Klipsch R-121SW Subwoofer Review

S

shadyJ

Speaker of the House
Staff member
As a byproduct of being one of the most popular loudspeaker brands in the world, Klipsch is also one of the most popular subwoofer manufacturers too. Their subs can be found in the home audio section of pretty much all major electronic retail chains in North America and throughout much of the world. That being so, it is long overdue for us at Audioholics to take a deep dive into a Klipsch powered subwoofer. So that is precisely what we will be doing today. We will be taking a look at the 12" ported R-1212SW subwoofer, which was recently released along with the launch of their updated Reference series speakers. As with their preceding subwoofer models, this one is bound to be a big seller and will inevitably find its way into many thousands of homes. But is it really a good subwoofer? Where does it stand among its competition? Does Klipsch invest as much effort into their subwoofer design as they do their loudspeakers? Read our full review to see the answers that we found…

READ: Klipsch R-1212SW Subwoofer Review
 
-Jim-

-Jim-

Audioholic General
Thanks for the review. Interesting to see a Klipsch Sub not get bashed in a review. I was shocked you got it to dig as low as it did. I bet they'll sell a lots of these Subs to first time entrants into the Home Theater world, who set it up in their multi-use family room.
 
ryanosaur

ryanosaur

Audioholic Overlord
Thanks for the write up, yet again, some more! :D

it is nice to see an affordable product as an option for starting out or for those who aren’t necessarily looking for some sort of Bass transcendence. ;)
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
I had started to see people mentioning this model and I was curious what the "new" model number entailed. Thanks for the review!
 
S

shadyJ

Speaker of the House
Staff member
Thanks for another insightful review.

I see a similar sub at Costco.

Klipsch Wireless Subwoofer.

How do think they might compare?
Not the same sub. The amp might be the same, the driver might be similar, but the enclosure is significantly smaller which will certainly impact the performance, especially on the low end. That wireless sub will not dig as deep as the R-121SW.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
Is there a chart of various Klipsch sub models with their specs (differences would be better)?
 
ryanosaur

ryanosaur

Audioholic Overlord
@shadyJ
Curious to learn... can you dual-mic a GP measurement to get both the port and driver output at the same time? Or do you need to do two separate sets of measurements with a single mic and combine them after the fact?
Thanks!
 
S

shadyJ

Speaker of the House
Staff member
@shadyJ
Curious to learn... can you dual-mic a GP measurement to get both the port and driver output at the same time? Or do you need to do two separate sets of measurements with a single mic and combine them after the fact?
Thanks!
If you are talking about simultaneous measurements, dual mics wouldn't help there. You can do separate measurements and average them. You have to be careful how you do that though. I have done that before, and I might have even done that with the Klipsch sub, but I did that measurement a while ago and forgot how I did it exactly. The problem is that lower frequencies are less affected by the direction than higher frequencies. So, for example, if I placed the mic facing the driver at 2 meters, I would still get a good amount of port output. However, if I reversed the sub for the mic to be facing the port side, I would not get nearly as much driver output as I did port output for the opposite orientation, and that I because the driver produces higher, more directional frequencies than the port. This is easy to overcome in CEA-2010 testing, by just using the highest numbers for any measures orientation at measurements taken from the same distance, but it's a bit more challenging when trying to get a frequency response that fairly reflects the performance of the sub. It can still be done, although it might introduce a slight bit of inexactitude in the measured response. One way to overcome it would be to measure the sub at a very far distance, like 10 meters, but this sub doesn't have the output to overcome the environmental noise of an outdoor measurement at that distance.
 
ryanosaur

ryanosaur

Audioholic Overlord
If you are talking about simultaneous measurements, dual mics wouldn't help there. You can do separate measurements and average them. You have to be careful how you do that though. I have done that before, and I might have even done that with the Klipsch sub, but I did that measurement a while ago and forgot how I did it exactly. The problem is that lower frequencies are less affected by the direction than higher frequencies. So, for example, if I placed the mic facing the driver at 2 meters, I would still get a good amount of port output. However, if I reversed the sub for the mic to be facing the port side, I would not get nearly as much driver output as I did port output for the opposite orientation, and that I because the driver produces higher, more directional frequencies than the port. This is easy to overcome in CEA-2010 testing, by just using the highest numbers for any measures orientation at measurements taken from the same distance, but it's a bit more challenging when trying to get a frequency response that fairly reflects the performance of the sub. It can still be done, although it might introduce a slight bit of inexactitude in the measured response. One way to overcome it would be to measure the sub at a very far distance, like 10 meters, but this sub doesn't have the output to overcome the environmental noise of an outdoor measurement at that distance.
I think I understand.
Were their issues for you measuring any of the Perlisten or MK Push Pull Subs? Did those work simply from the single point measurement?
What of the Dual Opposed Arendal?
Thank you!
 
ryanosaur

ryanosaur

Audioholic Overlord
Not that I've seen particularly.....
Right... I would expect similar issues to crop up periodically. Perhaps Ricci never had need of testing differently.

