BIC Acoustech H200 Subwoofer (AKA PL-200) - Page 8

Thank heavens for that! I hope you really bought it this time, unlike last time where you said you did and still bombarded us with a ton of questions.

Im so excited to get it I bought it yesterday I never ever owned a subwoofer in my life im so happy...

Well I owned the Z2300 witch came with a subwoofer but I dont consider that a subwoofer anymore.. Reason I asked about the Z5500 cause thats what I was going to get instead.. I dont think I ever learned so much about anything in 2 weeks, I read so much about sound and different kind of speakers.. Then after looking at the specs of the Z5500 I realized they were a peace of junk I just needed to be reassured lol.

What is the diameter of the PL-200 rear firing port? And what is the recommended distance of the rear port to the nearest wall?

thanks

It's pretty flared at the open end but it'd guess 2-3"

Rear wall access will be determined by your cables, I don't recall seeing any recommendations in the manual but i didn't really read it since location is fixed until I get my longer sub cable in the mail.

Took a quick look at the HSU site and the recommended distance between rear-firing port and wall is 3".

Isn't this subwoofer just the Bic F12 with a bigger amp?
Same speaker enclosure and speaker ?

Nope this subwoofer well punch much harder then the F12.. The amp is better and at its highest level you get pure clean bass.. Were the f12 at its highest level it does not punch as hard and when cranked up to the max it starts to get a little muddy and boomey..

I read alot to compare these two subwoofers and asked every single question there is to be asked about these two subwoofers.. Thats how I came to ^^ that conclusion.. So for $95 more you can get the PL-200 and get a much noticeable better subwoofer..

I bought Mine from Sound Distributors, Spoke to a Eric and he really helped me out and gave me a discount on the subwoofer as you can see in the above post.. As far as now it seems that Sound Distributors is on point I ordered it yesterday night and got a email with a tracking number that is not yet trackable but most likely well be shipped out today. I well Update you everyone and let them know how my overall experience is with this company..

Is anybody else wondering if this is really just an April fools joke by Sam and that he really didn't order a sub yet and has a lot more questions left?

You must of not scrolled up and seen my Invoice that clearley shows i bought it..

The sound you hears is most likely due to bigger headroom to allow more power but speakers dimensions/specs appear to be the same.
Unless someone has taken both apart, the increase in price between the two appears to be solely for the amp power increase.

Still not a bad deal for a 100 watt power increase over the F12.
*And please, do not quote the peak wattage.

My honest review/first impression after a whole 20 minutes of mixed HT and music listening. I'm somewhat underwhelmed, but not much. I'm sure I can get a lot more out of tuning it in the receiver, and moving it around the room. So far the HT is much more impressive than music. I'm also not even turning it up much yet, maybe between 9 and 10 o'clock on the dial. My M60's are set to 60hz, CS1 set to 80hz and M40's surround set to 100hz. So far it all blends very nicely. Watching Terminator Salvation right now and I'm pretty impressed so far. Like I said, I'm not cranking it too much, I want to learn its limits first. For sure shakes the house. I can go downstairs under where the sub is located and pictures on the walls are buzzing even with it not cranked up very high. I'll give it a few days of fine tuning before I make a real opinion. My favorite part is having the fronts and center set to small, so they aren't straining themselves having to try and produce lows below their limit, so I'm able to crank the system more without them bottoming out and me being scared of them blowing them out. Much more clean sound overall. Now the tinkering with settings begins, I have all day tomorrow off and the house to myself

Another very picky complaint is the driver. The cone in pictures looks a bit higher quality, almost like aluminum (which of course I didn't expect) but in person it looks a bit more bronze than pure silver like in pictures. Almost like a solver/bronze spray paint. But again, that's not really even something to complain about, a lot of manufacturers use drivers of similar or poorer quality.

If your house is shacking and its not turned up all the way how can you be UNDERWHELMED? I hope when i play music it shacks **** and music is in my face so to speak...

Imagine what Sam goes through to buy a car.

The process must end with a lengthy stay in the hospital.

J/K Sam, I'm glad you you are happy with your purchase.

It for sure shakes stuff, I'm not really sure why I say I'm underwhelmed. I guess I was just expecting unrealistic SPL and chest crushing bass out of a 12'' $300 subwoofer. For the money though, I'm 100% satisfied. I'm for sure glad I went with the PL-200 and not cheaped out and went with the PA-120 or F12 like I nearly did. I know neither of them would have compared, and I surely would have been underwhelmed. I'm not sure how much faith I put into "breaking in" a speaker, but I will for sure give it a few days at least before I start really cranking on it. I can see how maybe the surround would soften up, since it feels a bit stiff and new right now, so it may free up a bit after a week or two of use. I went to 12 o'clock on the volume with the receiver at a comfortably high listening level and it was almost too much bass, leaning over the sub the sound waves were covering up and distorting everything else so it sounded like I was listening through a fan or something It's in the corner of the room right now, and seems to be a bit more powerful sounding, when I first set it up it was beside the TV, about 2' from the wall. I'll report back with more tomorrow after a day of tuning.

Also, not really a complaint, but I find it very hard to listen to a movie or play a game at low levels without getting up and turning down the sub. If I was trying to avoid waking up people anyway, if not, I could carry on as usual. Even now with my receiver at very low volumes, the bass is strong enough to be heard throughout the house. The "night" mode button doesn't do what I thought it did I guess.

Good review man, my only gripe is that the red light stays on all the time even when the switch is off. That's pretty annoying.

Put a tiny piece of electrical tape over it? I had to do that with my computer, since I leave it on 24/7, and the 2 blue LED's were ridiculously bright, lighting up my room at night. That is why I avoid building computers with windows on the case, or LED's on the fans. I hate lights when I'm trying to sleep.

