MartinLogan Abyss 10 Subwoofer Review

MartinLogan Abyss 12 Subwoofer Introduction

MartinLogan’s original Abyss subwoofer was released in 2006 and was designed to be a larger and more powerful subwoofer than the original Dynamo subwoofer at that time. It was a sealed 12” sub with a 300-watt RMS amp, as opposed to the original Dynamo’s 10” woofer and 200-watt RMS amp. In 2024, MartinLogan resurrected the Abyss name, but this time, the sub plays a very different role. In its modern incarnation, the Abyss subs are actually a bit smaller than the current Dynamo subs, and they use a dual passive radiator design rather than a sealed enclosure. The Abyss 10 also has the same amount of amplifier power as the Dynamo 12. So, the Abyss is not just a smaller sibling to the Dynamo, but rather a different design that should yield greater deep bass output. I believe the more powerful deep bass of this sub is the reason that MartinLogan brought back the “Abyss” name, for the association with depth. As a 15” cube, it’s not large, yet its name suggests deep bass. But how can deep bass be generated from a small enclosure? Isn’t that contrary to physics? On paper, MartinLogan has made some smart choices for getting deep bass out of a small package, but will it play out in the real world?

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Small packages also have the added benefit of being able to fit in more locations — an ideal situation for a subwoofer since placement is so critical in getting the best bass response. What is more, it increases the possibility for multi-subwoofer systems since there are more possibilities for placement. For this reason, MartinLogan has sent us two Abyss 10 subs as well as Anthem’s ARC kit and calibration mic. This should allow a much higher-quality level of bass than a single un-EQ’d subwoofer, so the Abyss 10 will be putting its best foot forward. Let’s dig in to find out what MartinLogan did exactly, and if it indeed works as intended…

MartinLogan Abyss 10 Subwoofer Appearance

  

The Abyss 10 doesn’t take any risks in trying to look like a nice sub, so it goes the tried-and-true route of a gloss black finish with rounded edges. It’s a reliable way to get a box to look nice, which the Abyss 10 does. The lateral and horizontal edges have a slight rounding, but the vertical edges have a much heavier rounding. One aspect that helps its appearance is the symmetry of being an almost perfect cube shape. This heightens the “spousal approval factor,” as does the diminutive size of the Abyss 10. One visual aspect that distinguishes the Abyss 10 is the side-firing passive radiators. These add to the symmetry since the radiators look identical to the active driver, so all side panels have the same appearance except the rear panel. The driver cones all have a very clean look since they use smooth concave aluminum cones and are surrounded by trim rings, so no screws are exposed. MartinLogan has included grilles that have a plastic mesh frame wrapped in black fabric that covers only the cones. I don’t think they improve the appearance of the Abyss 10, so I would only use them to protect the drivers if needed. Overall, the Abyss 10 looks like a nice sub with restrained styling that will allow it to fit in any type of interior decor. Its small size may allow it to be tucked away somewhere unnoticeable, but if that is not possible, its appearance is not likely to offend, even in more luxurious interiors.

MartinLogan Abyss 10 Subwoofer Design Analysis

To state the design in a nutshell, the Abyss 10 uses a 10” driver to load two passive radiators and is powered by an 800-watt RMS amplifier. But that is just a surface description that doesn’t tell us a lot about how the subwoofer will perform, so let’s dig in a bit deeper and begin our discussion with the driver. The Abyss 10 driver uses a 10” aluminum cone. This is a single-piece aluminum cone and not just a dust cap for some other material, as is so often done. This is more difficult to manufacture but is advantageous since the cone can act as a heatsink in order to reduce thermal compression. This is especially advantageous when a mere 10” woofer is being driven by 800 watts of RMS power. MartinLogan is trying to squeeze a lot of performance out of a small cabinet, and that can be done by giving it a lot of amplification, but now thermals become a larger consideration, since so much of the power being dumped into a small, near-airtight enclosure will end up as heat. I think that a heatmap of the Abyss 10 in operation would be interesting to see, not just for the active driver cone but for the passive radiator cones, which are also aluminum pieces.

 

The cone attaches to a stamped steel basket via a half-roll surround. The motor uses a 3” voice coil in a double stack of magnets. It’s vented from both under the spider and through the pole piece in the backplate. The larger coil diameter and extra venting are needed to handle so much power.

