Anyone have a light oak finish BK XLS200?

[D J Fryer]

Thinking of buying one on the basis of reviews etc here. Have seen BK's pictures of this finish but wondered whether any forumites have one and can post/email some real world pics and comment on build quality.

[General Skanky]

Funny how minds think alike. I too am looking for a nice looking sub. Wonder why?

[D J Fryer]

I'm not saying that she's a pain but I spent a few weeks doing the lounge and last night I got the "It looks great but the 'amp' (i.e. sub!) is a bit ugly" line.........of course she is right!

I've bought the sub in cherry a few weeks ago.

Very impressed with the build quality. Obviously it's not a solid wood, but it's a pretty thick veneer which has been laid on to a very high quality. I'll try and take some pictures a bit later on.

These are 4MP photos, so they will take a while to load.

phew, these things take an age to upload. I've got a couple more - give me a shout if you want me to upload those, I'm feeling way too lazy at the mo.

Nick

[D J Fryer]

Nick - what can I say, your effort is very much appreciated. Looks good from those pics. One thing I just thought of - does the grill give the driver much protection i.e. would a 'little persons' fingers still be able to prod the driver through the cloth with the grill on? I'd thought of asking whether BK would do me a light oak finish with silver grill that they sell with the sliver XLS200........not sure what it would look like though...?

Yes the grill is pretty tough - it's not the normal cover you get on bookshelf speakers, i very much doubt that kiddies would be able to push it hard enough. Pushing it as far as I can without going OTT, there's a good inch and half still from the driver. There's very little give in it, so it does act as very good protection.

For the sake of proving a point I've balanced THREE full coke cans (i know it only looks like one and a bit) on top of the grill, you can see there's very little give:

In this one you can see the other side of the grill - the cans can't stretch the grill far enough to see on the other side. the driver doesn't protrude into the grill's depth, so is protected:

[D J Fryer]

Thanks again Nick - as you say - seems sturdy enough! Just got to get rid of my Velodyne CHT10 now.....

[MuFu]

lol Nick, you nutter. Did you try any other brands of soft beverage? Lilt, perhaps.

That finish really does look superb for the money. Light oak with a silver grill might work - a bit like a B&W 6x0 sub with the grill off.

[Dan Gleebles]

Hi There

I thought I would take a photo of a Light Oak cab with a silver grille to show D J Fryer. It was taken a bit on the quick but should be fine to give you some idea.

We at BK are pleased to talk to customers, so if anyone needs a query answered or like in this case a simple grille change just email tom@bkelec.com and we can try help

[D J Fryer]

Tom - thanks for taking the time and effort to do that. I'll show the picture to my wife to see if that's the aesthetic upgrade required :D

[General Skanky]

Is it possible to put in one of the more powerful amps into the sub?

Would there be a significant gain?

How much would it cost with a 300W or 500W option please?

I ask as 17Hz @ -6dB tells me it could be better, if I'm prepared to pay a bit more.

[Dan Gleebles]

Hello GS

The 300W and 500W panels are about about 5mm larger than the 200W panel and will not fit the rebate in the back of the cabinet but it was a nice thought, not sure the XLS10 would like 500W

Tom

[avanzato]

Originally Posted by Dan Gleebles

The 300W and 500W panels are about about 5mm larger than the 200W panel and will not fit the rebate in the back of the cabinet but it was a nice thought, not sure the XLS10 would like 500W

In that case have you any plans to make some bigger subs. I'm trying to "Buy British" but that seems to get difficult when you get to the 'big' subwoofers, which are either US or German.

[General Skanky]

Shame.

As avanzato said, we're limited to the USA etc for the real power houses.

[Crustyloafer]

Originally Posted by General Skanky

Shame.

As avanzato said, we're limited to the USA etc for the real power houses.

That's not true. The Stentor 3 I have will give a lot of the American subs a run for their money when it comes to movies, as for music well then it's no contest.

[General Skanky]

How much is one of those? £2500!

I can buy a 600w CHT-R15 Velodyne for £795 with all the performance it produces for that price.

I really should have originally stated 'value for money'.

REL came off my 'best' list a while ago having already owned a CHT-15 in the past and know just what it can do.

REL make nice bits of kit, but imho it's over priced for what's on offer.

My opinion of course and naturally can be wrong, but it's not easy finding a powerful, good quality UK sub that offers true value for money.

B&W come to mind, but I'm hard pushed to think of any more.

[Ian J]

Originally Posted by General Skanky

it's not easy finding a powerful, good quality UK sub that offers true value for money.

How's your carpentry skills

[General Skanky]

Not what they once were.

I was all signed up for the DIY route a couple of years ago, but blew that out when the pricing of 2nd hand/ex dem products came to my attention.