BICAmerica V-1220 12-Inch 430-Watt Down-Firing Powered Subwoofer

The BIC V1220 is a 12" powered subwoofer that adds a solid low end to music and home video setups without making the sound heavy or boomy. My main speakers, a pair of restored Dyanco A-25s, have very smooth bass and go down to about 60 Hz. I was looking for a subwoofer that would fill in the lowest frequencies without muddying the sound of the A-25s. The V1220 does so nicely.The BIC subwoofer adds impact to movie sound effects -- even unexpected things like when Dorothy's house falls into Munchkin Land have a surprising impact, while the earthquake at the beginning of "Lora Croft Tomb Raider: Cradle of Life" rattles my windows. All in all, movie sound effects are handled well. Movies aside, the subwoofer also does very well with music recordings. The string bass on Dave Brubeck's "Take Five" (from Time Out) has a solid impact when first plucked, yet the twang of the vibrating string is not obscured by boominess. The big bass drum at the end of Telarc's recording of "The Firebird Suite" rattles my windows as much as Lora Croft's earthquake. As a bonus, the fact that the subwoofer is not in the same location as the main speakers seems to smooth out the bass response of my listening room.With the subwoofer in the center of the front wall, a Radio Shack sound level meter shows the subwoofer has useful response down to 31 Hz (it would go somewhat lower if the speaker was in a corner). 31 Hz may not seem very low, but is actually good response for a real speaker in a real room -- as opposed to ideal test conditions, though pipe organ enthusiasts may want to look elsewhere.Setup is quite flexible, with continuously-variable adjustments for volume level and crossover point (40-180 Hz), a two position switch for phase, and a switch for Dolby 5.1 or Dolby Prologic receivers. There are both line level and speaker level inputs. The setup instructions are clear and should give good results if followed closely.The V1220 is relatively large (18 1/2 X 17 x 14 inches) and weighs 41 pounds, so this is not a shoebox you can hide under a piece of furniture. The tradeoff in size is very smooth and powerful bass. The speaker is finished in black wood grain laminate, and seems well-made. The bass port is on the side, so the speaker can be positioned against a wall without obstructing the vent. Another reviewer was concerned that the spike feet might damage floors. I have hardwood floors and agree that the spikes, though rounded, could do damage if dragged over floors. I positioned the speaker first, then gently lowered it without dragging.The BIC V1220 does everything I wanted: impact on movie sound effects, plus a solid non-boomy low bass with music recordings. The subwoofer does its job without drawing attention to itself -- it's there when it's needed, and not there when it's not needed. At just over $200, it's a bargain.

First off, I received this subwoofer and everything looked fine. The 4 legs come wrapped individually and you have to put them on yourself. I attempted to thread the leg bolts into the holes on the bottom corners of the sub, but there was nothing to thread them into and the bolt just wobbled around. Somebody at the factory forgot to put the metal threads into the holes in the sub for the leg bolts to screw onto. I contacted Amazon on this issue and they were great in resolving this matter by knocking off some of the price I paid.Once I got this sub up and running I was a little disappointed. I think it's mainly an issue with my Yamaha receiver, but I have to turn the sub volume up nearly all the way to get good bass response. I've read others saying they only turn it up half way and it thumps, but that's not the case with mine. However, this downfiring sub literally shakes the house when I play some bass heavy music. It has great punch and range, although, as I previously mentioned, I do have to turn it way up.I had read a few reviews mention this sub wasn't good for music. This couldn't be more wrong. This sub hits loud and hits hard when playing music. It's a great sub all around, with no weaknesses. Movies, games, music all sound great with the V-1220. I prefer downfiring subs over frontfiring, especially if you are using it in a home with wood floors. I have a front firing Bic in my back room, which is on concrete. You don't get near the feel from a downfiring sub on concrete.I highly recommend this sub if you want some serious bass response. I've owned lesser subs such as the Polk PSW10 and in comparison to the V-1220, the PSW10 is like a toy sub. It's no comparison at all. Well worth the $165 if Amazon gets these back in stock.

