SUBWOOFERS, AN ESSENTIAL component for every home theater system. Unless you have an extraordinary set of speakers the same holds true for a two-channel setup, you need a sub to reinforce the bottom end. While their contribution is critical for the reproduction of full-range sound, for the most part they aren’t much to look at. Often little more than square black cabinets, subwoofers rarely enhance the aesthetics of your HT room. I’ve reviewed over 50 of them in the past 12 years and in that time very few have visually differentiated themselves from the rest. The Starke Sound SW15 is no exception from an appearance perspective, but can it stand out from the crowd in some other way?
Price would be the first potential area, you certainly won’t find many quality sealed subwoofers with a 15-inch driver selling for $699. Starke Sound has the cost aspect covered, but what about sound quality and performance?
Benjamin Franklin is attributed with having said “the bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten”. In other words a low purchase price is an initial win perhaps, but over the long haul you may regret not having spent more. Thus far the scorecard shows that appearance can be considered fairly generic and the price is quite reasonable. The only thing left to determine is how the
