RSL Speedwoofer 10S Subwoofer Review

[gene]

The folks at RSL were pretty frank about their goals when they developed the Speedwoofer 10S subwoofer, available for only $399 with free shipping. They looked to the competition, starting with the best subwoofers in the $500 range and “didn't stop building until we had one that substantially outperformed the rest.”

Was the end result a serious contender for being the best value sub available today?

Here's a hint, this little sub earned our Medium Room Bassaholic rating and using 2 could get you the large rating. What do you think?

Read: RSL Speedwoofer 10S Subwoofer Review

 

[gene]

 

[ematthews]

Anything better at this price point.. Like the Boston Acoustics that is on close out at 399.00?

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Not exactly apples to oranges, but for only one more c-note, one could get SVS PB1000 which trumps all over this tiny RSL sub.
CEA-2010 for PB1000 (at 1 meter I think) here http://www.soundandvision.com/content/review-svs-pb-1000-subwoofer-measurements

Still nice to have more competition of decent subs in sub $500 range

 

[ematthews]

Thanks for the reply

 

[rojo]

For the price of one of these 10" RSL subs you could get a pair of 15" Dayton SUB-1500 subs if you have the space for them. I found a chart which includes CEA 2010 measurements of the SUB-1500 as well as a few others. The Dayton wins for total output and dB per $, but the RSL wins for dB per cubic inch and for WAF. For $100 more than the RSL, an RBH I-12 would be worth considering, offering an attractive enclosure with a smaller footprint than the 15" Dayton. Measurements for the RBH claim greater output than the Dayton, although no indication is given whether those are at 1m or at 2m. It's most likely an apples-to-oranges comparison.

Of course, none of this offers any indication how any of the aforementioned units handles impulse response graphs / waterfall plots / spectrographs -- whether any of them will play with a ringing resonance or with control. If the SUB-1500 bears any resemblance to its little brother (the SUB-1200), it ought to be very well-behaved (somewhat in contrast to the SVS PB1000 that BSA recommended).

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

For the price of one of these 10" RSL subs you could get a pair of 15" Dayton SUB-1500 subs if you have the space for them. I found a chart which includes CEA 2010 measurements of the SUB-1500 as well as a few others. The Dayton wins for total output and dB per $, but the RSL wins for dB per cubic inch and for WAF. For $100 more than the RSL, an RBH I-12 would be worth considering, offering an attractive enclosure with a smaller footprint than the 15" Dayton. Measurements for the RBH claim greater output than the Dayton, although no indication is given whether those are at 1m or at 2m. It's most likely an apples-to-oranges comparison.

Of course, none of this offers any indication how any of the aforementioned units handles impulse response graphs / waterfall plots / spectrographs -- whether any of them will play with a ringing resonance or with control. If the SUB-1500 bears any resemblance to its little brother (the SUB-1200), it ought to be very well-behaved (somewhat in contrast to the SVS PB1000 that BSA recommended).

It's hard to argue the value of Sub1500, but I reserve my final judgement till I see it's fully tested, hopefully by Josh R.

As for PB1000 - it's not a perfect sub - probably one should expect some compromises for 1/2 of the price of good sub, but it's quite well behaved in most real scenarios, but does fail few minor edge cases:
http://referencehometheater.com/review/svs-pb-1000-subwoofer-review/
http://www.soundandvision.com/content/review-svs-pb-1000-subwoofer-measurements
http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/speaker-subwoofer-reviews/66069-svs-pb1000-sb1000-subwoofer-review.html

 

[ematthews]

Well the cheap Polk was not bad but it was boomy sounding where ever it was put. Not very well controlled or tight. Anything might be an upgrade over it..

 

[rojo]

There are trade-offs with every model I guess. The Hsu STF-2 beats the RSL from 25Hz+, and is currently on sale for $80 cheaper. (Subtract 9dB from the 1m peak values in the Hsu CEA 2010 table to compare to the RSL table's 2m RMS values.) However, it's tuned a bit higher than the RSL, and its response dies more sharply before reaching infrasonics. But I'd take either over a cheap Polk sub.

 

[shadyJ]

Not exactly apples to oranges, but for only one more c-note, one could get SVS PB1000 which trumps all over this tiny RSL sub.
CEA-2010 for PB1000 (at 1 meter I think) here http://www.soundandvision.com/content/review-svs-pb-1000-subwoofer-measurements

Still nice to have more competition of decent subs in sub $500 range

Those are 1 meter peak measurements. I think those particular measurements have problems and I wouldn't take them at face value.

 

[j_garcia]

The lower Polk subs barely break the 30s, so something with good output at 25Hz is still going to win. The $500 and under market is huge because that's about the right amount for the budget system and is where you start to get into decent subs IMO, excluding DIY/AIY.

