[Big Daddy]

Originally Posted by serenity

Boy did you really throw a wrench into my decision process. I was pretty much set on taking advantage of the sale at Outlaw and getting the LFM-1 Compact. But now I'm tempted to get two of the Acoustic Audio 12" subs.

As of now I'm using the TSC ASW-10 but would like more output and extension. I was going to get another ASW for more output and sacrifice some extension but figured one higher quality sub is better than two average subs.

I prefer two subs to one. Two subs give you more flexibility in placement and will create a more even bass across the room. You will definitely get a larger sweet spot. Acoustic Audio also sells 15" subwoofers.

I need a down firing sub due to cats potentially using the grill as a scratching post or damaging the cone.

If you have pets or children, you should definitely get a down-firing subwoofer. Children are worse than pets. They do a pretty good job of damaging woofers. I believe they are paid by woofer manufacturers.

But now I can't seem to see a big difference in the PSW or RW accept for 1 year warranty difference.

The warranty is not an issue for me. I am a reckless tweaker. Before the warranty expires, I may change the driver, amplifier, and the works.

The only other thing that bothers me is there is no phase control. Do you have any thoughts ?

As far as phase control is concerned, neither of the subs have them. Most surveys show that the majority of people with subwoofers do not understand what phase control does and leave it at zero. Phase control may become important if you have large towers or a second sub in the room. That does not necessarily mean that the phase control will accomplish much. In most cases, all you really have to do is switch the positive and negative speaker wires on a speaker to make it out-of-phase (when one woofer pushes out, the other pushes in). In the case of passive subwoofers, it is very easy. For powered subwoofers, you need to remove the amplifier and switch the wires internally. That is normally a 10 minute job.

I have 4 external subwoofers in my home theater room. My two front speakers also have two 15" powered subwoofers. That makes it 6 large subwoofers in the room. I have tweaked them to death. I have reached the conclusion that it is best to leave the phase settings on zero for all of them.

Have you thought about opening up either of the subs to look at build quality.

I no longer have access to the 8" sub. My daughter took it away. As far as the 12" sub is concerned, I may eventually do that. Right now, I have to decide between opening a sub or signing divorce papers.

Man I hate decisions like this. But I'm still giving the slight edge to the Outlaw due to the proven track record of the company and the fact it's designed by Dr. HSU.

I have been a fan of Dr. Hsu from early 1990s. I met him about 11 years ago and spent several hours with him at their headquarters in Anaheim, CA. I bought two of their top-of-the-line subwoofers in 1998. Recently, I upgraded both of them.

Originally Posted by aramis109

The only disadvantage that I can see with these is the fact that neither of them appear to have an "auto-on" feature- it's either on or off.

That is incorrect. The PSW-8 model does not have auto-on feature. The HD-Sub 12 model does. See the picture below:

HD12AutoOn.jpg

How long is the power cord? One thing I don't like about my PA-120 is the cord is a bit short and isn't removable so I had to get an extension at Monoprice.

The power cord is about 5 ft long. It is not removable.

Also, I wanna see pics of the 12" with the grill on.

I added two pictures of the 12" sub with the grille on to post #3.