Fathom f112 Listening Tests
System Setup
The Fathom f112 arrived well packaged in double boxes. The outer box has injection molded feet bolted to the bottom with machine screws to protect the package and perhaps even provide some degree of shock absorption. Opening to the inner box reveals a warning:
Whoa! Freeze! Read!
Don’t get all excited about unpacking the new sub, follow the directions to get the sub in place, right side up, and avoid becoming herniated.
Inside, the f112 is double wrapped in standard plastic and a black cloth cover. The kit includes instructions, the power cord, the AOR testing microphone, a mini XLR cable, and white gloves.
This sub is heavy, which is both good and bad. The good points all relate to audio performance, heavy implies such things as: powerful amplifier, substantial motor structure, and stiff cabinets. With improved performance, typically all these items add to the weight. The bad is simply the fact that proper positioning for optimum room acoustics will require one to move this brute, oh the pain and the pleasure.
The ARO feature is simple enough to use: set up the microphone at the listening position and press a button. The sub then sweeps through a series of pure tones and test tones until one of two things happens: calibration is complete or the sub level needs to be adjusted and the procedure restarted. If the level needs to be adjusted, the calibrate button will blink at about 1 Hz for a required increase or at about 3 Hz if the level is too high to complete the test. Test volume is a bit finicky and I had to rerun the test several times until I got the level right, fairly tight to 3 o’clock on the master level. At that volume level using pure tones, buzzing objects panned around the room as resonance was found for every object in turn. Once completed, however, I found the midbass a bit less bloated than without the calibration.
Being an engineer, I felt inclined to ask the designers why the ARO feature was made completely automatic without any user override. The answer was fairly straight forward: the feature is meant to be easy to use for consumers, which avoids mistakes that might cause poorer sound. The designers feel if extra control were required, such users would be better served with a dedicated multi parametric equalizer unit.
Listening Evaluation
I listened to the f112 using my A/V setup with multi-channel and stereo source material; there are several reasons for this, not the least of which is that this brute is heavy and unaccommodating to multi-room rearrangement. I also found my review focusing more on movies where extreme low bass is deliberately more prevalent.
In the home theater context, I found using this sub on familiar material quite engaging and revealing. This is not to say that I heard many things that I did not before, but not quite in this way. I use a pair of 650 watt Infinity CSW10 subs that are designed to force deep bass out of relatively small drivers and cabinets, a compromise with maximum sound pressure output. Specifications are down to 22Hz before roll off, but both together do not quite have the wattage of the f112 or the excursion capabilities so I found the delivery from the f112 was a bit more robust. While these subs are capable of shaking the room below 30Hz, they could not keep up with the intensity of the f112.
One other item of note, I also immediately noticed the switch from a dual sub setup to a single sub. This is no fault of the Fathom sub itself, but a room acoustics issue. Use of multiple subwoofers allows modal problems in room response to be smoothed out by cancellation. Strategic placement of the subs relative to walls and the listening position can be used to nullify the worst dips and peaks in the room modes at the listening position as well as increase total bass output. This is also a distinct advantage over equalization, which can only trim the peaks, not fill dips. My own experience with running multiple subs has been a stark improvement with smoother frequency response, improved detail, and increased depth at the bottom beyond what a single well placed sub can muster.
I am including several links where this topic is discussed in greater detail and also an excel based room mode calculation spreadsheet:
For information on the pros and cons of various schemes to wire multiple subs together visit:
I did do some A/B comparisons and I found that the majority of what I was hearing with the f112 was also present on my subs, but had less substance and clarity. The f112 could draw out some of the quieter sonic elements whose presence had not attracted my attention previously and was able to more cleanly separate impulsive content within the LFE channel.
Editorial Comment on Loudspeaker Resolution
Let me go into more detail about what I heard using the f112 to render movie sound effects. The explanation is twofold.
