For laboratory measurements I used the Sencore SP395A FFT Audio Analyzer. Placing the subwoofer outside, I did groundplane measurements at 1 meter. During the test, when pushed hard I noticed some chuffing from the port and a bit of rattling from the amp.

Listening Tests

My first step was to send a few test tones with the Rives Test CD II. The Speaker Company claims a usable frequency response down to 19Hz. That's got a lot of bass heads real excited - especially at this price point. Using my Radio Shack SPL meter placed on a stand at my listening position, I measured 81dB at 1kHz. Yes I know the sub isn't playing at 1kHz but I wanted to get a relative measure of loudness in my room with my other speakers. This told me that if the T300 was really giving good output down to 19Hz, I should be able to measure something close to that dB level with a lower test tone. When I bumped the Radio Shack corrected tones down to 20Hz and even 25Hz, I got about 76-78dB. Not bad until you consider that it was all port noise and chuffing. It wasn't until the 31.5Hz tone that I got clean output. Now, as I said, my room is heavily treated and is therefore much larger to a sub than the dimensions would suggest. In a smaller room, the 19Hz claim might be valid but in mine, I probably wasn't seeing much usable output under 30Hz.

DVD: Star Wars Episode 2: Attack of the Clones
There is nary an Audioholics without a mental (sometimes physical) list of their favorite bass scenes. One of my personal favorites (mostly because it gives so many subwoofers problems) is the flyover scene at the beginning of Episode 2. Sure the acting and questionable and the direction… well, I've beaten that dead horse enough. The T300 did a good job holding up to this demanding scene. At medium volumes the sub sounded very linear and deep. While it didn't have nearly the visceral impact of my reference Axiom EP500, it hit fairly deep and linearly. When pushed, I could hear a bit of strain and compression during the loudest/deepest portions but overall it held up well.

DVD: Dark Knight
I love it when a movie like this comes out - great action flick with lots of reference material. The most recent in the "Christian Bale does it better" line of sequels delivers with a gritty flick and arguably Heath Ledger's greatest performance. This particular movie I watched at "wife reference" level. This equates to as loud as I can turn it without having the wife come out and yell at me for waking her up. You'd probably call it "almost loud enough." At this volume, the T300 real shone with tons of extension and impact. It blended well with the rest of the system and was forceful when it needed but not overpowering when it wasn't. Honestly, about half way through the movie the thought occurred to me that I might consider switching out the EP500 for it. While it didn't have the chest-thumping ability of the larger sub, its smaller size and ease of moving it around seemed to be a good tradeoff. Or so I thought.

Blu-ray: Serenity
During the review of the T300 my AV Rant home theater podcast sponsored PS3 arrived. I thought about holding out on my first Blu-ray purchase for something meaningful (like the extended versions of Lord of the Rings) but when I saw Serenity on sale for $16.99, I couldn't resist. DTS Master Audio didn't hurt either. With the wife and kids out of the house and my system cranked, I settled in for a wild ride. Well, the T300 provided a few bumps right away. At the beginning of the movie there are a few really low notes that had the sub chuffing and clanging like a train. I'm pretty sure I bottomed out both the woofers. I tried recalibrating my system and even defeating the Velodyne SMS-1, but nothing helped. Nothing except lowering the volume. The T300 had clearly met its match - at least in my room. In a smaller (or at least enclosed) room, you're probably not going to run into these problems and honestly, for 90% of my listening I didn't either. But throughout the movie I could hear the sub straining and compressing even at lower volumes. Don't get me wrong, the T300 seems to be a great little sub, but it just isn't going to be able to fill up a large room by itself. Of course, at this price you could get two or four…

For a comparison, I decided the hook up my Axiom EP500 to see how much better a sub at 3x's the price could do. I was a bit surprised to find that I could also hear the EP500 strain a bit with this passage. This was only at the loudest volumes and even then the rattling of the dishes in the kitchen and pictures in the hallway nearly completely covered it up. Suddenly, this piece has become my new subwoofer killer.

My experience with the T300 was pretty well bourn out through all my listening tests. With music, in particular, the sub was great… as long as I didn't turn the volume up too much. As soon as I did, the output would compress and start to sound flat and boomy. At normal listening volumes, the sub was musical and performed very well. It just couldn't take the lowest or the loudest. What is obviously in need here is a subsonic filter. This feature, often bemoaned by bassheads, essentially limits the lowest output of a subwoofer to protect it from bottoming out or distorting. In my opinion, it is better to have a sub that only hits down to 25Hz but does so cleanly rather than a sub that tries for 15Hz with nothing but distortion or port noise below 25Hz.

Conclusion

Given my previous experience with tSc, I probably had unrealistically high expectations for the T300. For the price, it has really impressed me. Usually, with an online retailer, a well performing sub is either huge in size or huge in price. The T300 manages to pack a lot of performance in a very small box. I'd like to report that the T300 passed all my tests with flying colors… but it didn't. For a smaller to perhaps medium sized room, the T300 is too good of a deal to pass up. For larger rooms, you're going to need a bit more, perhaps two or four T300s. The 19Hz extension claim, while possible when in the right room at low SPL levels, probably won't be realized for users in larger rooms. At this price point, you're going to have to expect some tradeoffs. But if the tradeoff is, "don't put it in a huge room," you're getting a great bang for your buck. The Speaker Company has another great deal on their hands, for the right buyer.

tSc T300 Subwoofer

$379.97

The Speaker Company
100 Corporate Drive
Mahwah, NJ 07430

www.thespeakercompany.com

About tSc
We offer quality speakers and speaker systems at discount prices. From towers, satellite speakers, in-walls, bookshelves and surround systems as well as headphones and iPod Docking stations The Speaker Company offers a full line of speakers & accessories.