Benefits of Passive Radiators

The deepest frequencies of the Abyss 10 are produced by its passive radiators. For those who don’t know, the radiators are driven by the backwave pressure created by the driver, much like the air in a port. But passive radiators have several advantages over a port. Firstly, they allow the enclosure to be smaller since port volume doesn’t occupy internal cabinet space. Second, passive radiators do not have all of the aural byproducts that a port can produce, such as “chuffing” and port pipe resonances. To be sure, passive radiators can produce some mechanical noise when overdriven, but it is usually less intrusive than the turbulence generated by a port. One disadvantage of passive radiators is that they might not have as fast a reaction time as the air in a port, since the moving assembly of a passive radiator has a lot more mass than a slug of air. There may be a bit more group delay in a passive radiator’s bandwidth, although a well-engineered system of either type can keep delay down to inaudible levels.

 

MartinLogan has wisely used two passive radiators in opposing sides of the enclosure. As a rule of thumb in loudspeaker design, you generally want passive radiators to have twice as much displacement as the driver. So you can either have two radiators with as much linear throw as a driver, or have one passive radiator with double the linear throw as the driver. Long-throw passive radiators tend to be very heavy as well as sometimes unreliable, so MartinLogan opted to use two medium-throw radiators that match the driver. It was probably easier for them to do this since they already had the suspension and cone design down from the active driver. Their design is mostly just the active driver minus the motor section, and maybe a bit of added weight on the moving assembly to hit a certain resonant frequency.

It was also a smart move to have the passive radiators firing in opposing directions; the moving mass of the radiators will cancel each other out. Earlier passive radiator designs were known to be so heavy that they could shift the entire subwoofer enclosure so that it would “walk” and move its position by itself. With MartinLogan’s design, the passive radiators won’t cause any rocking motions at all.

 

The active driver is powered by an amplifier that MartinLogan has coined the Magnitude MT-1.6kW amplifier, which puts out the aforementioned 800-watts RMS and 1,600-watts peak. It is controlled by an advanced 500MHz DSP engine with 64-bit processing. Most of the amp’s functions can be controlled by MartinLogan’s subwoofer control app, which connects via Bluetooth. The app controls are extensive, including levels, low-pass frequency, low-pass filter order, continuous phase, listening modes, ARC Genesis, and a tone sweep. The physical controls on the subwoofer itself are pretty sparse: volume, tone sweep, power mode, and wireless audio pairing. I also have a Dynamo 12 subwoofer in for review with the Abyss 10, and they share the same problem; there is very little configurability without the app. That will be a real problem for systems that don’t have exterior bass management on those occasions when the app doesn’t work. Bluetooth apps usually work, but not always. I have not always had success getting my phones to communicate with the subs, although the MartinLogan app seemed to work with my Samsung Android phone. I think MartinLogan should have added physical controls to adjust phase and low-pass frequency settings on the amp panel.

One of the few controls on the amp panel is a knob that has an LED light strip that indicates level. It can be used to control either volume or a tone generator frequency. The tone generator is a nice onboard feature, not only to check for signal and amplification problems but to look for room resonances as well. The Abyss 10’s connectivity options are excellent: line-level RCA LFE input as well as left/right RCA inputs, an RCA sub out, a balanced XLR input, left/right speaker-level inputs, and even a built-in wireless receiver. It comes with a wireless transmitter too.

 

The Abyss 10 is compatible with Anthem Room Correction (ARC), although users will need to buy the ARC calibration mic and supply a PC that can run the software. This is a great addition for systems that do not have automated room correction equalization systems, or only have older EQ systems. Many simpler two-channel systems would not have this capability. The same is true for many pro-audio or pro-sumer systems. So, the Abyss 10’s compatibility with ARC makes it easy to use advanced auto-equalization in those system types.

The Abyss 10 enclosure is a stout affair, with 1” thick MDF side panels and a central pillar reinforcing the top and bottom panels. Acoustic stuffing has been added for internal damping. MartinLogan touts their “anti-vibration” feet, which look to me like standard soft rubber feet, and not exactly as high-technology as the company describes. But they should do the job of damping enclosure vibrations from transmitting mechanical energy to the floor. I think that, unless the flooring is flimsy, this is a problem that is usually overstated. MartinLogan also provides spiked feet for users who want sticker footing on carpeted surfaces.

