MartinLogan Dynamo 12 Subwoofer Review

MartinLogan Dynamo 12 Introduction

MartinLogan’s Dynamo subwoofers have been enormously successful throughout the years thanks to their mixture of reasonable size, decent performance, nice looks, and good feature set. MartinLogan’s reputation as a highly respected loudspeaker manufacturer certainly must have been a factor as well. Audioholics has reviewed past editions of their Dynamos with consistently favorable impressions, such as the 600x, 1600, and 1500x. We haven’t yet dealt with their current generation of Dynamo subwoofers, but today that is going to change. We have their Dynamo 12 in for review. This new generation of Dynamo subs looks to be more like a product revolution than evolution, as it has been for past Dynamo releases. The enclosure is far heftier, the driver is very different, and the styling has changed with new rounded edges and a gloss black finish. This new Dynamo series seems much more upscale than previous iterations. What has MartinLogan brought us with this new Dynamo sub, which looks more like a ground-up redesign instead of merely a refresh? Let’s now dig in to find out…

MartinLogan Dynamo 12 Subwoofer Appearance

  

The Dynamo 12 is a very nice-looking sub, but not a stylistically daring unit. It is not a large sub, but not a tiny one either, so it needs to look classy to fit in upscale interiors. It uses a gloss black finish for a luxury demeanor, as well as rounded edges and a horizontal trim piece that divides the upper and lower halves. The driver uses a smooth, concave cone that is surrounded by a gunmetal trim ring for a neat and clean appearance. A grille that covers the cone is included, but I don’t think it improves the appearance of the sub, so I wouldn’t use it unless the driver needs protection from children or pets. A MartinLogan badge rests at the lower lip of the front baffle. Overall, the Dynamo 12 is about as tasteful as a subwoofer enclosure can be made to look, and the only person who would object to its appearance is someone who wouldn’t tolerate any subwoofer whatsoever.

MartinLogan Dynamo 12 Subwoofer Design Analysis

In the broadest terms, the Dynamo 12 is a sealed subwoofer with a 12” driver and an 800-watt RMS amplifier, but that doesn’t tell us enough to know how it performs; for that, we need to know the specifics. So, let’s begin our discussion of the design details with the driver. MartinLogan’s 12” driver uses an aluminum one-piece cone that is affixed directly to the former. This is interesting because many subs in this category use aluminum as a layer like a dust cap, and then use something like treated paper, polymer, or a stiff fabric like Kevlar as the body of the cone. MartinLogan tells me that it’s more difficult to manufacture a unibody aluminum cone like this, but it offers performance benefits by acting as a heatsink, thereby reducing thermal compression. It also allows the cone to be anodized black to match the exterior styling better. This is a change from the previous generation of Dynamo subs, which used polypropylene cones.

The cone attaches to a stamped-steel basket via a half-roll surround. Previous generation Dynamo subs used an inverted, ribbed surround, but MartinLogan tells me that buyers preferred the look of traditional convex surrounds because it made the driver look brawnier, so they went back to a more traditional surround. The motor section has been beefed up with larger magnets, although they still use 2” voice coils. Klippel analysis was used to optimize output and lower distortion in the design. As a sealed system with a +/-3dB window down to 22Hz, the driver needs to be fairly high-excursion to withstand such low frequencies, even if DSP is used to attain that kind of response. (Or rather, especially if DSP is used to attain that response!)

 

MartinLogan calls their amplifier the Magnitude MT-1.6kW amplifier. The 1.6kW stands for 1.6 kilowatts of peak power, although it is spec’d at 800 watts RMS. 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. This is a problem when trying to integrate the Dynamo 12 into systems without bass management, where users don’t have access to the app. Apps can glitch out or have compatibility issues, especially as software environments continue to change. Without external bass management, users would need access to low-pass and phase settings, but there is no way to control those on the Dynamo 12 without the app. I think MartinLogan easily could have added a button or switch on the backplate that would enable the knob to control multiple different settings. Physical access to these functions wouldn’t have been that difficult to include if the company chose to do so.

The rear panel volume knob is pretty swank in the way it illuminates the level. It can also be used to control a sine wave tone generator. That is a nice onboard feature, not only to check for signal and amplification problems, but also to look for room resonances. Instead of loading up an exterior tone generator to look for bass-induced buzzes and rattles around the room, that can be done from the sub itself. It’s a handy feature, and I am surprised more sub manufacturers haven’t followed MartinLogan in adopting this feature.

Connectivity is generous and consists of a 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. The sub comes with a wireless transmitter, too. This allows the Dynamo 12 to easily accommodate a wide variety of systems and situations.

The Dynamo 12 is compatible with Anthem’s room correction software “ARC,” although users will need to buy the ARC calibration mic and supply a PC or Mac that can run the software. This is a great addition for systems that either do not have automated room correction equalization systems, or only have older EQ systems. Many simpler two-channel systems would not have this capability, nor would many pro-audio or pro-sumer systems, so the Dynamo 12 makes it easy to use advanced auto-equalization in those system types.

The enclosure is a beefy one and uses 1” MDF side panels with corner braces shoring up the interior edges. A polyfill-type stuffing lines the interior panels. The feet are some circles made out of a soft rubber compound that is supposed to damp mechanical vibrations from transmitting to the floor. MartinLogan also provides a spike option for users who want stickier footing on carpeted surfaces.

