In our last review, we took the Starke Sound Beta5 speakers for a spin, this time we are checking out the massive Brio SW15. The SW15 is, as you might have guessed, a 15″ subwoofer, with a carbon fiber cone and loads of power. With 475 watts of power (RMS) and 950 peak, it is sure to have the power to keep even the biggest basshead happy. But power isn’t everything; control is important too. The SW15 comes in at an MSRP of $599.00 U.S., which is very affordable for a sub of this size and power, so does it shake the paint off the walls, while having the delicacy for even the most discerning audiophile? Let’s take a look at what the SW15 has to offer.

Setup

Subwoofers are really one of the hardest speakers to set up; they are much more picky about position than your mains, as the soundwaves they produce are much longer than the bass produced from your main woofers, mids, and tweeters. They can create powerful nulls where a whole frequency is just missing. In most cases, with a single subwoofer set up you will have to find the best compromise for your room, and for me, that is to the left side of my rack, about a foot and a half off the back wall, and 2 feet from the side wall. It’s not perfect, but I have found this to sound best within the practical limits of my room. Beyond positioning, you have power, phase, and crossover. As my preamp has subwoofer output adjustment, most subs I set around 75% of full on the sub itself, then turn up or down the pre-out level as I can dial it in from my listening position. For the phase, I usually leave them in the normal phase, as the cone is lined up with my main speakers in most cases. If you have to position it differently, you may find adjusting the phase is necessary to keep the time aligned with the rest of your system. Lastly, I adjust the crossover. You want the subwoofer to blend in with your system, not stand out. A good starting point is where your main speakers roll off, then usually I go up a bit from there, so there is some overlap. The best thing you can do is play with different settings until you are happy with the sound, and if you have someone to help adjust the knobs on the back, it can be a lot easier if you can stay in your listening position as they gradually turn the knob until it sounds just right.

As far as connections, you have a left and right line in, a subwoofer in, and a power cord receptacle. Depending on what your preamp has available for outputs will determine which inputs you will want to use. For your inputs, you also have the option to use RCA or XLR for a balanced connection. I was limited to RCA as my Marantz does not have an XLR output. In the theatre, the Onkyo also utilizes RCA. The last thing you will find on the back panel is an auto on off switch. So once you have everything connected and positioned, you are ready to start enjoying the beep bass of the SW15.

Sound:

Subwoofers are always such a fun piece of gear to write about, but can be difficult to write about at the same time. They don’t have the full range of a main speaker to describe, but they are still such an important piece of your system, and I will never tell you “you don’t need one”. While sure you done NEEEEEED one, I have always preferred a system with a subwoofer, they simply handle the low bass better than most full range speakers. Even if you aren’t after chest-pounding bass or house-raddling special effects, there are still sounds in your music that exist at the subbass level, and having a dedicated sub is the best way to hear them. Now, all that said, I do chase that bass you can feel as much as you hear, and while you can get that from a smaller subwoofer, they don’t quite do the job of a 15″ woofer. The bigger the cone, the more air you move, and bass requires a lot of air movement.

When I had the SW15 setup in the theatre room, I knew there was at least one movie I had to watch, and that was Interstellar. Not only is it a good movie in terms of story and acting, but the soundtrack and special effects sounds are great. I have to say the SW15 performed incredibly well. I normally have an SB12 from SVS in that system, but it is a fairly large room, and the extra oomph from the 15″ woofer was very nice to have. The SW15 also had plenty of headroom. I couldn’t have it all the way up, or it was rattling the siding on the house, and overpowered my mains (Paradigm Monitor 6000 series). So if you have a massive space you want filled with those low special effects, the SW15 should have more than enough potential. With it dialed back and blended into the rest of the system, the bass during exposive scenes and the soundtrack was powerful, but clean and detailed. The overall performance has me questioning if the 12″ SVS is enough for that room.

In my two-channel listening room, I paired the SW15 with three different sets of speakers. First was my Sonus Faber Sonetto V, then the Starke Sound Beta5, and finally the YG Cairns. I wanted to see how well I could get it to blend into differnet systems, both in their design, but also price point. The TLDR is that with the right settings its just at home with 500 dollar bookshelf speakers as it is with 10,000 dollar bookshelf speakers, as well as floor standing speakers. I very much expected it to blend in well with the Beta5 as well. Starke makes both so certainly that they will be voiced to play well together, and that is certainly true. I overlapped the crossover a bit with the Beta5 and dialed in the volume, and the SW15 disappeared into the system. Instead of it seeming like a separate speaker, it was like it was part of the Beta5s the whole time. The SW15 provided the low-end foundation that bookshelves often need help with, creating a full range experience. It didn’t need to be loud to sound good, which means loads of headroom and distortion-free bass.

