Budget 12-inch Subwoofer Shootout. Infinity, Klipsch, Dayton, Jamo, OSD & Bic! 

Purchased 2 12 Klipsch back in January for half off. They work really well in my basement theater room. Crossover and equalization is key!

YES, you said it. Find the sub with the flattest frequency response and no resonances, wait for it to go on sale and buy two. The benefits of dual subs not only make up for lack of output or distortion in a singe sub, but reduce stress on the amps (headroom) for the same output and reduce, if not eliminate, the dead zone where bass notes are canceled out in room.

The amp on my Def Tech ProSub 1000 finally gave out after 15 years. I replaced it with a Jamo C912 and have been happy with it for the money. Thanks for the great review.

This is really useful info for the community. Maybe not as sexy as the $2500+ models but great bang for the buck. Thanks Erin!

Great shootout, I'm impressed with the matching infinity Reference 152 Bookshelf speakers, in my bedroom set up.

I recently purchased a second Elac 10” Per your previous subwoofer showdown. As it’s for my two channel stereo, I’m enjoying it. They don’t have low-end extension, but the type of music I typically listen to doesn’t require it. Thanks for another great showdown.

Words without action are pretty useless. Measurements are the actions of subwoofers and speakers. Thank you for the work you do for the community. You are an under appreciated asset to the AV community ❤

I have a pair of the Dayton 12's. I used a coupon code I searched up online and one was an open box. I was able to get them both for $230 shipped, back when they were $150 each retail. For that price, I can't complain. They shake the walls when I turn up the system and they do pretty ok with movies. They do not have enough articulation to sound good with much music, other than techno. When I bought them, I was just running some Dayton T-652 Air towers with an SMSL AD18. They were well suited to that system. I later upgraded to JBL Studio 580's, which I highly recommend when they are on sale. Most recently I swapped out the AD18 for an Emotiva TA-1. By now the subs are really the weak link. If I'm just listening to music, I might even be better off unplugging them and setting the speakers to full range, depending on the genre. That said, I mostly use them for movies and they do work well enough up to 90hz to allow the speakers to benefit from the 90hz high pass. And they do benefit from that. So I would consider the Daytons definitely better than nothing in a home theater, perhaps even a solid choice for a budget system. But they will not grow with you as you make upgrades.

I have a Dayton audio 1500, that thing booms the whole house. great video I enjoyed it !

Glad I picked up 2 infinity's for my garage setup while they were on sale! They sound pretty good even while comparing to my Rythmiks!

#dontbethatguy :) Great shootout Erin. No one buy you knows just how much time you spent to make a video like this possible. Great job making the data easy to understand.

Great video, loved the pink hair and the song when you said "from the windows..." hahaha. Cheers from Mexico 🇲🇽

The Infinity PS-8 from back in the day is shockingly competent and musical, so I'm glad to see that their cheap 12" model seems to live up to the expectations I held for it.

I'm all good with my jamo c912 I got for $164.64 tax included. Oct/22 so based on your review and the deep discount I thank you for your hard work and confirmation, waiting for a deal isn't fun but the rewards are.

Man I just bought a subwoofer to go with my Revel m16's then you release this.... good thing I bought the infinity r12 :) Was only $170, love it.

Absolutely well done mate. Very clear well presented videos that you do are really appreciated. Cheers

Glad to hear this. I have two of the infinity r12s in my system.

Thanks for confirming with data why for years i felt Dayton sub1200 was underwhelming but similarly priced Infinity R12 impressed me. R12 performs similar to Klipsch R112sw which is $300 on sale

Great job, I've been waiting for this video to come out. Thanks

Those are some good descriptive words..especially, "I feel firmly"

I just subscribed after watching a review you did on the SVS SB-2000 Pro and SB-3000. Amazing review that literally made my decision.

How does my guy Erin NOT have a million subs??!! Love your work sir, BOOM

Thank you again so much for this helpful, in-depth review. Your time and effort are greatly appreciated.

