BIC F-12 newbie review :)

[dimanata2007]

I’ve promised in HT forum to post review on my BIC F-12 sub,
but diceded to do it in more appropriate section.

Keep in mind that it is my first decent (IMHO) sub and I’m
not a big fan of “shaking the neighboring house“ kind of sound.

Setting:

Front-large.

Center-large.

Surround-small.

Subwoofer- plus (continuing bass output).

Sub channel level- +2db.

Crossover network-80Hz.

Sub Volume-5 out of 10.

DRC- (dynamic range control)- off.

Sub connected to the receiver via RCA Monster 300 cable.

Sub positioned diagonally in the far right corner of the
room 1 ft away from the corner and about 1 ft away from right channel.

13x16 ft room, 1” deep thick carpet on the floor.

I listen to music in stereo and absolutely happy with my
F-3’s, so I bought that sub to improve HT sound only.

To me BIC F-12 looks very nice, fundamental and
sophisticated: stainless steel driver and very like wood looking polymer veneer
look just fine. This thing is pretty big and heavy: 17x15x17.5 and 42 lbs.

Driver membrane is pretty thick and very stiff, some say it
takes 4-5 good on bass movies to break in membrane and let driver to move
easier to move more air and produce even deeper bass.

The only part of the sub I hate is shiny and cheap looking
“Formula” badge on the bottom of the grill…

Seating next to the F-3 it sure doesn’t look like Klipsch
product but matching my towers better than RC-62II.

I was not looking to shake walls or shatter windows on my
house and Sub-10 most likely would satisfy my expectations, but pretty low
budget and problematic amps in Sub-10 and 12 made me to look for something
different.

My receiver volume usually set at 33-35-37 (not exactly loud
for most people but fine for me) and even at half of the volume F-12 pushing a
lot of air and even though it seating on the carpet (planning to get some kind
raiser to prevent damage from the vacuum cleaner) I can hear it even in the garage
– the farthest part of the house. Bass is tight and heavy, honestly don’t feel
any difference between F-12 and my buddies Sub-12 and sure deeper than Sub-10
bass. He turned volume to 10 (leaving channel level at +2) and according to him
was pretty impressed with how tight it sounded. Doubt F-12 will outperform
Sub-12, but it sure will out do Sub-10 and considering $200 price was best investment
in my HT so far.

I’ve seen a lot of comparisons and reviews of F-12 vs Polk
PSW505, Klipsch Sub-12 and few more subs and very few people were not impressed
by F-12. Most of them put F-12 right behind Sub-12 and above PSW505 which was my second choice and F-12 sure way better sub than 8" Yamaha, Sony and something else I owned in the past.

Pretty sure that real audiophile with pretty deep pockets
wouldn’t even consider BIC product but for some one who is looking for a good subwoofer
and got pretty limited budget F-12 would be great choice even if you are
“addicted to bass”.

One issue so far: LED stay red and there is no output /sound
if power switch is in AUTO position (sub should turn on automatically if signal from
amplifier is detected and LED should switch from red to green). Everything works fine in power ON mode, but no sound
in AUTO mode…going to try to contact customer support tommorow.

I’m already behind schedule on my 4^th of July
ribs and beer, so I’m gonna go now but will take and post few pics later.

[derrickdj1]

Congratulation on the sub. They make a big difference with movie and can be a very good addition to a 2 channel setup.

[CECAA850]

Can't wait to see the pics, congrats!

Try running all your speakers as "small" and see how you like it.

[Fish]

That sub is certainly decent, even if the audiophiles don't approve you did OK.

[dimanata2007]

Can't wait to see the pics, congrats!

Try running all your speakers as "small" and see how you like it.

I’ve seen that a lot of people recommend set all speakers to small even if
front speaker are large and let sub do what it suppose to do.

For now I like how it sounds and very impressed with wall of heavy full range
sound coming at me and sub blends perfectly into this wall.

My buddy got his speakers set as small (F-1, C-1 and small Yamaha SRS ) and
his Sub-12 covering all low frequencies
and even though his set up sounds nice I like my sound better. But it could be
because he got opened on one end big room, pergo floor and different setting.

Anyway, I’ll give a chance to “all small” some day, maybe I’ll like it.

[dimanata2007]

That sub is certainly decent, even if the audiophiles don't approve you did OK.

glade that BIC stuff getting no "thumb down" on Klipsch forum.

IHMO I did better than ok.

[dimanata2007]

Congratulation on the sub. They make a big difference with movie and can be a very good addition to a 2 channel setup.

agreed!