I was curious somewhat as I always wanted to take my Phil 3 Bass cabinet and test it when I start doing measurements. Getting the Terminus output from the Top would be an important part of the equation. :)
 
S

shadyJ

Speaker of the House
Staff member
I think I understand.
Were their issues for you measuring any of the Perlisten or MK Push Pull Subs? Did those work simply from the single point measurement?
What of the Dual Opposed Arendal?
Thank you!
These issues wouldn't be a problem for push-pull arrangements. The drivers are mounted close enough to get a good approximation of total output from a single measurement point. And the drivers will produce the same exact frequency response, so we don't have to worry about response irregularities at other angles.

Dual opposed is a bit more challenging because while the drivers are producing identical responses, doing a total output measurement is tricky because the low frequencies from the rear-facing driver will contribute more to a single-point measurement than the high-frequencies. There are ways to deal with this, and Josh Ricci has a good method of dealing with it. The Arendal 1723 2V was even more difficult to measure since it has a rear-facing port along with dual opposed drivers. I actually did a bunch of different techniques to measure that one and chose the technique that I thought yielded the most accurate representation of its response. I think the FR that I posted for that one was actually taken at 8 meters. The nice thing about a powerful sub like that is it can easily overcome the noise floor of an outdoor measurement for longer distance mic positions.
 
ryanosaur

ryanosaur

Audioholic Overlord
These issues wouldn't be a problem for push-pull arrangements. The drivers are mounted close enough to get a good approximation of total output from a single measurement point. And the drivers will produce the same exact frequency response, so we don't have to worry about response irregularities at other angles.

Dual opposed is a bit more challenging because while the drivers are producing identical responses, doing a total output measurement is tricky because the low frequencies from the rear-facing driver will contribute more to a single-point measurement than the high-frequencies. There are ways to deal with this, and Josh Ricci has a good method of dealing with it. The Arendal 1723 2V was even more difficult to measure since it has a rear-facing port along with dual opposed drivers. I actually did a bunch of different techniques to measure that one and chose the technique that I thought yielded the most accurate representation of its response. I think the FR that I posted for that one was actually taken at 8 meters. The nice thing about a powerful sub like that is it can easily overcome the noise floor of an outdoor measurement for longer distance mic positions.
Thanks, Shady!
 
E

EBN

Audioholic
As a byproduct of being one of the most popular loudspeaker brands in the world, Klipsch is also one of the most popular subwoofer manufacturers too. Their subs can be found in the home audio section of pretty much all major electronic retail chains in North America and throughout much of the world. That being so, it is long overdue for us at Audioholics to take a deep dive into a Klipsch powered subwoofer. So that is precisely what we will be doing today. We will be taking a look at the 12" ported R-1212SW subwoofer, which was recently released along with the launch of their updated Reference series speakers. As with their preceding subwoofer models, this one is bound to be a big seller and will inevitably find its way into many thousands of homes. But is it really a good subwoofer? Where does it stand among its competition? Does Klipsch invest as much effort into their subwoofer design as they do their loudspeakers? Read our full review to see the answers that we found…

READ: Klipsch R-1212SW Subwoofer Review
Thanks for the review! I can`t help to feel slightly disappointed Klipsch didn´t send the SPL-120 or SPL-150 though cause those two has been decent performs. Noticeably better build quality with heavier cabinet that has sloth port, more powerfull amplification and heftier driver. Brent Butterworth measured the R-115SW which was not bad considering the low prices on it.
 
B

bladerunner6

Audioholic
Not the same sub. The amp might be the same, the driver might be similar, but the enclosure is significantly smaller which will certainly impact the performance, especially on the low end. That wireless sub will not dig as deep as the R-121SW.
Thanks.
 
X

XaVierDK

Enthusiast
It's always great to see more budget-oriented options under review. Both because they're what most of us will end up buying anyway, but especially because it's a great eye-opener for people that good sound isn't necessarily prohibitively expensive, and it's a category where more interesting compromises are made to ensure value and performance targets match.
 
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