Great idea...It's like Rudolph is shinning his nose on my wall.

A sharpie works great too, or nail polish from a goth chick or dude. I did the same thing to the lights on the front of my desktop.

Well I got my sub in today around 7:00 pm today and I watched Hellboy and it sounded very nice.It was much better than the KLH and Sony subs I was using prior.It ratles the windows and you I can feel the vibrations though the sofa.The only thing I noticed is that it doesnt hit the higher bass notes that the KLH and Sony did.I still have to mess around with the settings in the receiver and that should do the trick.I popped in Cloverfield real quick and was blown away by how much lower this thing goes than my two previous subs.Tomorrow im gonna try and watch some bass heavy movies and see how it is.

I had this problem at first too, but once I changed the crossover setting to receiver controlled, and messed around with speaker settings, I got the fronts handling the higher bass nicely. From what I have seen with test sweeps, it does indeed hit lower 20's like advertised, and starts dropping right at 23-24hz in my room. Top end seems to start dropping fast above 100, which is it's design anyway. Don't want messy voice coming through the sub.

Perhaps the speaker has good low end to shake the house with low freq. vibration but no mid range.

A lot of people think just because it vibrates the house that the subwoofer is good but if it's not tuned/EQ'd properly, then it will have peak freq's and dead spots throughout it's bandwidth. *Speaker placement can also effect these characteristis.

A good way to check is get a test disk with a sweep of freq's between 20-100hz and take measurements from the listening area with an SPL meter in 5-10hz increments .

I don't even need a meter to tell it has dips and peaks all over the place. My receiver however is a Sony, so it does not have anything like audyssey (EQ in my opinion is almost required). I might invest in a decent EQ and a meter one day soon. And yes, it does make really good SPL at its lowest at around 25hz up to around 35 or 40, but then there is about a 30hz dead spot, and then another peak at around 60-70hz, then it falls flat again all the way to its max. An EQ would probably make this sub in my setup 10x better. The way it is now, if I turn it down with volume to reduce the low end peak, the rest of it is too quiet. Those peaks, or dips however you want to view it, are messing up the sound. From what I have seen so far, this is for sure a superior HT sub over music, which I pretty much expected looking at its design.

I'm also having a problem getting the sub to match the fronts with the bass. The fronts are set at 60hz, so they they take a little of the mid bass, but on heavy bass music, the subwoofer always sounds like it's just a little behind/late. I have tried adjusting this with the distance setting in the receiver to "move" the sub towards and away from the listening position, as well as played with the phase switch with no success. It's still new, I'll just keep playing with it. Might just be room acoustics related, but I don't expect my acoustics are as bad as some. The front and rear wall is only about 5ft tall, and the upper 3-4ft are 50 degree angle ceiling (sort of in the attic), and I have plenty of angles to diffract the waves, and thick carpet, curtains on half of one wall, and a 6ft round bean bag chair in the middle of the room (maybe that helps ) Room is roughly 14x16x8 I might build some bass traps as a project over the next week or two. I will be out for 2 weeks after a surgery, and might try and do it then if I don't work myself too hard.

Totally agree, I moved the sub farther from me than it was and it sounds a lot better. I'll try a frequency sweep with it in it's new location with its back to a wall close to a corner and see if the issue was solved. I have a cement floor and bare walls so it may be a room cancellation issue...

EDIT: Ok so after some messing with settings I've got it a LOT better. For my system it seems that my crossover has to be a tad higher since my fronts don't extend low enough to be at a typical front crossover setting. I have my crossover at 120hz now and it seems GREATLY improved.

Im not going to lie after reading your guys reviews i regret buying it i say 65% of it well be used for music.. But i did not get it yet i well update everyone when i get it forsure..

Then cancel it dude. We helped you as much as we could but no it's really become tiresome. You're the most difficult person i've ever had to deal with on a forum.

It's not terrible, it's just better suited for HT, and not ideally a musical sub in my opinion. But really, you won't find a truly good musical sub in the same price range. To find a good sealed sub for music, typically you are talking $500+. What works or doesn't work for someone else won't mean it will be the same for you. The room setup is most important. You can have the sub that everyone says is best, but if you don't have a room for it, it might sound like crap. Like I said before, a lot of my issue is the room I'm sure. Still, the sub isn't gifted in the music realm from what I have heard so far. Again, not saying it's terrible, it's just far more impressive in HT.

I still feel I need to clarify. These might all be specific problems for my room, so it doesn't mean yours will be this way. If you want bass, this surely delivers (excellent job on rap and hip hop, Late Night Tip from Three 6 Mafia hits hard and rattled everything in the house), but if you want really accurate, tight and "crisp" (might not be the best word) bass, a good sealed sub is the only answer. Anything with a lot of mid/upper bass, over 80hz, you might be slightly underwhelmed. Stuff like techno seems to really make this sub struggle to keep up with a fast beat with high bass. So again, if you want that, sealed sub. And like I said, you aren't going to find one of those for $300 shipped. BUT, once again, like I said, my receiver doesn't have any kind of EQ to help with the peaks and dips, so the bass might be there, just my room acoustics are really drowning it out. I do think with some kind of EQ, the sub would be much better with music.

I have a question about the on/auto/off switch.does your sub turn on immediately when you turn on the receiver or does it take a few seconds?I have mine seet on auto and it takes a little while for it to turn on.

when I listened to acd earlier on my PS3 the bass wasnt there but it never was even with my other two subs.Tomorrow i plan on connecting my computer to the receiver through a optical cable and see how the bass sounds that way cause running it that way on my other two subs the bass was a whole lot better.