SC-IW Listening Tests

Listening Evaluation Movies

I decided to use the older not particularly great movie DVD: Dare Devil (Directors Cut). I selected this movie because it has a terrific DTS soundtrack, excellent music score and phenomenal low frequency. Beginning with chapter four “The Accident, Matt arrives just in time to see his dad strong arm a gambler for a loan shark in the alley. Confused and dismayed Matt drop his straight “A” report card in the puddle of water and runs away. As Matt runs away there are several low frequency bass drum beats, the SC-IW subwoofers reproduced this subtle low frequency effect with a very high degree of accuracy. This is a very important part of the music/effects passage that leads up to the chaotic accident and is designed to prepare the viewer for an important event and sets the tone of desperation for the movie. I have heard this series of low frequency effects many times with several different subwoofers. A very good subwoofer should reproduce the deep pounding of the drum with authority and the bass beats as they occur should decay quickly. I listened to this part of the chapter over and over again; the SC-IW consistently reproduced the low frequency effect and music score leading up to the accident perfectly. The consistent beats of the drum sounded tight and the notes decayed as they should with no over hang, lag or unwanted rumble. I was fairy surprised to hear such accuracy, considering the subwoofer is installed in the wall. When I first installed the woofers, I had the assumption that I would hear some boom, exaggeration and overhang because this is what I have experienced with in-wall low frequency transducers in the past.

Pleasantly surprised, I progressed through the chapter until Matt reaches the accident scene. As he is running though the work yard, the LFE soundtrack really comes alive and so did the Velodyne SC-IW subwoofers. As the fork lift hits the drum filled with radio active material, my whole room began to shake with the constant rumble of low frequency bass as Matt’s life is changed forever. In the next sequence of events, the scene and the soundtrack change abruptly into what I can only describe as a hallucinogenic mind trip. Suddenly, Matt awakes in the hospital bed gasping for air unsure of his circumstances. As this occurs and as he rapidly rises out of the hospital bed, there is wave after wave of subsonic chest pounding bass, a recreation of his newly acquired super human hearing. Every little sound is amplified to bone crushing level. This short but powerful part of the soundtrack can kill all but the mightiest subwoofers when played at reference levels. Many times I have heard the awful “Clack” sound as the woofer bottoms out trying to reproduce this wave of bass. It takes a very capable subwoofer to effectively reproduce the violent howitzer cannon like bass effect and the SC-IW didn’t disappoint. As I sat listening, my body feeling the tremendous pounds of the LFE, the first thought that came into my mind was that I was listening to a very good stand alone box style subwoofer. Accuracy, pitch, and definition as reproduced by the Velodyne in-wall subwoofers were exactly what you would expect from a good mid sized subwoofer that is not installed in a wall. Yes, you read it correctly! I turned the volume up on my Yamaha RX-V4600 receiver and the SC-IW subwoofers blasted out the loud low frequency bass along with the sounds of the city and hospital contained in the soundtrack. The two Velodyne subwoofers filled my room with tremendous amounts of clean bass.

However, when I pushed these subwoofers to levels that you would only hear in military combat, they started to sound a little aggressive and less composed. This is to be expected given the size of the woofer contained in the SC-IW .My recommendation would be to install two SC-IW subwoofers in larger rooms. The rhythm, accuracy, definition and SPL slam that two subwoofers produced in my medium sized room at higher than modest listening levels was on par with many free standing 10-12-inch box subwoofers and in some instances the SC-IW subwoofers exceeded the performance of their boxy brethren. Immediately after the somewhat lengthy low frequency medley concluded, I hesitantly placed my hand on the top cover of Velodyne SC-1250 amplifier. Surprisingly the amplifier was just barley warm to the touch. This is important because it ensures the SC-1250 amplifier shouldn’t have any trouble installed in a closed equipment rack with adequate ventilation and proper component spacing.

