Descend DN8 8" Subwoofer and Amp Package, Home Audio

Great bang for your buck. I got mine connected up to a pair of 8040st towers running off a WiiM Amp. One tower’s built-in sub amp had died, so my bass was lopsided and never kept up at volume. The DN8 took over the low end entirely — tight, clean, no port noise, way more output than an 8” suggests. Two tips: give it space (too close and you just feel floor rattle), and if the auto-on keeps nodding off between drops, turn on subwoofer bypass mode on the WiiM keeps signal flowing so it never idles and misses the first beat. Flawless since. Hits hard, plays on time, shakes the windows. Easy recommend.

EDIT: May 10, 2025 The subwoofer with the 3 figurines is the DN10; the other subwoofer is the DN8. Thus, the DN10 is on the left, and the DN8 is on the right. I added the large DN10 to the extra-small DN8, and it all worked as hoped for. I figured that mixing the DN10 with the DN8 would do no harm, and that's what happened. However, I do use Audyssey MultEQ XT32 for calibration, so that simplifies room calibration tremendously. I see that PolK and such are way more popular on Amazon, and subwoofers such as those are probably very good. But, weeks ago, after hearing the DN8 to replace the SVS SB12 NSD, I was sold on the Definitive Technology Descend subwoofer line. That's complete by adding the DN10 with the DN8. Bass is better than it has ever been and way more musical. One more thing, I use "Auralex Acoustics SubDude II isolation platform" for both subwoofers, I can only hope they are doing their jobs. LOL EDIT: MARCH 31, 2025 Well, the SVS SB-12 works OK with the DN8, but they are not twins. A lot of the time the SVS "wakes up" boomy, but the DN8 deftly and seamlessly attacks the LFE [low-frequency-effects] as if the sub-bass were a part of the ELAC towers. As soon as I see Amazon put the DN8 on another good sale, I'm getting the second DN8 for my setup and putting the SVS someplace else. I will never buy SVS again. EDIT: NOVEMBER 26, 2024 I still highly recommend the DN8. It works well across all genres and sounds great; plus it has a small footprint. If you have the space and don't worry about transferring sound to others disturbing them, then by all means go for the DN10, DN12, or DN15. You can always return for a refund in the Amazon return window for a full refund if not satisfied. But I don't think you will be returning these guys. CAVEAT: You must calibrate with an AVR room calibrator [Audyssey MultEQ XT32], or some calibration gadget, or you take an unnecessary risk to receive the full benefit of the Definitive Technology expertise. ORIGINAL REVIEW: NOVEMBER 02, 2024 I think of Excellence Cubed when I listen to my setup now. Before installing the DN8, my system consisted of: 1. Marantz SR6015 AVR 2. Outlaw 5000 AMP 3. LG OLED 65CX HDTV 4. Apple TV 4K 2021. (Can hardly wait for the 2025 model) 5. Sony UBP-X800 Blu-ray 6. ELAC Uni-Fi 7.X.4: Fronts, Center, Surrounds, Surround Backs; and 4 Heights 7. SVS SB12 NSD (which corresponded to SVS SB1000) for Left/Right channels My system was structured as listed above until this past October 2024, when one of the SVS subwoofers died, moreover after only seven years of service. In hindsight, it turns out to be a good thing, because I was able to audition the Descend DN8, which is excellent in every way compared to the SVS SB12. I figured after hearing the remarkable improvement presented by the DN8 that I would need another DN8 and get rid of the one remaining SVS, but after room-calibration with Audyssey MultEQ XT32, the SVS SB12 and DN8 behave like twins. 🤣 I can worry about what happens with the surviving SVS SB12 later. My room is 15’ W x 13’ D x 9’ H, and is now very nicely pressurized with the SVS SB12 and Descend DN8 working together. When I had both SVS subs installed, the SPL came nowhere close to what it is now. Sound Pressure Level is more important than many might know or understand. I live in an apartment, so I should never have the DN10 or higher. It doesn’t matter because the DN8 is just . . . excellent. I swear I can hear all kinds of bass notes never heard before. And, probably due to Audyssey calibration, the integration of the center, towers [front L/R; surround L/R], stand speakers [surround back L/R], heights, and subwoofers is flawless. I had calibrated the dual SVS subs with Audyssey as well. There is the saying that “a chain is no greater than its weakest link,” which applies to my system wherein the Descend DN8 has lifted all my equipment to a whole new level, and the Descend DN8 has opened up possibilities in the Marantz SR6015 that the SVS SB12 was not capable of. To clarify the "weakest link" statement: SVS SB12 may have held back my system before by just creating "boom," in everything, music, explosions, etc., now, the SB12 is on a whole new level of musicality and not the weakest link anymore because of exposure to the DN8.

