Truly a Great Bargain but....
As an audiophile who has had numerous very high end (Meridian, Cello, McIntosh, B&W, Proceed...) components in and out of my systems over the years, I can say wholeheartedly that the F-12 is an outstanding value for the $170-$200 retail price. I bought it for my 13x20x9 budget media room which is currently under construction but have been using it in my 2 channel system for kicks over the last two weeks. The low frequency extension is excellent(down 4db at 25Hz in my room) and I would consider it pleasantly musical with speakers capable of flat response at or below 80Hz (which isn't asking much). It is when this sub is paired with very small speakers that it begins to tarnish; typical of many ported subwoofers, it just doesn't play well above the 80Hz range. For example, Paired with NHT Superzeros, which fall off a cliff at about 85-90Hz, some of the "punchiness" is lost. This frequency response trough is most likely the reason why some reviewers claim that the F-12 sounds...
Hard time picking between the PSW505 and F12? Let me help, I own both
Let me make myself clear before I begin. I love Polk, I originally was going to make my system all Polk however, as any half decent audiophile knows, one company simply does not make the best of everything. I have Polk Audio Monitor70 Series II Floorstanding Loudspeaker (Black) Each as fronts Polk Audio CS10 Center Channel Speaker (Single, Black) and BIC America Venturi DV84 2-Way Tower Speaker, Black (Single) rears. I own the Polk PSW505 and have been using it on my main surround system for the past 7 months
I wasn't content at all with my Polk PSW505 as you can see in my over 1000 word review of the PSW505 on Amazon, so I saved up money to try the F12 and planned to send it back after testing it out. Honestly, I didn't want the f12 to sound better than my...
Stop researching and bring this bad boy home.
From my own experience two most important components in a home theater system (for movies) is your center speaker and your sub-woofer. What ever you do make sure you get the best one you can afford and if like me your budget is less than $400/-, you have Bic F12 as a very serious contender for top spot.
I spent almost a month searching for a sub (for 50:50 music/movies), researching in lots of online forums and auditioned in couple of different local stores. High on my list were:
- Emotiva Sub 10: No longer being sold :(
- Emotiva Sub 12: Slightly out of my budget
- Elemental Design A3S-250: Past quality issues and too long a wait to get one
- Def Tech. ProSub 800: Checked this out in local store but I was not impressed by it
- Velodyne Impact 10: Checked this out in local store, did not like it as it could not go low.
- Polk subs: Don't bother (I tried couple and nothing impressed me) although I own Polk speakers which I love...
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