Sony SA-W3800 Performance Line 15" 200-Watt Subwoofer
By: Sony Average Rating: 4.5 Total Reviews: 28
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 On: 2008-05-23
At $160.00 and free shipping, it was a lot cheaper than the 12" version. I was concerned that it could be overkill in my smallish living room, but since it opens into my kitchen and the ceiling is vaulted, total volume is 4000 cu ft. Velodyne recommends an 18" woofer for that room size!
So, it does look big sitting in the corner, like a big black coffee table, but sonically it blends in nicely with my old Realistic Minimus 7 mini speakers. It isnt boomy at all in my setup, even though I have it backed tightly into the corner. In fact, its quite subtle. It only barks when its supposed to, unless you turn the volume up louder than necessary to balance with the other speakers. It goes pretty low, but it wont knock picture frames off the wall, at least it wont in my house.
Verdict: Big, decent fit and finish, and very good sound for the money. Just dont expect audiophile tightness and power at that price. It aint gonna crack the plaster off the wall, youll have to spend more if you want that.
 On: 2008-04-30
My Audio/Video system consisted of Martin Logan electrostat speakers in the front array with B&Ws in the rears. I had been using a thousand dollar plus Velodyne for a sub but I was never quite happy with it as it seemed to leave a significant gap in the upper base regions. The Velodyne is truly high end and excellent gear but it just wasnt a good match for my system. I took a gamble and got this 15" Sony and I couldnt be happier. the crossover goes all the way up to 200hz but I backed mine off just a tad. Finally, the system was fully balanced. The bottom end spectrum is full and tight without being boomy. This is an incredible buy for the money and it sounds great with video as well as with music.
On: 2008-04-21
This sub is amazing! I only have the gain turned up approx half way and when I crank my receiver while watching movies, my house rumbles from the bass! I upgraded to the Sony SA-W3800 because my old sub (an 8-inch Polk Audio sub that came with my 5.1 package) wasnt putting out enough bass to keep up with the satellite speakers. I did a decent amount of research and for the price, this Sony sub won hands down! Along with it, I purchased the Sony SSF-7000 floor speakers to use as my main fronts. As a whole, it sounds amazing and there is enough bass to make my wife and I feel like were in the movies! The only complaint I have is the size of the unit. Obviously, it is a very large speaker so it had to be housed in a large cabinet. I post two pictures above of the speaker in our living room so you could get an idea of the size. I highly recommend this sub, but make sure you have room for it!! The strong, low bass will make you feel like youre in a theater and/or part of the movie!
On: 2008-04-09
The second unit arrived in acceptable condition and worked as expected. The first unit shipped arrived in a package that appeared as if it had been shipped via Bagdad and used as anti-personnel explosives shield. If I had any idea there was a photo review I would have taken pictures. Remarkably, there was only slight damage to the first unit - but enough to require return. The return was made via Amazon and was painless and quick. They handled everything without a hitch, which was a relief.
On: 2008-04-09
This sub has great bass. I have it going at about 70% and sound is real good. If you turn it up all the way it will shake everything and all you hear is bass. It gives a good, clean sound and I would recommend it and the price to everyone.
On: 2008-03-30
All i can say is wow... This thing produces alot of bass ;] I love it i want to buy another one..
On: 2008-03-14
Ok first of all I got this sub on sale and it was a great price even if it worked half as good as it should. This is my first sub because my front speakers have 12" woofers I never felt the need to get more lower base. I NEVER KNEW WHAT I WAS MISSING! Movies have come alive and music has never sounded better. This sub produces rich deep base that will go right through your bonez. I keep checking the furniture placement because I know its moving my furniture when it goes off.
My audio test uses Ice Age special edition disk 2 as a base-line for improvements and I play the squirrel short video which has about every special sound effect possible. WOW when he hits the ground near the end this sub makes you jump. It also has a wide range and is very tunable to your system.
Now for the bad; I do not like the controls on the back of the unit. It seems that I play with the volume quite a bit and on some of the shows it is just better not used and I turn it off. The auto off function works great and I have not had a problem with it turning off the unit during a movie. The controls issue is a small one and I am sure I could control it better thru my A/V unit but dont know how yet. Overall great bang for the buck!
