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Rating: 
Summary: Polk PSW450 = Thumbs up!
Review: First, the bottom line: It's well worth the money. The ratio of value to its price point is high. I'm more than happy with this sub.This is my first sub and I've mated it to Klipsch Forte II's with the SC-1 center channel. I'm a "born-again" audiophile who ventured onto the stereo scene back in the mid-'60s when monoaural systems were the norm. After having "dropped out" of the audio world during the '90s, the recent purchase of a DVD player has renewed my audio interest. I purchased this sub after reading numerous reviews and write-ups. Normally, I would personally audition any speaker purchase but having done that so many times in the past, I didn't relish the idea of going from store to store listening to various subs under various listening environments. Speaker auditioning is a task that's daunting, frustrating, and very time-consuming. Before anyone starts on a subwoofer journey, however, you must ask yourself about your expectations. Do you want a sub that overpowers a movie scene (or piece of music) that in the end becomes its own entity? Or do you want something that "seamlessly" fits in the background? I was looking for a sub that would blend in and sound "natural" without becoming a distraction. The Polk sub provides that missing link in my stereo/surround system. The bass is clean and well defined. I can definitely FEEL the bass but more importantly I can distinguish the individual bass notes and differentiate the bass from the drummer's kick drum. In HT scenarios, it's awesome and forceful without becoming an overpowering distraction. Its output is distinct without a lot of "boom." And the sub's volume setting is turned up only halfway. The sub handles itself well during the famous Star War's Pod Race as well as Jurassic Park's T-Rex intro scene. I experimented by turning up the sub volume to maximum and found it was too much (for my tastes) for my 20'x 30' living room (actually, a "great room"). Overall, I'm completely satisfied with its presence when listening to music or when watching movies. I'm not naive, though, and I'm sure if the sub were placed side-by-side to a more expensive sub, the differences would be noticeable. But for a delivered price of $ I've found a sub that fits my needs and my budget. Strengths:
Price
Strong, floor shaking bass
Low "boom" factor
Well-built Weaknesses:
Size (basically, its depth)
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