Velodyne Acoustics is a well-respected manufacturer of home subwoofers with more than 25 years’ experience designing and producing amazing subwoofer speakers that they claim are the finest subs in the world. Their Impact Series subwoofers, including the Velodyne Impact 12, are state-of-the-art powered subwoofers that are designed to provide the amazing bass that Velodyne is known for at an affordable price.

These Velodyne home subwoofers have many of the same features as the top-rated BIC F-12 and the Emotiva Ultra Sub 10, including variable crossover and volume, multiple input types and a signal-sensing automatic on-off setting. The Impact 12’s unassuming cabinet is designed to blend into the corner of a room and not call attention to itself – at least in standby mode. When it’s pumping out powerful low-frequency effects (LFE), however, its presence will be unmistakably felt.

Impact 12 home subwoofers have a built-in maximum dynamic power (MDP) Class D amplifier that operates at 165 watts of RMS continuous power with a 275-watt dynamic peak. Its frequency-response range is 29Hz - 140Hz (at +/- 3dB), with a full-range high-pass crossover and a low-pass crossover of 50Hz - 200Hz with a 12dB per octave slope.

These Velodyne home subwoofers have a 12-inch, forward-firing woofer with a coated fiber cone driven by a two-inch, dual-layer, copper-wound voice coil that is powered by an MDP Class D amplifier. All this is concealed inside an inconspicuous and acoustically neutral cabinet with a down-firing port for maximum LFE impact. The compact cabinet has a black ash wood-grain finish with black gloss trim and a removable speaker grill.

The Impact Series is rated highly as excellent home subwoofers that sound great for both home theater and musical applications. Starting in the early 1980s Velodyne developed the technology used helped pave the way for home-theater systems of today, and their Impact 12 is an excellent choice.

The Impact 12 home subwoofer’s features include: a signal-sensing automatic on-off function with an LED power mode indicator on the rear panel, variable volume and crossover-frequency controls, and a phase-control switch that toggles between the reverse polarity of zero or 180 degrees.

These home subwoofers have an LFE input that can be used as either a stereo sub in with left and right RCA cables or as a mono sub in by connecting the left channel input to a mono sub out on an audio-video receiver. They also have two speaker-level stereo inputs and outputs with wire connectors.

The Impact 12 is covered by a five-year warranty on the drivers and a three-year warranty on the electronics. You can obtain technical support from Velodyne by phone or email, although they never replied to our email. You can also obtain product information and user manuals in PDF format from their website, which also has a FAQs page for answers to common questions.