Thanks for what you do, Really enjoy your videos. I Have 2 of the Klipsch R-12SWI love them work great zero issues (they are not the ones available at Costco! But not quite the SPL's) they have built in wireless that works great and Detachable power cable. I dont use the wireless in my new HT room, mostly because of where I have them in the front corners now and because I use mogami W2497 interconnects for everything RCA and they sound great, specially for the price. They do feel a little bass boosted when using the wireless. When I was younger I kind of liked it but now I prefer it a little tighter and cleaner. Gotta them brand new for about a 170 bucks a piece shipping and all And I have been really happy with them. There are better, I own better but then again they do cost about 10 times as much.

Finally, been waiting for the results. Thanks erin going to pick up one of the winners using the link. Support erin use the links !

Awesome work! Im going to wait and upgrade my 8inch monoprice subs for the dual infinity 12s! When they go back on sale

Thank you very much for the nice review. I was waiting for this video for weeks :)

I appreciate the fact that you tried to actually collect data unlike most reviewers on RU-vid. Thank you for that. I also agree that one should pay attention to the linearity looking for extreme peaks and valleys. Having said that these are BUDGET subwoofers. MEANING: people looking at this price point are trying to use them for both music AND movies in most cases. I'm not sure linearity should be the end all- be all. If this was strictly for a music application I would say yes, but since this is a budget subwoofer review, I'm assuming anyone in this price range is also straddling the fence wanting a system to work well for music AND home theater use. The curves that you chose as being the most linear appear to be the ones that also are lacking the most in the low end by several DB! That's going to suck when you're watching movies. Ironically, the subwoofer that you kept throwing out ( BIC America F12) showed pretty decent testing according to your tests and also extended MUCH further and deeper for more enjoyable low-end music and movies. I'm not sure why you had such bias against the BIC America F12, but it appears to me that on the low end it outperformed your top top picks by several DB. Maybe I missed something... I mean I did try to freeze the video and look at the data. Right now, the BIC America F12 can be purchased on Amazon for $250 And it has a peak output of 450w! That's going to be thunderous and very pleasing when watching movies. Rather than buy single $500 to $700 SVS subwoofer, I would buy a pair of these for $500 and have lower extending bass for both movies and music. I welcome a rebuttal. Anyway, thank you for the review.

thank you i bought the jamo c912 sub based on the video review and i am satisfied, i covered the bass port with cotton socks as i dont want boomy bass

Your videos are very informational. budget stuff is fun to explore

Nice work as usual Erin!

Great video I have two hsu vtf-3 but want to even put the response around my seating and two infinity “end tables” might be the ticket

Awesome work!

Love my R12sw ! With two r51 bookshelf and smaller 2 woofer 5" reference center I wanting to add a r100sw to it get that 10" punch and also adding r28pf towers soon also so 4 more 8" woofers pushing air definitely keep wife pist off 4 doors away lol

I subscribed. Thanks for the video. Hope you reach 1 million subscribers 👍😁

I got it at Costco for $170 and it works great! I have some videos on it playing lows. It can move my windows at 21hz although I do have a small room. It gets loud and low.

I have an Bic America F12 that's been running for like ten years. I've really enjoyed it, though my experience with subs is minimal.

I had the Klipsch and the Port Chuffling was so bad I returned it! Bought the BIC F12 and I couldn’t be more happier! Hits every note from movies to music! No Port Chuffling on the BIC F12

I have some infinity "entra ones" from 15-20 years ago, they have preformed great for me, besting many other larger speakers I have had than gotten rid of, they are only bookshelf speakers, however the sound quality has just been solid! Finally the tweeters failed, so I installed some klipsch horns on top, and have been impressed with the performance and longevity, I know, the tweeters failed, however I have been running these speakers hard for a very long time, they have been my mids and highs along side 3 10" kicker subs, they were all new around the same time, and i have had to replace the surround on the kickers, I am impressed with these infinity speakers..

good work man! You saved me some cash as I was about to buy the OSD. Not now!

Awesome work as usual!

Can't wait to get the Infinity R12. Everywhere else are out of stock beside Amazon and it's not not really on sale for $249.

yesss been waiting for this

Great stuff, well done 👍

Thanks man I bought the white Jamo its on sale for $165 before tax on Amazon today!