MartinLogan Abyss 10 Subwoofer Listening Sessions

With two subs, I first found the best places in my listening room for the overall flattest in-room frequency response. I then used Anthem’s ARC system to equalize them for an improved response. I don’t normally EQ subwoofers for my reviews, but since this sub has automated room equalization built in, I think it is fair to use an onboard feature. The receiver used was a Marantz AV7705. The crossover was set to 80Hz. The speakers used were my Ellis 1802G custom bookshelf reference speakers.

As always, I will note here that since room acoustics have a huge effect on low frequencies, the way these subwoofers sound in my room at my listening position is not necessarily going to be the way they sound anywhere else for anyone else, so readers would do well to keep that in mind, and not just for this subwoofer in this review but for any subwoofer in any review.

Music Listening

For an organ recording that would have low-frequency theatrics, I selected The Cathedral Organ: Reuter Organ Co. Op. 2210, The Cathedral of St. John, Albuquerque. The titular organ is the largest in New Mexico with 102 stops, 65 ranks, and 3,800 pipes including some 32’ chonkers. With such large pipes, this organ is capable of some tremendous bass, some of which is on display in this album. Not every track here is a barnburner, but some of these have some very potent low-frequency sounds that will make any subwoofer’s cone move. The selected pieces are a variety of moods and tempos from a diverse set of composers and are played by celebrated organist Ian Quinn. I streamed this obscure 2006 gem from Qobuz.

The first track, Marcel Dupre’s “Placare Christe servulis, Op. 38,” was a short track but heavy on the larger pipes, which showed the bass prowess of this Reuter organ. The Abyss 10 subs helped to create an epic sound — a perfect complement to the Ellis 1802G speakers with their wide soundstage. The scale of the Cathedral, along with its massive pipe organ, was recreated wonderfully by this sound system. Track 3 also brought on some deep bass action, and these small subs showed themselves to be capable of a big sound. The subsequent track, “Piece Heroique,” was a rather dramatic composition that allowed the organ to flex its muscle at all parts of the spectrum, so the subwoofers were given a fair amount of heavy lifting to do. But the Abyss 10s weren’t bothered by the workload, and it sounded great. Other tracks used the big pipes a bit more gently, and the Abyss 10 subs could reproduce these low-frequency moments with a lighter touch when needed. I wouldn’t expect the Abyss 10 subs to fully reproduce the sound of the 32’ pipes, but whatever infrasonic bass might have been lacking, I didn’t miss it. The Abyss 10 subs did a terrific job of realizing the “king of all instruments,” especially for such a modestly-sized sub. Pipe organ enthusiasts who want a sub for those deeper notes but cannot handle a behemoth would do well to consider the Abyss 10.

 

Hans Zimmer is famously known for his use of deep bass in his movie scores, and that is on full display in the brand-new release The World of Hans Zimmer Part II. This album is a selection and performance of some popular Zimmer pieces, including “Inception,” “Gladiator,” “No Time to Die,” and “Dune II.” These pieces are a part of the setlist for Zimmer’s live tour, and are played by the same performers: a host of Zimmer regulars, along with the Odessa Orchestra and the Nairobi Chamber Chorus. I listened to this album in a hi-res stream from Qobuz.

The first track was a piece from “Man of Steel,” one that typically uses the thunderous bass so characteristic of Zimmer, with kettle drums and double basses running at full bore. The Abyss 10 subs gave them enough oomph to believably recreate a full orchestra in my living room. Likewise, when “The Rock Suite” became more intense, the subs gave the bass drums a thump that I could feel as well as hear. The throbbing bass of the “Inception” tracks gave the Abyss 10s plenty to chew on, and they allowed the subs to demonstrate their excellent transient behavior by nailing the decays as quickly as the attacks — an important attribute for such rapid low-frequency percussion. Of course, the tracks from “Dune II” are absolute bass hogs with the “Intro” track opening with one of the most guttural and grimy acoustic instruments I have ever heard. Its rippling bass texture was sharply defined by the Abyss subs. “A Time of Quiet Between the Storms” used a combination of synthetic bass and stringed bass to lay down a monumental sound that was very apropos of the “Dune” setting, and it sounded immense on this subwoofer system. The “Wonder Woman Suite” was propelled forward by pounding bass drums which were given some real meat by the Abyss 10 subs. Over the many tracks of this album, the subwoofers gave the orchestra a big sound, but not a tubby one. The use of two subs, their careful placement, and their calibration by ARC all contributed to this big-yet-tight presentation. But the subs themselves have to be up to the task; some subs with passive radiators haven’t always had the most “precise” sound, but that isn’t the case with the Abyss 10s. They sounded terrific on this album, and those looking for a sub to abet orchestral music have a great choice here.

