Monoprice Monolith 10” THX Select and 12” THX Ultra Subwoofers Review

[Danzilla31]

The Rythmik 15 ‘s are nice too. You should call and talk to Enrico there as well. How big is the volume of the space in cubic inches? Think if I remember right the house is open to many rooms? If so you need to add up all of them in the calculations. Good luck!

I'm defiantly gonna check out those Rhythmik 15's thanks for the tip.

 

[|\/4n]

I recently bought Monolith 10'' sub and liked it so much that decided to write few words about my experience.

Outstanding. Worth every penny.

This thing is totally awesome. This is truly premium product. Everything: packaging (they even threw-in white gloves to handle the unit!) , build quality, look, features, performance is truly Top Class. Honestly I can not remember when last time I was able to buy such a high quality product. Monoprice – THANK YOU, you keep amazing me and I’m now your true fan forever.

I’m the longtime customer of Monoprice’s cable products. Recently I started upgrading my audio setup and was on market for the good sub. Read tons of reviews and blog posts. Came across this Monolith by Monoprice 10’’ sub. I was hesitant at first. Especially because I couldn’t find a showroom where I can listen to it. So I decided to give it a try.

It was 100% correct decision. Unit arrived as promised, on 2nd day after order, impeccably packaged, heavy as behemoth or should I say as monolith . I hooked it up to my Onkyo TX-NR787, turned it on.. No – before I turned it on, I broke a sweat moving this thing around – almost 73 pounds without the box; 94 with a box

So, I turned it On, made settings adjustments, put on my favorite music, and OMG – the bass this unit produces is to die for. Bass fills entire room, it is almost touchable. Btw, size of my room is about 2300 cubic feet. Depending on contents being played bass is either warm and enswathing, or round and punchy. Or ground shaking: after 10 minutes of watching Star Wars III Revenge of The Sith I found out that my neighbors upstairs are alive and well (3 years I’m living here, but I never saw my upstairs neighbors before).

Here is more – comparison with other sub. I’ve been lacking this a lot when I was searching and analyzing before my purchase. There are a lot of reviews of different products, but there are not as many comparisons.

So, I went to the local Magnolia store and bought SVS SB-2000. This unit is close in specs and features to the Monolith except SB-2000 is sealed and has 12’’ driver. Well, this is all the store had in-stock at the time. Also, SB-2000 is $200 more expensive.

I have to mention – I’m not a professional reviewer and do not possess any specific gizmo to measure sonic characteristics and all this good tech stuff. In fact, I usually do not write anything anywhere unless it is absolutely necessary. This time is different. May be because I liked the product so much.

I’m a normal human being with two ears. And those ears telling me Monolith is better in every way. Don’t get me wrong, SB-2000 is a great sub. I can not tell anything bad about it, but Monolith just better. Even with Monolith’s 10’’ driver vs 12’’ in SVS, Monolith produces much more powerful and overall better bass. Plus, remember those $200 difference? And we have a winner - Monolith by Monoprice 10" THX Select Certified 500 Watt Powered Subwoofer!

 

[haraldo]

I recently bought Monolith 10'' sub and liked it so much that decided to write few words about my experience.

Outstanding. Worth every penny.

This thing is totally awesome. This is truly premium product. Everything: packaging (they even threw-in white gloves to handle the unit!) , build quality, look, features, performance is truly Top Class. Honestly I can not remember when last time I was able to buy such a high quality product. Monoprice – THANK YOU, you keep amazing me and I’m now your true fan forever.

I’m the longtime customer of Monoprice’s cable products. Recently I started upgrading my audio setup and was on market for the good sub. Read tons of reviews and blog posts. Came across this Monolith by Monoprice 10’’ sub. I was hesitant at first. Especially because I couldn’t find a showroom where I can listen to it. So I decided to give it a try.

It was 100% correct decision. Unit arrived as promised, on 2nd day after order, impeccably packaged, heavy as behemoth or should I say as monolith . I hooked it up to my Onkyo TX-NR787, turned it on.. No – before I turned it on, I broke a sweat moving this thing around – almost 73 pounds without the box; 94 with a box

So, I turned it On, made settings adjustments, put on my favorite music, and OMG – the bass this unit produces is to die for. Bass fills entire room, it is almost touchable. Btw, size of my room is about 2300 cubic feet. Depending on contents being played bass is either warm and enswathing, or round and punchy. Or ground shaking: after 10 minutes of watching Star Wars III Revenge of The Sith I found out that my neighbors upstairs are alive and well (3 years I’m living here, but I never saw my upstairs neighbors before).

