The Sony SA-WM40 - What makes it so good? (1 Viewer)

[Christian Speights]

People rave about it being the best choice for a budget system. Best bang for the buck and all that.

But why?

 

[Robert James Clark]

Wellllll......
Seeing as how I bought mine open box at Best Buy for a mere $109 and seeing as how it does a ridiculously good job of producing low end output from a movie soundtrack LFE channel and seeing as how it actually does a surprisingly good job with music !!!IF!!! you keep it at least 2 feet from any wall surface... not to mention the many tweaks that have been produce to improve it even more....
I can't think of a single reason.

 

[Saurav]

LOL!! Good response
Why... probably because it is a very good performer for the money, and that's all there is to it?
Or is there more to your question that I'm missing?

 

[Sean Conklin]

Because for $150, it's a good sub. Nothing in this price range can touch it, or none that I've found yet.

It won't perform like a good quality $300+ sub, but for a small price you get pretty good sound!

 

[Vietor]

As the others have said becasue of the price. If anyone had to pay MSRP (what is it anyway? $250?) It would not get nearly the notice that it does, but the fact that it can be had almost invariably for around $150 is what makes it good. Its a fairly solid 12" woofer that has enough power that in the boomy range it can maky my upstairs neighbors complain to me (only once!) that they "Couldn't hear thier TV".

The bottom line is that it doesn't sound like total crap, puts out decent output, and its pretty darn cheep.

 

[Jack Gilvey]

People rave about it being the best choice for a budget system. Best bang for the buck and all that.

But why?

Well, if you read raves, what did those people say?

 

[John Morris]

you keep it at least 2 feet from any wall surface...

Is this true? Somebody tell me a bit more about this please...

I was planning on putting this sub with its' back about 8 inches from a wall. Is that a mistake?

It's a Christmas present for my kids, so I have a while to reconsider taking it back to BB. Still, for $139, that's gonna be hard to do.

 

[Christian Speights]

I was thinking more about measurements or something. Thought there might be performance numbers floating around that were uncommon for such an inexpensive piece

Jack...

People have said things like "the SA-WM40 is a no brainer" and have put it on a short list of budget subs. But no one has its better because it does xxxx well and xxxx better than other budget subs.

Some background:

I have been feeding these recomendations to a friend of mine who is building a budget system. I was looking for the "better for movies than music" type comments. The "its boomy but not THAT boomy" type comments. The "I listened to this and a JBL xxxx and the Sony was my favorite" type comments.

Seems that for $150 bucks this sub does a serviceable job which is more than can be said for other subs in this price range. You won't find anything better for the money.

Works for me.

 

[Alan K]

Vietor-MSRP on the SA-WM40 is 199.99 and BB has it usually at that price, sometimes at 179.96 and once in a blue moon at 149.99 including a $50 "instant rebate".

 

[Jeremy Anderson]

I was planning on putting this sub with its' back about 8 inches from a wall. Is that a mistake?

8 inches should be just fine. The Sony on its own might be a bit boomy for music, but people have had great results with removing the cone and lining the interior of the sub with $5 worth of polyfill. It tightens up the bass significantly, and let's face it -- for the price, you can't beat it.

 

[Keir H]

Anyone have any performance measurements or that it's so cheap, who cares?? I'd like to know a rough estimate of its abilities down low. I wonder if polyfill will reduce SPLs??? Anyone?? thanks!

Good luck to everyone on the SVS!

 

[Vietor]

Alan-
SA-WM40
msrp $250.00
http://www.sel.sony.com/SEL/consumer.../sa-wm40.shtml
As I was saying, nobody charges MSRP on this.

 

[Robert James Clark]

"you keep it at least 2 feet from any wall surface..."

"Is this true? Somebody tell me a bit more about this please...

I was planning on putting this sub with its' back about 8 inches from a wall. Is that a mistake?

It's a Christmas present for my kids, so I have a while to reconsider taking it back to BB. Still, for $139, that's gonna be hard to do. "

No hard and fast rule, just my observations using the sub with music. Placed in a corner the bass is certainly full enough for movies, I just found it too much (and too "Johnny-one-note") to be pleasant to listen to music with it.

I placed it 2 feet from any wall (as is best with most full range speakers, too) and, voila, not overbearing at all and very pleasant sounding with music.

And i haven't even tried it with polyfill yet...

For $139, keep it!

Happy listening,

Robert

 

[Gary Thomas]

"It's a Christmas present for my kids"

John...I love that line. I wish my kids put a subwoofer on their Christmas list!

 

[Brian Johnson]

I just bought one of these today at K's Merchandise for 129.00, this is my first sub. Had a few questions, how long should the 'break in' period be? Will it sound better after the break-in(not saying its bad now, I havent quite tinkered with everything yet) And positioning seems to be a factor. I dont think the misses is going to let me put a sub in the middle of the room where from what I read is where it needs to be

 

[Matt Wallace]

We really need a permanent HTF FAQ on this thing, since all the great threads were lost in the last conversion (earlier this year).

Matt

 

[Chris S]

There is a hardware archive section at the bottom of the main page, can they not be found there? Chris

 

[Bill Leber]

Does anyone on the forum have experience with the BIC or MERAK subs they sell on UBid? I'd like to hear if anyone's compared those to the Sony in their home. I listened to the Sony in the store and it sounded like crap, so I bought the Merak 12" w/150 watts. For $100 shipped, you can't beat the price. Yes it's boomy, but it does it's job for LFE and sounds pretty good with rock/hip-hop/electronica music turned up loud.

I'm guessing a few tweaks (polyfill?) would make it less boomy. If anyone is interested in this sub I could give you more details of my experiences with it. I've had it about 3 months now.