BIC Acoustech H200 Subwoofer (AKA PL-200)

With the re-design of the Ed A2-300 for $350 the BIC is going to have a lot of competition.

I noticed in the specs that the H-200 is rated down to only 22 Hz. The Ed may have the edge there. But from 25Hz on up the H200 should be a good performer.

I want to see how much the delivered price is going to be.

I think it is destined to be popular.

Oh by the way, nice to see the BASH amp...even if it ends up being 250 watts RMS.

It does look nice, looks definitely have the upper hand on the A2-300 but at it's current price point I'd need to see more. Lots of competition there with the A2-300 and the recent sale on the PB-10. I had the H-100 and at < $250 shipped I thought it was a awesome buy but with the raise in price of the 200 it's getting into the territory of several quality subs from well established ID companies with hands on support. I think I'd look elsewhere unless I could find a direct comparison which is unlikely.

^^+1 I just got an H-100 a few weeks ago for $280 shipped from Overstock. I researched a lot of comparably priced units but got the H-100 based on a large body of positive reviews from owners. I'm happy with my decision - at least until that old devil upgrade bug bites me again. LOL

I will get my PL-200 delivered on Monday. I currentlly have an H-100 that was sent to me by mistake (ordered the VK-12). They upgraded me to the PL-200. I will be able to give a side by side comparison of the H-100 and PL-200 on tuesday hopefully.

http://www.edesignaudio.com/product_...roducts_id=407

You got lucky with their mistake, from everything I've researched and read and my experience with the H-100 it's a better sub than the VK-12. Will be interesting to see how the PL-200 AKA H-200 compares though.

Fedex ground is free on all their subs, what you see on the product page is the total charge.

I recieved my PL-200 yesterday evening. I have not had much time to play with it yet, but my initial impressions are that the H-100 is still going to be the best choice. The PL-200 box is much deeper then the h-100. The Amp on the H-100 looks much nicer then the PL-200. The H-100 has a better volume knob (1-10) then the PL-200 (Min/Max). The actual speaker apears to thave the same size magnate. I did not take them out to look for sure, but from the look throught he rear port the magnates look to be the same size. I have to give the PL-200 a little time to break in so the test is fair, but so far I think the H-100 is going to be the winner....and it is a bit cheaper...i will updage as soon as possible.

is it possible for youto take detailed pics of both... showingthe comparisons.... both inside the enclosure to show workmanship and out side aswellas the drivers


thanks

can u also give initial review prior to break in
thanks

I will try to get some detailed pictures of what I can. I am not going to pull out the drivers though, because only one of the subs is mine. I will give a better listen tonight and give a pre-breakin review of the PL-200. Sorry for the delay, it is shaping up to be a very busy week for me. I will try to answer all questions.

Have you had a chance to Try the PL200 yet? If so what do you think of it's performance compared to the H-100?

Has anybody tried the PL200?

Am I missing something here..You are basing your review on how it looks but not on how it sounds?

Looking for an update here. I need a new subwoofer I'm tired of my PB-12.

I have not tried the PL-200 but do have the H-100.
If you are willing to spen 250 on a sub, that would be a damned good choice. If you go to www.sounddistributors.com you may even be able to get it cheaper if you say you were referred by AVS forum in an email to the owner of the site.

If you want to spend more, like say around 350, I would go with HSU or another highly reputable compay. I can't personally suggest getting teh PL-200 when you can get a much better one for only 50 bux more or so.

My PL-200 arrived today. It is replacing 2 Yamaha 10" Subs that I had in each corner of the front. The Yamahas were only 50W RMS each.

I placed my new PL-200 in the front between my left and right mains, and tried it out.

The thing Already blows the doors off of my 2 old Yamahas, and thats with the gain only set to about 1/4 of the way up.

I haven't re-ran Audessey yet, I'm just using the same settings as I had my 2 old subs setup to, except I took out the Y adapter and just have 1 cable now going to the PL-200.

This is just my very very first impressions, and so far I love the damn thing.

I'm going to bed now, and will try to calibrate it and get it going right tomorrow.

Looks like a great sub. Although other similarly priced internet direct subs might have a slight edge against it for output, I think it would still have great output AND a great size. To be honest, it looks quite a bit nicer than comparative offerings from ED and SVS. If I were shopping for a sub for $300 to $400, this is probably what I would get. A pair of these would be sweet.

I just noticed something about the PL-200, the amp seems to be the same EXACT amp out of the Hsu Research STF-2.

In fact, I mean the EXACT same, take a look.