The explanation, in part, lies with headroom. The extra wattage and high excursion capabilities provided by the f112 extended dynamic range, which in turns leads to a perceived enhancement of detail. At the dynamic peaks, the amplifier is not struggling with extremes while trampling on the subtleties; better command of the cone forces it to be where it must to capture additional sounds. This is precisely the purpose of high wattage; the goal is not just to play the audio louder until it is as compressed as with lesser subs.
The other part requires one to consider the nature of events that the LFE channel is attempting to mimic; they are sounds that have some distinct differences from music. Explosion, collapses, gunfire, and the like are collections of impulsive sounds that often have anharmonic, aperiodic, discontinuous, and random relations. While music does contain impulsive transients, they do not occur with the same density as with sound effects and are often less erratic, allowing brief steady state motion. A quarter note at A4 with a tempo of 60 lasts a mere second but will undergo 440 vibrations, with integer harmonics, in that second, effectively becoming steady state within that rhythmic period. Other notes that may occur simultaneously have a rhythmic and harmonic relation even if the sound is musically dissonant because of the way scales are constructed: octaves are geometric progressions whereas harmonics are an arithmetic series.
A loudspeaker, by nature, is a harmonic oscillator whose movement is a continuous function. With impulsive sounds, a low resolution speaker may find that it is unable to move quickly between erratic, discontinuous transients, truncating maxima and minima while distorting the shape of the wave form. This is a subtle form of localized compression that will make sound effects resemble more of an amorphous sonic blob.
With the f112, I was able to better hear separation between individual impulsive pressure changes and with greater dynamic range than I have heard with my gear and considerably more detail than with a lot of other gear.
For those whose familiarity is with subs of a more modest wattage and frequency response, this becomes an entirely different matter. This is a potent subwoofer fully capable of plumbing the sonic depths to extract sounds that are typically beyond the reach of many devices called subwoofers. It will also rattle things in the walls whose very existence was hitherto unknown. When the f112 was asked to speak up, I occasionally was treated to the sound of my fireplace, various objects around the room, and when in the adjacent room, the walls flexing, clattering pictures and shelves.
Here I digress into my perception of differences in the way audio is practiced by home and mobile enthusiasts. My observation of the common mobile practitioner, identified by amorphous booms that seem to segue one into another from behind at the stoplight, are summarized in the following equation: loud + rattles = good. This antithesis of audio purity leads to overdriven amps with high Q drivers and cabinets for the purpose of making more bass than is present in the recording. Body panel buzzes that occur as the car is rattled apart from the inside are a bonus because more (any) bass and the ability to force objects to make rattling sounds is good. Proper ownership of the f112 will require consideration of the listening environment and acoustics to limit those sorts of unseemly sounds. The good news is that the JL Audio design does not pander to hardware shortcomings cited above, it’s up to the user to secure items in the house.
On movie scores and dedicated music programming, I found the f112 equally potent but more importantly, very musical. This gorilla can not only thrash around the mosh pit, it can turn a minuet. It is powerful yet nimble, able to dance its way through delicate acoustic instruments while cavorting about demanding LFE transients without losing step. Micro and macro dynamics were both well handled by the f112: acoustic jazz and orchestral scores were treated with respect and not given a black eye.
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
As I have said on other occasions, this movie is an excellent audio reference. Using DTS, the sound quality of the recorded score is lush, full, and nuanced with considerable low frequency content to test musicality of any sub; and the LFE is as demanding as any movie. It is easy to hear how a good sub not only pounds out special effects, but also frames out a score with a foundation that serves to contrast and enhance all the subtleties present in the midrange and treble.
Here is case in point for my earlier statement about A/B
comparison with my subs to verify if something new was musically present or if
the f112 was just better at separating out and drawing attention to subtlety
and details in the score while controlling LFE at full intensity. I found my attention drawn to many sounds at
the bottom I had not noticed before.