One of the founding masters of dark ambient music is Lustmord, and Much Unseen Is Also Here is his most recent album, a 2024 release that stays true to his core sound while also expanding on it. If moviemakers ever did a faithful adaptation of an H.P. Lovecraft story, its musical score would sound a lot like this album. It is full of ominous sounds with plenty of deep bass, and it really requires a full-range system to do it justice. As ambient music, it is not blazingly loud, so the low-frequency use is more understated and fine-tuned than simple basslines in a traditional composition. Nonetheless, it takes a deft playback system to reproduce it without turning it into a muddy blur.

The first track, “Behold a Voice as Thunder,” lived up to its name with help from the Abyss 10 subs. A drum that sounds like a gigantic Daiko drum thundered with a deep resonance, and its pulse filled the entire listening space with deep bass. The second track, the playfully-named “Entrails of the God Machine,” used a distant drone under a deep industrial churning sound, and the speakers and subs gave it a cosmic scope, as was intended by the artist. Some of the following tracks are much more ambient with soft drones and mechanical hums, and the subs gave a presence to these lower-level bass sounds without overdoing it or losing definition. The album’s centerpiece, “Hence Shall They Be Devoured All of Them” (what a great title!), is a 14-minute guided tour of a monstrous soundscape, starting off with a deep rumble. The Abyss 10 gave a fine granularity to the rumble instead of smearing it out in a muddy boom. In the final track, “Other Woes Are Yet to Come,” drones and reverberating thuds underline a gently-unfolding melody that narrates a ruined world, and the Abyss 10 subs give these low-frequency elements a muscular support. MartinLogan's subwoofers provided a solid bass foundation to Much Unseen Is Also Here, an album rich in bass sounds. It’s possible that some infrasonic bass was missed by the Abyss 10 subs, but with an in-room extension of 20Hz, it couldn’t have been much. 

 

To see how the Abyss 10s would react when pushed hard, I threw on the Evil Sky EP released in 2021 by Drone. This is an EP of heavy-duty dubstep with fat basslines and massive beats. At high enough loudness levels, this music will make any subwoofer tap out. This music isn’t just hard bass, it’s also a lot of fun to listen to, thanks to the twisted atmosphere and warped sounds created by Drone. Evil Sky predates Drone’s epic Dance With The Devil, which was released in 2023, and it definitely exhibits continuity in Drone’s style. He is a maestro of this style of music, and anyone who wants to take a dive into the deep end of dubstep would do well to dig into his discography.

The first track, “Evil Sky,” had a gigantic bassline, but it wasn’t a droning, repetitive bassline. It had some actual deep bass notation, not something often seen in this genre, and it sounded larger than life on the Abyss 10 subs. The second track, “Back and Forth,” was a real bottom-dweller with some ridiculously deep bass, but the Abyss 10s did not seem to be bothered by the low frequencies or high amplitudes. The following track was dark but humorous at the same time, with a nasty bassline running under what sounded like sampled cowbells. It was an outstanding listen on the MartinLogan subs.

A dual Abyss 10 system was obviously quite potent, but what could a single do? I set the system up for a single Abyss 10 to see if I could hit its limits. I managed to hit its limits, which on this album wasn’t super difficult to do, but it was surprising what a single Abyss 10 could do. It’s a small sub, but it can still move a fair amount of air. It belted out the ridiculously fat bassline of “Reptar’s Revenge” with gusto, and while I was clearly running up against its limits, it still belted out enough bass that I could feel it in my seat. One Abyss 10 is good, but two are better. However, if you only have enough space for one, I think you will like its prowess for electronic bass music, especially if the room isn’t a large one.

