great together. Just be sure to wait for major discounts before buying one of these. They are one of those brands that is perpetually overpriced so that they can be on a “sale” year round. Wait for the actual sales (check camelcamelcamel for its pricing history) I got mine around $230 and for that price, this is definitely worth it. For its full listing price, you should absolutely not be buying this one.
Adam W Chapin –
This sub gives pipe organs rumbleI purchased the Klipsch R-100SW subwoofer along with a pair Klipsch The Fives powered loudspeakers as a nice upgrade to my PC’s sound system. You see, I listen to allot of organ music. So as good as my old Bose 2.1 set up was, Isaac Newton was telling me that no amount of Bose techno trickery can get a tiny pair of 3″ full range drivers and a petite 6″ subwoofer to ply the depths of a pipe organs 32′ stops nor present the massive Soundstage that would do a pipe organ justice. So out went the Bose setup and in came my new Kiipsch setup.I can tell you that the R-100SW does go deep and hits hard. But it’s composed enough to play well with The Fives. The bottom end has what l can best described to have a warm rounded sound much like a pair of vintage loudspeakers from the stereo war era of the late 70’s. The sub provide the warmth, depth, and punch while small 4″ drivers in the Fives are agile enough to add in the texture and detail to what the sub is doing. It’s a fun and thrilling experience.One reviewer complained that the sub does not respond below 30hz. Well the specs do say that the sub is rated to go down to 32hz. However for me, I can tell you that this sub handles a pipe organ’s 32′ stops without breaking a sweat. My room is fairly small and features a concrete floor and walls. So room gain helps the sub plunge the rest of the way down to the 20hz pitch of a pipe organ’s lowest notes. So I would say room acoustics and placement is very important to how this sub, or any sub performs. Need more and deeper bass, put the sub into a corner so room gain can help boost your bass and extend frequncy responce.The only real negative thing I have to say is the R-100SW’s auto off/on feature is laggy. It takes a few seconds for the sub to wake up out of standby mode instead of reacting to an incoming signal instantly. However since the sub has a digital amp, there is not any real power savings of using auto on. Digital amps are quite efficient sitting idle as it is. So just set the sub to be always on and leave it that way.Bottom line if you are looking for deep warm bass that hits hard and are on a budget and have a small room like I do, then this sub is for you. For me, this sub is definitely meeting my musical needs quite nicely. Pipe organs rumble with authority via this sub.
Alan Harbater –
Visceral Bass; The Essential Musical DimensionThis Klipsch unit was number 3 on my short list of subwoofer choices. It came behind the Elac Debut 2.0 Subwoofer to pair with my Elac Debut 2.0 B2.6 (Amazon 1/21) which was on ebay as a cosmetically beaten up department store floor demo which I’m sure audio-wise got about as much attention as the wall moulding. The other was the JBL Sub 550p, a $600 machine on sale at Harmon for $200. This was a sealed cabinet, 50lb monster and I really lusted for it. Unfortunately, my funds finally came through 2 days after the Elac was sold and 1 day after the JBL’s sale ended. Poor me, it was the Klipsch or nuthin’. As it happened, I was able to save myself a little $$$s by going for the Amazon reduced price option where I found a warehouse damaged item. It ended up being perfect and new in every important way.So as it turned out, poor me… nuthin’! Right out of the box this machine is a solid, imposing, impressive, almost monolithic piece of furniture. Set-up is easy as my HK 3490 Receiver has an RCA Sub Out. The Elac speakers are very inefficient at 86db sensitivity, so I set the gain dial at only 9:00 o’clock. The instructions advised 12:00 be the baseline vollume for a receiver hook-up like mine, but that turned out to be incorrect. At this point my understanding of LFE vs Line Level Output is still rather vague. I had also thought that a low crossover setting of 55-60 hz would suit the Elacs, rated for a 44hz low but I was wrong. I’m finding that 90 – 100 hz will still complement the speakers while supplementing their output, adding just a bit of low-end oomph.And after a short 10 day break-in period, I’m finding I’m really liking that bit of oomph with the cello of a Beethoven string quartet or the tympanic rolls of a Bartok concerto, instruments that I can now feel in the pit of my stomach.. But when I put on Romantic Warrior of Return To Forever or Imaginary Worlds of Sammy Figueroa and crank up the 120 wpc of the HK, the Klipsch, at present settings is more than enough force to knock me down and beat me up. Ahhhh….hurt me.To conclude, after break-in the bass on this unit is clean and tight and real powerful when you need it to be. At any of the Amazon pricings it represents an excellent buy and if you’re looking for a sub for a medium range audio system it definitely merits your strong consideration. I’m certainly happy enough.
