Just bought 2 of the Monoprice SW-15 on sale for $209

[Danzilla31]

Super easy to unpack open up the top box and the inside box but don't take out the top peice in the second box flip it upside down and pull both boxes off of it. When it comes out it will be on top of one of those peices you see to the right you turn it one its side and it slides out

Double Boxed though for $200 bucks each? Wow

 

[Danzilla31]

 

[Danzilla31]

These are not small subs AT ALL.

They are 21.1 deep by 18.1 wide when you subtract the feet about 19.9 high they are right about the size of a PB 2000 they weigh 66 lbs

The driver is 15 inches wide when you go from outer ring to outer ring about 13.5 when you from rubber surround to rubber surround

 

[Danzilla31]

The feet are thick big rubber feet first to give the port on the bottom clearance and also that sub is not moving anywhere.

 

[Danzilla31]

Honestly Monoprice missed a chance to be a market disrupter here. The amp is 600 watts RMS.

Add a second port tune it flat to even 30 Hz + or - 3 db or even say 25 to 27 Hz and with room gain you got yourself a potent sub for 200 bucks on sale 300 bucks normally

Problem is then you disrupt your own market as well why would customers move up the Monolith line if they offered something like that? So I can understand why Monoprice didn't do that

Can't wait to see what these babies can do

But I have to hang out with family all day damn!

 

[Danzilla31]

I also like the matte finish it really doesn't look bad at all. It's a plain box but not a bad looking plain box with the grill off they look mean

 

[shadyJ]

Honestly Monoprice missed a chance to be a market disrupter here. The amp is 600 watts RMS.

Add a second port tune it flat to even 30 Hz + or - 3 db or even say 25 to 27 Hz and with room gain you got yourself a potent sub for 200 bucks on sale 300 bucks normally

Problem is then you disrupt your own market as well why would customers move up the Monolith line if they offered something like that? So I can understand why Monoprice didn't do that

Can't wait to see what these babies can do

But I have to hang out with family all day damn!

I doubt very much that amp is 600 watts RMS, despite the spec sheet.

Also, for a lower tuning, you would need a significantly larger enclosure, and that would not only hike the price up a lot, it would also greatly lessen demand. The driver is probably not up to the demands of a lower port tuning anyway.

 

[Danzilla31]

I doubt very much that amp is 600 watts RMS, despite the spec sheet.

Also, for a lower tuning, you would need a significantly larger enclosure, and that would not only hike the price up a lot, it would also greatly lessen demand. The driver is probably not up to the demands of a lower port tuning anyway.

That's interesting to know thanks Shady. Even in a box the size of a PB 2000 pro that driver couldn't handle a slightly lower port tune? Especially if they added a second port? I figure they would also have to invest in better DSP to protect the driver. I figured it was the DSP also adding to the cost I didn't think they needed a better amp and a bigger box as well because that box is pretty big.

On AVS their is a thread on this sub and a fella with a mini DSP was able to get a better response I'm going to try and do the same thing if I can and post the results here if it works

But let's see what it can do on its own

 

[shadyJ]

That's interesting to know thanks Shady. Even in a box the size of a PB 2000 pro that driver couldn't handle a slightly lower port tune? Especially if they added a second port? I figure they would also have to invest in better DSP to protect the driver. I figured it was the DSP also adding to the cost I didn't think they needed a better amp and a bigger box as well because that box is pretty big.

On AVS their is a thread on this sub and a fella with a mini DSP was able to get a better response I'm going to try and do the same thing if I can and post the results here if it works

But let's see what it can do on its own

There are a lot of parameters involved, but going for a deeper port tuning requires a large cabinet, especially for a large, shallow-throw woofer. And it would be output-limited at the low end, because there is still only so much force it can effect on the internal air volume. The ports are only one factor in that equation. That driver just isn't built for it. MiniDSP can do nothing to extend the response of a ported sub. You can not gain a response below port tuning no matter what kind of processing you apply.

 

[Bobby Bass]

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Looking good! Hope you get a chance to break away and check out the sound enjoy!

 

[Danzilla31]

Man with the holiday and family and redoing the room for the new speakers I'm sore and I'm tired but I finally have them in here and I'm going to level match them and the speakers and start cranking some stuff. I won't be able to play around with REW and get them in their best spots until the weekend because work is coming up but at least I can let them rip and see what my initial impressions are

 

[Danzilla31]

 

[Danzilla31]

I'll post back in a couple hours tell you guys what I think!!!!

 

[Bobby Bass]

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Looks like a great bedroom setup. Hope it sounds Great too.

 

[Danzilla31]

Ok initial impressions

Too soon to say how they sound need to get my ears used to them Plus get them set up right. Plus my doubles for work start tomorrow so I haven't had time to run REW and make adjustments. I'll do that over the weekend dial them in and then give subjective experiences and my thoughts on their sound

I do love the very thick rubber feet

I do love the matte type finish not high end but it looks nice for what it is

I do like the rounded edges this is a good looking sub for $209 each

I do like the amp layout on the back laid out clean with good options for a $209 dollar sub

I don't like that the auto on switch doesn't have a red to green color change you don't know if it's on or not when you switch it on auto the red power light comes on but it could've been done better

I've also heard the auto on switch doesn't work that well but haven't had time to test that out yet.