Movie Watching

One movie with oodles of bass is Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan’s 2023 film about the man who helped to develop the atomic bomb. Much of the bass comes from Ludwig Goransson’s Oscar-winning score, but some scenes also feature heavy bass, much as one would expect from a movie about “the bomb.” I threw on the Blu-ray, cranked the volume, and braced myself for its three-hour runtime.

I hadn’t seen Oppenheimer since its opening weekend in theaters, and it was a real treat to view it once again. There was quite a bit of bass in the movie, and it came from unexpected moments, such as when a young Robert Oppenheimer envisioned the quantum world. At other times, low frequencies from diegetic sounds were boosted in order to create a sense of importance from the mundane, such as when Oppenheimer gave a speech to his Los Alamos colleagues after the bombs’ use in Japan. The Abyss 10 subs handled these sequences with unflappability. Ludwig Goransson’s score wasn’t shy on bass either, and was largely orchestral but with some electronic elements. The subs gave a vibrance to the pulsating strings and deep, brassy bass lines. It sounded powerful on the Abyss 10s, and the subs did justice to the Oscar-winning score. The centerpiece was the Trinity test, of course, and on this count, the Abyss 10s did not disappoint either. When the blast wave hit after an eerie moment of silence, the subs exploded to life and shook my room. The subs gave the scene a sense of authenticity with the subterranean rumble with which they bellowed. It’s a riveting scene that deserves to be seen with a capable sound system. But the whole movie is a compelling watch, and the three-hour runtime goes by pretty quickly. It’s a complex movie, and I enjoyed it more on my second watch since I had a better idea of how to fit all of its pieces together. I think the Abyss 10 subs did it justice, and they gave it the big-screen IMAX sensation that it demands.

  

Another movie that looked to have proficient low-frequency effects was Venom: The Last Dance, the third entry into the Venom franchise, released last year. The other movies in this odd comic movie franchise had been real bass fests, and I expected the same to be true with this. There is something very goofy and outlandish about this series that makes it a lot more watchable for me than typical comic book fare. I knew it would be a fun one to run the subs loud on. 

The movie did prove to be solid on bass, as expected. While there were plenty of action scenes for the subs to chew on, much of the bass came from the voice of the title character, which was altered to be very bass-heavy. The Abyss 10 subs growled with ferocity when Venom spoke. The action didn’t go light on bass, as was demonstrated by the first battle between Venom and the Xenophage, a large, unstoppable hexapedal creature tasked with capturing a vital part of the symbiote’s biology. The fight took place on top of a jetliner at a cruising altitude, and the subs roared with a tactile punch as the monsters traded blows. A subsequent action scene turned into a three-way brawl as Venom fought the Xenophage along with some special forces. The soldiers turned out to be way out of their depth, and the thumps of their bodies being flung like ragdolls carried a nearly physical impact as reproduced by the Abyss 10s. The finale is a veritable carnival of destruction, although I will not describe any of it, so as not to spoil the film. However, I will say that the MartinLogan subs put up an excellent showing, and gave a lifelike realism to the carnage. Watching this movie with the Abyss 10 subs proved that they can bring some real muscle to heavy-duty action movie bass, despite their petite size. The fact that I had two of them instead of just one was certainly a big assist, but it shows that two smaller subs can make up for one larger sub, especially if there is not enough floor space for a large sub.

MartinLogan Abyss 10 Subwoofer Measurements

Testing on the MartinLogan Abyss 10 was conducted with the microphone facing the woofer at a 1-meter distance with measurements scaled back to a 2-meter distance by subtracting 6dB. The temperature was recorded at 60°F with 80% humidity. The subwoofer’s gain was set to maximum; the phase was set to zero, and the low-pass filters were set to bypass.

 

The above graph shows the measured frequency responses for the Abyss 10 subwoofer for each of its operating modes. Its most neutral response occurs in Music Mode, but typical domestic room acoustics will screw up any flat low-frequency response, so don’t expect to get anything like that in-room. Nonetheless, Music Mode is what I would run the sub in. Movie Mode gives a small boost to lower mid-bass, mostly in the range from 40Hz to 70Hz. I am not sure why MartinLogan thought that movies would somehow benefit from an elevated response in this range. My guess is that they did this simply because the sub has a lot more headroom within that band. Either mode should yield a solid in-room response down to 20Hz. What is also nice is the upper bass extension that goes up to 200Hz. This high-frequency extension allows the user to try much higher crossover frequencies than the standard 80Hz, and that can yield big dividends, especially in multi-sub systems.

