Featured Reviews

Usually whenever a company tasks their development team with creating a new product whether it might be a powered subwoofer, amplifier or speaker, there are some goals or restrictions outlined during the planning stage. Perhaps a certain price point, form factor, or feature set, or there may be certain performance goals that need to be met. Often the goals set forth may be a combination of some or all of the aforementioned. If the final product is in many ways a reflection of its design goals, in the case of Paradigm’s Signature Sub 2 it appears that the design team was given directive to “push the envelope”. What emerged is a beastly subwoofer with an unusual hexagon shaped enclosure which bristles with no less than six overbuilt Paradigm designed 10” drivers sporting a collective 150lbs of motor arranged in a force cancelling array, an amplifier in need of a 240v line to produce its maximum continuous output of 4.5 kilowatts and an MSRP of a cool $8,999. Unsurprisingly, neither output headroom nor deep bass extension is in short supply here and achieving Audioholic’s Extreme room size rating was no problem for Paradigm’s top bass maker. However impressive the substantial output capabilities of the Signature Sub 2 are even more impressive were its top quality finishing, attention grabbing appearance, surprisingly compact size and squeaky clean sonic performance with its contribution always remaining implacably neutral regardless of material or output level demands. Paradigm’s Signature Sub 2 provided a powerful, dynamic and engaging low end presence with reference quality and quantity, proving itself to be a truly statement level product.

Are you going to run out and replace one of your reference subs with the Atlantic Technology SB-900DF? No. But it would make a fine "first sub" for a newbie looking to take their real steps into home theater. With a -3dB low point of 32Hz, a downfiring 8" driver and port, and a reasonable size, the SB-900DF is a respectable offering. Considering the $349 MSRP, it becomes very attractive. The downfiring nature makes placement easy, the extension is reasonable enough to impress most people, and the price won't break the budget. This a sub to remember when your friends are looking to put together their first system.

The EMP ES1010i subwoofer is a compact dual 10” ported sub with 250 watt amplifier combining beautiful aesthetics with competent performance. NO this sub won’t win any output or extension wars. If that is your primary goal, then look elsewhere, but also realize you will likely be getting a large pedestrian black box with little to no WAF at this price point (and even possibly higher). The ES1010i does deliver solid bass performance at a modest price without requiring a forklift to move it or without occupying too much precious floor space since it’s taller than it is deep. It blends perfectly with their matching E5Tti or E55Ti towers, but can also work extremely well with small satellite speakers due to its rather extended upper frequency response. $499 delivered to your door with a generous 30 day return policy seems about right to me and I surely hope you agree if you’re looking to add some boom with style to your system. The ES1010i earns our Audioholics Bassoholic “Small” room rating making it ideal for 1,500 ft^3 listening space or slightly larger rooms for users not concerned with achieving full-scale reference levels.

Velodyne's EQ-Max line arguably offers the most bang for the buck out of the current Velodyne roster with a plethora of upscale basic features similar to those found on their higher end lines and missing from other manufacturers subwoofers. The largest model the EQ-Max 15 at $879 is the least expensive Velodyne model to offer a 15" driver. The reinforced fiber cone driver is housed in a large 21"x19"x21.5" enclosure with a vinyl finish that has a pleasing dark brown wood grain character to it. The removable grille bucks the typical square trend and is instead contoured towards the bottom around the driver which further enhances the appearance. The driver is vented from the bottom of the enclosure via a pair of 3" diameter ports and the whole system is powered by a 750 watt rated class D amplifier. Additional features of the EQ-Max line include: Remote control, 4 user selectable EQ presets, speaker level inputs and outputs and auto room EQ with a supplied microphone. It's no surprise that the EQ-Max 15 had a powerful presence with movies due to the vented alignment and 15" driver, but extra deep extension is not its forte. That being the case the EQ-Max 15 achieved the Audioholics Medium Room rating. Powerful and dynamic music playback is where the EQ-Max 15 really excelled and judging from some of the objective measurements, it is easy to see why. Feature laden and DSP operated via remote control from the comfort of your seat, the EQ-Max 15 certainly has a lot to offer.