Here is more – comparison with other sub. I’ve been lacking this a lot when I was searching and analyzing before my purchase. There are a lot of reviews of different products, but there are not as many comparisons.

So, I went to the local Magnolia store and bought SVS SB-2000. This unit is close in specs and features to the Monolith except SB-2000 is sealed and has 12’’ driver. Well, this is all the store had in-stock at the time. Also, SB-2000 is $200 more expensive.

I have to mention – I’m not a professional reviewer and do not possess any specific gizmo to measure sonic characteristics and all this good tech stuff. In fact, I usually do not write anything anywhere unless it is absolutely necessary. This time is different. May be because I liked the product so much.

I’m a normal human being with two ears. And those ears telling me Monolith is better in every way. Don’t get me wrong, SB-2000 is a great sub. I can not tell anything bad about it, but Monolith just better. Even with Monolith’s 10’’ driver vs 12’’ in SVS, Monolith produces much more powerful and overall better bass. Plus, remember those $200 difference? And we have a winner - Monolith by Monoprice 10" THX Select Certified 500 Watt Powered Subwoofer!

Very interesting read..... I listened to a lot of stuff including lower and, middle end and extremely hi end subwoofers. At the end of the day I tell myself I don't care about about technology but do I enjoy the music I am listening to, does it give me a believable music experience ..... (I only care about music, not movies)

If you kind of forget about bass pressure and how loud one sub can go or not.... how do you think about these subs helping to present music in a believable way. My experience is that a really good sub bass system add an incredible new dimension to the music, dimension of room and more....

 

[|\/4n]

Very interesting read..... I listened to a lot of stuff including lower and, middle end and extremely hi end subwoofers. At the end of the day I tell myself I don't care about about technology but do I enjoy the music I am listening to, does it give me a believable music experience ..... (I only care about music, not movies)

If you kind of forget about bass pressure and how loud one sub can go or not.... how do you think about these subs helping to present music in a believable way. My experience is that a really good sub bass system add an incredible new dimension to the music, dimension of room and more....

Very interesting read..... I listened to a lot of stuff including lower and, middle end and extremely hi end subwoofers. At the end of the day I tell myself I don't care about about technology but do I enjoy the music I am listening to, does it give me a believable music experience ..... (I only care about music, not movies)

If you kind of forget about bass pressure and how loud one sub can go or not.... how do you think about these subs helping to present music in a believable way. My experience is that a really good sub bass system add an incredible new dimension to the music, dimension of room and more....

Absolutely agree - in my opinion sub is a must have for about any kind of music, it does add the richness and volume/dimension to the listening experience. I do not own outofthisworld, ultra Hi-End cannotcountzerosinapricetag system, so can not comment there. However, from the experience of owning few under 1k range, I can tell that without the sub sound is plain an not as enjoyable.

 

[shadyJ]

I recently bought Monolith 10'' sub and liked it so much that decided to write few words about my experience.

Outstanding. Worth every penny.

This thing is totally awesome. This is truly premium product. Everything: packaging (they even threw-in white gloves to handle the unit!) , build quality, look, features, performance is truly Top Class. Honestly I can not remember when last time I was able to buy such a high quality product. Monoprice – THANK YOU, you keep amazing me and I’m now your true fan forever.

I’m the longtime customer of Monoprice’s cable products. Recently I started upgrading my audio setup and was on market for the good sub. Read tons of reviews and blog posts. Came across this Monolith by Monoprice 10’’ sub. I was hesitant at first. Especially because I couldn’t find a showroom where I can listen to it. So I decided to give it a try.

It was 100% correct decision. Unit arrived as promised, on 2nd day after order, impeccably packaged, heavy as behemoth or should I say as monolith . I hooked it up to my Onkyo TX-NR787, turned it on.. No – before I turned it on, I broke a sweat moving this thing around – almost 73 pounds without the box; 94 with a box

So, I turned it On, made settings adjustments, put on my favorite music, and OMG – the bass this unit produces is to die for. Bass fills entire room, it is almost touchable. Btw, size of my room is about 2300 cubic feet. Depending on contents being played bass is either warm and enswathing, or round and punchy. Or ground shaking: after 10 minutes of watching Star Wars III Revenge of The Sith I found out that my neighbors upstairs are alive and well (3 years I’m living here, but I never saw my upstairs neighbors before).

Here is more – comparison with other sub. I’ve been lacking this a lot when I was searching and analyzing before my purchase. There are a lot of reviews of different products, but there are not as many comparisons.

So, I went to the local Magnolia store and bought SVS SB-2000. This unit is close in specs and features to the Monolith except SB-2000 is sealed and has 12’’ driver. Well, this is all the store had in-stock at the time. Also, SB-2000 is $200 more expensive.

