Review on Powerful 200W Mini Mono Subwoofer Amplifier - Fosi Audio M03: Full-Frequency and Sub Bass Switchable, Perfect for Home Theater & Single Power Subwoofer by Candace Johnson

***UPDATE*** Added one extra star. It took a lot of tweaking to break in the new subwoofer, but now I can use it all the time. It's still a bit weaker than expected because if I crank it it will trip the (built-in) circuit breaker. It works, but next time I'll use something else. I will be leaving this thing for gaming in the future. *** END OF UPDATE *** So let me start with what I already had and bought. 1) I already had a Denon AVR-S650H with (2) RCA subwoofer outputs 2) It was hard to find homemade subwoofer amps (120V) that wouldn't fit in the box 3) I found this amp , seen good reviews seemed the highest output for its style (standalone; external) at 150w RMS / 300w max 4) I found a subwoofer that should meet those specs; Bought a 12" Rockford R1S4-12 voice coil. The first was 150w RMS and the second was 200w RMS. I thought I got the first but they sent me 200 watts. 5) Produced a custom box as per Rockfords birch plywood to optimum sealed spec Spent more time here than anywhere else 6) Finally plugged in to test it Turn down the volume on the receiver to get as much sound as possible into the sub without drowning it out on the first try The Denon Receiver was set to LFE, not LFE+Main I was playing Lil Wayne's "A Milli" as a test assistant At first I thought it wouldn't work, but when I touched the center of the subwoofer I felt a slight hum along with the Music I turned up the volume on the receiver to throw a party where people would have to speak a little louder to interrupt the music, the subwoofer drowns out the mid and high frequencies the music. So I made that sub amp higher. I quickly hit MAX before realizing I wasn't getting the power I wanted. Let me say that I turned up virtually every setting on both the receiver and the amp to get the subwoofer to get the widest range possible. Eventually it merged with the music. I thought great. I wish I didn't have to push myself to the limit, but we're finally here. So I test a few other songs when I find that the subwoofer isn't working anymore. The red power LED lights up, but nothing. I turn it off and on. then revives. Strange. So I decide to go to the cinema. Preferably a war film with explosions and the like. I go to Netflix. When I launch the app, I hear a loud "BOOM BOOMMMMMmm" sound with the Netflix logo. If you don't remember, just run the app and you'll hear it. It's kind of a Dolby Digital intro. I heard a loud bang. I assumed I just killed the sub or amp. I find the movie and after restarting the amp I hear the bass. In short, the settings I have for music cannot be replicated for movies. It snaps instantly, the switch is activated and needs to be toggled off/on to return it. Also, I would say that 150W RMS is overkill. I'm guessing 80-100 watts RMS. So for my 200 watt subwoofer I feel like it's getting half the power it needs. I know this is a 200 watt subwoofer, not a 150 watt sub, but I don't think it should perform that badly. Finally, I have a feeling your typical home subwoofer amp is a little smarter compared to this little guy. I mean look at this. It is smaller than the smallest 100W car amp. I feel like some electronic volume/clipping/quality controls are missing internally. I'm no electrical engineer, but I've never had home subwoofers behave like this. This is very inconsistent. I have a feeling if anyone gets this for a subwoofer my recommendation is this if you only have one subwoofer get a dual voice coil with the subwoofer requiring 200 watts RMS. Then connect two of these amps to each 4 ohm voice coil. Maybe then you'll get the expected sounds. OR just get a regular record amp for the same money.