DLS KW10 Performance Subwoofer (boxed)

Pressed paper cone woofer with steel chassis and flat dust dome. Regular speaker terminal lugs. Sold as part of the DLS Summer Performance Package along with a sealed box which is designed to go with it, a grille and also an amplifier and some components, all price reduced and including a wiring kit and some sound deadening treatment products as well as a sticker for the window and a key ring. The speaker was enclosed when I heard it and was used for a rear sited bass infill on an audiophile system rather than being the underpinning in a heavy output set up. The grille is an open type and meant to prevent damage by sliding suitcases and shopping, although anything pointy will get through the grille, which wouldn’t happen if it were a normal metal mesh type. Looks cool though. Covered in simple black carpeting with grey ends.- Weight: 2.9kg (6.39lb) (raw driver alone)
– Impedance: 4 Ohms
– Woofer size: 10in (250mm)
– Power handling capacity: 200w
– Max power handling capacity: 400w
– Peak power: 600w
– Frequency range: 25Hz to 2kHz
– Sensitivity: 84dB
– Magnet size: 120mm
– Outer diameter of woofer: 267mm
– Mounting depth: 116mm
– Mounting hole: 246mm
– X-max+/- 9mm
– Single V/C
– Fs: 37 Hz
– Re: 3.5 Ohms
– Qms: 5.28
– Vas: 50 litres
– Qes: 0.58:
– Qts: 0.52
– Sd: 380 cm2
– BL: 9.90
Review by Adam Rayner
A bit of a revelation as the small ten inch woofer can really move some air and has grip and aplomb in the small box it was supplied within. The enclosure will fit in any boot no matter how small and despite not being of huge cubic, the woofer is sufficiently wobbly to drop pretty well. It was played with various material and I found that it can keep up a rhythm well and has very little overhang at all. So it isn’t all boomy and doomy, so much as more like a high quality home theatre system woofer.
Neat and tight, it was being driven by a DLS CA31 three channel amplifier’s bass mono output and seemed to like it a lot. Even un-tuned it worked very well and the natural roll off of the box and woofer together was very low and so gave the impression of going all the way down to subsonics. Not massively weighty nor as tight and tough edged as stuff like the big SQ players such as JL Audio W7s and Morel Ultimo woofers, it nevertheless delivers some proper high end sound from a smaller price tag than you might expect.
Sold a lot cheaper than it was, as part of the package described above it makes for amazing value for your ice pound and a great system base. The lows integrated well with the midbass’ output and there was a feeling of a comprehensive image, right down to the lows, rather than it being two parts of the same system.
So a nice tight sound, good ability to go low given the scale limitations and plenty of edge and impact for what it is. A surprising wee woofer.
Sound Quality 8.0
Build Quality 9.0
Power Handling 8.0
Efficiency 8.0
Value For Money 9.0
Overall rating 8.4