Spec Overview
| Model | ProSub 800 | ProSub 1000 |
|---|---|---|
| Speaker Type | powered, sealed /w passive radiator | (<-- same) |
| Continuous Power | 300 W | (<-- same) |
| Peak Power | not specified | (<-- same) |
| Response Range | 20 - 150 Hz | 18 - 150 Hz |
| Driver Size | 8" | 10" |
| Warranty | 3 years electronics, 5 years non-electronics | (<-- same) |
Review and Discussion
Definitive Technology produces a variety of great mid to high end loudspeakers, and their ProSub mini series, comprised of the 8 inch 800 and 10 inch 1000, are their longstanding entry level subwoofers. They’re well over 10 years old now, but remain quite popular like a lot of their older speakers do.
While most home theater subwoofers are ported and open air, the ProSub subwoofers use a sealed design with a front firing driver and a passive bottom firing radiator. The advantage of this design, if it’s well built, is that you can reproduce a lot of power and range out of a relatively small driver and cabinet.
That is exactly what stands out so much with the smaller 800 – it’s hard to believe that 300 W of continuous power with a response floor of 20 Hz can come out of such a small ~30lb subwoofer, and these are the best specs we’ve seen by far on a compact 8-inch driver subwoofer. The bigger 10 inch version is, unusually, not any more powerful than it’s younger brother, but has a slightly superior response floor of 18 Hz, which is excellent. The only home theater sub we’ve seen get that low is Klipsch’s much newer 15 inch R-112SW, which not to mention is nearly 3 times as large and heavy and much more expensive.
Definitive Technology generally does great design and aesthetics, and even the entry level ProSubs look quite decent. Maybe a little plain with the black vinyl finish, but at least somewhat distinguished with the elliptical foam grill cover, which can be removed. The smaller 800 comes in both black and white but the 1000 only comes in black for some reason. They’ll have to stand on a hard surface for the passive radiator to work properly, but as they’re both on the small and light side, that shouldn’t be too much trouble. Definitive technology offers 3 years of warranty on subwoofer electronics and 5 years on the cabinet and driver non-electronics, which is fairly decent for the price point these are at – some companies will offer 5+ years of coverage all around, or merely 1-2 years on the electronics.
Our Overall Take, As Compared to the Competition
We really like the ProSub 800 just because the specs really are outstanding for the price and for how compact it is. If you need something small and light, but powerful enough to agument mid to high end main speakers, the sub 800 is pretty clearly the best choice. Polk’s PSW111 is the only decent-ish competitor but as long as it’s not much less expensive than the 800, then the latter is the pretty clear winner.
We wished they’d squeezed more power out of the 1000, but since they didn’t it’s not that much superior to the 800, so as long as the smaller is cheaper we say go with that one.
Get the ProSub 800/1000 on Amazon
See our current picks for the overall best budget subwoofers