[K5SS]

My two Polk 505's should be here tomorrow. I know they won't stack up to my Rythmik FV15FV but I kept reading so many good reviews that I though I would pull the trigger when I saw them pop up for $190ea. Congrats on the new sub!

[dimanata2007]

505 was my second choice and I’ve seen good reviews on it too.
Most of them though say that 505 better for music. 505 driver move a bit quicker
and easier and can keep up with any kind of music where F-12 driver straggle to
move quickly and it is not the best sub for fast rap music etc.

HT wise, even though 505 goes frequency response a bit lower
than F-12, F-12 pushing out a bit lower, heavier and tighter sound. I also went
for the look, really like BIC with and without grill and don’t really like 505
look especially with grill on.

[dimanata2007]

Update on “no sound when power switch is in AUTO position”:

No customer support today, I guess they are off, but I found few posts on enet about similar
issues and looks like I need to crank sub channel level up in order for sub to
feel signal from receiver.

Will see if it works when I get home.

Question:

what is better for the sound / more efficient for the receiver-
to turn channel level up in receiver’s menu and lower volume gain on sub’s amp
or keep channel level down in receiver’s menu and turn sub gain up?

[CECAA850]

Question:

what is better for the sound / more efficient for the receiver- to turn channel level up in receiver’s menu and lower volume gain on sub’s amp or keep channel level down in receiver’s menu and turn sub gain up?

You're not using the receivers amps to drive the subwoofer so efficiency isn't an issue.

Turning the receivers output up and sub's gain down is the best way to help "wake up" your sub. You can also use a "Y" adapter at the sub input to increase the voltage the sub amp sees (this is the same as turning the subs gain up in the receiver).

If your sub has an On, Off, Auto selector, you can just leave the sub in the "On" position. You won't be using any more electricity doing that, than leaving it on "Auto".

[dimanata2007]

I'm not worried about electricity usage at all. Just want to
know that everything works fine.

Came home and tried few things:

-Set sub channel level in the receiver menu all the way up to
+15

-Set all speakers to “SMALL”

-Set Sub gain volume up to 3 and 10-(MAX)

- Checked receiver type switch on the subwoofer – in DIGITAL
5.1/7.1

and AUTO ON/OFF still doesn’t work…

defective toggle switch?

I also watched 20-30 min of “Jack the giant slayer” with all
speakers set to small and than re-watched same 20 min with Front and Center set
to large- I like second setting better so I’ve decided to keep my old setting
for now.

Only thing I’ve changed is the sub setting: instead of “SUB PLUS”
set it to “SUB YES”. To me it sounds more natural and doesn’t shake me off my couch.

One more interesting thing:

when sub power switch is in ON position and I run test tone
from the receiver at max (+15db) and sub volume 7 (couldn’t go higher) water in
the glass on the top of the kitchen island (which is in the middle of the
kitchen behind the wall) is vibrating and test tone is so loud that I can barely
tolerate it.

But when sub power switch is in AUTO position even without
changing any settings test tone is good 10-15 times quitter and can be easily
tolerated... WHY???

[CECAA850]

One more interesting thing:

when sub power switch is in ON position and I run test tone from the receiver at max (+15db) and sub volume 7 (couldn’t go higher) water in the glass on the top of the kitchen island (which is in the middle of the kitchen behind the wall) is vibrating and test tone is so loud that I can barely tolerate it.

But when sub power switch is in AUTO position even without changing any settings test tone is good 10-15 times quitter and can be easily tolerated... WHY???

Are you sure you're not just getting bass just from your mains when this happens and not the sub?

[dimanata2007]

absolutely sure. I did manual channel level ajustment - manually went from one channel to another and added +1db to Center, +2db to SRS L, +2db to SRS R and +15db to SW just to test sub power switch, after that I lowered it to +5db.

no sound was coming from any speakers since they were not selected.

[dimanata2007]

few pics.

[dimanata2007]

According to the tech support looks like my ON/OFF switch or
AUTO circuit is defective - beginners luck . They assured me that AUTO should work even with channel
level at “0+1” and sub gain “1-2” and most likely switch didn’t survived USP
shipping.

Should get replacement sub this week. Tried to watch movie
without sub yesterday, have no idea how I was watching action movies without sub
before….

[CECAA850]

Sounds like great support.

[dimanata2007]

I'm still under 30 days return policy so they have no choice .

I like F-12 alot and could live with no AUTO ON/OFF, but it just doesn't feel

right to me when something doesn't work on brand new item...

[dimanata2007]

got replacement sub today. all good. AUTO power work now.

still impressed by the tight and heavy bass.

[CECAA850]

Awesome. Up and running like it should be. Glad you like it!