It has arrived!
First a few photos before my initial listening impressions. Here she is, right where FedEx man put her down in my bedroom. I had my female caregiver meet him at the door, so he carried it right to my room, cool.
In the background is my audio/video rack, LPA-1 at bottom, Aperion 633 LR Tower next to it.
Here is the box with ALL the goodies, remote control, unpacking instructions, various feet, and that new sub smell
As per instructions, we flipped the box upside down, which is perfect for unpacking, as the screw holes for the feet were exposed for us now.
Sorry about the light, but Lindsay was excited about hooking her up as I was! Trying to show the attention to detail used for shipping. Inside the plastic bag was the velvet purple bag with the Bravus 12D inside of that. All Aperion speakers are packed this way, nice touch.
Right side up to reveal the goods.
Here she is in her new home. The UPS's on the left are a reference as to the small size, the black one is 2200 watts, the small one 1000 watts for the sub. I use these to power everything in my sig.
FIRST SETUP IMPRESSIONS
Your going to want to read the manual on this one. The manual is simple, and explains everything in easy to understand way, although most of us, me included will hook her up and read later, this is not the case. The sub has a nice remote control, but the front panel display is small and hard to read from a far. Once the menu matrix is understood, the rest is almost easy.
ALMOST EASY because this bad boy comes set from the factory with music, movie, or video game EQ settings. All three can be customed taylored. Then there is the parametric EQ, low bass boost, volume, crossover and more. I have not played with the para EQ and may not until I have a bass test tone CD. I put the low bass boost on flat, as I wanted to hear the sub in "music mode".
A little disappointing that you MUST choose one of the three presets
But not to worry, I'm sure the parametric EQ will be this subs strong point as far as tayloring your room response.
FIRST LISTENING IMPRESSIONS
My first test song was 'Thank You" by Alanis Morissette. Nice deep bass, but this song didn't have enough transients for me, so I cued up some Alice in Chains for some grungy deep bass. I was impressed, and the sub doesn't seem to have any bad habits set on music mode. Next we go even darker, with some Godsmack. Godsmack came along ten years ago, and although hard rock, the lyrics are all clear, and the drummer, Shannon Larkin plays a Yamaha kit with fury, with many many earthen beats, even tribal.
FYI - Godsmack is the name of an Alice in Chains song, and was "borrowed" as this groups name. The group isn't satanic, but instead Pagans
I recommend "Ten years of Godsmack" which comes with a CD and a DVD of Godsmack playing acoustic in Las Vegas. Very neat stuff.
The Bravus 12D has the tight sealed sub sound I was after. Bear in mind this sub is replacing a Hsu VTF-3 HO Turbo with an MBM-12, a tough act to follow indeed. The Bravus hits tight clean and low. Really amazing considering the size of the sub, with two 12" aluminum drivers, a BASH amp, and the EQ all in one very nice cabinet. The Piano Black is perfect as always.
Aperion is kind enough to sell this sub shipped for $1099.00. And comes with a three year transferable warranty, should you sell it. Since Aperion allows a 30 day audition and will take it back shipping paid both ways, I'm going to give her the movie test next, then more music, and if I'm not happy, shes going back, and I'll get in line for the Emotiva sealed subs. But I'm liking what I hear, so probably not
.
As I type this, Larkin's percussion is keeping the 12D plenty busy, and she sounds great. Disappointed at first by the three modes, I don't believe that will be much of an issue. I've got the sub turned up pretty loud, and there is no muddiness at all. Just clean tight bass. Now listening to XM "20 on 20" which is all bubblegum pop, but interesting beats. The Bravus 12D continues to impress as I continue to listen to more and more music!
Just first impressions, and a 29 more days to try her out. I think for the money, there is a lot of sub here. After I play with the Parametric EQ I'll report back on the fun I'm having.