Lava LSP12 powered subwoofers are designed and distributed exclusively by Lava, a factory-direct subwoofer manufacturing company based in the U.S. that only manufactures subwoofers. Lava subwoofers are significantly less expensive than their competitor's home subwoofers because they are manufactured and shipped directly to you – free of charge, to boot. Lava subwoofers come with a five-year warranty and a 30-day in-home trial period. If you are dissatisfied with your powered subwoofer, you can send it back within 30 days for a full refund, no questions asked.

The main reason Lava subwoofers rank so low on our lineup is that there is little information about them available, and almost no user reviews. Although we cannot strongly endorse them for that reason, we actually feel that they are worth considering alongside our top-rated home subwoofers, the BIC F-12 and the Emotiva Ultra Sub 10.

The Lava LSP12 has a frequency-response range of 24Hz - 200Hz with a crossover-frequency range of 40Hz - 200Hz that can be controlled by a rotary dial on the sub’s back panel. There is little information available about the type of amplifier used in the LSP12, but it is rated at 250 watts of continuous power. We were unable to learn the details for the dynamic peak output power and maximum volume output level for the LSP12, but they are most likely between 400 and 500 watts and around 110 to 115 decibels, respectively.

Lava home subwoofers have two front-firing ports and front-firing subwoofer speakers with the Lava logo on the cone. The amplifier, speaker and electronics are housed in a sleek cabinet with a lightly textured black vinyl finish and a removable speaker-cloth grill.

Lava home subwoofers are specifically designed to be used in home theater sound systems, and their dual-port design is especially conducive to producing dramatic low-frequency effects. They can also be used to play music, though they will not sound quite as crisp as subwoofer speakers in a non-ported enclosure.

The features of Lava home subwoofers include adjustable volume and crossover-frequency dials, a zero or 180 phase setting, and a signal-sensing automatic on-off setting in addition to separate on and off power settings. They have one LFE input, one stereo RCA low-level input, and two left and right speaker-level binding post inputs.

The LSP12 home subwoofers are covered by an unconditional five-year warranty for parts and labor as well as a 30-day in home trial period with a full money-back guarantee. Lava’s website has some useful information and a downloadable user manual, but no FAQs page or user forum about the home subwoofers. They provide technical support by phone or email. Although we contacted them for more information by email, we never heard back beyond an automatically generated reply stating that they had received our email.