Listening Evaluation Music

I have often wondered why some of the most beautiful voices and talented music artists are not used for music evaluation. As self proclaimed audiophiles and videophiles, we seem to have a strong bias about what type of music should and shouldn’t be used for equipment evaluation and demonstrations. Yet we continually pass over some of the most talented performers in the music industry to maintain our sometimes bloated audiophile credentials. I must admit that I am just as guilty, using only what I believe to be reference material and thinking it must meet a strict standard for my readers. Today’s modern country music performers are just as popular and in some cases more talented than yesteryear’s rock stars. The yodelling and twang that permeated the air waves in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s is now pretty much a thing of the past. Modern big billboard county music singers and bands debunk the typical bumpkin stereo type tag that is often placed on them. Brooks & Dunn, a band that has been filling sold out arenas for about the last two decades, is what I would characterize as two fun loving country guys surrounded by a rock band. Their music can be fun and fast paced or slow and thought provoking.

I began the listening evaluation with CD Brooks & Dunn, The Greatest Hits Collection II This CD is wonderfully recorded to audiophile reference levels and the music contained in the CD is just awesome. Track 3, “Ain’t Nothing ‘Bout You”, starts out rather quickly with an electric guitar, fast mid bass drum beats followed by an electric steel guitar with bass guitar mixed in. Breaking down the first part of the song from a technical stand point, the subwoofer in the system must be able to reproduce two different bass instruments at different frequencies at the same time. The drum and the bass guitar in the first part of the passage are recorded at roughly the same reference level. High performance subwoofers should be capable of reproducing the notes of both instruments so that one doesn’t dominate over the other. In other words you should be able to hear the drum and bass guitar clearly producing the notes at the same time. I have listened to this opening passage with subwoofers that were not capable of reproducing the instruments accurately.

Editorial Note on Speed and Accuracy of Subwoofers

What’s heard is a blurring of the drum and the bass guitar with the drum dominating and the bass guitar muted. This occurs because the subwoofer can’t maintain a high degree of accuracy. This, in technically not accurate audiophile speak can also be referred to as the speed of the subwoofer. Throughout my years as an installer, I have often found that high end sealed subwoofer designs, when designed correctly, are very accurate. This is not a blanket statement about subwoofer design in general because advanced engineering and software have improved other subwoofer designs significantly. It may just be my own personal bias but I never grew attached to subwoofer designs that have the driver firing down toward the floor. The subwoofers that have drivers firing toward the floor seemed to do a fine job filing the room with generous amounts of tactile response, but in my opinion they always sounded sloppy and in-accurate for highly technical music passages. The SC-IW subwoofer is a sealed design, but the driver when installed in the wall either fires up or down. Try as I might during the installation of the subwoofers I couldn’t set aside my bias that a good music subwoofer needs to mechanically point out into the room.

As I started listening to the music, I quickly realized that the SC-IW subwoofer shouldn’t be lumped into the downward firing subwoofers that I have heard in the past. Proceeding through the evaluation, the drum and the bass guitar notes were distinct, nicely separated, and heard with relative ease when being reproduced by the in-wall subwoofers. The Velodyne subwoofers integrated beautifully with the rest of the speakers I had in my system. Bass transitions were very smooth and there were no notable gap’s in the lower frequency response. I did however detect a very slight amount of exaggerated over emphasized bass from the bass guitar as the song progressed. For comparison, I have one of the most accurate subwoofers on the planet, the mighty HGS-15X, also manufactured by Velodyne. Don’t let the age fool you, having had many high end subwoofers in my system, I can tell you the HGS-15X is the George Foreman of subwoofers. Continuing the comparison evaluation with the HGS-15X, I did hear some performance differences, most notably the way the instruments interacted with each other. The differences were not night and day between the two different subwoofers but they were there. The HGX-15X produced the bass notes from the instruments with the same degree of authority but decay time between the notes happened much quicker with no overhang or exaggeration. Overall the bass presentation with the HGS-15X was much smoother and more refined. I believe the interaction and coupling between the SC-IW’s enclosure and the wall surface to be the contributing factor. I am not entirely sure it’s fair to compare one of the best sealed subwoofers ever built to an in-wall subwoofer. However, if you are a very picky audiophile primarily listening to complex music passages perhaps you should consider a high end free standing subwoofer. The two SC-IW in-wall subwoofers did a very good job in my room with music; I would say the performance level of the subwoofers rivalled very good 10-inch sealed stand alone subwoofers. If your music tastes are geared more towards Country, Rock, Jazz, R&B, Hip Hop or Rap you will really like what you hear from the Velodyne in-wall subwoofers.