todayamerican –
The best cheapest sub if you can pay a bit moreI researched long and hard, tried out the Polk PSW10 and the Polk HTS SUB 10 BLK WAL, I can also compare it with the Bose Cinemate 15 acoustimass as well as the old $999 Bose speaker system I have.This is small, and that is awesome for those looking for a small sub. It does not look as good as the HTS Sub, but it sounds way better than the extra $40 you pay for this over the Polk.The Bose speakers are scientifically precise with the least boominess, especially the acoustimass with the $999 speakers. But they lack the warmth of even the cheapest Polk sub. I believe there is a whole range of frequencies lost somewhere between the mids and the lows in the Bose.Polk PSW10 is horrible in comparison to this speaker. If you can afford this one, forget about it.The Polk HTS is larger than the PSW10, sounds much better, and looks way more beautiful than this one with the grills on it. But, it suffers from the same boominess issue as the PSW10 which becomes a problem when you raise the volume of the sub. That is a problem because there are some songs where the bass is too boomy and if you reduce the sub volume, you basically loose the lows at such volumes – so what is the point?The Klipsch is not as warm as the polks, not as cold, stark and precise as the Bose, and yet are very nice speakers with way less boominess and you can increase the volume a lot before the boominess starts and even then it is not that bad.This makes me feel that there maybe subs at the next level which sound even better, but for my purposes I think this is more than adequate.For home theater this is perfect, for music, sure you will definitely be able to get better sub than this for more $$$.I would pay for a better sub than this if I am able to listen to music all the time, even when working and really obsessed with sound so much because I hear so much of it – I would go higher than this speaker.But for most normal people who come home from work, feel tired, want to chill out in the evenings and the weekend, this should be more than adequate.For sure, if your room/hall is very large then also I may go for something bigger. But for small/ medium size rooms this guy is more than adequate with low distortion for the price even at high volumes.I would buy this one, if you are looking for a reasonably good, sound not wanting to pay too much just for a sub.Update: I returned both and got two Klipsch R-110SW Subwoofer instead. It is only $75 more, and its price is more steady. The price on this one dropped since I got it. The reason I returned this eventually is because of comparison with my Bose acoustimass which has no boominess at all. So, even though this sub is very cute, very small and has much better sound than the Polk, it is still somewhat boomy which made a difference when there is a better one for just $75 more with a more stable price.The Klipsch R-110SW Subwoofer blows everything I have heard so far – wow! Super clear, no noise at all! There is a big, big difference – slightly bigger, way more heavier, but extremely low distortion. I’ll put my review of that sub on its page.I record in the studio, so it could just be that makes me more sensitive to distortion.
JCH –
Great SubGot this on the “Christmas in July” sale by Klipsch. Small footprint, clean, deep bass, great sound.
Patrick Sheeley –
Great subAwesome sub, hits low, hard and loud. Enough said.
DWD sr –
Great BassEasy install, Great sound
Parkwood Guy –
Inconsistent Sound ReproductionFirst, I compared the new 150 watts (max 300 watts) sub Klipsch R-100 SW model to my excellent working condition 30 years old (22x14x18 inches) Kenwood 150 watts sub. I used a Sony AVR 4K model to hook it up. Second, I listened carefully how the sound is produced by Klipsch R-100 SW in the past 6 days to avoid buyer’s remorse.Both subs’ configurations have not changed drastically. Except electrical connection, there are 5 controls in Klipsch namely: 1. Gain (called volume in Kenwood); 2. Low Pass (called Crossover Frequency in K); 3. Auto “On” option (same as in K); 4. Phase – means 0 or 180 degrees physical placement of sub if you use 2 subs watching TV or hearing music = who does that to the entry level sub? (not applicable to Kenwood); and 5.) Line for RCA stereo cable (same as in Kenwood).Other than the subtle differences of Volume Knob placement in Kenwood’s front, LED display, and weight…the critical differences are in Crossover. At factory suggested Klipsch R-100 crossover setting of 80 hz and the volume was at the middle, the walls and floors vibrated. How much more to its 120 hz max crossover frequency? Kenwood has 200 hz max crossover.Kenwood has another knob called Crossover Slope that can be switched to 24 dB or 12dB which is absent in Klipsch R-100. It is a crucial difference in the reproduction of sound. My set-up in Kenwood crossover frequency is at 125 hz and at 12 dB crossover slope which is pleasing to all listeners for all the years.At Klipsch setting of 80 hz crossover, I was SHOCK how horrendous the sound reproduction of a song “Come Together” by Beatles. I refused to believe and I repeated playing the song again with the same bad results. The sound was, “as if a 3 storey building was swaying wildly due to hurricane”. With that encounter, I set Klipsch RS-100 to 40 Hz, its lowest frequency level to avoid the repeat of bad sounds.It seems Klipsch R-100 SW tried to compensate the absence of Crossover Slope by having a lowest 40 hz crossover frequency but still not enough. At 40 hz frequency setting, playing “Come Together”, the bad sound reproduction is still audible but manageable.The streamed music/concerts and TV surround sounds sounded normal. Still at 40 hz lowest frequency crossover level, it has a tendency to be “boomy”. In contrast, Kenwood’s lowest crossover frequency is 60 hz only.I will keep Klipsch R-100 SW costing $280 at time of writing coz my next choice is Polk HTS 10 for $399. One star deduction for the absence of Owners’ Operating manual and inconsistent fidelity sound reproduction. One star deduction for absence of specialized RCA cable. I initially thought it was defective and wanted to return it coz it did NOT produce any sound when I used ordinary RCA cable.