One interesting discussion point, and something I highly recommend doing, is that you can buy a DSP, put it in front of the subwoofer, and you can really make these linear. You can get rid of the bloated upper bass, and it these 'cheap' subs really do shine. For $100 for a minidsp, it's hard to go wrong and still keeps you under the next tier of subwoofer in costs while offering some nice quality gains. So if you already have a DSP, and a Calbrated Mic (about $200 total) that you used for your mains, then you can get a lot of mileage out of these cheap subs, especially if you want to buy multiple and take advantage of multi-sub placement.

Great work Erin and very informative comparison of many of the 12” models! Have you done any comparison of 15” subwoofers? I am currently leaning towards two HSU VTF3 MK5 subwoofers for a 5000 cubic foot dedicated home theatre. Do you have any other recommendations for a better performance/ value 15” subwoofer?

The Jamo does have auto stand-by, btw. After 15 minutes of inactivity, it goes into stand-by.

The Monoprice SW-12 just went on sale for $189.99 and that's the 400 watt one, not the cheapie 150 watt sub. Excellent reviews, thank you for helping me build my system! Cheers!

I imagine if someone bought 2 or 4 of one of those subwoofers and using a miniDSP to correct the frequency response would have a decent sounding system

Excellent video

From a stand point of used pricing, almost no body on the planet has heard of BIC I feel like. If you own a DSP (I do) the BIC subs you can get used for dirt cheap because it doesn't have a recognized brand. Two of these behind a DSP to give it a perfect curve for your room gives you a ridiculously cheap cost for what you're getting. For people who just want to buy a single sub and throw it into a corner somewhere, it's not the right sub. Great testing.

Love the channel!

I want to buy a new another bigger subwoofer, so I watch your video too, Thank you, ok, lets gooooooo!!

Nice review thanks for the info.

Great video. You should review a BK electronics subwoofer. Budget price and great value for money

Fyi, the B.I.C. driver is a metal "looking" driver, It's actually a synthetic plastic (PP, PP/Mica) injection molded driver. Additionally, passive radiators are essentially the same as a ported box; they are both considered a “vented” design. As for the finishes, a veneer is anything that is laid over or pressed/glued to the surface of another. In these instances, most are either vinyl-wrap or a thin layer of real wood, painted or stained. These “veneers” are usually bonded to an MDF/Plywood/Particle board substrate which allows for the aesthetics of real wood with the sonic benefits and MUCH lower cost of the engineered substrate. Anodizing is strictly a treatment applied to (most often) aluminum, but always metal, not wood. ;)

Thanks for the test, finally a good budget choice for Europeans (Jamo c912, about 300 euro). Frankly, it makes the decision even harder. Otherwise, I would be forced to stretch my budget and buy 2x Monoprice 10" THX Select. The difference is there in the measurements, but do I really need it for a 20m^2 room?

Just wanna say!. I run 3 klipsch Spl120 subwoofers. Not bad- But they do sound good for being almost 2yrs old...Have listened to lots of people saying that some klipsch amps have issues...With my subs no problem s yet!.

Taj frame gets a follow......bmxer for life.......love audio stuff as well

I've had an 8 inch jamo sw1008 cinema sub in my bedroom closet running at about 1-3rd volume for 20 yrs. With a outlaw 1050 No problems atall. That jamo actually is great sub I think I paid 180 for it. I'd buy another jamo sub in a heartbeat

Thanks for your great work on this, it would be very beneficial for the community! Feeling good about getting 4x Infinity R12 for my home theater :) Now that R12 is the "winner", would you consider testing how it performs stock vs stuffed port in a separate video? I think it would be very interesting to see if FR linearity is hurt much and how much dB of output is lost with a stuffed port, essentially converted to sealed sub. When putting 4 subs in corners these rear ports are too close to the wall to be doing any good I think and with 4 subs you get plenty of output overall to be able to afford some dB loss from stuffing.

We need more of the plurple hair bro. Great video! I've been looking forward to this for a while. I'm glad you did it!

