Rockville Rock Shaker 8" 400W Powered Subwoofer, Deep Bass, Class-D Amp, RCA Inputs, MDF Enclosure, White Finish, for Home Theater & Studio

We ordered this little guy for a secondary system we have. I knew nothing about Rockville and went strictly by other buyers' comments. It came packed insanely, reassuringly well, double-boxed with stiff foam corner inserts, that alone was a positive first impression. As we pulled it from the plastic bagging it was finished very nicely and was of obvious good quality. That impression went to the rear panel, where all the inputs, binding wires and controls seemed durable and of high quality, the rotating controls are quite smooth and not 'cheap feeling' at all. Hooking it to my system took a bit of research, as my older Sherwood receiver does not have separate subwoofer "RCA" outputs. A quick search on You Tube resolved that issue and I found that hooking this sub up as a second set of speakers was the best solution for my application. Yes, that rquired a bit more fuss and wiring, but it paid off, now the balance of the woofer is in step with my primary speakers. It sounds great, plays cleanly and shockingly low, and it takes an organ pedal note in stride, not what I expected from one 8" driver. It takes all you can give it! The cabinet is slightly larger (deeper) than I anticipated, but it fits nicely on the shelf beside my other speakers. So far I'm quite surprised and happy with this speaker! To me it's a bargain and a good value.

Great little sub! Has a great smooth sound, not booming like some. Pares good with my Zvox sound bar! Very easy to set up, and looks good as well.

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=1 With 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.

Works very well for my home theater setup. Check out the videos because how I have them setup is far different than most. I bought 2 of them for 2 surround rear channels. They are super throaty even watching movies. You cannot get that kind of bass on LFE connections because they focus on only the front main channels leaving the rear speakers without any kind of bass. The Rockville Shaker 8's make up for that and do a IMPRESSIVE job at that for your rear surround audio.

Exactly as described..! Excellent product..! Highly recommended..!

I purchased both the 8 inch and 10 inch powered subwoofers, and received more than I expected. These lightweight class D amplifiers can produced plenty of power. After some careful adjustments these basic boxes can belt out some fairly deep bass and keep it clean, very low distortion. Two of these beasties in a medium sized room can do more than justice to your music / home theater system. This frugal audiophile approves. Good job Rockville keep it affordable😎 Update I have 4 eight inch subs, and 2 ten inch subs. The 2 ten inch subs both have an annoying hum dispite using coaxial cable interconnects. They are also prone to distortion and bottoming out at moderate level.

This Rockville Rock Shaker 8" Inch Black 400w Powered Home Theater Subwoofer Sub is incredible! As a Ph.D. in Engineering Technology and an avid music fan of pristine sound, I was immediately taken by this great product! From the packaging, which is the very best I have ever seen, (triple-boxed with excellent-grade quality material), to the very components making up this awesome bargain, I am impressed. Every switch, potentiometer, binding-post, knob, fuse, bottom feet, and the power cord is as good as it gets. The outside construction and finish are impeccable. BUT the Sound will knock you out! The speaker in my Yamaha sub finally went and I saw the price on this and read some reviews and thought why not? WOW, the sound at ANY volume is clear, sweet, and melow, with a touch of snap for bottom support of the music, (down to 20 Hz)! I cannot say enough about this sub, and for $85 bucks shipped Prime on Amazon, it is an outright STEAL! I challenge anyone in finding a better deal for the money! This sub competes with others costing as much as five times more! Buy this baby if you want the deal of 2020, at least so far, in the Subwoofer Market! Bravo for Rockville, all their products seem to be Top-Shelf! And bravo for Amazon again! I don't know how I ever got along before Amazon!

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.