The f112 presented the LFE as potent with deep, clean
transients with well separated resolution of the impulses, while the orchestra
score sounded open and dynamic with enhanced naturalness in the depth of the
low strings, winds, and percussion.
Hoarse hooves, fireworks, thunder, volcanism, floods, and water falls
were dynamic with detail and tactile depth, rendered cleanly to the very bottom
with this sub. The rumble of battle and
impacts during the ‘Last Alliance’ was rendered tight and deep by the f112 with
shifting bass transients. Sauron’s
release from physical form physically passed through the room. Sauron’s voice, chanting spells through the
ring, had enhanced depth and clarity.
Scenes where Frodo succumbs and enters the netherworld were potent and
dynamic and the appearance of the Eye at Bree and Amon Hen were earthshaking. Quiet scenes, such as Bilbo’s introduction of
Hobiton, illustrated the richness added to the score, while various scenes with
the wraiths in pursuit, including weather top, were even more musically
taut. Isengard in 5/4, with orcs busy
forging weapons of war, demonstrated the f112’s ability to maintain a clean
bottom for the percussion and low brass, while controlling the LFE rumblings
with precision.
Serenity
An enjoyable movie, Serenity features good quality sound effects that will test the mettle of a sub. From rocket engines engaged in atmospheric flight, developing thrust for escape velocity from planetary gravitational wells, to vehicle reentry and landing, there is much demanded from any sub. All of the semiautomatic gun fire and explosions are bonus.
Throughout this film, the f112 delivered intense sound effects while cleanly rendering the music score. During the various ship maneuver scenes, I saw the JL driver move the better part of the 3” excursion claimed and maintain composure, delivering tight, well defined bass. Low instruments had a rich, musical bottom and instrumental transients at the lowest frequencies were crisp.
Serenity opens with an intense bass transient as the camera sweeps from an Earth under bombardment as a sky full of spacecraft flee. The f112 went cleanly through, shifting to distant explosions, to rocket propelled flybys. After an extended intro, comes the first planetary landing. Full thrust rattled my fireplace, but the f112, despite substantial excursion, remained clean. A tense passage through Reaver space showcased the Fathoms ability with subtle LFE and natural support for the low strings. The liftoff from the planet Miranda was again an intense experience, rattling doors and walls in my house, while the f112’s cone moved a substantial amount without audible complaint. The final battle in this movie is destruction galore, featuring battle in space, atmosphere, and on the ground. The f112 dynamically rendered the barrage of ship explosions, engine flybys, collisions, EMP pulses, atmospheric turbulence, and crash landings with aplomb. On the ground, the f112 continued dishing out the intensity; bursts of automatic gunfire were satisfyingly staccato with visibly precise driver movement, explosions were clean, as was the deep rumble of machinery. The f112’s performance was capped off with the closing score: low strings were tight, percussion was deep with layers and texture, and the f112 conveyed the recorded ambiance to the bottom.
Porcupine
Tree: Arriving Somewhere (DTS)
I had the good fortune to have been present at the concert on the first of the two recording dates at the Park West in Chicago, so I have some additional perspective when using this DVD as a reviewing tool: I know what the sound was like when it was recorded. The recording does a good job of maintaining the quality of the live sound, though, as with most concert recordings, the direct sound was likely pulled from the sound board and then mixed with additional live microphone feeds to include the sound of the hall and crowd noise in a controlled way. The audio clarity is good and the impact of the bass and percussion is intact enough that with the right equipment, some of it can be pulled back out and brought to life during reproduction.
Obviously, even a brute like the f112 does not have the raw wattage of all the stacks at a live rock concert, but there were times at the show when the bass would pound one in the chest and the f112 got it. No, not as intense, but it was there, as it was in the show. Again, my subs can do this also, but with less intensity. Less capable subwoofers will just circle to avoid this effect altogether. The louder I went, the better the f112 sounded, bass guitar was meaty, double bass drum bursts were tight and the various drum types, low toms and bass drum, always sounded realistic.