Looks like Wirecutter is going to have to update their best budget subwoofer as the Dayton just lost. Awesome shootout as everything is such a headache trying to decide. Great channel!! BTW, with the price of the Infinity I'd like to have thrown the Rogersound labs Speedwoofer 10S in there.

Nice work again Erin. I'd be very curious to know where each of these are tuned in the bass. HSU used the phrase "True Subwoofer" way back when they got in the business meaning that if you are going to call it a subwoofer it should at least do 30 Hz or even 20 Hz well. They were usually tuned below 25 Hz because the vent significantly increases MAX SPL by decreasing driver excursion. Note that the Jamo has significantly lower output as compared to the others below 30 Hz. I consider 28 Hz as a good lower target for typical music, not including organ or synth, and given the increase in audibility threshold for humans with decreasing frequency we have to consider if the sub can produce enough output to make 28 Hz a reasonable target. These are big subs so they should all do it with authority. Getting to 20 Hz and below for organ, synth, HT effects, etc. is much more difficult due to the increase in required volume displacement combined with increasing human threshold of hearing at the listening position.

Maybe a dumb question, but frequency response among models and woofer size being equal, how important is pure power? I've replaced my front satellites with Klipsch RP-600Miis and just this afternoon ordered an R-34C. I looked at the specs on my 10" sub and it seems to "boom" OK, but I was surprised it's only 65W. If I replaced it with something in the 150-200W would I notice a difference other than a lighter wallet??? Also, do you need to match manufacturers?

Do the high level inputs/outputs allow you to run signal from an amplifier to the sub then to your L/R channels?

Can anyone, including Erin, explain the key difference, besides the price difference of course, between the budget 12"'s and regular 12"s. e.g., SVS-SB1000 pro and Monolith 12" THX. I found that the regular 12"s has flat frequencey repsonse down to 25Hz, whereas all the budget subwoofers do not. Why? Are drive motors substantially different between the two classes? or presence/absence of a parametric equalizer? Thanks a lot for info, in advance.

Thanks a lot for a wonderful review Erin. Could you have a chance to experince Polk's new XT12? Since it is new I couldnt find any review. I am a about to replace my dead sub, I am looking for a budget one and this one is in my list. The other candidates available in my country are Elacs Debut S10.2 & Polk PSW40. These are chepaer here, almost half of XT12. Looking for your comments. Thanks.

Good review(s)! Jamo being good definitely surprised me although with them being owned by Klipsch you wonder if the amp would have the same fate. Appreciate the work that went into this.

One of my subscribers sent me, cool vid, I think I'm gonna check out the Jamo for shits and giggles! Might fuck around and change the port tuning just for fun.

Any suggestions for a budget 12” driver that would be pretty flat down to around 30hz? (I have a Monoprice 150W active sub that only goes down to 50hz and I want to replace the driver. I’d like it to be able to at least reproduce the low E on a bass guitar (41Hz) without significant dropoff (meaning less than -3dB)

Where did u get your AUX inputs at that u was using for your phone to play music on the speakers with?? I didnt know they had an aux input i wanna start hooking my phone up now to my speaker

You pay wow you really love this hobby that is legit,I got 2 of the klipsh r 120sw I hear that they are basically the same the r 12 SW and the r 120 sw , money wise where I live everything expensive the klipsh is 450€ each I wish the prices are everywhere more or less the same

Just picked up 2 Klipsch R-12SW for under 350 USD for my new gaming pc setup ;)

I have an old but perfectly adequate (except sub) Sony HTK-215 surround sound system for the bedroom. It has an active SA-WMS215 50watt RMS Subwoofer which is ok at low volumes but lacks when I crank it up a bit. I want to replace it with a better active one but it's connected by a single RCA lead. What units do you suggest I look at ?

Don’t know if you said this but do you set each sub the same way in the receiver like LFE 120 and -3? What do you put the gain as?

Without hearing them purely based on the data I would have went with the Jamo, it’s more linear which should make for the more musical…. in theory. LOL

Gracias! Me encanta tu vídeo, recientemente compré un r 10sw de Klipsch, me parece bueno, pero ahora que leo los comentarios, creo que hay otras opciones también buenas o mejores, advierto que el uso de subwoofer es más en música.