Night Mode substantially reduces overall output, especially in deep bass. I have to question the usefulness of Night Mode, and I think its benefits would be very situational. If you are playing your system so loud that it is bothering other household occupants, reducing the sub level as well as the sub’s response shape probably isn’t going to solve the problem, although it might slightly alleviate it. 

 

The above CEA-2010 measurements are short-term bursts that show the subwoofer’s clean peak SPL before heavy distortion sets in. Our measurements have been referenced to 2-meter RMS, which is 9dB down from the standard requirement for the measurements to be shown at 1-meter peak. However, most publicly available CEA-2010 measurements are shown at 2-meter RMS, so we followed that convention.

The above table shows the Abyss 10 to be a punchy little subwoofer with good bass extension down to 20Hz. It almost but not quite hits 100dB at 25Hz, which is good for a subwoofer of its size. Output peaks at 108.7dB at 50Hz, which should give some real thump to the fundamental of many bass drums. There are subs that can produce more output for a lower cost, but they do so in a much larger size, as well as with a lesser build quality and feature set. This CEA-2010 burst test measurement set nets the Abyss 10 our Bassaholics “Medium” Room Rating, meaning it should be able to handle rooms of up to 3,000 cubic feet. Not bad for such a modestly-sized subwoofer! 

To learn more about Audioholics’ Bassaholics Room ratings, please look at this article: Bassaholic Subwoofer Room Size rating Protocol.

 

Testing for long-term output compression was done by first conducting a 20-second sweep tone where 50Hz hit 90 dB with the subwoofer 1 meter from the microphone (graph has been scaled to 2 meters for easy comparison with our other review measurements). We then conduct further 20-second sweeps by raising the gain by 5dB until no more output can be wrung out of the subwoofer. These tests show us the long-term continuous headroom that the subwoofer is capable of.

The continuous output exhibited by the Abyss 10 in the above graph is not bad. Surprisingly, the highest drive levels compress the higher frequency bands rather than the lower frequency bands. That means that the Abyss 10 does not give up much output at the deepest frequencies when pushed hard. The Abyss 10 driver likely has a fair amount of moving mass in order to push so much air for such a small cone, and the trade-off in that is reduced upper frequency sensitivity. Lots of voice coil means higher inductance and greater weight, and that skyrockets the amount of power needed to maintain the same SPL in those circumstances. The Abyss 10 manages to exceed 100dB continuously between 40Hz to 70hz, and it can belt out 95dB non-stop at 25Hz. Again, very impressive for such a small subwoofer.

 

The above graph shows the corresponding total harmonic distortion to the long-term output graph. Essentially, it depicts how linear the subwoofer remains for the corresponding drive level seen in the long-term sweeps. The quantity being measured is how much of the subwoofer’s output is distortion, shown here as a percentage.

While the Abyss 10 can generate a fairly high level of distortion at 25Hz when pushed to its limits, it does a great job of maintaining its cool above 35Hz where it can’t be pushed over 10% THD. It’s a good sub for loud music since the vast majority of the bass in musical recordings occurs above 40Hz. At nominal levels, it stays very clean down to 20Hz, but when pushed hard, the frequency band around 25Hz does shoot up in distortion. I never noticed anything amiss in my own listening of normal content, but hitting the Abyss 10 with a sine wave test tone at 25Hz will produce some pretty clear overtones. My guess is that most users will never push it that hard. We see that distortion lowers just below 25Hz at high drive levels, and that is because the passive radiators are taking a load off the driver. Below that, distortion goes way up, but at that point output goes way down, so it doesn’t make a difference since there is very little output below 20Hz.

 

 

The above graphs depict measurements of the constituent harmonics from the long-term output sweeps and are what the total harmonic distortion measurements are composed of for the 2nd and 3rd harmonics. These individual harmonics can give us a clue as to what might be the cause of some quirk or non-linearity. We are only showing the 2nd and 3rd here because they more-or-less reflect the higher even-order and odd-order behaviors, although higher-order harmonics tend to be much farther down as a percentage of distortion compared to the second and third.

