BICAmerica RTR-EV1200 475-Watt RTR Eviction Series 12" Front-Firing Powered Subwoofer

I have been following the BIC subs on Amazon for a while. I have been watching F12 model for a while. Was very interested. It would be out of stock now and then, and the price would change over the past year. Then I are started following this model and it really interested me, and the reviews were grabbing my attention. Finally I decided to get one and I couldn't be happier. It is replacing my 20 year old Sub that was intended for home theatre. I have 2 sets of floor standing speakers, one set of sealed cabinet with a Passive radiator. The other pair is a front ported. So I can have the speakers against the wall. That is why I went with the side ported RTR-EV1200. I have my floor standers crossed over at 80hz in my Yamaha Receiver. The bass is tight and dynamic, and it doesn't make a loose rumble sound like the older Rear Ported Down firing sub, The bass guitar and drums are much clearer and better defined. I listen to a lot of music, primarily Classic Rock, and Blues Rock. My stereo is cranking out music most of my free time. Even though I do have matching Center channel and rear speakers for 5.1 I rarely watch any TV or movies. I just received the EV1200 yesterday, So I have a lot of more experimenting to do, But I am really enjoying it so far. It seems to be a much better choice for my room and music playing then my old sub.

Holy smokes, this thing rumbles! I just got it yesterday and dragged it into the living room and had it swapped out with my old Sony 100w, 8 inch sub in all of about 15 minutes. I haven't even got this thing broke in yet and it's all out bustin' with bass. I'm afraid to turn it up all the way just to see what'll do maxed out because even just 3/4 volume has me worried I'll bother the neighbors. And I live in a 1500 sq ft house on a 1/4 acre lot. I can't imagine ever, never trying to use this thing in an apartment. I rented the new King Kong movie and cranked it up when Kong was stomping around, knocking helicopters out of the sky. I swear I felt the concrete slab of my house shake! It's awesome!!The instructions that come with it are very well written and easy to understand. There are a plethora of connections and switches on the back of the sub to customize to any number of home entertainment setups. The instructions give a great guide on how to setup the sub's volume, cross over, phase switch, and where to place it in your home for the desired level of bass. I love bass and I found it worked best when I turned it sideways so that the horn on the side was blasting straight at me :-DOne thing I will say is that this sub will probably work best with some bookshelf speakers or tower speakers that have a 4"-6.5" midrange woofer. The Sony satellite surround speakers I have just can't keep up with this. There is a noticeable frequency bump as it sweeps down through the 100 hertz range where this thing dominates. The instructions that came with the sub said to start the crossover at 120Hz for small satellites and then slowly bump it up from there till you get a nice mesh. At 120Hz there was a noticeable gap and I ended up right at 160Hz where things meshed about as well as I could get them. I did get a fuller bass sound if I just pegged the crossover all the way up to 180Hz but it just totally killed the stereo field of my surrounds. So, I just have to live with a little bit of a diminished response from certain bass guitars parts of rock music. But whenever I crank up some funk or a rollicking southern bass beat then you feel those bass licks thumping in the chest. I've got some Mica 4" two-ways on order and can't wait to get this setup just totally rounded out from top to bottom. Big thumbs up on this sub.

Full disclosure: This was the first subwoofer I have bought in over 30 years, so I'm not in a position to provide a review comparing the performance or quality of this unit with any other subwoofers. So you'll need to skip to another review if you wanted to see a comparison.(In this respect I can only confirm that I spent a couple of weeks comparing specs and reviews of this EV1200 with the Klipsch Sub-12HG and Polk PSW505 - all of which in the same price range - and ultimately chose the Bic.)What I can say is that I have spent a few years now debating whether or not I even needed a sub to complement my 3.0 HT system, which is comprised of an 11-year old Denon receiver, Polk Monitor 40 Series II fronts and a Polk CS10 center. I felt that the M40s sounded great and provided a good deal of depth and oomph. But that was before I plugged-in the EV1200.If you are trying to figure out whether you even need a sub, that debate should come to a quick end. Having spent a couple of days listening to how this sub has added to the richness, depth and warmth of sound, I can never go back.The EV1200 has not just added to the low end growls and thumps; because of the way the crossover works, the other speakers also sound brighter now. So adding this unit has greatly improved, balanced and rounded-out the overall soundstage and has left me with no doubt that I actually always needed a sub.For giggles, I've been switching my fronts between Large and Small settings on the receiver just to hear the difference the Bic has made. Night and day. Color versus black-and-white. And also a little embarrassing that I thought it sounded so good before. I'm finding myself listening to music well outside of my typical genres just because it all now sounds so good.For info...I have the Denon receiver set to LFE (only), with the LFE channel and speaker crossovers all set to 80Hz. Fronts and centers set to Small.I've disabled (maxed) the Bic's internal crossover and have the Bic's volume knob somewhere between 3 and 4. (It's been easy to find just the right spot where the sub output fills-in to complement - versus overpower - the other speakers.)Overall I am very happy with this purchase.