After Emotiva had so much success with their Ultra Series of subs, naturally, they decided to step things up a notch. This new X-Ref sub is the official step. It comes in a 10" and 12" version (this is the 12) and the box size is nearly identical to their Ultra 10 and Ultra 12 predecessors. And while they don't differ much on the outside, the insides have undergone a considerable change. Most notably, Emotiva has upgraded the amplifiers in their X-Ref subs. The high-efficiency 600-watt RMS amplifier and high-current-density switch-mode power supply gives the X-Ref 12 more than double the power reserves than its Ultra sub counterpart.

SVS has long been known for high performance subwoofers and the PB12-NSD while the most cost effective vented subwoofer in the current line up, still musters up a hefty amount of room filling bass. (Also offered is the PC12-NSD cylinder version which is said to have nearly identical performance.) Tipping the scales at 66lbs the heart of the PB12-NSD is a quality 12" long throw, aluminum cone driver vented through a 4" diameter flared port, all housed in a large, well braced, black vinyl wrapped enclosure, which happens to be the only finish option available. The brains of the operation come from a 400 watt version of SVS's Sledge amplifier platform. This combination available shipped to your home for $769, provides extension with authority to 20Hz and perhaps a bit lower in some rooms. Build, performance and parts quality for this price range were all found to be exceptional. While the PB12-NSD is short on finish options and may not have some of the extra bells and whistles offered by other subwoofers on the market, what it does do very well is the task of producing accurate and powerful bass with depth and finese that most other subs in this price range cannot match, as evidenced by the PB12-NSD achieving the Audioholics Large Room rating. At the end of the day that is what a subwoofer is supposed to do and the PB12-NSD does not disappoint.

Niles has made a lot of custom installation products, many of which we have found to be very reliable and above-average, like their CM-Series In-ceiling speakers. This week, the company expanded its line of powerful high-fidelity subwoofers in the form of two new stylish compact subwoofers engineered with designers in mind, the SW6.5 and the SW8. The new subs are designed for a stylish look that can be more or less concealed in the room. This makes sense from a company that has done so well to create great-sounding products that blend into walls and ceilings. Mike Detmer, President of Niles is going out on a limb, saying their new SW6.5 and SW8 subwoofers "outperform their larger rivals and offer superior sound quality and design for all residential and light commercial installations.” That's a bold claim and we'll look forward to seeing how well the company can live up to its own hype.

I've had a lifelong struggle with subwoofers. Sometimes I've been impressed with smaller subs that perform well for their size. And certainly I can appreciate a small sub that plays low. But... if you really want the most performance you're going to need a big sub... or two or three. Today, we're looking at one of Velodyne's newest subs - the EQ-Max 15 - and it's big. As the name suggests, it's a 15-inch subwoofer that, while larger than most of the products you'll find that try and cater to the "less-is-more" crowd, this sub actually puts it all out there, unashamed. Kinda like Lady Gaga... except... square... Anyway, the driver is a 15-incher - and what makes that a big deal is that, other than Velodyne's Digital Drive series, this is the only other 15-inch sub they make.

Velodyne's Digital Drive series is legendary for its technologically advanced sealed designs, active servo control and high fidelity, low distortion output. If the DD18+ is any indication Velodyne has significantly raised the bar with the new "Plus" series over the previous Digital Drive subwoofers. Greatly increased output headroom, better cosmetics and fit and finish being a few major areas impacted. Velodyne has also packed an extreme amount of hardware into the unit with on board EQ, remote control and more connection possibilities that seen on most any other subwoofer. The DD18+ achieved our Audioholics “Extreme Room” rating and is the first sealed subwoofer to do so. It was also the recipient of our 2011 Subwoofer Product of the Year Award. This new found sense of might comes at no cost to fidelity as the DD18+ exhibited the excellent sonic reproduction typical of Velodyne's sealed servo subwoofers and was utterly unflappable no matter what was asked of it. The new curved side panel cabinet design is more robust and the review unit looked absolutely fabulous in the gloss black finish. All of this technology, attention to detail and overall high quality does of course carry a very hefty sticker with it. $4,999 msrp is a lot of money but if it is within your budget you can be assured that you are buying one of the finest subwoofer systems available.