What is interesting in comparing the above graphs is that we can clearly see that the Abyss 10 errs more on the side of even-order harmonic distortion rather than odd-order. That means that whatever is causing the driver’s non-linear travel is mostly affecting one side of its excursion rather than both sides. Much of it is surely stemming from inductance, which is where a counter-current generated by the coil’s motion in the magnetic field can oppose the intended motion of the driver. I don’t know if the Abyss 10 driver uses shorting rings or a pole piece cap that could reduce inductance effects. The good news is that even-order harmonics are more subtle than odd-order harmonics, especially in music, since they can simply sound like one of the many overtones of the musical instrument itself.

 

Group delay is the measurement of how much time it takes for individual frequency bands of an input signal to be produced by the speaker. It can indicate that some frequency components are developing slower than others or are taking longer to decay. It is generally thought that 1.5 sound cycles are needed for group delay to be audible at bass frequencies, although there is an argument that group delay should remain under 20ms to be completely unnoticeable, but that is likely meant for mid and upper bass frequencies.

The group delay for the Abyss 10 is exceptional, especially for a subwoofer that uses passive radiators. Above 40Hz, delay stays under 10ms, and between 30Hz to 40Hz, it does not rise above 20ms. Below that, human hearing sensitivity is fairly poor, and most of the reproduced sounds in that range are effects noises, so it doesn’t matter as much. In the frequency bandwidth of common music, the Abyss 10 is as sharp as a tack. This was reflected in my own listening to the subwoofer; I had no complaints about its acuity.

 

The above graph is the in-room frequency response I measured with and without ARC active. Each curve is an average of five positions. Activating ARC led to an audibly improved response, and this is borne out by the in-room measurements. ARC’s equalization led to a more even response and a more balanced sound across all listening positions. Peaks were tempered and dips were shored up. In fact, I would say the audible improvement that I experienced was better than one would guess from looking at this graph. It should be noted that this graph was taken using both Abyss 10 subwoofers. A single subwoofer would be tougher for any equalization system to handle. But this leads us to one of the advantages of the Abyss 10; it is relatively small, so it makes multi-subwoofer systems much more feasible- if your budget can handle that.

MartinLogan Abyss 10 Subwoofer Conclusion

As always, I will briefly go over the strengths and weaknesses of the product under evaluation, and, as usual, I will start with the weaknesses, since I am the kind of guy who wants the bad news first. The problem is that there isn’t much to criticize the Abyss 10 for. However, one aspect I wish were different is how limited the controls on the subwoofer are without the app. The app is needed to change such elemental functions as low-pass filtering and phase. That could end up becoming a problem if the app doesn’t work for you. The software environments of smartphones and tablets are always changing, so it’s not unthinkable that something could break compatibility with the app on a long enough timeline. I would expect that MartinLogan will support the app for a long time to come, but no one knows what the future brings. I wish that MartinLogan had made more DSP features accessible on the subwoofer itself without the app.

Outside of its over-reliance on the app for controls, I don’t have anything else for which to criticize the Abyss 10 itself for. So then, let’s now discuss its strengths. While its sound quality is very good, what impresses me most, truthfully, is the build quality. This thing is built like a tank. Picking it up feels like lifting a boulder. It is extremely well-made, and you get the sense that it is built to last. Unfortunately, that makes its reliance on app controls stand out that much more, because software can be such an ephemeral thing. But there is no arguing that it has a premium level of construction.

The Abyss 10 also looks great and has a very high “spouse approval factor,” which is to say that few other household occupants will likely object to its appearance. Its rounded edges and gloss finish exude a sense of luxury, and it could fit in just about any interior decor, even very high-end ones. What really helps it in this regard is its size. It’s just not a very large subwoofer. As was said before, that makes multi-sub systems a greater possibility for those with healthy budgets, especially with the Abyss 10’s wireless capabilities, and multi-sub systems can yield big dividends in sound quality improvements.