I proved to myself that a small high-efficiency subwoofer can not reproduce the low end range or unclipped frequencies like a high quality 12". After extensive comparisons, I selected the Bic America RTR-EV1200. After 30 days, I couldn't be more pleased and yes, I would repeat the purchase. The cabinet is large, solid and very heavy. It is side ported allowing placement against a wall though you'll want to leave a few inches to access the controls. The subwoofer is not magnetically shielded however at 10 inches there is zero interference.The speaker inside the EV200 is very heavy-duty and tight. It's response is instantaneous and crisp and it plays the scale down to 25Hz rather than just just thumping. I chose the EV1200 over the RTR12S because at 475 watts, I knew I would have a standard operating demand on the power amp of perhaps 30% vs 80%. I anticipated a cleaner signal. The EV1200 is performing flawlessly at 1/3 power. My chest and windows vibrate at 1/2 power. I have no doubt the EV1200 could literally crack my plaster lathe walls at 3/4 power.My EV1200 is part of a 7.1 surround sound for DVD music videos and movies. The EV1200 has an infinite range frequency crossover dial assuring "Pretty Woman" doesn't sound like "Battle of Britain". Which movies you adjust will probably depend upon the low end of your center channel speaker so they don't compete and of course, who is watching which movie.<Feb 21, 2013.> Now, ten months after-the-fact, I would still buy this same sub-woofer again though by the way it's performing, I may never have to. This is an excellent speaker.This subwoofer has one excellent standard feature - an on, off and on-demand switch but I simply leave it on all the time as the signal is perfectly clean; absolutely no hum or line noise from its own power amp. I did use a shielded subwoofer cable to eliminate the risk of inductance.Personal product reviews are always arbitrary, but if there was a minor problem with my speaker I would report it. The EV1200 has outperformed my expectations for a subwoofer by any manufacturer in the < $450 price range. I am not an audiophile but have played bass for many years perhaps explaining my penchant for higher quality low-end. For a new centre channel I bought the Venturi VK-6Lcr which has a higher bottom end than most centers and gives a high quality, clean separation from the subwoofer. I purchased both directly from Amazon.ca and received seamless 5 star service. Now, my wish list includes two EV15's with six inch 20 Khz horns.<May 7, 2014> Checking back as promised. I added two BIC RTR EV-15 inch tower speakers as surround sound fronts on a much larger 7.2 Harmon Kardon 3700 (amp) and thus increased my demands (+50%) upon the EV1200 subwoofer. The subwoofer is still working perfect without so much as a hiccup, ever. Before writing this update tonight, I inspected my speaker with a magnifying glass. There are no stress cracks or stretching evident on the buffer or surround. The power amp still runs strong and 100% totally silent with no line noise or hum. These speakers are an excellent value, mine has been terrific. But for an even bigger value, watch new prices very closely; weekly is not too often. Over the past year, this speaker's price fluctuated up and down over $150 many times. In fact, I'm watching the prices with you, as I am ready to buy a second identical subwoofer.

ALL I CAN SAY IS WOW!! ITS MORE THAN I EXPECTED.even at low volumes, u can feel the deepest of frequencies!Running this subwoofer off of a HK3490.----------Listening to HI FI for 25+ years, this is the best subwoofer I have ever heard! So much power!

Awesome, came early and the sound is better than expected, and I had high expectations.

Sub is everything I was looking for. I purchased two of these to provide proper balance and coverage of my living room and they definitely do what they are supposed to do. Easily competes with subs that are double the price. Definitely worth purchasing.

Can't believe how great this is for the price.