This is going to be a very short review and you will not find any cute or entertaining remarks as I feel that this subwoofer has a serious and hazardous flaw in its design and it bothers me that the manufacturer has apparently not corrected the problem yet! They've had at least two years to do so!
In a world where powered subwoofers are in abundance the
KLH ASW 10-120 sub clocks in at a hefty 40 lbs. measuring about 17" high, 15" wide and about 16" deep. It is finished in the typical black that one sees quite commonly these days. The unit features a
120 watt powered 10" woofer with
variable crossover from 50Hz to 200Hz. It also has the necessary RCA provision for hookup to your HT receiver's
"SUB OUT" or it can be connected via spring loaded color coded
"SPEAKER INPUT" terminals from your amp's left and right
"OUTPUT" terminals. The unit is manufactured in China for KLH. The rear of the unit also features a power selector switch that can be set to
"standby" or auto on or off.
After properly hooking this sub up to my Teac HT receiver's
"SUB OUT" and using high quality Audioquest Jade patch cord, I listened to the system with a small pair of AR's as sats. That was in November of 2000. For days the sound was pleasant until two weeks later when things took a turn for the worst! The unit , which was set to sense incoming signals from the receiver became intermittent. Okay, I thought to myself...this may just be a bad connection. Oh no!
Not at all! No matter what I did to try to alleviate the problem things got worse!! So, finally I decided to just hookup the sub the standard
"Speaker Input" way and it seemed to solve the problem for a few days until a distinct electrical smell filled our humble computer room.
Now, some of the black plastic around the back of the KLH was melting!! I immediately unplugged the unit short of calling the fire dept.
I returned the sub to the store where it was purchased and explained the situation in detail. That was over two years ago! The store was most kind in returning my $100 for a courteous refund.
I then went to see a friend of mine, Peter who is a top salesman at one of my favorite audio salons and he sold me an AR 12 sub that also was made in China but of much better quality with its
5-way binding posts at slightly higher cost. I normally do not make a big deal over
spring loaded vs. 5-way h.d. binding posts but in the case of the
KLH ASW 10-120 I just feel that the tiny terminals are positioned too close to each other and just shows low quality on top of all else that's wrong with the unit.
There is no substitute for safety and quality. Listening to various audio equipment can be much fun indeed but the fun stops when a unit not only fails but threatens the very existence of one's family and home!!!
I know the
KLH ASW 10-120 is going to look very attractive to many people but my advice is to stay away until this serious design flaw is corrected. I waited considerably before making public my remarks but when I recently saw a fellow EPINIONS reviewer's similar experience I simply felt it was time to speak up! I hope that everyone who gave his review low marks will now reconsider as I can back him up 100 percent! I guess that had I not experienced the flawed unit myself I would have given the review a low rating also.
http://www.epinions.com/content_80024276612 He is not alone as yet another reviewer has gone un-noticed and perhaps unheeded...
http://www.epinions.com/content_111341178500
I humbly apologize if I've offended anyone by this review as I am not out to headhunt but simply report my findings truthfully. I hope everyone understands.
Oh by the way...My friend Peter, the sales person... took me to a corner of his store where a huge pile of KLH ASW 10-120's were...all defective and broken ... all with the exact same flaw. It looked like a mortuary for KLH. He simply refuses to sell anymore and his store dropped the line sometime ago! This is not what founding father Henry Kloss wished for nor would he ever approve!
