Review : BIC PL-200 Acoustech Platinum Series Subwoofer tinyurl/n4uvsc4 I have owned the PL-200 for a number of time now and My partner and i feel like completing a review within light of the only poor review of this product. There are two ways We will be doing this review. One will be for the average enthusiast and the other is for the up and coming audiophile. Take my opinion on the product for what its worth and always do your own research before buying. However, My spouse and i hope that my review is able to give you an idea of the product itself before buying.-BIC Acoustech PL-200 Subwoofer (in short)-The product youre considering a purchase on is to be considered along the mid-end line of subwoofers as far as the audio community is concerned. The sub is going to be considerably larger than an HTIB (home theater throughout box) subwoofer you have had prior and much heavier as well. This front firing sub has a 1000 watt peak 250 watt RMS BASH amplifier, a nice finish on the sides and front of the box complimented by a piano black finish on top. Also youll notice that the sub does not take up too much room which will be pleasing when it comes to the `WAF. HA! My wife and i have posted correct dimensions form BIC Americas website below...* Height: 17 ¼* Width: 14 ¾* Depth: 19 ½ -Sound Presentation (low frequency extension)-The sound from the sub is nothing short of perfection for the cost that you pay. Youre going to experience deeper, tighter, and cleaner bass from this sub over any HTIB sub that youve had prior. Of course, this is all dependant on placement although well talk approximately that later. This sub is going to really standout with dynamic movie soundtracks which will provide a whole new definition to your home theater experience. For the average user youre also going to be satisfied with music as well, however this is an area My spouse and i feel the sub is lacking which Ill explain later.For sound My partner and i give the sub a solid 8/10. Its not perfection however its good for the price. Youre going to get your monies worth should you pull the trigger on the purchase.-Quality and Construction-One of the first things We did when My spouse and i received the sub was disassemble the sub to see what was inside and examine the internals. For your average user this is not going to be something important and My partner and i directing this more towards the audiophile. Furthermore, dont open up the sub unless you know what youre doing! The last thing you want to do is void the warranty simply because of a foolish tinkering.The first thing My wife and i noticed when My wife and i removed the driver was there was relatively 1-2lbs of fiberglass inside the box. My wife and i plan to replace the fiberglass with polyfoam or a distinct dampening material down the road. Its going to be an experiment as this is just a tester sub for the time being.The other item that stood out was the connection of the leads to the driver. They were nothing more than basic clips which are prone to fall out under stressful moments of the sub. Once My spouse and i saw how easily they could fall out My spouse and i secured them much better with solder. Beyond the fiberglass and connection leads everything seemed up to par considering what you paid for.Overall My spouse and i am going to give the construction of the sub a 7/10 as the connections to the driver should have been changed to something a bit more secure than how they are.-For the Audiophile-Youve likely read a lot essentially the sub through several of the well known A/V communities on the web and are trying to make a decision on a budget subwoofer. Lets look at a few specs pulled from BICs website.* Frequency Response: 22Hz - 200Hz* Sensitivity: 110dB @ 30HzBased on my measurements and how We have the sub placed inside my room We will give you a rundown of my calibration. Keep within mind, this is going to change from room to room and your results will likely vary.I have the gain of the sub at close to the 10 oclock position with the LPF at 80hz (maxed). The crossover toggle witch has been set to out and the phase set to 0 degrees. My sub is placed 12 from my front left speaker, roughly 4 ½ inches from the wall and 27 from the left corner of the main listening area. During the audyssey calibration on my AVR set the sub to +0.5db and that is with the crossover set to throughout th AVR to 120hz. My main listening area is a highly reflective room as its all tile and there is very few items on the wall which can dampen sound.-Sub Placement and Calibration-I would spend a small time doing your sub crawl to find the best spot throughout the room. A friend of mine absolutely hated this sub once he purchased it per my recommendation. THE DAMN THING IS TOO BOOMY was his response soon after just a day of use. soon after We came over to his place to check his placement, We realized his problem. Poor placement... He had placed the sub behind a sectional sofa throughout the back corner of his listening area. The sound port was almost flush with the wall and the driver was pushed again the back of the sofa. Of course its going to sound terrible within that area. This one of the things the average user will over look throughout placement. We did a few adjustments to the sub and moved it to a unique area and now hes quite happy with the results!For calibnration, We would take the time to adjust the gain and crossover prior to an audyssey (or EQ) run so youre able to get a proper calibration on the sub. a number of people complain that that audyssey sets the sub to -12 db or slightly higher. My suggestion would be to run a test tone on your AVR with your SPL set for 75db. Make sure it is `C weighted and the response is set to slow. Place the SPL inside the sweet spot or the main listening position. Start the test with your gain at 9 oclock and make your adjustments from there. Once youre at 75db run audyssey (or whatever room correction/eq software your AVR has) do your test measurements and tweak it slightly until the room correction program as set the sub at +/- 1db.Followed by my placement of the sub and Audyssey run My partner and i ran a few low pass sine wave tests to see where my roll off was. These can damage your speakers and you need to start off a low volume before you do this test.The sine wave passes where measured at 70db using my SPL within the main listening position. First test is a sweep from 1hz to 20hz which did not register much other than a bunch of lightly garbled port noise. ***NO! This sub will not perform clearly and respectfully at 5hz!