Also the power cords that come with these don't detach and they are not very long so if you need to move these subs to optimal room placement you need extension cords

The manual is not clear when your plugging them into lfe and using the AVR's Reciever on letting it do the bass management. What you should do is turn the low pass filter as high as it will go they do not do a good job explaining that

Their is I don't believe any DSP being used on these subs so I don't believe they have any latency when setting them up from your Reciever

I start my work shifts today so I won't have time to really play with these until this weekend

More updates to come

 

[Danzilla31]

Looks like a great bedroom setup. Hope it sounds Great too.

Thanks man. I finally gave up on trying to make towers work in that room just not enough space. I had scored a great deal on some used M&K S-150thx and the angled center v1 in great condition and all matching serial numbers for under 1k. Good on axis response great output with good subs and a little dialing in I should be good but even without EQ Im liking the M&K they sound clear detailed and very neutral but not too bright just the way I like it

I like the look and my bedroom finally looks like a bedroom. I had to build custom mounts to put those M&K's flush under the screen like that. Then unmount and remount the screen to set it all up. It was a solo job and took longer than I thought it would. Which is why I'm behind the eight ball on getting my thoughts out on these subs

It looks clean with the subs where they are but you know how this works once I measure those subs may be getting moved around so the final look may be different

 

[everettT]

Ok initial impressions

Too soon to say how they sound need to get my ears used to them Plus get them set up right. Plus my doubles for work start tomorrow so I haven't had time to run REW and make adjustments. I'll do that over the weekend dial them in and then give subjective experiences and my thoughts on their sound

I do love the very thick rubber feet

I do love the matte type finish not high end but it looks nice for what it is

I do like the rounded edges this is a good looking sub for $209 each

I do like the amp layout on the back laid out clean with good options for a $209 dollar sub

I don't like that the auto on switch doesn't have a red to green color change you don't know if it's on or not when you switch it on auto the red power light comes on but it could've been done better

I've also heard the auto on switch doesn't work that well but haven't had time to test that out yet.

Also the power cords that come with these don't detach and they are not very long so if you need to move these subs to optimal room placement you need extension cords

The manual is not clear when your plugging them into lfe and using the AVR's Reciever on letting it do the bass management. What you should do is turn the low pass filter as high as it will go they do not do a good job explaining that

Their is I don't believe any DSP being used on these subs so I don't believe they have any latency when setting them up from your Reciever

I start my work shifts today so I won't have time to really play with these until this weekend

More updates to come

In that room I'd bet the low end is enough to satisfy especially after the output through the mid-bass. I'd also imagine a little bit of additional bracing or norez would really shore the cabinets up, though they seem decent for budget subs.

 

[Danzilla31]

In that room I'd bet the low end is enough to satisfy especially after the output through the mid-bass. I'd also imagine a little bit of additional bracing or norez would really shore the cabinets up, though they seem decent for budget subs.

Yeah I need to measure before well know how the response looks but I won't have time until this weekend. I'll post those measurements as soon as I get them done

Id like to shore the cabinets up but @shadyJ is coming out with a review on these so I'm waiting until he gives us a breakdown of the build and interior in the review and his recommendations for mods as he usually does before I do any of that

 

[Danzilla31]

Okay so had a little bit of time to play with these before getting ready for work.

Had one sub accidentally set to wrong phase. Tweaked distances levels and already some observations.

These fuggin things CRANK man. I have to make adjustments just to dial back their output. They put out way more bass then I can handle

They already give me that nice tactle feel and good pressure from the 30 -60 Hz range. Dialed in correctly they should pressurize this room no problem.

A little bass bloat but that's the room and not the subs and now I have a literal sh#t ton of bass in this room so getting them set up and calibrated correctly this weekend is a must

These are good subs they are not just output monsters.

They sounded good with both movies and music and they are not one hit wonders

In music they were hitting all the notes within their frequency response I could hear each bass note distinctly and they were great at handling multiple bass sections from different sources in movies and music. When a lot was going on within the score with music bass guitar drums etc they didn't muddy up. And the same with movies. They are not one hit wonders they have detail transients and attack and they have that clean bass sound that you don't normally hear in this price range. And they can do it with multiple bass sources

Now are they as clean and precise as the higher end stuff out their of course not. When I say they don't muddy it up they don't but they are not as clear as the more expensive competition out their. But your getting very good sounding bass for peanuts

These do not sound like a budget sub at all. Not one bit.

Oh and the M&K speakers are AWESOME but that's another review on another thread

Can't wait to tweak these this weekend!!!!!!!

 

[CR!T]

Man with that glowing review, I'm dying to see @shadyJ 's review!! Gonna be super interesting to see how 2x SW-15s stack up against 2x Dayton SUB-1500s.

I have a single SW-15 right now and I'm not sure if it's a bad unit or bad resonance, but there's just a massive null happening around 60hz where there didn't use to be on the Polk that used to be in the same spot. 40-50hz is great but anything over 60hz just poops out completely. Switching phase didn't seem to do anything, and since 40-50hz rips I don't think it's a power issue? Gonna try some different placements before thinking it's the lemon route.