A mini review of my BK XLS200...as promised..including some pics

[podium73]

Hi,

Can I first of all start off by stating that I am not in any way connected to the company BK Electronics.
I am merely commenting on my recent purchase with an aid to helping others make up their own minds.
I like many others who post/read the reviews on this forum understand how hard it can sometimes be to demo equipment and make a decision.
I hope anyone who is considering a BK XLS200 finds the brief information in this review useful in their search for the best pound for pound sound.

The subwoofer was delivered to me on time by DHL.
The first thing I realised when lifting it indoors was its sheer weight, if you work in an office and they have ever sent you on a manual handling lifting course now is the time to put it to use!

The sub was extremely well packaged; heavy duty cardboard and taped for additional strength at all the edges and joins.

On opening it I found a smaller box inside, surrounded by Styrofoam packing.

I lifted the smaller box out and was again amazed at the weight.

(My previous subs have all been £150 and under, not exactly high end but all I could afford at the time)

At the top opening of the box was:
1 power cable
1 neutral speakon cable
1 phono cable
Floor spikes
Instruction manual
and my receipt (even this was neatly folded in a small plastic pack).
On lifting out the contents and the cardboard insert I was faced with the subwoofer itself.

It was wrapped in polethene and packed with more Styrofoam.
On removing it from the box I was immediately impressed by its quality finish and look.
My own flavour was Semi-gloss silver in the down firing variety.

I cannot emphasis enough the quality of the unit, there is not a single mark or blemish in any regard.
The paint work is absolutely perfect and has an extremely luxurious finish.

With most products these days I feel that they actually have a mass produced feel about them.
Things don’t fit right, bits are missing, instructions in any language but yours, the list goes on.
The quality and finish is not up to the hype of the marketing used to sell you the lifestyle and the product.
Suffice to say living in Britain we now accept that some products will have minor blemishes – due to everyone wanting everything cheaper, quality suffers.


This little sub on the other hand truly has a superior handcrafted feel. The whole unit’s construction is absolutely solid.

It was positioned, connected up and switched on.
All I can say is wow.
I really didn’t think it would make that much of a difference, wrong!
It really did fill out the sound of my other speakers.
These are the canton cd100- front left and right, cd50 –centre and cd10 – rears.

Although I may not have lots of experience with subs, I am very critical and have heard the usual suspects in my price bracket.

This sub goes low (my room is about 4m x 6m) and fast; one of my concerns was that it could not keep up with the aluminium drivers of the cantons.
I’ve tested it with most of the reference material quoted on this forum with both DVDs and music, sounds great.
Even with The Chemical Brothers “Setting Sun” it sounds tight, and believe me that’s going some.
I know people have their own songs to critique their equipment but try this track, on a poorly set up system it sounds a mess – boomy – all over the place.

There is also a track by "the beta band" called "broke"that will melt your sub if your not careful.

I only discovered this sub through reading this forum and subsequent research.
My budget was actually £300- £350.
Though I wanted, and succeeded to spend less than this.

You will not be disappointed in this little sub it is quite a steal at the money.

I will post more as I test it even more thoroughly.

....this is my first long post and any observations or mistakes are purely my own...

Thanks for reading.

[eviljohn2]

Glad to hear it, welcome to the BK club.

[*ChrisB*]

Looks superb, I can't wait to get my hands on one !

I ordered mine 3 weeks ago so I'm hoping it'll be with me any day ...

[Nimby]

podium73

Great post and some really nice pics.

Regards
Nimby

[kismet]

I got my BK Elec on Friday, excellent finish. Only thing does your BK ELEC BUZZ when you bypass the frequency crossover?

[podium73]

To be honest I've not noticed, though how loud are we talking?

[podium73]

oh and i remembered the track to test your sub its by "the beta band" on their album "hot shots II" and is called "broke".
Try it.
I think the bass is low, can anyone measure it and tell me how low I wonder?

[Crustyloafer]

If you want another album to check your subwoofer is up to the job then you shouod listen to 'Closer' by 'Plastikman' This album totally pressurises my room and makes my ears pop.

[*ChrisB*]

Wahooo mine arrived today

Can't wait to get home now !

Hey,


I got mine today. It's built to last, I can tell you that. The finish is beautiful (I got light oak).

I connected it via low-level to my reciever. Put the Xover on my reciever to 100hz. I set the gain to about a quarter and fired up some test tones. Waay to much bass. I then turned it down a notch till I could just hear it appart from the mains and then turned it down just a bit more. Perfect. Playing with phase didn't help in my case, it made the sub sound thinner. Back to 0° it was.

I listened to some of my cd's which had lot of bass content in them, without the sub the bass sounded muddy (thanks to my room). Then I set the speakers on small and turned on the sub.

Ok this was how it was supposed to sound. The big advantage of a sub is that you can place it wherever you want. The bass was deeper and alot cleaner. Because the mains didn't have to produce any bass anymore the mid cleared up alot aswell. If i have to describe the bass like it is now the words deep, clean and tight come to mind.

I fired up some dvd's aswell. Some scenes are just jawdroppingly nice. The bass isn't heard anymore but it gives you a nice butt massage in exchange.