*** The next pass was 20-29hz which rendered similar results until the sub hit 22-23hz although it was still very weak and only registering throughout the low 50s on my SPL. PL-200 is driven by an audiophile state-of-the-art BASH amplifier capable of delivering up to 1000-watts dynamic peak output. Front-Firing 12 Long-Throw Powered Subwoofer. 8 Year Warranty. My final thoughts : Once the sub hit 26-27hz you start to noticed a response throughout LFE, My SPL readings were throughout the high 60s to low 70s at this point. My spouse and i ran the test again and My wife and i was able to get it up to roughly 74db at 26/27hz without too much hesitation, beyond that, the sub will roll off sharply. As My partner and i have stated before Sine Waves are speaker killers and you should be careful when using a sweep test such as this. Effectively, this sub does well throughout the 30-100hz which has been represented not only within my tests however inside other tests from the A/V community as well. The sub is definately not to be considered a True Subwoofer like those from from HSU/SVS etc...Most people are not going to take the effort into tinkering with their subwoofer like the enthusiast would. Youll pull it out of the box, plug it in, and be done with it. However, if you take the time to place the sub correctly youre going to get a better experience. Google The Sub Crawl and follow those steps if youre wanting to maximize your experience. Youre going to look like a dork and your wife/girlfriend might laugh at you although youre also going to be surprised with the results! Also, remember that not one room is the same... Each room is unique inside its acoustics which is why proper calibration is necessary for full effect!-Music and Movies-I wanted to take a few of my Blu-Ray movies that are known for their brilliance within low frequency extension. First movie My partner and i popped inside was Transformers 2. Sure this movie is absolutely terrible throughout all aspects of acting and story however it has a few nice CG and terrific sound. We watched the opening segment of the film were theyre going soon after the robot inside that industrial/warehouse/construction yard. The sub seemed to handle all of the LFE flawlessly and never skipped a beat when it was its time to perform. There are some spots inside this movie that are fantastic to test, not just this scene.The next movie My spouse and i auditioned was the new Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Tragedy of a film nevertheless with the new BD release within DTS-HD MA and the pod race scene? ...thats a good demo for a newly adjusted or setup of a home theater system. The peaks and lows of this scene are going to blow you away and show you how well this sub is going to perform. My partner and i highly recommend renting this movie just for that scene. subsequent to that, forget essentially the rest of the movie!The last movie My spouse and i put inside was U-571 and went to depth charge scene. This is just absolutely a ball breaker of a scene with LFE. If youve had the privilege to watch/listen to the scene on a system with a high-end sub, that can get below 20hz at 100+ db (without hesitation) then you know what My spouse and i am talking about! However, the PL200 still can hold its own with this scene. This part of the movie will give you that feeling of being on that sub with those sailors. The LFE is incredible and a fantastic demostration for showing the dynamic rage of speakers and your subwoofer.Other wonderful test movies are; Tron and War of the Worlds. This is already a long review and My partner and i wont get into the detail of those films. ;)For movies My wife and i give this sub a 10/10. Youre not going to get anything better throughout its cost range...Lastly, My spouse and i just wanted to talk virtually the music experience with this sub. My partner and i felt it was missing a lot from certain types of music. Specifically would be rock and jazz.. We tested a few of the high end Led Zeppelin, Billy Joel, and AC/DC recordings and My spouse and i must say My partner and i was disappointed. My spouse and i then tossed inside a DTS audio CD with a number of Jazz music and was further disappointed inside how well the sub did. a number of will feel distinct around the sub inside regard to music. My friend really likes it and My partner and i dont. This is also coming from experiance of higher end subwoofers. My spouse and i feel as if it is missing the fullness that youre going to get with other subs within its cost range and category, which surprised me considering how well it did with movies. If youre looking for a sub for a 2.1 setup for music, My spouse and i would not recommend this sub... There are other subs out there that will outperform this sub throughout music, for the same price.Music it gets a 5/10 based on what My spouse and i listened to. We would look into HSU Research if youre listening to music a lot more than movies.-Conclusion-This is not an SVS, eD, or HSU sub so dont get your hopes up throughout that regard although if youre tight on funds and want something for a budget build this is going to be the sub to get... My feelings on price tag is the sub is a bit overpriced for how it performs nevertheless most people wont see it that way. My partner and i will also say that you may be able to find the sub cheaper (like My partner and i did) from other sources.I debated on whether to give this sub 3 or 4 stars nevertheless We am going to give it 4 stars based on what My partner and i paid. My wife and i feel there is a few areas its lacking nevertheless beyond my gripes with the sub most are going to be extremely satisfied with their results.Hopefully you have found my review helpful and its able to assist you inside your decision to purchase.Good luck on your decision! .
Posted on: Tue, 19 Nov 2013 00:25:06 +0000
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