Signature Elite ES10 Powered Subwoofer, Stunning Black

I originally left a review on the Polk Audio PSW10, talking about how I returned it because I was looking to find a solid budget subwoofer, because who really needs to spend $700 on a sub to get good sound. I tried to get away with cheap, tried cheating the system, something decent to match with my good mains for mostly music listening. I knew it really couldn't be done but had some time to kill and wanted to give a shot. So for about four months I demmoed a bunch of budget and low end subs putting them through their paces. I talked about my experience more in depth in that review how I went through them and what I found and the quick TLDR is that cheap is cheap for a reason. I tried the Audioengine S6, Kilpsch R-120, Yamaha NS-SW100, Edifier T5, a Dayton Audio SUB-1000 and the Monoprice SW-10 all sat in the same spot the ES10 is sitting, before I gave up and just bought good quality "semi-expensive" quality subwoofers. They all felt like crap, cheap, and had lots of woof and floppy sound resonance, no tightness, nothing controlled. Sure they were subs and they subbed like a sub, but it was so almost non enjoyable especially with my high quality main monitors that I literally couldn't take it. In short, cheap and expensive really don't compliment each other and cheap doesn't really sound or feel that great. Polk is great, the build quality on it was the best out of all of them, but sound wise it was certainly low end and moreso "entry level" budget. I'm here to tell you as the title of the review states.....Do It Right The First Time!!!!! and just buy this sub if you're looking for a front firing ten inch to blow your mind and ears. Yes...it's a little expensive but it's worth every penny. This things is professional and it's amazing. If you know anything about subwoofers, then you'll know that SVS makes some really good quality stuff, almost the "industry standard" at this point, and this is in the same league with the SVS all day long. I demoed the Polk ES10 against the SVS PB-1000 Pro, and ultimately ended up just staying with the Polk ES10. as I actually enjoyed the sound a bit more. To add to it, the price was right due to prime day so I just went all in. Lets talk about cost, list price is currently $700. Depending on where you live this is gonna run you closer to $760 with tax. On sale it can go as low as $549, and at that price it's an absolute steal. The price at $549 makes this punch well above its weight with almost anything up to the $1200 range in my opinion for a 10 inch sub that is currently offered on market. If you're looking for the 12, I highly recommend the ES12 by Polk Audio (it's bigger brother quite literally) because that thing is awesome as all heck. I actually had it, used it for like a month and it was actually a bit too much for the room, due to being long wide, but short in length. It's a 18 by 11 narrow family room. Hardwood floors. Ease of setup is ease as heck all day. Everything is digitally controlled and uses an LED lighting system to display whether something is on or off or where something is adjusted and set like the phase control and volume. There is no remote control, you get the sub, the grill, the power cable, and a subwoofer that rocks. You plug it in, turn it on, plug your cable into it from your preamp, amp, or receiver, and you're ready to rock. Getting a good sound is easy, this thing sounds amazing right out of the box, quite literally the most perfect sound I could've imagined. Very little setting up needed, just a bit of a tweak here or there and I was good to go. NOW...if you wanna dial it in further to get quite literally perfect sound in your room that is going to be a bit of trial and error like it is with any sub, but this is so much easier and the phase flip allows for a big ol' setup with two of these and a bunch of monitors, making them fit in to blow the roof off. I uploaded a demo video of this playing Lil Wayne, I tried A Mili, Six Foot Seven Foot (what's in the video) and Lolipop, and I felt it in my chest, soul, and mind, and transcended. The next two hours I fell in love with some of my favorite songs all over again. It really blew me away. Top notch delivery of bass to what not only hits hard, but compliments the music. Yes, you can make this stupid dumb punchy and loud so that the cops show up, but you can also set it correctly so that it fills the song out, hits hard, brings low end and burst, while still being a sub and making bass much more heavy and up front. This thing is a ten outta ten in performance, I highly recommend it if you're looking for the best of both worlds, and really want a good tight and punchy bass that stands out but feels like your mix was mixed. It also helps define bad bass from good bass, for trash producers and mixes. As it shows flaws in the music. I love that about this. I've used Polk Audio stuff, but the Elite series is where it starts to get really good. I can't recommend this enough and I highly suggest picking it up if you're looking for GOOD quality designer level high end subwoofing with out going into mega debt. Its price to performance alone is worth it, but overall this not only met my expectations, it murdered them. I can't believe I went this long without having a good sub to provide balanced company my monitor audio silvers. Get it!

Sounds great!

Wow, this Sub is the real deal. It is smooth, and loud and just wonderful! You might want to turn it down a bit, it is pretty loud at default levels.

Great bass response natural sounding worth the money glad I bought it

Great deep and rich bass, works well with the rest of my Polk SE speakers! And, they look fantastic, great styling.

Excelente sound