On: 2008-03-06
this is a great sub, but the external amp does take up space (4") and is very ugly, but who looks behind the sub when they come in your home anyway? i have the subs volume set a little more than half, and the freq. was as little tricky. i had it set to 200Hz but the bass was to flat, so i lowered it to about 80-100Hz and now it hits just right. gonna try to get another at this price. free shipping, and it got here 5 days ahead of schedule. hope this helps you with your purchase, cause i love mine.............:-)
On: 2008-03-02
After about 8-10 hours my 3800 broke-in and sounded fairly good. It has quite a rumble which is what I was looking for since I have 4 12" speakers in my towers and a 10" Yamaha yst315 sub. The 3800 before being broken in was not punchy at all and even after being broken in it isnt quite up to par with more high end units. I purchased the sub about a week ago for 159.99 and went with the free shipping and it arrived in 3 days! For that price I dont think anything can touch this sub. If you are wanting this for music keep in mind that it takes everything from about 65-70Hz down and makes it sound like one big rumble before it is broken in and only has a little tighter more defined base after the break in period. My understanding of the built in amp is that it is a 200w peak and 100w RMS although for that amount of power it seems to do much more than I would expect.
My entertainment center consists of Denon 4806 av receiver, Klipsch Floorstanding speakers a Samsung Plasma and PS3 for Blu-Ray, Economical 10" Yamaha sub and now 15" Sony as my secondary sub.
What I really was looking for is something that would add a deeper rumble for movies and since cost was an issue and my wife is ok with a huge black sub the Sony W3800 has been a perfect fit for me.
If your situation is like mine purchase this sub as soon as it goes on sale or sooner but if your looking for a tight clean punch for music and you want to stay under $450.00 the Yamaha 315 is the way to go from the selection I have listened to.
On: 2008-03-01
It took me 6 months to find the right sub. I live in a 850 sq ft loft with 12 foot ceilings. My budget was limited to $300.00. I tried a few subs from 8-12 in. None gave me the punch I was looking for. I got this one for a steal at half my budget.
Baby this box rocks! Music, movies- this is what I was searching for. I am not an audiophile. I beleive more is more. I wanna feel the bass in my gut (movies AND music). In my loft I can play my music as loud as I want (and I do).
The only reason I do not give this 5 stars is because there is no fuse and the esthetics of the unit (cheesy contact paper like exterior).
BTW- mine came damaged. The corner had a 1/2" chip from being dropped in transit. I do not care to be without this unit so I am not sending it back! A little glue and I can live with the flaw.
Love this thing!
On: 2008-02-23
When I first got this sub, honestly, I was disappointed. It didnt hit as hard as the 12 inch sony sub that I already had. I played different music on it for a few hours the night I got it and when the woofer broke in, WOW! It hits hard enough it shakes my night light out of the socket in my bathroom at the back of my house. I can now enjoy my favorite music and get a back massage at the same time. Great sub for the money, very pleased. :)
On: 2008-02-19
This replaced a sony 200 watt dual 10" sub woofer that stoped working. And it is great. Dont even have to turn it all the way up it is great for movies! This thing is huge looks like a coffee table with a speaker in it.
On: 2008-02-16
I added this sub to my Bose AM10 system via a Sony ES receiver in a 22x24 room. It is suber. It adds a lot of depth even at low volumes. At higher volumes it shakes the house. There are several hook up options. I used the supplied RCA cable to the sub out on the receiver. I still think someone is walking in the house all the time. Buy it, you can feel it.
On: 2008-02-08
I have a theater in a 12X20 foot room and I am extremely pleased with this subwoofer. I stole it for $163 and free shipping. It fills the room with great bass and goes low enough to shake the sofa. I plan on buying another at this price and placing it between the other speaker and center channel. This is only because I can always tell where the bass is coming from even though many say bass is non-directional. For those with smaller rooms you cant go wrong. This thing is a rumbling workhorse. I havent used it much with music but for movies, trust me when I tell you this sub completes the experience.
 On: 2008-02-02
I bought this for listening to music... loud. I got it, unpacked it, hooked it up, it sounded great. It produced loud, deep bass, albeit less punchy than Id like, but it was still great for the price. A few weeks after putting it thru some decent abuse including several multi-hour sessions at 80-90% volume, the voice coil melted and it no longer produced clean sound. I was pretty disappointed, especially because I didnt keep it up against its high volume setting and the sound source was clean and clear, and the fact that it said Sony on it. I replaced it with a Polk PSW-505, which is $100 more, but worth every dollar. The Polk unit much clearer, produces a hard punch, has much better build quality, and has withstood the rigors of listening to loud music day-in, day-out. If you plan on using your subwoofer occasionally, at lower volumes, or for a home theater its perfect. The Sony unit ran thru all the THX sound clips with ease and produced very low, accurate bass, but simply did not deliver the kind of punch required to give the impact of a bass drum nor did it put up with my daily music listening demands.
On: 2008-01-30
170 dollars to my door,thats what this beautiful peice of equipment cost me.this sub is well constructed with plenty of house shaking power.at this price it is the deal of the century,buy them up while there avaiable at these prices.your entertainment center will be glad u did.
