[binbag]

I thought I'd give this thread a major bump to illustrate the depth of love that this forum has for this sub which overcame my reservations about buying this sub unheard - something that I would never advise doing.

My first sub was a Celestion S8 as part of a sub/sat package. I knew it could be bettered but it wasn't until I had a MJ Acoustics Pro50 for a couple of weeks that I realised how easily it could be beaten for depth and clarity. As I upgraded the other speakers the S8 had less to add to mix until it sort of just hummed along like it didn't know the words.

I became aware of the XLS200 on here a while ago and it was when I realised that I would happily have bought a secondhand MJ100 for £260 that I seriously looked at the BK offering. To cut a long story short it arrived last week.

It feels like it looks and sounds twice as good.

I have my Light Oak DF sat behind the sofa in my 16'x16' room. The floor is a wooden floorboards mostly about an inch above a tiled surface however the sub sits on the floor above an 18" deep trench. I used to have a 2" marble slab under the S8 in an attempt to tighten its response. The output of the BK drove through this and let me know I had some work to do.

It ended up with it on a 1/2" marble chopping board, turned upside down, spiked into halved squash balls which were first silicon filled and placed over the chopping board feet. The result is a really smooth room response down to 20hz (Avia LFE sweep) and non directional bass. I've lost some gain; but theres tons to spare and the benefits far outweigh the loss.

My amp is a Marantz SR4200. It wasn't noted as having great bass management and when I clicked over to LFE and set my speakers to small a big hole appeared in the bass response. I tried leaving the fronts on large but was more pleased with leaving the mains (Q35.2's) on small and setting the crossover on the sub to 80hz. I make running adjustments to gain depending on the audio processing but thats as hard as dropping my arm behind the sofa.

A lot of previous owners have commented on the power of this sub. Once I'd sorted the setup I was more impressed by it's grip. Tiny things like doors closing have a reality that definately wasn't there before. You can feel the kick-bass drum. Of course when it 'kicks off' it brings a huge grin. Before it was fully isolated the missus complained that she could see the kitchen door vibrating in its jamb. That's about 15' away from the sub. Having it behind the sofa means that I don't need a buttkicker either.

Did it live up expectations? Hell Yes!!!