I think Brian hit the nail on the head - This is a nice unit to replace a HTIB subwoofer without spending much money. And it looks like Amazon has lowered the price back to $79 shipped.
I've had the Advent for about a week, and it performs well enough that I haven't swapped back to my regular subwoofer yet (That doesn't mean I like it as well - I'm just lazy). fyi: My usual subwoofer is a Pinnacle Digital Sub 600 - (600W with two 12" drivers).
Since I'm rather new here, you should probably take this evaluation with a grain of salt. I'm certainly no expert, and my tastes may make this report a bit questionable to some. For one thing, I like a somewhat subtle low freq. experience - I want to hear it, but I don't want to necessarily feel it. I don't like it to seem like the subwoofer is drowning out any other sounds. That said, I still appreciate the nice effects in explosions, etc. But maybe a bit more subdued than most. That's why I asked rjbudz to review the Advent as well. I think he's more atuned to the typical HT experience. Anyway, here's my very brief review:
This unit is a bit of a lightweight - less than 30 lbs, and not a very substantial feel when you rap on it. But, I liked the assortment of controls and connections. Way more versatile than you find on a low-end subwoofer. I placed the Advent in the corner where my Pinnacle usually resides, and set levels using an RS SPL meter and the Avia disk. Crossover was set at 100Hz. I set the level flat to the other speakers for most of my listening, which put the volume control at about 11 o'clock (but also tried it 3dB hotter when RJ was here). The frequency tests were rather surprising - low end was good down to 26Hz, then rolled off drastically. I was fairly amazed it would go that low. The specs in the manual say 33Hz. There was a "hole" between 80 and 90Hz of about 8dB down. My Pinnacle drops about 3dB in that range, so it could be room accoustics. I didn't try to change the crossover to 80Hz, but I should sometime.
DVD selections were Riddick, U-571, Top Gun, and Pirates of the Caribbean. Riddick and U-571 definately need the +3dB, even for me. Even at that, the distant depth charges in U-571 sounded muffled. In Riddick, the AA guns in the attack scene were not quite sharp enough either. The close-up explosions were good, though. All-in-all, I was pleased with the overall HT performance. My only HTIB comparisons are Onkyo's powered 8" SKW-200, and a pretty weak Pioneer 8" passive unit. The Advent greatly outperformed both. Deeper lows, better SPL's (for those that like that)
, but a slight trade off for "punch".
For music, I played some Pink Floyd, Bruce Mitchell, and (If you can believe it) Celine Dion's Titanic theme. Once again it was just a bit boomy, but I actually think it is a better music performer than HT.
Conclusions: Again, keep in mind I'm sort'a a subwoofer minimalist, but I though this unit performed very well - especially at lower volumes. I tried turning it up (to about 3 o'clock, with mains at around 80dB) and it was pretty overpowering, but I rarely listen to anything much higher than 70 - 75dB anyway. It seemed to me like the clarity was much better at about 0 to 3dB above the mains. For the price, I'd replace about any HTIB subwoofer in a heartbeat. I think it's worth at least twice the asking price.
Well I promised to be brief, and instead I blathered on. I'll let RJ fill in the gaps.
