BK XLS 200 Subwoofer Review (Long Post)

[pauljames]

Got my BK XLS 200 on Friday, so here is my attempt at a review so far.

Firstly the packing. It arrived in its own box in a plastic bag with the usual polystyrene protectors at each corner.
This box was then, in turn, packed inside a bigger box with the gap filled by Styrofoam "snow".
Good strong cardboard, off to a good start.

Next the accessories.
It comes with an instruction sheet and the accessories listed on the site so no need to rush out and buy more stuff before you can set it up.
The audio leads were long enough for me to position it where I wanted it so no problems there.

My first impressions were very good.
The unit looks well built, very nice metal finish (gloss, but not sparkly, black).
All knobs, connectors etc are nicely made. Unit is quite small too.

My girlfriends first impression: "It's not as ugly as I thought". Not bad at all.

Set Up.

The sub has small metal screw feet as standard so a posidrive screwdriver was needed to remove them before the spikes could be attached by hand.

Low level lead attached to amp.
Low level gain set to 40%, crossover to LFE setting phase left at 0 (only cause I don't know what it does).

After setting the amp up to allow for the sub left it on the radio to settle in for a bit as I had to go out.

Next Day (gain at 50-60%)

Fired up some CD's (Korn, RHCP, Kosheen and various other stuff from my collection).
Base seemed very composed. Seemed hard to tell the sub was there - until I turned it off.
Sign of a good sub according to some comments on these forums.

But, there was a small hum when no CD was in.
This was fixed by searching these forums and plugging the sub into the same power strip as the Amp.
Hum gone. Hooray.

Next, time for some DVD's. Gladiator, Ice Age, Matrix, Monsters Inc all got their turn.
Sub was good but wasn't rumbling as much as I'd hoped.
Again searched on these forums and tried the following suggestion:-

Set the crossover dial to the Amps value or thereabouts
(something to do with shaping frequancy responses, didn't really understand it but gave it a go).

Bloody hell what a difference!
Re-tried all the same CD's and DVD's and the gain had to go back down to 40-50% because my ears hurt.
This is fantastic!

Conclusion.

I have had the sub for four and a bit days so far and, in my opinion, it's a Very good sub, especially considering the price.

BK's service was also excellent.
Delivered when they said they would, didn't charge my card until ready to dispatch.
Not sure about their customer service as I've had no complaints, but I get the impression they care about their products and customers.

Highly recommended!

Alternative Conclusion provided by my girlfriend:-
It makes such a difference doesn't it.

Paul
A very happy BK XLS 200 Subwoofer owner


Disclaimer:
I have not owned a sub before and have only listened to them in demo rooms (B&W 600 series, Kef Eggs, Celestion AVP305, Elac Cinema 3).

[Mac Man]

Nice one Paul.

[MuFu]

Yeah, always good to hear from somebody who hasn't owned a sub before - there's no going back now.

BTW, I never notice *that* much difference between the LFE setting and matching the sub's crossover to that of the bass management (in fact it makes almost no difference in the room I've just moved into so I've gone back to using the LFE setting). What position is the crossover dial at?

MuFu.

[pauljames]

MuFu,

The crossover dial is between 1 and 2 o' clock (when viewed facing the back panel), so I guess would be about 90 Hz.

Maybe it's a placebo affect, but my ears like it so its stays.

Paul.

PS. Can anyone recommend some good DVD scenes to impress my mates when they come round for a demo?

[MuFu]

Cool, that's about where I had mine in my old room and it worked pretty well - much better than using the LFE setting in that particular environment.

I've found that Ch 27. of Fight Club (when they're on the freeway) is a good demo for this sub - nicely within it's capabilities at decent levels. Both Star Wars films are good, of course - do a search and I'm sure you'll find hundreds of recommendations for subwoofer demo sequences. If you've got Matrix Reloaded there are a few big fat LFE bits in that (when the rescue ship arrives at the end comes to mind).

MuFu.

[Clint C]

Thanks for that Paul. I'm due to receive my XLS200 on November 3rd so all this adds to the build up . I too have never owned a sub before and I'm looking forward to see how it blends in with my system.

[MuFu]

BTW, you mentioned Ice Age and Monsters Inc - plenty of decent, low bass in them. The beginning of Ice Age where that shard of ice pops out of the top of the cliff and in Monsters Inc when the Dinosaur monster crosses the road (also near the beginning), for example.

