BIC America PL-200II Acoustech PL-200 II Indoor 250-Watt-Continuous Powered Subwoofer, Black

I rarely give 5 stars. Even if a product is very good, is it noticeably better than its competitors or truly exceed my expectations? Comparing to competitors is difficult; in this case, how many of us have access to hearing (in person) many subs around the same price point in similar settings? I don't. But I have been an audio nut for a long time, and based on that experience, I am very impressed with the performance for under $300!Volume is more than adequate for my living room. And it has a good frequency response. Decent punch at the high end for music tracks, more than enough 'boom' in the middle, and a surprising amount of low end frequencies.As always, sub placement and orientation can play a big factor in sound quality. If you have the option, move it around to find the best position. Mine need to be in a fixed location, but I did try both phase settings and ended up rotating it 90 degrees physically for the best sound.Of course, you can better quality from a more expensive sub, but if you're on a strict budget (or maybe this is for a more casual listening area), I highly recommend checking this out.My biggest issues with the sound? I wish the high frequencies were tighter, had much punch. If I turn the volume up more to increase that, there's way too much boom. Which leads to my other critique, the middle frequencies are too pronounced. Turn the volume down to tame them, and too much punch is lost. So it's a compromise. And the middle frequencies are a bit muddy and can be too "one note" at times. But again, that's compared to my ideal sound and more expensive subs; I look forward to tv and movies as this sounds light years better than my old sub.

TLDR: Buy it now.For a new home theater upgrade, I purchased this pair of Pioneer Elite bookshelf speakers, the Elite center, and this BIC Acoustech PL-200 II, paired with the Elite LX-501 receiver. I plan on upgrading to 5.1.2 or 7.1.2 in the future with some lower end in-wall speakers (check out these BIC America HT8W 8-Inch 3-Way Acoustech Series In-Wall Speakers, 1 Pair). Overall, I highly recommend my setup to anyone building a new home theater. Once configured, the audio output is fantastic, giving the low rumbling bass to shake the house, fantastic mids with dedicated drivers, and very clean highs. If you want a great value audio system to demolish a similarly-priced setup (like the Sonos 5.1 setup, I've listened to it, it's bad for movies and only decent for music) for the price of just $1600 including receiver. Or, for a completely Atmos-ready surround sound setup, buy the in-wall rear speakers mentioned above, and get 5.1.2 for $1720 or 7.1.2 for $1840. I will link my other reviews soon at the bottom of this review.The pictures don't do this sub justice. It's piano gloss finish looks just amazing, and it uses real-feeling vinyl "wood" for the cabinet. The grille is black and matches the rest perfectly. The bass from this is almost too good to be real. Seriously. This thing rumbles the entire house at just 50% volume at 30Hz. 20Hz is less house-shaking but still rumbles, and 40 to 50Hz are super loud (might want to tune volume down for those frequencies in the receiver settings). It sounds amazing even at 150Hz. Considering that it has a sensitivity of 110dB, and that it has a 12 inch driver, AND that it is front ported meaning it is super loud next to a wall... just buy it. Not to mention that it costs just $300, while comparable subs are about $450. At volume of 70% and lower it's also super clean, great for music, but if you push anything to 100 decibels, clarity will die (and so will your eardrums).

I was upgrading my home theater early this year and wanted a sub that would really pound with out dropping a grand in the process ( ie VTF- 15H MK2, but by all means if you want stupid serious bass get a MK2 lol) I was considering a pair of Jbl arenas to match my other speakers but after a lot of research and reading a lot of professional test reviews and customer reviews on amazon. I got a pl200ii since I was fully confident that it would out preform the jbl's. While I don't have them to compare this to I'm completely satisfied with the Bic sub. The first movie I watched it seemed a little milder than I expected , however when I put in Day after tomorrow I became quite startled as I felt the whole ice shelf break off. Soon I was getting text from next door asking if that was thunder or my new stereo. And I live in a rural area lol.Ive had this almost a year and this sub has been easily performing like that ever since and i often need to turn it down. My living room and kitchen is connected and around 14 by 25 or so and this fills it well. If you have a much larger space it's possible you will need a pair of these to fill it properly and fully emerse your listening area. Larger spaces need more watts and cone area / displacement to get the same spl or volume.Although being a bit of a bass head I'm still considering a second one myself..2-4-20 Update; Working great over 2 years now. No issues..