Aaron SW-200 Quick start guide

Brand: Aaron

Model: SW-200

Type: Quick start guide

Aaron SW-200 is an active subwoofer with a 10-inch driver and a 150-watt amplifier, designed to enhance the low-frequency response of your audio system. It features adjustable crossover and volume controls, allowing you to tailor the bass output to your liking. The subwoofer has both line-level and speaker-level inputs, making it compatible with a wide range of audio equipment. Additionally, it has a phase switch to ensure proper alignment with your main speakers.

Aaron SW-200

Active Subwoofer

Aaron’s

smaller

subwoofer

proves very

competitive at

the price

By Gavin Womersley

Audio & Video Lifestyle Magazine

audition

equipment review

Vital Statistics

Dimensions:

315 x 445 x 460mm

Weight:

23kg

Price:

$999

Distributor:

Betetec Industries Pty Ltd

17 De Havilland Crescent

Ballina, NSW 2478

Telephone:

(02) 6686 0277

Facsimile:

(03) 6686 0285

Website:

www.aaronhifi.com.au

hese days, most people

are aware that being

‘Australian’ is a fairly

loose term when it

comes to manufactured

goods. Does it mean

that the company was

founded here, or does it mean that the

goods are made within our boundaries

or that ownership of the company is

wholly Australian? Many of the

manufacturers of the products I have

reviewed are widely regarded as

Australian, but in fact only an

increasingly shrinking number of them

are actually being made here.

Aaron loudspeakers, based in sunny

Ballina on the northern NSW coast, is

one of those companies that still

manufactures locally. The 25 year-old

company is Australian owned and all

engineering, testing and some of its

manufacturing is performed at the

Ballina factory. While many Aaron

products are still made here, the

subwoofer for review here is assembled

in China. The design and engineering

and choice of components are all done

here though, so you can still call the

SW-200 subwoofer an Australian

product.

The SW-200 is the smaller of

Aaron’s two new active subwoofers, the

other being the larger SW-400 which we

recently reviewed in Audio & Video

Lifestyle magazine, issue AVL-145. It

features a single 10-inch (265mm) long-

throw driver with a very large 3kg

magnet. Powering the driver is a 150

watt continuous class B amplifier. The

SW-200 is ported at the rear with one

large port designed to minimise the

‘chuffing’ created by rapidly moving air

as it exits the cabinet. Aaron states that

the enclosure is well braced and uses

cabinet walls of varying thickness,

designed to minimise the cabinet

resonances at certain frequencies. Pretty

much anything will resonate at the right

frequency but if the device is made with

walls of varying thickness the

resonances should be far less significant

as only one part of the enclosure may

resonate at a certain frequency rather

than the whole unit. The subwoofer’s

exterior appears of good quality with

the review sample coming in a high-

Reproduced courtesy of Audio & Video Lifestyle magazine

Audio & Video Lifestyle Magazine

Technotalk

Product Type:

Active subwoofer

Driver Complement:

1 x 10-inch (265mm) woofer

Impedance:

Not specified

Power Amplification:

150 watts RMS

Cabinet:

Bass reflex, rear firing port

Frequency Response:

20Hz-150Hz

Cabinet:

Internallybraced, magnetically

shielded with floor spikes

Crossover Adjustment:

Variable 45Hz -150Hz

Cabinet Finishes:

Beech, black

Connections:

Stereo RCA line level and

speaker level inputs

Technotalk specifications and recommended

retail prices are supplied by the manufacturer

grade Beech vinyl finish. The other

available finish option is black.

In terms of connections the SW-200

will cater to most users. It has line-level

and speaker-level inputs and speaker-

level outputs which have been high-pass

filtered at 80Hz so a stereo feed can be

passed on to the users main speakers

(but minus the bass below 80Hz). This is

particularly handy for owners of small

main speakers that may only have

limited low frequency capabilities. There

are no line-level outputs which allow

users to do the same thing with a low

level connection such as exists between a

power and preamp. I doubt this will

affect many people.

There is a rotary volume control and

a rotary crossover control that governs

how high in frequency the subwoofer

will go. The marked range is from 45Hz

to 150Hz. There are switches for

power; (with an auto setting so the sub

turns itself on an of when signals are

sensed), phase (to make sure your

speakers cones are moving in and out at

the same time as your sub and not

cancelling each other out around the

crossover frequencies), and a bypass;

(to allow you to bypass the subs internal

crossover). The power cable supplied is

a detachable two-pin IEC lead. The

subwoofer comes complete with

detachable

screws, rubber

feet and a well-

written manual.

The SW-200

was set up

around 130cm

from the corner

and a some

30cm out from

the rear wall.

This is the same

spot that all the

other subs I

have tested sat. I

used a Video

Essentials DVD

and my sound

meter to adjust

its volume

control to the

same level as my

main speakers.

After playing

Halo 2 on my

Xbox and then

leaving it on for

a few days

whenever I was

watching digital

TV, the Aaron

was soon run in.

I started with tests to see how low

and how loud the SW-200 would play in

my room. This room gives plenty of lift

to the frequencies around 35Hz and

thus it was no surprise that it was at this

frequency where I recorded the highest

clean peak of 110dB on my SPL meter.