 

[shadyJ]

For the price of one of these 10" RSL subs you could get a pair of 15" Dayton SUB-1500 subs if you have the space for them. I found a chart which includes CEA 2010 measurements of the SUB-1500 as well as a few others. The Dayton wins for total output and dB per $, but the RSL wins for dB per cubic inch and for WAF. For $100 more than the RSL, an RBH I-12 would be worth considering, offering an attractive enclosure with a smaller footprint than the 15" Dayton. Measurements for the RBH claim greater output than the Dayton, although no indication is given whether those are at 1m or at 2m. It's most likely an apples-to-oranges comparison.

Of course, none of this offers any indication how any of the aforementioned units handles impulse response graphs / waterfall plots / spectrographs -- whether any of them will play with a ringing resonance or with control. If the SUB-1500 bears any resemblance to its little brother (the SUB-1200), it ought to be very well-behaved (somewhat in contrast to the SVS PB1000 that BSA recommended).

I would love to know who did the CEA-2010 measurements from that chart. As far as I know, no one has ever made public any measurements of those subwoofers. For outdoor groundplane testing it is also very difficult to get passing measurements at some of the low SPL levels that chart is getting. I have to assume that testing is done indoors with a compensation formula.

 

[rojo]

I would love to know who did the CEA-2010 measurements from that chart. As far as I know, no one has ever made public any measurements of those subwoofers. For outdoor groundplane testing it is also very difficult to get passing measurements at some of the low SPL levels that chart is getting. I have to assume that testing is done indoors with a compensation formula.

Source for the Google Doc: The Wirecutter: "The Best Budget Subwoofer" (published 2016.04.19). It appears the author is Brent Butterworth, the same guy who provided Gene the RSL sub data. I'm guessing this is the technique he used.

 

[j_garcia]

The impressions of this sub were pretty brief. Any more feedback on the subjective "how did it sound" part?

 

[nickboros]

Nice review Marshall. It is nice to have a good sub in the $400 range to recommend, where until now there was only the Hsu STF2. I do have one issue with the review however. Placing subwoofers in the front corners, while many people still like the look of them that way, is not the best placement for the most uniform bass response across multiple seats. There have been several Audioholics articles explaining this Harmon research from about 10 years ago, here is one: https://www.audioholics.com/subwoofer-setup/multiple-subwoofer-setup-calibration-1

It is best to place them diagonally opposite across each other in the room. The best location in a rectangular room is at the midpoints of opposing walls. Since the subwoofers are small this shouldn't be difficult to do for WAF.

 

[gene]

Nice review Marshall. It is nice to have a good sub in the $400 range to recommend, where until now there was only the Hsu STF2. I do have one issue with the review however. Placing subwoofers in the front corners, while many people still like the look of them that way, is not the best placement for the most uniform bass response across multiple seats. There have been several Audioholics articles explaining this Harmon research from about 10 years ago, here is one: https://www.audioholics.com/subwoofer-setup/multiple-subwoofer-setup-calibration-1

It is best to place them diagonally opposite across each other in the room. The best location in a rectangular room is at the midpoints of opposing walls. Since the subwoofers are small this shouldn't be difficult to do for WAF.

Believe it or not, corner loading 2 subs in the front of the room can give very good results if you have EQ capability. It probably won't give as good seat to seat consistency of midwall front/back but I'd still consider it a very viable option. Diagonal corner is usually less optimal than the other two options. I use it (not by choice) in my family room but would prefer midwall or both front wall corner loaded.

 

[Rick Ross]

Why are the THD numbers so high if this is supposed to be a highly efficient subwoofer? Those THD numbers look really nasty.

 

[shadyJ]

Why are the THD numbers so high if this is supposed to be a highly efficient subwoofer? Those THD numbers look really nasty.

That is the THD at the highest drive level. Bring the gain down a few dB and the distortion would probably go down dramatically. It is not really that efficient as subwoofers go, but that is a small enclosure, and those performance numbers are not at all bad for that enclosure size and that price.

 

[Rick Ross]

That is the THD at the highest drive level. Bring the gain down a few dB and the distortion would probably go down dramatically. It is not really that efficient as subwoofers go, but that is a small enclosure, and those performance numbers are not at all bad for that enclosure size and that price.

I understand that, but compared to some other high quality subs in same testing, those THD numbers are quite bad. 10% or lower is considered good.

 

[shadyJ]

You shouldn't judge a sub too much on how it performs at the very maximum limits of its performance envelope. It isn't designed to be operated at that level for any longer than a split second. Those numbers are quite good for a small sub at its price. Here are some other measurements of the THD of small subs at CEA-2010 max output levels, and don't just compare THD, compare output levels as well:
B&W ASW-610XP
Emotiva X-Ref12
Klipsch SW-311

Keep in mind all of these subs were much more expensive than the RSL sub.