On: 2008-01-30
I have to say this is an excellent sub for the price. I agree with the earlier review of this product in that if you are upgrading from a surround sound system in a box, this sub will be a major leap. The sound is great for movies and even music playback, and produces major bass. You cant go wrong with this sub when comparing price and performance. It sounds as good as a sub costing hundreds more in its class. The only drawbacks I could see with this sub is that its not fuse protected like say the Cerwin-Vega line of home subs. It is also rated to handle up to only 200 watts max of power/peak performance, so it is possible to blow the speaker coils and/or built-in amp if you expect to use this at extreme loud volumes for long periods, for like say,... a house party. For that ticket, Ive purchased and would recommend the 300 watt Cerwin Vega Classic Series CLSC-15S Powered Subwoofer, A TRUE BEAST! See my review for that product here on Amazon.com!
On: 2008-01-28
This baby is BIG! I loooooove the big bass. Its a great addition to my music stereo system. $160 is an awesome price for a woofer of this magnitude, and it showed up on my front porch only three days later with standard ground shipping! I definitely recommend this product. Thanks Amazon!
On: 2008-01-25
I think the last guy needs to adjust the frequency settings on the back of the amp. The Bass from this sub hits hard and deep, if its too boomy then you have the frequency set too high. This sub really drops in the lows very nice making the whole room and house shake. When you factor in the great price of this sub it becomes one of the best speaker buys Ive ever made.
On: 2008-01-22
This is really a great deal for $160 delivered. Im exchanging the one I got due to damage but I got to test it for a bit. Ill get to the problems first. Its made of 11/16-inch particleboard and they made a poor attempt at bracing. They did make an attempt, see pics above. Also the auto sense feature doesnt work at low volumes. The casing on the amp is cheap thin plastic, but thats not much of an issue. It is ugly in the back. Thats the bad. The speaker is about 12lbs with about a 60oz magnet, maybe more. Its hard to tell. It has a nice large rubber roll (see pics) It pushes a lot of air. Thats good. It also has a fast response for such a large speaker. Its fairly quick. I found it good with music. Not bad at all. Movies you just cant go wrong. The only way someone would give this a bad review is if they had a poor signal going to it or they have speakers that cannot compliment this sub. Its a dead giveaway as to what they own. For the $ I should give it 5 stars, but I will be making my own cabinet for this. Sony already did the port specs and dimensions. I just need to cut some mfd and laminate. Sony subs come with the amp screwed onto the outside of the box. Its not a plate, so a homemade box will have the uglies in the back as well.
This sub has a pass through signal, auto sense (not at very low volume), left/right speaker out and phase. You can set the amp to normal and not auto sense. Overall, this speaker pushes more air than any other speaker in its price range (now) and it sounds good. Super buy. The pictures should give an idea of what your getting.
On: 2008-01-20
5 stars for value, 3 stars for home theatre performance, 1 1/2 star for music performance.
If you are stepping up from a "home theatre in a box" or putting together a modest/starter home theatre, this a great value. You will get plenty of deep, good volume booms and bangs with your movie viewing at a decent volume, so if that is the main thing that youre after then this sub just might be the perfect solution. The delivered price, especially when Amazon reduces it, is a rare bargain so the risk of trying it for yourself is pretty low. Make sure you have the space for it, it is big and hefty. The build quality is surprisingly good. The laminated cabinet looks and feels more expensive than you might expect.
If you are picky at all about bass quality in your music, then you might not be too happy with this sub at any price. The reason for that is that it boomy and does not have the cleaner tight sound of more expensive subs. Proper positioning will help some, and if you are careful to keep the volume low enough it can work decent enough. Of course if you like that boomy type of bass and dont care much about musical accuracy, then you may be satisfied with this sub.
Pros: Excellent value, perfect entry level sub for home theatre, solidly built, good looks, loud.
Cons: Not musical, boomy, big (if your space is limited).
Other subs owned: Sony WX600 (discontinued), Sony WX700 (discontinued),
Klipsch, REL, Hsu.
On: 2008-01-03
Man i bought 1 of these from the review on amazon and let me tell you,this thing sounds like i have a car in my room from outside. I live in an apartment this sub hits so hard neighbors dont even complain anymore they just give me mean looks. Now i got 2 working on 2 more ha ha ha ha.
On: 2008-01-02
Man i bought 1 of these from the review on amazon and let me tell you,this thing sounds like i have a car in my room from outside. I live in an apartment this sub hits so hard neighbors dont even complain anymore they just give me mean looks. Now i got 2 working on 2 more ha ha ha ha.
