First off, I'm no expert and I've calibrated everything by ear. I've been wanting to pickup an SPL meter and Avia, but haven't gotten around to it. I listened to several musical samplings and a couple of movies, so now my impressions.
I've been looking for a sub for awhile and was undecided about going budget or entry level SVS or Hsu. I had heard good things about the JBL E250, BIC Acoustech H-100 and the Dayton 12" in the under $300 class, but I wanted to do an in home audition. The only thing available and returnable locally was the JBL @ $450 or the Velo DPS10 open box @ $360. I took the Velo home. So this is my point of reference. I liked the Velo quite a bit for output, music and movies. There were a couple of times it bottomed and rattled in HT, but it hit hard and looked good. When it tried to go lower than it's rated spec of 28hz you could hear distortion, but most often it was very clean. It was better for music, generally, sweet sounding and punchy except in the very deep stuff. I'd notice mushiness or chuff. The preset EQ, in hindsight, was very useful, but the blinking light volume control was irritating. I knew I'd be returning it and trying something else. I'm cheap and thought I might be able to get something better for less. So after reading craigsubs review on the Cadence XSub, I ordered it.
The sub is 49lbs., but seems heavier than the Velo (52lbs?), 12" front firing driver, 350w RMS, 700w peak Class A/B amp, xover from 40-120, 180 degree phase shift and 1 band EQ @ 50hz +/- 12db. Fit and finish are very nice, at least as good as my Polks. I initially calibrated at -5, phase 0, xover thru receiver @ 60hz, volume at 11 oclock. Well that just wasn't right and I've been tweaking for a day and a half to get the xover, vol, phase and 50hz EQ just right to conquer some boominess I initially heard.
Out of the box, I thought ok this was going to be an improvement for HT, but not as good as the Velo for music.
After tweaking, I got it right and listened to Peter Gabriels "Secret World" (which sounded great with the Velo), it's the bomb, very musical, hits all the bass and pedal notes, punchy and deep with the kick drums and percussion, very tight and accurate. It's got a different tonal quality than the Velo, less colored. I put in Sting's Sacred Love, DVD A, there's a cut with an LFE shuffle that was very hard for the Velo to reproduce, the Xsub didn't blink. Alan Parson's "On Air" DTS is one of the finest surround mixes I have, the Xsub produced deep non-localized base. It sounded just about perfect to my ears with my equipment.
I haven't given it too much of a movie workout. Watched Sahara, the Incredibles and put on the Darla scene in Finding Nemo. The Xsub really delivered on the Rocket launch and Robot fights, no strain, no rattle, plenty of power (the Rocket launch used to try to make the Onkyo explode and rattled the Velo). The Darla scene was wonderful. I may not be hearing the < 25hz stuff, but I sure feel it. Best of all, I don't hear any distortion or strain from the sub. I'm going to do some LOTR tonight, some of the scenes distorted the Velo (Mt Doom) to compare.
Final thoughts: The Cadence has plenty of power. You can hear that there is plenty of headroom, there's just no strain. It won't go as low as SVS and may not be as musical as Hsu, but it's not aimed at them. It will thump your chest at 25hz and be very musical. Comparing it to the Velo DPS10 vs 12 may not be fair to the Velo, but it's my point of reference. It's a nice sub too. The kicker is value, the DPS10 retail is $450, DPS12 $550, online you can get deals from $300 - $400. The Cadence was $250 shipped. At that price, it cuts a big enough piece of the SVS footprint for me to say it's a winner.