Obviously it isn't going to shake the foundations like many £500+ subs (or the ridiculous RS Paradigm bargains) can, but will be a hell of a lot better than your average £150-£200 boombox.

MuFu.

[pauljames]

Quick Update.

Watched "Harry Potter and the Chanber of Secrets" last night.

Had to turn the sub down because it was too loud!

Gain is now at about 40%, incredible.

Would probably still turn it up to 50-60% for a daytime watching session - if I wanted to feel the base shake my feet, anymore and I may need a structural survey.

This sub has indeed exceeded my expectations.

Paul

[Mac Man]

Originally posted by pauljames
Quick Update.

Watched "Harry Potter and the Chanber of Secrets" last night

Paul

Paul

Wait till you try Attack of the Clones.

BRRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

Tee Hee

Chris

Originally posted by pauljames
Quick Update.

Watched "Harry Potter and the Chanber of Secrets" last night.

Had to turn the sub down because it was too loud!

Gain is now at about 40%, incredible.

Would probably still turn it up to 50-60% for a daytime watching session - if I wanted to feel the base shake my feet, anymore and I may need a structural survey.

This sub has indeed exceeded my expectations.

Paul

Which amp/reciever are you using to power the sub Paul, sent you a PM about this by the way Cheers.

[pauljames]

My Setup:

TV: JVC 28" Flatscreen (rented £20 ish per month)

Speakers: Eltax Jupiter (£99.99 from Comet)

Amp: Pioneer VSX-859RDS (£150 second hand)

DVD: Cyberhome 402 (£80 WH Smiths)

Sub: XLS 200 (£280).

Yes I know that my sub is, almost, worth more than the rest of my system but after lurking in these forums for some time I decided a sub was something I couldn't scrimp on.

Cheers,
Paul

[Roam]

The XLS 200 is no longer on the BK website!

[JamesTapp]

Maybe they have taken it off because of the backlog of orders from here....

Glad my mate got his order in at the weekend!

[Roam]

Apparently there are new improved models in the pipeline. I am starting to feel a bit cheated. I wish they had mentioned this before I placed my order two weeks ago. Maybe I can cancel before next week.

[pwiles]

Anyone heard anything new on this, are they still going to be sold or replaced or have I missed the boat.

Tom do you have any info on this?

[Clint C]

pwiles

I guess you could always contact Tom and see if anyone cancels their order (like Grinder coz he feels "cheated" ).

[Roam]

Actually I have decided not to cancel as all that I have read from buyers of the sub and its spec. has convinced me that any new sub they offer won't be a big improvement over the XLS 200. Besides I don't think I can wait another four weeks or so for another one to arrive and thats if and when BK decide to make further offers.

I do hope that BK do make future offers as I think that there is certainly alot of demand in the UK for high quality subs at reasonable cost.

[Clint C]

Mate I was only having a laugh. It was a bargain before any mention of an update so it's still a bargain. Most probably the new offer will be more expensive if it's a whole lot better but for our money I think we've done alright. Having said that I haven't actually received it yet but come Monday night it should be all connected and in the process of being run in.

Clint.

[MuFu]

Bear in mind that if they start selling again it could well be through a reseller. Might not be quite so much of a bargain.

MuFu.

[Ian J]

Originally posted by MuFu
Bear in mind that if they start selling again it could well be through a reseller. Might not be quite so much of a bargain.

I don't think that they would be so daft. Why would they prejudice all the orders and goodwill that they have received via dvdforums and this forum in order to give away part of their margin to someone else.

Unless it is someone with some clout in the marketplace like Richer Sounds or Sevenoaks I can't see them being that commercially naive.

[pwiles]

Looks like good news, his is the reply I got from a mail to BK.

----------------------------------

Hello Paul

The XLS200 was going to be a limited offer to reduce our vast stocks of XLS10 drive units, but has proved to be very popular so it is going to be continued. We have withdrawn the offer temporarily to allow us time to catch up with back orders.

Regards

Tom Pearce

----------------------------------

[Roam]

This is the latest from BK on the XLS 200. Don't know when or how much the new one will be but it looks interesting:

Hello,

There will be about 15 XLS 200’s available in the future and this will be the end of the offer. We will introduce for a limited period a 300W sub the same size as the XLS200 but using an American ground zero drive unit.

Regards

Tom.