On: 2007-12-29
$160 Free shipping, Great Bass and real brings movies to life. The bass rattles my living room and makes you feel the action movies.
On: 2007-12-28
This sub is BIG period !! Well constructed and in a way bulky, because of the amplifier cover on the back of the sub the plastic cover is about 4 in depth; making the total depth about 20 The sub performs very well and YES all my windows/doors/cabinets/ rumble. (Especially when i am playing Call of Duty 4) I like the low frequency response pretty unique of subs. Usually only high end sub go down to the 20hz, but this Sony does it well. The sub also comes with a cheap subwoofer cable but i would get a better performing one. I bought a Monster Ultra 1000 THX for $40 on eBay. The sub also had a AUTO on/off option and it WORKS with my Yamaha RX-N600 network receiver. One thing that shows quality in the sub is the rubber surrounding on the sub ( not no cheapo foam ones ). My total 6.1 Aperion speaker surround compliments this sub very well. ALSO spend some time tweaking freq. to your needs i always seem to be adjusting it depending on what im watching/hearing but thts just me. Placement is a key also. OVERALL for the price this sub rocks my movie/video experience to the next level, 15" of slap!
 On: 2007-12-28
WHat is up with Amazons and its wide fluctuation in price...i am very unhappy at this "price game" they are playing; not only on this product but others; i would say i am a very loyal Amazon customer but this fluctuation in price in period of weeks to months is f@uckin pissin me oFF.
On: 2007-11-19
I saw one in Best Buy and it really didnt impress me. I didnt know the one in Best Buy was a 10 inch woofer. When it arrived it looked like something out of a Godzilla movie.
Wow!! This thing is big!! Hooked it up and all I can say is ........I hope they dont want this thing back. It is great. It can shake sugar off a Frosted Flake!!! It is that good. I never thought I would say this but........ it is actually too deep. It will make your chest hurt. Or maybe the chest pain came from the 2 pack-a-day cigars I smoked for ten years. I digress.
If the villagers came with pitchforks and torches for the "Monster" I would have to protect it. LOl LOl Seriously, buy this thing and you will spend the rest of your days finding components to match this thing. Im off on my soujourn. Wish me well. Shalom,Peace,Adios.....Out!
On: 2007-11-18
I saw one in Best Buy and it really didnt impress me. I didnt know the one in Best Buy was a 10 inch woofer. When it arrived it looked like something out of a Godzilla movie.
Wow!! This thing is big!! Hooked it up and all I can say is ........I hope they dont want this thing back. It is great. It can shake sugar off a Frosted Flake!!! It is that good. I never thought I would say this but........ it is actually too deep. It will make your chest hurt. Or maybe the chest pain came from the 2 pack-a-day cigars I smoked for ten years. I digress.
If the villagers came with pitchforks and torches for the "Monster" I would have to protect it. LOl LOl Seriously, buy this thing and you will spend the rest of your days finding components to match this thing. Im off on my soujourn. Wish me well. Shalom,Peace,Adios.....Out!
On: 2007-10-22
Very happy with this product. Bass is rich and deep. Comparable to most expensive brands for much less. Movies and Music comes to life with this unit.
On: 2007-10-03
"Stole" this thing from Amazon for $152 including shipping!
Um....Big! Robust!
No plastic, or gimmicky trim. All wood, rubber, and metal, except for back amplifier cover.
Heavy rubber surround, and stiff cone that looks like it should still be around 50 years from now!
I couldnt even come close to building some cheapo, home-made, 15" sub for this kind of money!
When was the last time you were able to buy a new 51 lb. quality, audio component for $152.00 delivered? NEVER!
This thing is the best bang for the buck Ive ever seen.
Buy one, or even two now before they change their minds on these absurd prices!
On: 2007-10-02
"Stole" this thing from Amazon for $152 including shipping!
Um....Big! Robust!
No plastic, or gimmicky trim. All wood, rubber, and metal, except for back amplifier cover.
Heavy rubber surround, and stiff cone that looks like it should still be around 50 years from now!
I couldnt even come close to building some cheapo, home-made, 15" sub for this kind of money!
When was the last time you were able to buy a new 51 lb. quality, audio component for $152.00 delivered? NEVER!
This thing is the best bang for the buck Ive ever seen.
Buy one, or even two now before they change their minds on these absurd prices!
On: 2007-08-06
This new sub brought Movies and Music to life. Wow! I am completly happy with this Sony sub and the price was the best Ive found after surching hours on the internet. An added bounus was it arrived several days ahead of scedule. Cool! Quality,Price, and shiping speed, all good reasons to shop amazon.comSony SA-W3800 Performance Line 250 Watt Subwoofer
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