‘Open Car’ shook the room with the f112 opening the concert with the bass character presented as I remembered. Bass guitar during the bridge rumbled the room and the double bass drum arrived in staccato bursts during the solo. Meaty bass guitar in ‘Hate Song’ moved rattled around the room and during the bridge, the f112 conveyed the chest-vibrating bottom that actually resonated the couch cushions as well. The f112 conveyed varied percussion with a natural sound to the lowest frequencies during ‘Don’t Hate Me’ and the moving bass line during the solo maintained timbral stability as it transitioned between the sub and the mains. ‘The Start of Something Beautiful’ opens with synthesized bass that was full and combined cleanly with the bass guitar as it segued in. With ‘Halo’, the f112 carried off the meaty bass guitar while staccato double bass drum bursts popped full and tight, during the solo and at the end.
Talk Talk: Laughing Stock
The final album from Talk Talk is the musical culmination to a journey of transformation, from derivative ‘80’s synth-pop that landed the first record deal to experimental composition ending that same deal. This commercially unappreciated album is in many ways a modern masterpiece. The organic song structures and arrangements do not adhere to any conventional form and the content draws from ambient, jazz, modern chamber orchestra, and avant-garde. Spare, desolate, melancholy, sublime, layered, textured, intense, acerbic all describe these fluid compositions at different points. Quiet, intricate motifs drift into dissonant, atonal string and wind arrangements or are occasionally punctuated with grinding guitar feedback.
I found the f112 contributing to the overall sense of space this music creates. Separation and clarity of the bass instruments were the beneficiaries of well controlled micro dynamics. Double bass was articulate and detailed, subtle transitions with electronics were audible, low winds were natural, and the loosely tuned bass drum head retained its character. Throughout, the f112 was delicate and smooth while still rumbling the room when required.
‘Myrrhman’ opens to solo guitar with heavy tremolo, moving smoothly between the f112 and the mains. Plucked acoustic bass was simultaneously robust yet light and detailed and the occasional percussion was natural. Bowed acoustic bass shifted from note to note smoothly with depth and warmth as the piece closed. Double bass was rendered light and articulate yet full on ‘Ascension Day’ and the bass drum popped nicely with the f112 cleanly conveying timbral characteristics. The f112 handled room rumbling electric bass on ‘After the Flood’ while still reproducing the performer’s delicate articulations where inside the notes, elliptical crescendos and decrescendos were audible. Vibrato in the low solo guitar opening ‘Taphead’ again seamlessly transitioned the crossover point. The f112 displayed excellent micro dynamics when, towards the middle of the piece, the wind instruments form a shifting tone cluster while a bowed double bass moves in and out of the background, segueing into a subtle rhythm with room rumbling depth that was still delicately aloft, separated. The light, articulate double bass and percussion throughout ‘New Grass’ was detailed and deep with the Fathom, all the delicate timbres reproduced. Finally, on ‘Runeii’, the low solo guitar part was supported by the f112’s delicately rendered double bass.
Dave Holland Big Band: What Goes Around
To get a handle on what the Fathom would do to the sound of delicate acoustic instruments, I once again turned to this excellent recording by this excellent musician. A sub that reproduces explosions well is nice, but the sound is faked. It is intimate familiarity with live acoustic music where one can tell what is right or wrong with audio reproduction. Dave Holland’s ability to walk, run, and dance over the neck his double bass showed the f112 again in fine form.
The Fathom’s reproduction of the double bass was tight, articulate, and full. Transitions between the sub and mains were seamless across bass runs with stable timbre and natural sounding reproduction. The percussion presentation by the f112 was tight with a nice kick. The sub was musical, reproducing a contiguous whole with these charts.
