Rock Shaker 8" White Powered Subwoofer Home Theater

I bought this because I didnt want to pay the 1500 dollars i originally spent on the Sonance son of Sub that was originally on my home system. To my joy it put out great sound and meshed really well. It was WAY CHEAPER in price than anything else and it is perfect, run it every day no issues at all. Was super simple set up and hides well behind my cabinet.

I added the Rockville Rock Shaker 8" subwoofer to a pair of small Energy Take 2 speakers in my kitchen, and the difference is night and day. Those speakers sound great for their size, but they just don’t have much low end. This sub fills in the bottom beautifully and makes the whole system sound fuller and more balanced.What really impressed me is how tight and controlled the bass is. It’s not boomy or muddy — just clean, punchy low frequencies that blend perfectly with the main speakers. For the price, it’s honestly remarkable how good this thing sounds.Setup was simple, the build quality feels solid, and it delivers way more performance than I expected at this price point. If you have small speakers that need some help in the bass department, this subwoofer is a fantastic upgrade.Highly recommended.

Wow, now this is another one of those audio products where initially I didn't even know where to begin.Alright, let me paint the picture on how I use my audio gear in order to set the stage. I used to be a hard-core audiophile years ago - actually, make that some 30 years ago. Since then I've retired and my cash flow scenario is quite limited. I haven't lost my audio standards - not by a long shot! However, the way I satisfy my audiophile cravings now-a-days is to maintain a desktop system by my desktop computer. I use a variety of DAC's (these things have spoiled me to the max), along with a variety of active (self-powered) Edifier speakers - those specifically being the R2000DB, the R1850DB, the R1700BT, and the 3000 Pro. Each of these speaker systems are capable of providing superb sound qualities, dependent on what you feed them with. Currently, I have the wonderful Edifier R1850's set up on either side of my 27" monitor. I previously had a 10" Velodyne woofer system setup under my desk, running longer Blue Jeans Cables LC-1 cables from them to the speakers.OK - now read closely here. Many folks falsely believe that you "must" have a subwoofer output on your active speaker for you to attach a subwoofer. Nothing could be further from the truth. The key here is find a powered subwoofer that has "both" RCA inputs and outputs. What you do then is to attach RCA audio cables running from either a DAC, or an Amplifier, or a Receiver to the inputs of the active subwoofer. Now use another set of RCA cables connected to the outputs on the active subwoofer to your active speakers. Now on the back of these subwoofers (the kinds who have both input and output RCA terminals), there should also be a frequency adjustment knob - or a switch. You just then set the frequency to the desire crossover frequency and what will happen then is that only those frequencies above the crossover point will be routed to your active speakers.My 15 year old Velodyne 10" active subwoofer has both of these RCA terminals (in and out), along with a remote, and various crossover knobs and switches. The problem is that the Velodyne is much too large and I constantly wound up hitting it with either my leg or chair. So I had to move the Velodyne to downstairs by my theater system arrangement.So what to do for a smaller replacement? I look at countless active subwoofers from a wealth of brands on Amazon and other outlets, all to little avail. I'd say that 98% of the available active subwoofers either have just one set of RCA inputs (no outputs), or they have just one subwoofer input connector.However, I did find two smaller (both 8") subwoofers that also included the "output" RCA connectors, and these are the:Emotiva Airmotiv S8 - 8" powered subwoofer (with both input and output RCA connections) - priced at $299 and is built like a tank with superb, tight, low frequency extension capabilities.and on the other end of the spectrum...The Rockville Shaker 8" active subwoofer that is nowhere as nicely constructed as the Emotiva above and only costs $95 or so - but it also has both input and output RCA connections - which is what intrigued me about this budget offering. Please read on...The Emotiva subwoofer was out of stock, otherwise I would have jumped on that one. So as a matter of sheer curiosity, I ordered the Rockville Shaker.When it arrived, I was pleasantly surprised to see it triple boxed, indicating that unless a truck runs over it, Rockville have ensured that the subwoofer will arrive quite safely. By the same token, I was also stunned at how light everything was - almost as if the weight was just the cardboard boxes (and not the contents).After opening the box and removing the subwoofer, I was sort of disappointed at how light it was - as if there were no guts or speakers at all in the very light enclosure. There was nothing special about the enclosure and it feels like it was composed of a very thin wood material. I looked through the subwoofer port in the rear and didn't see anything special - noticing what appeared as a generic speaker as the woofer. I couldn't see the electronics. On the other-hand, the rear with all of the inputs/outputs turned into a welcomed, pleasant surprise. There I witnessed far more options that you'd see on only far more expensive powered subwoofers to include the rarely found RCA inputs and outputs. It also has a removable AC power cord.So I plugged everything in, and selected roughly an 80-90 Hz crossover point using the frequency adjustment knob. The Edifier R1850DB's that I was using at the moment had a 4.5" woofer, so I felt that an 80-90 HZ crossover point would be ideal. A frustrating thing here is that the frequency adjustment knob has no indents or clicks and moves freely and easily. In addition, all the little indent markings do not have any frequencies written by them, so you're left guessing what they are. You have 150 HZ all the way to the right and 50 HZ at it's lowest turnover point to the left - but in between, there is nothing marked and the small indent markers are not logical (such as expected 5 or 10 HZ increments). Instead, they appear more like 3.5 HZ or some other strange scenario - so you're left guessing (ball park I suppose) at the frequency you are looking for the crossover point.In addition, if you don't have powered main speakers, you also have input and output speaker connections (using banana plugs) on the rear of the Rockville - another nice surprise.Alright - now on to the sound (bass). Now what I discovered is that yes, the Rockville will add a tremendous amount of bass, but you have to be very, very careful where you set the subwoofer volume level. I found that I moved the subwoofer volume level to just the 3rd or 4th indent level up to achieve the ideal balance between natural bass and the rest of the audio spectrum with the main speakers, otherwise the rest of your music will be overpowered with heavy, boomy bass.What I also noticed is that I was so glad that Rockville provided a removable power cord because with this power cord, the bass sounded more bloaty - not as tight as more expensive subwoofers. I noticed this specifically with instruments in a classical orchestra such as the string bass or cello that sounded overly boomy and bloating. I then reached for one of my audiophile power cords (which are quite thick and weighty), removed the stock thin power cord that came with the Rockville, and attached the WAudio 3.3FT AC Power Cable 10AWG HiFi Audiophile Power Cord with US Plug IEC Connector. The link for this cable on Amazon is (copy and paste the link if need be):https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01L2MBYWC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1With this audiophile quality cord attached, the quality of the bass was improved substantially, with tighter, less boomy qualities. I still maintained the volume level at 3 to 4 notches and everything balanced out nicely. The lower registers are handled with aplomb and the overall sound features a added richness. Now keep in mind that if the music you are listening to has no bass, don't expect the subwoofer to conjure up some bass. I always have to laugh when I hear some folks complain that a speaker has no bass - in particular, when certain musical arrangements may not call for bass. You'd be quite surprised to witness how many folks out there wish that their speakers "had more bass," as if to imply that the woofers should somehow "add" bass notes where none are called for.I realize all of this was wordy, but I wanted the readers to understand where I'm coming from. And why did I give this Rockville Shaker subwoofer 4 stars? Well quite frankly, for $95 USD, the overall build-quality and light weight will have you shaking your head with slight disappointment, but in the end the bass sound qualities can have you smiling. Now is this the subwoofer to add if you have $5000 main speakers? Hell NOOOOOOOOO. I would strongly recommend this Rockville for use under the desk of a computer system where the user has smaller bookshelf speakers on either side of a monitor or laptop. You will become quite surprised at how good this combo will sound.Now in revisiting the "add-ons" that I provided, it is always important to note that upgrading things like cables and in this case, an audiophile quality AC cable also - will bring incremental improvements to the sound reproduction. The cable I suggested above is inexpensive and you will be quite shocked at how large it is, but it will help quite a bit in tightening up that bass - that's for sure.I still intend on getting the Emotiva when they get it back in stock, but I'm downright satisfied with what I'm getting from this Rockville unit. Again - considering the inputs, outputs, and other options on the rear of the Rockville 8" Shaker subwoofer, the ridiculously low price of it ($95 USD and free shipping) - along with the bass output - assigning it 4 stars was not difficult. If it had a better build quality and heft to the system, I would have assigned it 5 stars. But hey...for under $100 USD, you must factor in that you get what you pay for.As is the case with any review of any audio product, your mileage may vary with how you use the items.