I had already purchased the vaunted SVS 3000 Micro sub a few months before pulling the trigger on the Def Tech Descend DN 8 so I really wasn't expecting much from this sub. Boy was I wrong! I have to say, the visceral power, more importantly, the quality of sound from the DN 8 was shocking! I had initially tried the SVS 3000 Micro in my home theater system but found I could never quite dial in the sound to my liking, even with the remarkable SVS app. It always seemed overly boomy and on the verge of bottoming out during loud action scenes. I eventually took it out of my HT system and added it to my bookshelf speakers for two channel music listening where it seems much better suited. When the DN8 arrived and I added it to my HT system and dialed it in with the help of my Sony STR-ZA5000ES receiver's "Advanced Digital Cinema Auto Calibration," the system came alive. Not only did the low end visceral power return, but I couldn't get over the quality of the base. I began dialing up music on YouTube to play through the system and the DN8 did an amazing job of demonstrating its finesse, speed and textured base notes. I never heard any of the muddy base notes I experienced with the SVS in the system, just clean, fast, punchy base! I have to say this Definitive Technology DN8 is tremendous value for the money. I can only imagine how the DN10 & 12 sound! For my smallish living room the DN8 is more than enough for me. Great job Definitive Tech!

Excellent bottom end in a 1000 sq ft apt. I paired the sub with Definitive towers. Set your amp at LFP off. Set your sub at 90 set the volume at 12:00 ( half way on both dials. I’m hoping the auto on and auto off work good. It’s red on off and when a signal is detected it’s blue. The sound is clean and it’s a way better amplifier than the Super Cube 2000, which burned out way before it’s time. Wanna impress me? Send me credit on your first mistake. You made a nice sub this time. Good for you. Update: I’m a week in to this. It’s been a crossover setting nightmare. Since you can not manage bass from your amp, ( LPF- off on your surround settings) it’s spinning dials on the back of the sub. Musics playback sounds way different from movies. I like to set it and forget it. I’ll play with it some more but I like a bass blend during all playback. This thing kicks in big time on the low frequency you have it set at. If this is a mistake on my part in settings, let me know Definitive. I’m heavenly invested in your gear.

I'm picky when it comes to subwoofers, and I've tried about 10-15 of them. I want one that blends seamlessly with music, so you can't tell there's a subwoofer there until you turn it off and see what it was adding. Most subwoofers do not fit the bill for me. I find that they are made intentionally to be boomy, so you notice the subwoofer. This is probably a great selling point when you first get the subwoofer and like the noticeable bass, but I find that when you use it on a day-to-day basis, you notice the boominess and it gets fatiguing and distracts from the listening experience. Also, you have to worry about the neighbors hearing it, since this type of bass goes straight through the walls. I don't appreciate hearing my neighbors subwoofers and don't want to force the nuisance on my neighbors. The best subwoofer I've ever tried was a REL with speaker level inputs. It blended seamlessly, providing very musical, detailed bass that doesn't call attention to itself. Using speaker level inputs is critical for me, since I find it matches the tonality of the rest of the system much better than using pre-amp or LFE RCA signals. I'm using the REL in my primary system, but wanted to go with something a little cheaper for one of my other systems. Since this Deftech had speaker level inputs, I decided it was worth a try. I also prefer smaller subwoofers. Once you get to 10" or higher, the boominess is much harder to control, and it doesn't blend well and you notice it's there. It's very distracting. 8" seems to be about the sweet spot to get precise, controlled bass without the boominess. I can say that this subwoofer overall is not too bad. The bass is a tad on the boomy side and a bit rumbly, but still much better than most subwoofers that are larger. It's not quite controlled enough to blend well with music and doesn't come close to competing with the REL, but again, still better than most subwoofers out there. I ended up returning it because I couldn't configure it in a way where it blended well enough to disappear into the music while still filling in the low end, but if I had to live with it I could have. Other minor observations: I'm not a fan of having the cloth grill go completely around the sub. It means you pretty much have to grab the grill when picking it up and moving it around, and over time that will wear the cloth down. I would have preferred solid sides with a grill just on the front, even with the passives on the sides. I have a little Cambridge Audio subwoofer that has passives on the side, similar setup to the Deftech, but the grill is only on the front. I find that sub much easier to handle. Also, turning the volume all the way down to 0 doesn't completely silence the sub. In fact, the 0 level volume is loud enough that I didn't find the need to turn it up any further. I would have actually liked to turn it down a little further, but it doesn't give you that capability. I will say that this means the power is very adequate. You won't be needing to turn it up much at all if you want to get a thumping bass out of this. In comparison to other subs, as I previously mentioned, RELs are hands down the best at musicality and blending in with the music, very detailed and well controlled. The REL build quality is also far and away the best of any sub I've ever owned. I've tried SVS and Rythmik and found them to be boomy and not well controlled. If you're a bass head and want to shake the walls and pound your head with bass, this is probably what you want. But for someone who wants non-fatiguing music that won't bother your neighbors or make your head hurt, these are horrible. I've also tried Cambridge Audio and B&W subwoofers, and these tend to be better build quality, more musical, and better able to blend, but not quite approaching the level of the REL. I've also owned Klipsch and Polk subs. The very lower end ones are just muddy, poor quality bass. The slightly higher end Polk and Klipsch are a little better, around the level of this Deftech, but with lower build quality. However, they don't last long. With both the Klipsch and Polk, they both started having issues within about 5 years. The Klipsch tend to be worst (google "Klipsch subwoofer black goo of death"). The Polks last a bit longer and the issues are less severe, and I find the Polk bass to be a tad superior and better controlled than others in the same price range. I also tried an RSL 10" Speedwoofer, and it was one of the most impressive subs I've ever heard in terms of how detailed and controlled the bass was. In the end, I found that the 10" still produced too much bass for my tastes and I couldn't get it to disappear into the music like an 8" can.