I purchased this sub to replace an old KLH 10" sub that really sounded good.This sub hits hard. I have it paired up w/ Bic DV-62CLRS Center Channel and a pair of Bic DV-62SI speakers for the front mains. Receiver is a Yamaha RX-V371. Rears are Phillips speakers that came with my old surround sound system.When the KLH first failed I tried a Sony SA-W3000. The Sony was boomy. Just did not have enough punch. So I orded this one and never looked back.I have the crossover set at 60hz on the receiver. Sounds good with Movies or Jazz.It is a kinda dark smoked gray color. All of my other speakers are black. Thought the wife would not care for the color, but she simply commented that it looked more like a nice piece of furniture rather than a sub. So it is a win/win for both of us.Construction is top of the line.Woofer is on the bottom, facing the floor. The inside is baffled with some sort of cotton.Owners manual that came with it is clear and concise. Be sure and have an RCA cable to connect this to the receiver, as one is not included.Thought the coned feet would be an issue on my vinyl strip floor, but the sub sits firm and does not rattle. Not damaging the floor in any way. The cones are threaded, so I suppose you could replace them with conventional rubber feet if you wish.. Not an issue for me.I have a small recording studio. Mixing down in the 30HZ range is not the easiest place to mix. I am planning on getting a second one of these for my studio as well.I would be willing to recommend this sub to anyone.

This is an awesome subwoofer. I did spent a good amount of time watching movies, playing varying genres of music and performing frequency sweeps. This woofer and enclosure design will hit way down low, 10 Hz with crystal clarity and perfect pitch and roll. In the higher range it stops around 180 Hz to 200 Hz still clear all the way up. I believe it has been totally under rated in the bad reviews found online.Thank you BIC America, excellent product with a reasonable price.

Using this in my new Dolby Atmos home theatre.Good news is it does not produce a humming noise like some other subs in this price range. No problems with overzealous autostandby either.Bad news is it has port noise and distortion at anything higher than 50% volume. Used it for 3 months with no improvement during the break in period. It's just barely able to fill my 420sq foot room with an audible amount of bass. Due to the horrible port noise and distortion I'm forced to limit the bass to quite low levels. Sending test tones below 20hz, the speaker barely moves at all and produces no useful level of sound. It comes alive around 25hz, which is inline with the listed specs.I expected better for a 200w rms 12" sub in a huge cabinet.Update: after over a year and a half of putting up with this poor performing sub, I initiated a warranty request from BIC America. They were willing to do a warranty service on the amp/power supply, but I had to pay shipping to Anaheim California AND prepay UPS shipping back to me, which would have cost me over $100 in shipping and customs fees. I did not proceed with the warranty return as I felt like I was throwing good money after bad.I ended up communicating with Amazon customer service and after I explained my situation, they gave me a full refund. Very impressed with Amazon, very disappointed by BIC America.Thank you Amazon.

Pour moi a faible intensité et moyen-faible il n'y a aucun son qui sort comparativement a mon caisson de marque ''Paradigm''. Toutefois lorsque l'ont monte le son a moyen-fort ou fort je dois avouer qu'il travaille très bien a mes yeux...OU plutôt... a mes oreilles !! :-) Alors pour moi si vous êtes en appartement et que vous écoutez pas vraiment le son très fort je vous conseil de mettre un peut plus d'argent et acheter un Klipch ou Paradigm qui sont beaucoup plus sensible a volume faible ou mi-faible.

Great low, clear bass. Cabinet finish not black but rather a grey color. This is our 2nd BIC sub (own a BIC RTR 12") and both are great units. Would recommend!

I have a 7.2 amp with 4 towers and 2 book shelves I have a 10 inch floor sub and I bought this one to go with but my 10 inch pounds way harder and way cleaner then this one very disappointed in this product would not recommend this powered subwoofer very sloppy only good thing was shipping on time and packaged well