Great frequency range and signal to noise ratio for the price. Units costing 2 times and more don't have the same StoN and range as this does. Makes it an excellent until for our Harmony Kardon receiver to handle HK's wide frequency range. Thought it was to good to be true. Came through and delivered crisp, clear, bass that you can feel and hear for the full subwoofer experience. Don't believe there's a better unit out there even for 2 to 3 times it's price

The subwoofer sound has a rich and deep bass.

It's OK, it's not ground shaking bass that you can feel in your spine but it does pick up the low frequencies and adds depth to the sound that you would not have had without it. I was satisfied, not impressed but satisfied. Until it died.The cone came loose from the driving magnet and instead of a base rumble it sounded like electronic flatulence. This seriously ruined the sound quality to the point where you wouldn't be able to listen to a movie or music. This happened about a year and a half after buying it. If you only get a year and a half of service from a subwoofer, it's not a very good subwoofer.I decided to bite the bullet when this died and bought a Klipsch Monitor R-125W 400 watt 12 inch subwoofer here on Amazon for $189. If you can't afford the really high end stuff (I can't) and want to buy your subwoofer only once, save up your money and get that one. This Rockville Rock Shaker is long on hype and short on longevity.I know it's not fair to compare an 8 inch to a 12 inch subwoofer but seriously, the sound quality of the Klipsch R-125 is well worth the $80 more that it cost. I hooked up the Klipsch without changing any settings and that was a mistake. I had to dial way back on the AVR settings that the Rockville was running on, it ticked off my neighbors to feel base reverberations in their spines. The nearest neighbor is over 250 yards away ...So I'm not driving the Klipsch as hard as I was this Rockville and I'm getting orders of magnitude more and better sound out of it. Driving it less should allow it to last longer too. Klipsch makes real audio gear, even if the R-125W is the low end of the range for them. This Rockville thing is not anywhere near that. May it Rest in Peace in that dark and hot place all evil subwoofers go.

I purchased one for my shop. I liked it so much I purchased a second one for my in home theater system. Deep clean base at a good price. Highly recommend this sub-woofer.

The price caught my eye, plus this unit accommodates old receivers with no sub output which solidified my decision. For the price I really didn’t expect anything but just a little bass to supplement a set of bookshelf speakers Polk (ES15)s. I snickered while unpacking the speaker being that it seemed somewhat light for a sub. And yes the feel of the materials of the cabinet, understandably, does have the feeling of cheapness to it. Still not expecting much out of it, I hooked it up, turned it on and played with the controls, they feel pretty good. After messing with the knobs a little I stood back, walked around, and shook my head in amusement at how good this thing is. It certainly can’t match the 400 watt, 12 inch Polk Signature HTS I’ve got, but for what it is and cost, I would definitely recommend anyone getting one. Not just for the workshop or for gaming, but even for a dedicated listening room and or small movie theater room. I never heard of Rockville but now I might just keep an eye out for their other products.

Product is amazing just like Amazon 👍