Pioneer brings serious bass on a budget with its new SW-10-powered subwoofer

By Kris Wouk April 14, 2016

Pioneer SW-10 with speaker family — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Whether you’re looking at putting together a home theater from scratch or upgrading the one you have piece by piece, the subwoofer is a key piece to consider. Not only does bass drive much of the excitement in an action movie, but badly delivered bass can go a long way toward stepping all over the other frequencies to the detriment of the overall sound.

The only problem is that serious subwoofers can cost serious money, but Pioneer Home Entertainment U.S.A. is looking to change that. Today the company announced its new SW-10-powered subwoofer. This sub costs less than $400, and Pioneer claims it provides deep and powerful bass, delivering frequencies as low as 30Hz.

To make the SW-10 as responsive as possible, Pioneer has encased the speaker in a vented enclosure, allowing it to better handle transients (think short, sharp sounds). Rather than a cheaper foam surround, the company has gone for a wide rubber surround, which the company says offers better bass response in a smaller cabinet size, but also should deliver more consistent response for a longer period of time.

Pioneer SW-10 — Image used with permission by copyright holder

The SW-10 is powered by a high-voltage Bash amplifier, delivering a claimed 200 watts RMS and up to 400 watts of peak power. The speaker covers a frequency range of 30Hz to 150Hz, with controls for phase and crossover located on the back of the unit for better fine-tuning.

This subwoofer joins Pioneer’s family of speakers including the SP-FS52 floor-standing speaker, SP-BS22-LR bookshelf speakers, SP-C22 center-channel speaker, and the older SW-8MK2-powered subwoofer. That model only offers a comparatively meager 100 watts of power, so if you’re using that in a home-theater setup and are looking for more power, the SW-10 may be the perfect fit.

The SW-10 powered subwoofer is available now and retails for $350. For more information, see the Pioneer website.

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Kris Wouk is a tech writer, gadget reviewer, blogger, and whatever it's called when someone makes videos for the web. In his…

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