For the price this sub is simply the biggeset bargain out there. I've heard many subs that cost more then two times the price of this one and still would have to give up against this one in terms of sound quality.

I'll test some more tomorrow..

[*ChrisB*]

I've had mine for a week now & it continues to impress

Certainly a great value for money sub

[Julio V]

Hi there,

I am keeping my eye open about BK XLS 200, In 2 minds about Down Firing or Front F
My floor is carpet

Why not go for the BK Monolith?

[PJTX100]

Good review Podium.

I'm still well pleased with the XLS200...PJ

[OneDesi]

Does anybody have a view on this BK vs the REL Quake?

[eviljohn2]

Posted by you earlier this year.

[OneDesi]

I must be getting old - thanks!

Today I started playing with the controls again..

I set the xover to a lower point, because I still had some bumps around the 90hz area..
I set the phase to 90°, and turned the volume up one notch.

I liked the sub before, but I wanted to feel the bass more but don't sacrifice in terms of sound quality.

By changing the controls to the above my goal is more then achieved. The bass doesn't sound overpowered (even though I run it a bit hot ) Where it wouldn't go below 30hz with authority before, it does now. I always wanted to turn it up a notch but the midbass bump didn't let me. Now that the bump has been taken care of I could. Instead of not getting alot below 30hz, it now goes down to below 20hz with a good feel to it. It's (in my room) FLAT to 25hz, then it starts dropping (the 17hz @ -6db is in my room real now )

Amazing what you can get for 279,-..

[Timh]

Did you set the gain to match your mains volume with a sound meter? or go slightly louder?

It's set slightly louder. It really doesn't overpower the mains, but it gives that bit of extra slam (wich I really like).

I noticed I'm listening at a louder volume now than before, I like the sound alot more now.

[Timh]

Originally Posted by BH_

It's set slightly louder. It really doesn't overpower the mains, but it gives that bit of extra slam (wich I really like).

I noticed I'm listening at a louder volume now than before, I like the sound alot more now.

Thanks BH

I can only wonder what a monolith must be like...maybe next year..

[bob1]

Originally Posted by BH_

It's set slightly louder. It really doesn't overpower the mains, but it gives that bit of extra slam (wich I really like).

I noticed I'm listening at a louder volume now than before, I like the sound alot more now.

As long as you like it thats all that matters ,we all like to listen louder as its more exciting. If you have any peaks you will be setting to that ,after i added a bfd i found that the level needed upping and the lower regions were a lot better.

Hey, I am new to the sub-underworld....

I am planning to buy a BK XLS200 OR an XLS200-DF

The sub will partner with LS3/5A's in 5.1 setup.

The room has a (very heavely damped) wooden floor with under carpet and top carpet, 4x6 mtrs and is +/- 2m70 heigh. The front left+right LS3/5A's have AB1's.

Anyone: Can you advise me to go for FRONT or for DOWN firing???

THX, Wim - Holland

[welshy]

I have the DF version but never tried the front firing version so I can't say whether there is a noticable difference in performance.

From what I've read here many times though, it doesn't really matter. If you want to see the cone firing in and out then go for the front firing version. If you have small children and want to protect the cone from adventurous little fingers or want it to blend in with your furnture then go for the DF version.

Hope this helps.

[podium73]

Originally Posted by welshy

If you have small children and want to protect the cone from adventurous little fingers or want it to blend in with your furnture then go for the DF version.

Yep, exactly the reason i ended up buying the DF.

[thelordmagus]

I bought the DF version too, but that was out of fear someone might kick the cone in by accident, and you don't need any children for that, believe me.
I've had mine for a few days, and one thing that might affect you with the DF is the fact that the floor might vibrate more easily, at least in my case. But then again this is my first proper sub, so I might be way off.

[Lewis123]

Ive just ordered a forward fireing version, because I like to see the driver moving in and out
I also think that it looks more 'meaty', with the big surround on the driver and oversized dustcap.

I ordered yesterday, and I have been told that it should be ready for dispatch at the end of the week.

[D65]

Originally Posted by WMB

Hey, I am new to the sub-underworld....

I am planning to buy a BK XLS200 OR an XLS200-DF

The sub will partner with LS3/5A's in 5.1 setup.

The room has a (very heavely damped) wooden floor with under carpet and top carpet, 4x6 mtrs and is +/- 2m70 heigh. The front left+right LS3/5A's have AB1's.

Anyone: Can you advise me to go for FRONT or for DOWN firing???

THX, Wim - Holland

hey wim,

great to see yet another dutchman on the avforums. I purchased a monolith from BK a few weeks ago, and I'm liking it to death. The xls200 has quite a reputation too, and you probably won't be disappointed. And shipping the xls to holland will only cost you about 25 euro.

welcome!

[michael.redfern]

Originally Posted by WMB

The room... 4x6 mtrs and is +/- 2m70 heigh.

Umm, any chance you could up your budget? That is one big room for an XLS200 to fill you know. A Monolith is what you want . I know everyone says that, but it'll have much more authority in a space that size.

My lounge is 5x6m, but only just over 2m high (low ceiling) and I just changed from a REL Q201 (which basically is an XLS200) to a Monolith and the difference was very noticable. Far more depth, far more control.