DPS-10 Company History
Velodyne was founded in 1983 by David Hall, who currently is the CEO and Chief Engineer. The company is still privately owned with a head count of about 55 employees. David has had an engineering bent since childhood (there is a claim on their website that he built an amplifier at age four), and he formalized that innate ability with a degree in Engineering. He has eight amplifier design patents, and is even known to be a robotics enthusiast participating in those 'robot battles' seen on TV. Under David, Velodyne patented their high gain servo-controlled subwoofer, in 1984.
Velodyne has long been a hallmark manufacturer of subwoofers, and currently subwoofers are all they produce. They offer a couple dozen models ranging in MSRPs from $149 to $15,000. According to Curt Chisholm of Velodyne, a significant portion of their business comes from the lower priced models, as is the case in almost any industry or company. There are, of course, the state-of-the-art offerings like their flagship Digital Drive 1812 SE, a no-compromise and cost-no-object product which incorporates their best and latest in every aspect of componentry and design; and could probably hold its own against if not trounce any subwoofer out there. I doubt if Velodyne sells more than a few handfuls of these in a year, and these products usually serve as a showcase of what the company is capable of producing. These flagship products also frequently serve to develop advancements in technologies that can then be trickled down into products at lower price points. Bread and butter is earned by the products in the bottom price tier and, needless to say, compromises have to be made when making these products. The DPS-10, priced at $449, was designed with very specific goals in mind (discussed further below). It is very important to understand the context of this product, so you can read my evaluation in that light.
My discussions with Curt elicited a refreshingly honest answer on this topic. All too often manufacturers attempt to convince the public (and reviewers) with rhetoric that their product has no compromises and is universally suited to all applications. I can think of several who would try to pitch me that nonsense with a product like the DPS-10. Thankfully, Curt was practical and open about the intended target for the DPS-10 subwoofer. He was very clear that this product was aimed at specific segments and applications; namely the upper entry-level home-theater and gaming enthusiast. He also indicated that no other manufacturer offered DSP functionality in this price range.
This is a consumer who likely has some of the following traits and is:
- using a surround receiver,
- has small satellite speakers and thus needs the sub to pickup from a relatively high crossover point (i.e. 80Hz or higher),
- desiring to enjoy listening without the expectation of audiophile-level performance,
- looking for high SPL capability,
- interested in convenient control features,
- excited about "digital-processing" to tailor in room response,
- concerned about price and wanting to limit their financial investment in a subwoofer.
At this point it is only fair to alter my usual approach. I typically only concern myself with how a product would perform in my two-channel setup. This is now a mostly meaningless concern since the manufacturer specifically stated that this product is not specifically intended as such. That's not to say that you cannot use this sub for two-channel listening, just that its best performance is more for home theater and gaming.