In this regard it was only a couple of

decibels shy of the figures achieved for

the recently reviewed Richter Thor Mk.

IV (see issue AVL-141), which is

physically larger and has more power

and a larger driver.

Bass from the Aaron SW-200 was

strong down to about 27Hz in my room,

measured in free space four metres

from the sub. This was typical of

subwoofers of its size, price and

enclosure type - where the

manufacturer has to juggle bass

extension versus output. There is of

course output below these frequencies

but it is at a reduced volume. However,

subs such as this now perform at the

level of more expensive models from a

few years ago and there really has been

a sizable upward shift in all the

performance parameters.

When it comes to music listening I

started off with a music DVD, Diana

Krall - Live In Paris. It’s a great sounding

disc that features not only the fantastic

voice and piano of Diana but also a

great band with some first rate double

bass playing from John Clayton. Tracks

like The Look Of Love and Deed I Do

showed the little Aaron to be nimble

with the well-plucked bass. It held a

tune and was able to differentiate the

different bass notes very well for a $999

subwoofer.

The cleanliness and tightness of its

presentation was confirmed by my

playing a Sheffield Lab test CD with a

couple of drumming test tracks and the

well recorded track Boxenkiller, which I

often turn to when I want to hear how a

sub handles a good kick drum. The SW-

200 got the room throbbing with the

high-energy electronic pulses from

Yello’s track Resistor (from the album

Pocket Universe). The Aaron seemed to

thrive on this and other similar sorts of

stuff. Telarc’s Great Fantasy and

Adventure Album contains some

awesome low stuff and I enjoyed the

SW-200’s reproduction of the bass

drum in themes from movies such as

The Abyss and The Rocketeer. Telarc

always does a great job of recording the

bass drum and the Aaron manages to

capture most of that weight and

Audio & Video Lifestyle Magazine

Opinion

The ‘Opinion’ expressed here is that

of the reviewer, summarised in the

form of a 5-star rating system, and

should be considered as an integral

part of the full contents of this

Audition Equipment Review. As

such, each category should be

judged on its own merits and not

necessarily used as a comparison

with other equipment reviews in this,

or other editions of Audio & Video

Lifestyle magazine.

 

 Shocker

 

 Average

 

 Good

 

 Excellent

 

 Perfection

“The design and engineering

and choice of components are

all done here though, so you can

still call the SW-200 subwoofer

an Australian product.”

Performance

      

   

Build Quality

       

    ½

Compatibilty

      

   

Value For Money

      

   

richness, even at higher listening levels.

You can get even better results if you want

to spend more, but the quality I was getting

here was fantastic for a $999 subwoofer.

Again though, like every other sub in its

size and price category, the deepest bass

eluded the SW-200. The final sub 30Hz low

frequency kick at the end of the sliding

electronic bass from the track There Will Be

No Armageddon was not reproduced fully

and lacked impact. But as with just about

all subs at this level, when it came to the

first footstep of the T-Rex from the Fantasy

and Adventure Album it did not even

attempt it - only bigger more powerful and

expensive models can.

When it came to movies the Aaron

performed just like I thought it would -

clean and with little overhang after the end

of sudden transients. As the manufacturer

promised port noise was very, very low - in

this regard, superior to Richter Thor IV

model. At moderate to high listening levels

in my medium sized room the SW-200 was

a great performer. At Reference Level it

did a great job on most movies although

with some of the most intense scenes there

was noticeable strain. An example was the

opening scene to Star Wars II - Attack Of

The Clones. Here the throbbing engines of

the big spaceship proved troublesome, with

a couple of ‘barks’ from the driver.

However backing off the volume by just five

decibels led to a faultless presentation with

plenty of power. Aaron makes a larger

SW-400 with double the power and a

bigger box and driver for those people like

me who punish their toys or have very

large rooms. In my more serious bunch of

test discs it ran into some trouble with the

only the most notorious scenes such as

Chapter 19 of U-571 or the crash landing

of the spaceship in Pitch Black. These

things set aside; the Aaron had no real

issues that I could complain about. The

SW-200 did a good job of sounding

powerful and menacing whenever it was

called upon to do so.

At the ferociously competitive $999

price point the Australian designed and

engineered Aaron is up there in the front

row. In terms of sheer output and depth

of bass, a bigger subwoofer would do a

better job, however this may be something

that not all prospective owners may look

upon favourably. The Aaron is not much

wider than the frame of its driver. If you

are in a smaller room, or don’t often play

action movies at theatrical levels, the Aaron

gives you the option of the same high

quality bass but in a more compact

package. AVL

“I started off

with a music

DVD, Diana Krall

- Live in Paris.

It’s a great

sounding disc

that features not

only the

fantastic Diana

but also a great

band with some

first rate double

bass playing

from John

Clayton. Tracks

like The Look of

Love and Deed I

Do showed the

little Aaron to be

nimble with the

well-plucked

bass. It held a

tune and was

able to

differentiate the

different bass

notes very well

for a $999 sub.”

Ancillary Equipment: Rotel RCD-

965BX Discrete CD player,

Celestion A Series loudspeakers,

Toshiba 46WH08 rear projection

Widescreen Television,

Audioquest cables

Aaron SW-200 Quick start guide

Aaron SW-200 Quick start guide

Aaron SW-200 Quick start guide

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