It produces a great sound too, especially with ARC engaged. It has good deep bass performance for a subwoofer of its size. ARC makes it a great choice for systems that do not have equalizers, such as simpler two-channel systems. These can come in the form of old-school integrated amp systems, simpler powered systems for TVs such as soundbars or powered speakers, or simpler pro-audio systems like a pair of powered monitor speakers. The small size and ARC abilities make the Abyss 10 almost ideal for desktop sound systems, since they can fit in small places, and desktop sound systems don’t normally come with room correction equalization.

Along with ARC, the Abyss 10 has a great feature set, although much of it is relegated to the app. MartinLogan’s subwoofer control app allows fine-tuning of parameters that aren’t normally possible on typical subwoofer plate amplifier controls. The inclusion of wireless connectivity as well as a balanced XLR input and even speaker-level inputs makes it possible to easily connect the Abyss 10 into any type of sound system. MartinLogan’s onboard tone generator remains a great feature that I am surprised that other subwoofer manufacturers haven’t adopted.

The Abyss 10 is a very good subwoofer, but it will cost you. It is not an inexpensive sub at $1.7K at the time of this writing. That is a lot of money for a small sub. If you want a multiple-sub system, such as what I reviewed, you are looking at least $3.4K. Add a bit extra if you want to use ARC, since that calibration microphone is sold separately. However, value is such a subjective quality that it’s tough to criticize the Abyss 10 for this. If you want a small sub with a high-end build quality, decent performance, a luxury finish, and a top-flight feature set, there aren’t that many other options out there that are this well-executed. In that sense, it could be considered a higher-value item. If you just wanted the performance from a similarly sized subwoofer but don’t need all the other niceties, there are a slew of other subs that don’t cost as much.

 

MartinLogan Abyss 10 vs the Competition

So what does the Abyss 10 go up against? Shoppers in this segment are also likely looking at the REL T/9x, another premium 10” driver sub with a passive radiator that is roughly the same size. It doesn’t have as sophisticated feature set as the Abyss 10, nor does it have as much amplification, so I wouldn’t expect it to match the Abyss 10’s output. However, it is a bit less expensive. A bit more expensive is Bowers & Wilkin’s DB4S, a sealed 10” system that also has a room correction equalizer. Its equalizer is an app that relies on the microphone in common smartphones as well. I don’t know how well its room EQ system works, but the ARC system is a proven reliable equalization system, so I don’t know that I would take a chance on the B&W system if that was the key feature for me. SVS has the SB-3000, which we reviewed in 2019. It’s about the same size and also has a nice gloss black finish. It’s less expensive and has more mid-bass output and almost as much deep bass output. It also has SVS’s app control and a fairly extensive feature set. The only thing it’s missing versus the Abyss 10 is a room correction equalization feature. If you have a healthier budget and want the most premium sub in this segment, I would look at the Sigberg 10D, which we reviewed in 2022. It doesn’t have an easy app as control, but it has outstanding performance for its size as well as superb Norwegian craftsmanship. Something else that promises to pack a punch for a small size is the RBH Sound S-12HPS, which drives a beefy 12” driver with an 800-watt amp. It doesn’t have app control, but I would be willing to bet it has far more mid-bass output.

In the end, I found Abyss 10 to be a great little sub. Its baseline performance is good, and its size and feature set allow it an uncommon level of flexibility. Its appearance and build quality are top-notch and make it a real luxury-class product. If you are looking for a way to get deep bass out of a not-huge subwoofer that has to blend in with a high-end home decor, it’s a solid choice.

The Score Card

The scoring below is based on each piece of equipment doing the duty it is designed for. The numbers are weighed heavily with respect to the individual cost of each unit, thus giving a rating roughly equal to:

Performance × Price Factor/Value = Rating

Audioholics.com note: The ratings indicated below are based on subjective listening and objective testing of the product in question. The rating scale is based on performance/value ratio. If you notice better performing products in future reviews that have lower numbers in certain areas, be aware that the value factor is most likely the culprit. Other Audioholics reviewers may rate products solely based on performance, and each reviewer has his/her own system for ratings.

Audioholics Rating Scale

• — Excellent
• — Very Good
• — Good
• — Fair
• — Poor

Metric	Rating
Bass Extension
Bass Accuracy
Build Quality
Fit and Finish
Ergonomics & Usability
Features
Dynamic Range
Performance
Value