The up tempo ‘Triple Dance’ saw the f112 providing the bottom of a moving bass line that was light but solid. Low brass, bass, and drums sounded natural and unstrained. Followed by ‘Blues for CM’ which slows things down, the f112 did well handling the slower walking bass line. The Fathom was able to cleanly render the Holland’s articulations and the baritone sax part was solid and natural with this sub. ‘Shadow Dance’ opens to a bass solo where, using the f112, I was able to hear flavors of body vibrations in the instrument. Sound from the f112 was clean and well integrated across the sub and mains; fundamentals in the double bass were detailed and articulate while still reproduced with a rich sound, all the delicacies were present. The f112 provided punch for the drumming, particularly the solo, while remaining light and still providing distinct timbral characteristics of various drums.
Nelhybel: Trittico; Albeniz: Feastday
in Seville; Dello Joio: Variations on
a Mediaeval Tune; Grieg: Funeral
March for Rikard Nordraak; Giannini: Symphony
No. 3 for winds
Dallas Wind Symphony, Fredrick Fennel (Reference Recordings)
These performances, dating back to 1992, feature the Dallas Wind Symphony conducted by Fredrick Fennell, were recorded using a prototype device that subsequently became HDCD. Fennell’s credentials include founding the Eastman Wind Ensemble and establishing wind ensembles as a serious medium that now prospers at educational institutions across the United States. Represented are a range of compositions, both transcriptions as well as original wind compositions, which are very well recorded.
Editorial Comment on Subsonics
One of subtleties of audio reproduction is the ability to capture sounds that occur beyond the range of human hearing. Current psychoacoustics thinking suggests that the presence of ultrasonics, while inaudible themselves, are necessary for natural audio reproduction because of the wave interaction with audible frequencies. High sample rate recordings and speakers with ultrasonic frequency responses are available but this also can be extended to subsonics whose presence at real performances is lost on many systems. For low frequencies, phase interactions between audible bass and subsonics will affect the perception of the audible sound. Spend time in an orchestra hall; low frequency pressure changes that are not audible as continuous sound are present. The notes themselves may settle into steady state vibration, but sudden instrumental entrances, heavy articulation, and percussion will generate impulsive pressure changes that propagate as waves. Well recorded music, particularly in a large hall will have this type of sonic information.
With the Fathom, this dynamic recording was both potent and natural. Hall ambience abounded at the bottom end giving a sense of space and depth to the recording. Careful listening of f112 with this recording revealed that the sub was reproducing concert hall subsonics present in the recording. They were subtle, a closely located ear could hear them discreetly, but their presence enhanced the lifelike qualities of the recording. At all times, the Fathom kept instruments at the bottom clean and well separated, maintaining detail at various dynamic levels without jumbling the bass. Quiet movements had an accurate, natural timbral quality and the more aggressive sections were deep, dynamic, and potent without the f112 drawing undue attention. It just went about its business of making music.
‘Trittico’ is comprised of two movements of bombast surrounding a more sublime second movement. The concert bass drum used for the allegro maestoso and allegro marcato rumbled the hall with a deep resonance that was neither more nor less tight and clean than the drum itself. Trombones, tubas, bassoons, and the like had a well supported and defined bottom end. The adagio rich with low brass that was well blended and the tympani had defined low end detail with the f112. ‘Feast Day in Seville’ builds slowly; hall ambience in the percussion and low winds was well supported at the bottom by the f112, culminating in several fanfares, each more glorious than the previous. Here the Fathom portrayed the low brass with depth, as potent and lush, while maintaining clarity in the lowest frequencies of the chord structures. Closing with ‘Symphony No. 3’ the f112 handled dynamic swells between fanfares in the allegro energico seamlessly with the mains. Low brass and percussion were rendered solid and deep. The adagio was warm, exposed tubas were natural in character and the delicate tympani part was precise. Interaction between high and low instruments in the allegretto was natural and smooth across the f112 and the mains. Closing with the bombast of the allegro con brio, the f112 delivered room rumbling intensity but was able to reproduce tubas, trombones, euphoniums, and percussion with distinct separation and clarity.