When I swapped in my Sonus Faber Sonetto Vs, I adjusted the crossover a bit and turned up the volume about 15% higher to blend in with the 4 8″ woofers better. Again, it offered support, not dominance, to the system. Though for a bit of fun, I did try it at full volume to see just what it was capable of. At the same listening levels as before, about 50 on the Marantz, the bass was wildly powerful but still remained clean, so if you are the type to want to really feel bass and rattle the house, you can do that without getting flabby, muddy bass. The carbon fiber cone is rigid enough and light enough to move quickly without physical distortion. I am sure there is a volume level at which that happens, but I couldn’t get there before it was too loud for my ears. Normally, I run a Paradigm Defiance 8″ sub in my room as it is a bit smaller, but I’ll be honest, the SW15 has me reconsidering driver size to room size. A big sub doesn’t need to be loud, and it handles bass better than a small driver even in a small room. I noticed the low end was cleaner and more defined. Low frequencies just seemed to have more ease and better overall presentation.

Lastly, I wanted to see if this sub would feel at home with YG Cairns. While they may be the entry-level YG, they are anything but in terms of performance. The Cairns are simply the best bookshelves I have heard, and well, they should be good for around 10k. Once again, a bit of adjusting and it blends right in. I didn’t really doubt that it would, but you never know until you try something. This is my favorite combo I have had in my room. The YGs have such great detail and an incredible mid-range, but lack the low-end of their bigger siblings. With the SW15 in the system, the sound was just bliss; I got lost in the music. The SW15 complemented them so well that it didn’t try to take over or overwhelm the room. This is the first subwoofer I have had that has blended so well into such wildly different systems.

Overall sound impressions are clean, supportive, and authoritative bass. It melts into your system with just a bit of playing with settings, but once you get it, you get it. It never got muddy, or at least it never needed to get turned up high enough to get muddy. It’s a sub capable of both chest-pounding bass as well as being delicate when needed. The amp never got overdriven by the woofer; it had the power and control to keep the driver tamed, which is impressive as the SW15 has a high excursion, and it’s simply a large cone to move. At no point did I hear distortion that wasn’t part of a song. I played everything from dubstep to classical, and each track continued to impress me. Something else I want to mention is that the cabinet itself is built like a tank; it doesn’t vibrate or resonate, which adds to how clean the bass is. If you get cabinet resonances, they can really distort the sound in the room, and I didn’t get any of that.

Pros and Cons

Specs:

Price: $599.00 U.S

Associated Equipment

• Marantz SR7009 Preamp
• VPI Avenger Phono
• VPI Prime with 10″ Unipivot arm on VTA base with Ortofon Quintet Red and Shyla Cartridges
• VPI Forever Model One with Fatboy 12″ with Shyla Cart
• McIntosh MB25 Bluetooth Transceiver
• Geshelli Labs Torc Dac
• Rotel CD-11
• Sonus Faber Sonetto V
• YG Cairn
• Paradigm Monitor 6000 series Atmos theatre
• Paradigm Defiance V8 Sub
• SVS SB12
• Starke Sound Beta 5
• Mcintosh MC 250
• Onkyo M5140
• Synergistic Research Powercell 8 SX
• AVM PCM 3.3
• Synergistic Research Foundation SX cabling
• Synergistic Research Foundation Power Cables

Conclusion

Starke Sound is quickly becoming one of my favorite speaker brands. The SW15 is an incredible subwoofer at a very affordable price for what you are getting. It has authority and control in a way I have not experienced in my own system. It blended into systems comprised of 500 dollar speakers up to 10,000 dollar speakers and was comfortable in either. You could very well carry this subwoofer with you through nearly any upgrade in the rest of your system. It can handle the knarliest dubstep or the calmest classical, creating a sonic foundation for your speakers to build on. I would have no problem having the SW15 as my reference subwoofer. This is a 10/10 product; there is nothing at this price point I can nitpick. I’ve heard better subwoofers, but they cost thousands more, so it’s hard to compare them to the SW15. In its bracket, I think it’s my favorite.

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