The S8 specs are pretty impressive. It is a small compact 8-inch subwoofer that is power-saving, has a wireless option, and comes with a full set of wires for all its inputs. Each wire is 2 m by the way. The effortless clean and smooth bass woofer boasts of a steel frame that kills all the resonation. It also has a sold heavy-duty rubber speaker surround for less vibration and improved sound clarity and accuracy. Another thing I liked is that all Audio engine products come with limited 3-year parts and labor warranty. Follow the instructions and all the repairs and exchanges will come for free. I always pay attention to things like that. It means that the company really cares.
The thing is that the company has been trying to satisfy everyone with Audioengine S8 settings. And this struggle to achieve perfection has come at a price because from one standpoint the sound is extremely powerful. The volume control goes very high up. But from another side, it is still a small woofer that is not sealed and when you go too high up the noise and distortions come into play and spoil the experience. 27-180 Hz frequency response with 88 Db sensitivity sounds amazing though. I also liked the variety of available controls. Besides volume, you get to control the low pass filter and subwoofer phase. It is just enough for a regular user. The controls are simple to manage and to understand the operation principle.
The woofer has LFE, RCA and mini-jack level inputs for the AV receiver. The versatile connection options make it easy to connect it with most of the AV receivers out there no matter old or new. S8 setup options are pretty versatile. You can go wireless with a $149 W3 Wireless adapter from Audio engine. All together the setup was quite an easy and quick experience for me. I like to double check the setup ease and manual simplicity by asking some non-geeky people to do it for me. S8 works amazingly with any Smart TV, game console, laptop, home cinema, etc. I tried it with my own toys and it came out amazing.
Dimensions (H X W X D), Cm/in
33.2 x 28.1 x 33.2/13.1 x 11.1 x 13.2
Weight, Kg/pounds
12.7/28.1
Sensitivity, DB
88
Crossover Frequency, Hz
50-130
Frequency Response, Hz
27-180
Impedance, Ohm
8
RCA LFE Inputs
1
Speaker Inputs (pair)
Speaker Outputs (pair)
Bi-amp
XLR Outputs (pair)
XLR Inputs (pair)
RCA Outputs
1
RCA Stereo Line Level Inputs (pair)
1
Volume
Main Power Switch
Low-pass Filter
Subwoofer Phase
Enclosure Type
vented
Colors
black, white
Woofer Composition
polymer
Body Material
MDF
Audio Amplifier Output Power, W
125
Maximal Output Power (RMS), W
250
Nominal Output Power (RMS), W
150
Port Placement
front panel
Driver Placement
down firing
Driver Size, In
8
Driver Quantity
1
Detachable Grilles
Amplification Type
active