Then go up to the first post of this thread and take a look at the back of the PL-200

The PL200 is spec'd at 225 watts continuous while the STF2 is 200? Maybe it's just the same amp plate, not the exact same bash amp. Nonetheless, a comparison between the two might be interesting. The STF2 is a down-firing 10 inch woofer, and the PL200 is a 12 inch front firing design; if the amp is the same, which would be a more efficient? Or would it depend on the frequency being played back? The PL200 has slightly more volumetric area, but they are mostly the same size.

Dr HSU consulted in the design of the H-100 and H-200, they may share some similarities such as the plate but I seriously doubt it's the same exact amp.

I've been dialing in my PL-200 more and more, and this thing is just getting more and more awesome.

Last night I watched the Watchmen, and I'll tell ya what, when that Flying Pod thing flys over head, you can feel it in your chest, freakin' awesome.

I'm trying to keep the volume level down for the first month or so, until it breaks in fully, but its hard to do, LOL.

Nothings going to happen to a new Sub if you run it pretty loud before it breaks in is there????

I see BIC fans here, but I am new to this brand. Many sites are offering thes subs at very low price than the MSRP. Is this considered cheaper brand?

Anyone have experienced F12 sub from BIC?
Also, I have not found any reviews of BIC subs anywhere. Can someone post review links, thanks

BIC America/Acoustech is not a cheaper brand. They only have a few vendors and are online only. Since BIC only designs and researches audio they don't sell the products they create directly.

Just like any company they want to make as much profit as possible. The largest reason the MSRP is so high is that they are trying to complete with Klipsch more then any other company. (and they sound better IMHO)

The vendors think that the MSRP is overstated and thus sell the speakers
at small profit instead of selling what the BIC site states as MSRP.

I own the Acoustech PL line and they are nothing close to a cheap brand. They are some of the best speakers in thier price range and higher I think. If read the BIC Acoustech owners thread you will see many people agree.

As far as reviews, they are mostly only owners reviews out there right now and most are posted on the vendors site or in the BIC Acoustech owners thread.

Top vendors are:
http://www.sounddistributors.com and
http://www.acousticsounddesign.com

The Bic Owners Thread is here:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...=990726&page=1


The VK-12 is not designed for HT but more for music.
The H-100 and PL-200 are designed for HT and i personally think they have better respose then the VK-12.

***Warning***
"Ebay and some sights have mistakenly posted the PA-12 as a BIC subwoofer. Please know that it is not even close to the same sub, the amp and woofer and just about everything else is different. The only thing that is the same is that they they both have 12" woofers."

thanks for detailed background on the brand. It looks like lot of people are happy with subs from BIC.

Just posted a question on the main BIC thread, trying to understand difference between H100 and F12 to finalize my choice.

Well I opened her up today to take a look inside, and as I suspected there was maybe a quarter pound of fiberglass inside if that.

So took that out and filled it up with 1 pound of poly fill.

While I had the speaker off, I noticed the spade connectors were pretty loose, so I soldered them on tight, If I ever need to change the woofer, I'll just cut the wires and strip the ends and attach new crimp on connectors.

I recently added the PL-200 as a second sub (using a y-splitter) for my Onkyo 7100 (606 receiver and htib speakers). I placed the subs doing the "sub crawl" then ran audyssey with each sub at about 1/2 (PL-200 a little less than 1/2, Onkyo sub a little more than 1/2). about I get a lot of rumble out of the PL-200, with some support from the Onkyo sub, but the mid-bass is completely missing. I have the PL-200's crossover off, and Audyssey has set the sub LPF of LFE to 120Hz, the fronts and center to 80Hz, and the surround and surround rears to 100Hz. My question is, where the hell is the mid bass? Kicks and snares and stomps do not sound off at all (only through the fronts, minimally); I mainly hear the subsequent rumble. It sounds ridic and unrealistic. Does the PL-200 just suck and not pick up the upper frequencies? What changes can I make? This lack of mid bass is annoying as hell, and just off-putting. I actually think it sounded better pre PL-200, even though there was minimal response at the lower frequencies. I also posted in the acoustech owners thread. Please help. Thanks.

I would eliminate the Onkyo sub and just run the PL-200. The two subs could be phasing each other out. You could try adjusting the phase on the PL-200, but to start, however, I would just use the PL-200. The PL-200 is probably far superior to the Onkyo sub. Start with corner of the room placement and go from there.

You could also get an SPL meter from Radio Shack and use Room EQ Wizard (REW) with a laptop to measure the different frequencies to see how much mid-bass you're actually getting. If you do this, please post the results. I'm curious about this sub vs. the Outlaw LFM-1 Compact and the HSU STF-2.

Good Luck and let us know if you see any improvement.