I found a Yamaha subwoofer at a thrift store for $15 and it's sounded great for like a decade for me.

few months ago I was choosing sub in that price range, I went through some cheap monoprice, polk and klipsch, before returning them all and getting rel 1003 on 20% off. Infinity is not available in Europe, but Jamo is.

Klipsch Killer should be your new nickname for Halloween.

Erin what about dynamic compression measurements for subs?

😊 the monoprice budget is not too shabby! 🎉

How about listing the power rating with your reviews. Love the content.

It's unfortunate Klipsch has not addressed and fixed the problem with its amplifier blowing in the 12 inch sub. What's the point of a discount sub if the amp is garbage?

any budget powered subs with a line in and out, so I can use the sub as a crossover/high pass filter to the speakers? I currently have powered speakers with inputs only no outputs

Great breakdown - I bought the Klipsh R12S sub from Costco at $149.99 / returned it the following day. They port chuffing was horrendous, and a noticeable hum from the built in amp - junk.

Great review man! I wish the Infinity had high level inputs. I want to set up two in stereo and can only do that with high level....its too bad Infinity left that out.

I bought a Speedwoofer, it has superior speed but doesn't do deep. It was installed in the front. I bought a SVS 12" to whack the bottom, it went into a back corner. Neither motor bogs down doing what they would do badly and both can achieve what they are designed to do well. This was done by ME for ME and NO ONE has suggested this solution to ME. Heck, it even works aesthetically in my POV. If you have the ability to discern bass notes with great fidelity, you may find this unsuitable and you'll need a pair of identical bottom dwellers.

Damn, wanted to start build a home theater and Infinity SUB R12 is nowhere to be found, especially in Europe. Ill have to content with Jamo C912. You know anything about the Klipsch R-120SW? is it the same as the 12SW and looks differ?

SVS has some compelling options, curious how they stack up

Switch that Flip!

curious where the monolith 12" budget sub would stack up against these, appears the R12 is discontinued sadly

Really enjoyed this comparison! If I may suggest, showing the back plates of the amps as you did but zooming in more so the voltage and current draw ratings could be clearly seen...from what I could tell, some subs left off the current and or watts used while some others varied from only 100 watts actual to 300 watts draw..thats a hell of a difference and shows the real power of the amp available vs manufacturers inflated claims.. ..this would be Very helpful and I hope you include closeups of these plate ratings in the future... I was hoping to see the polk PSW505 12" as these are real 300watt rms amps that do strongly in the 30hz region...Curious to see how they did at lower freqs on ur graph..they are also cheap and have around 3500 ratings on amazon... maybe next time...

Fyi, the B.I.C. driver is an aluminum "look", It's actually a synthetic plastic (PP) injection molded driver.

I've wondered this for years: Why did speaker makers switch from cardboard woofers to the different plastics like polyurethane and such, and which is better? Thanks 😁

Great video Fellow Tuber!!! I am in the market for a pair of subwoofers for my home audio system and came across your channel in the process. I am discouraged finding out that most of the "good choices" all fail to utilize high level inputs. I have an ancient Sherwood USA (before Inkel Co of South Korea bought them out)head unit that has a great deal of buzz on all the channels with outputs for a subwoofer, therefore I am forced to use the Video 1 channel ( only channel without a loud buzz for some reason) and that narrows my choices to subs with high level in/out. I have tried to eliminate the buzz on several occasions always leading to frustration once realizing the idiopathic nature of the buzz...I.E. I cant figure out what is causing it. Its sooo weird because every channel EXEPT video1 has the buzz at all volume levels where as the video1 only has a noticeable buzz at levels over 70ish percent of output. The buzz is there regardless of input/output connectivity and I have the ground loops isolated at the source. A head banger of a diagnosis to perform for a novice audiophile. I have deduced it is an internal issue with the 20+ year old receiver and that is out of my range of diagnostic capability....well that and the fact that almost ANY sub $200 receiver from a reputable brand made in the past few years will assuredly out perform my 20yo "high end" sherwood receiver so I may just have to replace it.

Let's gooooooo!

Thanks!