I have to mention – I’m not a professional reviewer and do not possess any specific gizmo to measure sonic characteristics and all this good tech stuff. In fact, I usually do not write anything anywhere unless it is absolutely necessary. This time is different. May be because I liked the product so much.

I’m a normal human being with two ears. And those ears telling me Monolith is better in every way. Don’t get me wrong, SB-2000 is a great sub. I can not tell anything bad about it, but Monolith just better. Even with Monolith’s 10’’ driver vs 12’’ in SVS, Monolith produces much more powerful and overall better bass. Plus, remember those $200 difference? And we have a winner - Monolith by Monoprice 10" THX Select Certified 500 Watt Powered Subwoofer!

It's not quite a fair comparison to the SB-2000, which is a sealed sub designed to be small. The proper subwoofer to compare the Monolith 10" THX would be the PB-1000 from SVS.

 

[hk2000]

Those graphs look really good, especially the "sealed" responses! Wish I'm still in need of more subs- I already got 4.

 

[WhiteCoatGeek]

Guys, how does the Monolith 12 sub compare with Rythmik LVX12? Both are 12" with same price. Ignoring the looks and customer service, is one better than the other or are they essentially similar in performance?

 

[everettT]

Guys, how does the Monolith 12 sub compare with Rythmik LVX12? Both are 12" with same price. Ignoring the looks and customer service, is one better than the other or are they essentially similar in performance?

Havent seen 3rd party measurements for the Rythmik so it hard to say. The monoprice has some good numbers which is what I'd take between the 2 right now, but the question should be why not a VTF3 from HSU at the price point.

 

[shadyJ]

Guys, how does the Monolith 12 sub compare with Rythmik LVX12? Both are 12" with same price. Ignoring the looks and customer service, is one better than the other or are they essentially similar in performance?

I would guess the Monolith 12" would have an significant overall performance advantage. I doubt very much that the driver used in the FVX12 is in the same league as that in the Monolith 12".

 

[Grandzoltar]

It’s my understanding that Rythmik’s take a dive after 80 hz. Sealed subs will never match the low end output of a ported sub. The distortion in the monolith is very low this is part of the reason why it has the thx label.

 

[WhiteCoatGeek]

Havent seen 3rd party measurements for the Rythmik so it hard to say. The monoprice has some good numbers which is what I'd take between the 2 right now, but the question should be why not a VTF3 from HSU at the price point.

I am looking for 12" sub due to cabinet size issues. Sub needs to be fully hide behind the couch in living room.

 

[WhiteCoatGeek]

It’s my understanding that Rythmik’s take a dive after 80 hz. Sealed subs will never match the low end output of a ported sub. The distortion in the monolith is very low this is part of the reason why it has the thx label.

LVX12 too is ported.

 

[Grandzoltar]

Sealed subs in general don’t have the low end output. I was commenting on his comparison of the sb2000 sealed vs Rythmik ported. I know that Rythmik is ported but takes a dive after 80

 

[kini]

Sealed subs in general don’t have the low end output. I was commenting on his comparison of the sb2000 sealed vs Rythmik ported. I know that Rythmik is ported but takes a dive after 80

No it doesn't.
Frequency Response 14 - 200 Hz (-2 dB @ 18 Hz, -6db@14hz) with LFE input

14 - 90 Hz (-2 dB @ 18 Hz, -6db@14hz) with LINE IN input

 

[shadyJ]

I am looking for 12" sub due to cabinet size issues. Sub needs to be fully hide behind the couch in living room.

Keep in mind that the Monolith 12" is fairly big for a 12" sub. Do a mock up of its dimensions to get a real understanding of its size.

 

[WhiteCoatGeek]

Keep in mind that the Monolith 12" is fairly big for a 12" sub. Do a mock up of its dimensions to get a real understanding of its size.

I am upgrading from Rythmik LV12R. Monoliths are marginally bigger in every dimension but should fit.

 

[WhiteCoatGeek]

Went ahead and ordered a pair of Monolith 12s. Upgrading from a single Rythmik LV12R. FYI, they are on sale today for $675 each.

 

[1BADAPPLE]

Went ahead and ordered a pair of Monolith 12s. Upgrading from a single Rythmik LV12R. FYI, they are on sale today for $675 each.

Where are they on sale at, I checked monoprice and it show $799 as the price.

 

[WhiteCoatGeek]

Where are they on sale at, I checked monoprice and it show $799 as the price.

https://www.monoprice.com/pages/sitewide1_promo

 

[1BADAPPLE]

Thanks WCG.