Velodyne VX-10 Subwoofer Speaker

To round out my inexpensive component stereo system and create a "near" home theater system, I knew I needed a subwoofer. I have already reviewed the individual components of my system, but for quick reference, they are a Onkyo TX-SR304 A/V receiver, Polk R150 bookshelf speakers and the sonically matched Polk CSR center speaker. These provided surprisingly good sound for pop and rock music, and our movie watching was enhanced over the muddy sound of our old "Home Theater in a Box" system. So why did I "need" a subwoofer?

Speaker specifications include "freqency response", a measure of the range of sounds that can be produced through the speakers without distortion. The bookshelf speakers I have have an "overall frequency response" of 60Hz to 24kHz. "Hz" stands for "Hertz", a measurement of the vibration the sound produces in "cycles per second". "kHz" is "kiloHertz", or "one thousand hertz", so the range for these speakers could be stated as 60 - 24,000 Hz.

Lower numbers are lower sounds. But how low is "60Hz"? For most rock and pop music, that's low enough; the open E string on an electric guitar is about 82Hz. But the open "E" on an electric bass guitar is around 40Hz, and while most of rock and pop doesn't get that low, it can. Other instruments go lower, especially in orchestral music where pipe organs can get really low.

While a subwoofer can provide more richness to popular music, the main advantage will be in movie watching, where low sounds are used to enhance the experience. Low frequency effects ("LFE") include explosions, rumbles, etc. And its not just in action-adventure movies with lots of explosions; even movies like Finding Nemo, Master and Commander, and The Lord of the Rings series have significant sequences where the LFE add much to the movie viewing experience.

Choosing a subwoofer is difficult because of the technical specs and the variety of options out there. I knew that I had to have a subwoofer that would fill in sounds below my speakers. It had to go below 40Hz to make a big difference and be "powered" so that I could feed it sound from my receiver through the LFE connection to get the truest low frequency sounds from CDs and DVDs. And I wanted value for my money, with a well-built product that would perform well.

Based on reviews, I had a short list of the BIC H-100, Rocket X-Sub and Velodyne VX-10, all within my initial budget of "under $200 on sale". I found a factory refurbished Velodyne VX-10 at $149.

The VX-10 has an overall frequency response of 36-120 Hz, nicely overlapping that low end of my bookshelf speakers. It has a 10" speaker in it, so the cabinet is a bit large for our family room ... 15" H x 12" W x 17" D ... but it snuggles nicely into the corner and is less noticeable than I feared. Power is provided to the speaker by a "discrete component A/B class amplifier" with 100 watts RMS or 150 watts dynamic power, a technical way of saying its powerful enough to fill my 14 x 18 family room that's open to the kitchen in the back. The sub has an "auto-on" feature that means you plug in the power and forget it; when your receiver sends it sounds, it turns on instantly and plays them. This works flawlessly.

Setup is easy. A single cable from my receiver's "LFE" or "powered sub-woofer" jack to the sub suffices. Velodyne recommends using a Y-splitter to connect the cable to both left and right LFE connections; I picked one up at Home Depot for $3 because I had already ordered the cable ... a "Coaxial Audio/Video RCA CL2 Rated Cable - RG6/U 75ohm (for S/PDIF, Digital Coax, Subwoofer & Composite Video)" from monoprice.com ... for $4.10.

I did struggle a bit with understanding some of the concepts. The VX-10 has two knobs on the back, the top being the "crossover" and the bottom "gain". "Gain" is the volume, so that one's easy enough. The "crossover" point confused me at first. My receiver has a setup section where you set the subwoofer "crossover", and it sends all sounds at that level and below directly to the subwoofer. Because my bookshelf speakers go down to 60Hz, I knew I could set the receiver to send sounds at either 80Hz or 100Hz and below to the subwoofer, and I would save some wear and tear on my bookshelf speakers. But what should I do with the "crossover" dial on the subwoofer? Try to match what the receiver was sending? I found out that if the receiver is handling the "crossover" for the sub, you simply turn the dial all the way up to 200Hz; that way the sub plays every sound the receiver sends to it.

You can also route the left and right stereo speaker wire to the VX-10 speaker-level inputs, then wire from the sub to the right and left speakers. The VX-10's crossover dial then comes into play (doing this, I would have set it at 80Hz). This feature can be very useful if the receiver does not have a crossover setting or a "subwoofer out" LFE jack.

For the sub's volume, I found that setting the dial at just less than 1/2 way, and adjusting the receiver's "subwoofer output" level to be the most satisfying. I occasionally do adjust the VX-10 volume, and the only quibble I have is that the knob is on the bottom; I wish it were swapped with the cross-over knob, as you never have to re-set the crossover. But that's a small complaint.

I lucked out on the placement of the sub; nestled into the corner, it filled the room with the low frequency sounds without drawing attention to itself. The room's acoustics play a large role in this, and sometimes you have to move the sub from place to place. In a corner, where I have mine, I did find that offsetting it about 18" from the side wall as the manual recommends improved the "non-directional" nature of the sound. And that's important: while you want the front speakers, the left, center and right stereo speakers, to have some direction to them, the bass should seem like it comes from everywhere.

The Velodyne VX-10 subwoofer provides exactly the experience I wanted; enhancing orchestral music, providing richness and depth to my budget component stereo system while enhancing the "low frequency effects" of our movie viewing.