Amazing bass shakes the couch!

I added it to a 5.1 system to join Q Acoustics 3050i tower and 3010i satellite speakers and 3090i center channel. A clear step up from my budget Sony subwoofer. The Definitive Technology sub's cleaner and has more musicality. And it gets plenty low and loud for my modest living room (around 12'x15'). Great for television viewing and listening to music. Worth a try, five stars ***** !

I use this subwoofer to complement regular size high-end audio where speakers, Thiel CS 1.7 , have relatively limited representation of low frequency until 52Hz. The setting was easy but finding the best parameters requires manual discovery try and error for two speakers system. For surround system it would be much simple as this subwoofer has automatic feature. One of the reasons I got this subwoofer is that it has input of both LFE and standard speaker plug from amplifier. I connect the two sets of speaker cables from my mono amplifier Parasound JC1 to both Thiel CS1.7 and this subwoofer. JC1 has dual speaker output. It turned out that my environment worked best with 180 degrees of phase switch. This item has two phase settings, 0 as its default and 180 as another option. Other options include low pass filter, and in my case the lowest range fits best. Easy to change and to find the optimal point. Manual is detailed enough. A picture of manual is attached. Bass sound is concrete and relatively firm. It does not recede. Enough to enough bass structure to the extremely detailed and realistic sound stage from Thiel, making sonic stage even more colorful and vibrant. For the use cases like mine, I do believe this subwoofer works. If your audio room is large, consider a different model but for a small to mid size room with a need to add quality bass, this subwoofer is one of the most attractive choices.

en verdad tiene graves profundos! suena muy bien! muy recomendado para peliculas y musica.

Bough this for my basement home theatre system - I have definitive BP7006 towers but as with most folks the built in subwoofers stopped working so needed to add a sub - wasn't sure if this would provide enough bass, but wow - small footprint and shakes the walls at only 50-60% level - using it in a room that's approx 16' x 22' and works great!

Me sorprendió la mejora que tuvo el sonido a la hora que le agregue este subwoofer, buena calidad de materiales y por el precio ni se diga mucho mejor.

Wow. I can't remember the last time I've heard or owned an 8 incher that shook walls and still sounded crisp and clear. Paired with my Definitive D9 Bookshelves, and I've got myself a beautiful small room music setup. Thanks Def. Tech.

Superó mis expectativas, definitivamente es una evolución con relación a la generación anterior , el SW de encendido y apagado es una gran ventaja de seguridad ante eventos repentinos en la línea . El acoplamiento hermético de 3 elementos radiantes produce bajos increíblemente limpios y profundos