MartinLogan Dynamo 12 Subwoofer Listening Sessions

The best placement for a single sub in my room gives me a relatively flat response for a single subwoofer, with a window of +/- 4 dB from 25 Hz to 100 Hz with no broad dips in important ranges. This location trades low-end room gain for a relatively flat response — a worthwhile trade for my tastes. I then ran the Dynamo 12’s ARC equalization for an even flatter response. 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

Many classical music recordings don’t get terribly creative with their titles and are simple statements about the content of the album. Such is the case with Ken Cowan Plays the Skinner Organ at the Cathedral of Our Lady Queen of the Most Holy Rosary in Toledo, Ohio — it does what it says on the tin. Ernest M. Skinner was a renowned pipe organ builder whose innovations in pipe organ design improved the way pipe organs were made and integrated into venues. Many of his organs are considered masterpieces, and the ones that are still in good condition are treasured. His organ for the massive Cathedral of Our Lady Queen of the Most Holy Rosary in Toledo is his last work before official retirement, so it benefits from his lifetime of accumulated knowledge more than any other. In this album, Ken Cowan plays a variety of pieces that exhibit this organ’s powerful sound, much of which digs well into subwoofer frequencies. I found this obscure but terrific 2001 recording on Qobuz.

On the first track, one subtlety that the Dynamo 12 managed to make audible was the subharmonics produced by the organ, or tones that are a fraction of the fundamental. These sounded like an extremely soft rumble that changed pitch. They were so low in frequency that I doubt that typical tower speakers would have picked up on them. Fundamentals were dominant, of course, and when they kicked in at greater force, such as in “Sonata No.1 in F Minor” by Mendelssohn, the Dynamo 12 was able to inject some real muscle to bring those mighty pipes to life. The Dynamo 12 was as much at home in more boisterous pieces as it was in soft pieces. Track #8, “Chorale in E Minor” by Cesar Franck, was a mixture of both, and the subwoofer deftly handled the crescendos as well as the calmer passages. One rambunctious piece was “Toccata in B Minor” by Eugène Gigout, a 2:40 pipe organ rollercoaster that sounded vivacious and alive on these speakers and subwoofer. Another piece with subtle but very deep bass was Dvořák’s famous “Humoresque,” and it sounded sublime with the subwoofer giving it a solid foundation and exhibiting the tremendous scale of this Skinner organ. The Dynamo 12 proved to be a terrific subwoofer for this pipe organ recording, although as a sealed 12” it is inherently limited in deep bass headroom. In a small to medium-sized room, it should suffice, but for a large room, an equivalent ported sub or a larger sealed sub would be more appropriate for a realistic reproduction of a large pipe organ.

  

The 2022 remake of Hellraiser was a surprise in that it was the first entry in a long time in this battered horror franchise’s history that wasn’t awful. A part of its success is due to the eloquent music score by Ben Lovett. While it doesn’t quite reach the gothic heights of Christopher Young’s classic score for the original 1987 version, it certainly helps to give the movie a twisted, cinematic atmosphere, and stands on its own instead of retreading earlier themes, much like the movie it accompanies. It also heavily incorporates bass of both orchestral and electronic varieties. For this reason, I thought it would be a good test of a subwoofer’s abilities for acoustic bass reproduction.

This album starts out with a bang; a clamor of instruments leads into a nod to Christopher Young’s original theme. The Dynamo 12 gives the low-frequency undercurrents an urgency, undoubtedly accompanying some ghastly business occurring on-screen. The second track laid down a fat electronic bassline to contrast with an aristocratic clavichord lead, and the subwoofer gave a club-like thump to the bass. Subsequent tracks leaned more toward the orchestral, so double basses and kettle drums were driving the sub. The Dynamo 12 kept the orchestra together rather than making lower bass a separate entity; while calibration and set-up have more to do with that than the sub itself, the sub needs to be of sufficient quality in order to accomplish this. The sub gave a solid foundation to the orchestra, which is especially important to music as rich in deep bass as this score. Track 7, “New Blood,” uses deep bass for an atmospheric effect, and a true full-range system would be necessary for realizing its full effect. Thankfully, the Dynamo 12 is up to the task of reproducing these nearly infrasonic undercurrents. Many of the tracks in this score blend electronics with acoustic instruments, with both elements pulling bass duty, and the Dynamo 12 was able to keep these two elements distinct instead of blurring them together into a bassy mush. As horror film scores go, Ben Lovett’s score to 2022’s Hellraiser is a complex yet furious one. It is much more than just spooky atmospheres and stings for jump scares, and it deserves a sound system capable of serious bass for the best listening experience. The Dynamo 12 complements it nicely, and it proved that those seeking a sub for orchestral music have a great choice here.

Unseen, Untold, Forgotten is an album by Arigto, which is the band name for a German duo who are out to make music that doesn’t really adhere to many conventions. It falls somewhere between avant-garde electronics, musique concrète, and neoclassical. It is largely electronic in nature but integrates classical acoustic instruments. Despite being released by the famous electronic dance music label Division Recordings in 2019, this is not at all dance music. It isn’t totally structureless free-form music either, and it has enough rhythm to engage, yet has enough variation to never become repetitive. It uses deep bass frequently in different ways and can showcase the abilities of a subwoofer in both subtlety as well as potency.

This album isn’t saturated with deep bass, but when it arrives, it does not hold back. For those moments with high levels of deep bass, the Dynamo 12 delivers a sense of weight and authority that helps to complete the composition being painted by Arigto. Track 3, “Is She Dreaming This Reality?” brings thunder to stabs of bass, and the Dynamo 12 helps to make this track a physical experience as well as an aural one. The following track, “Where Will the Dark Begin, Does This Light End,” is a fiesta of low frequencies, with a twisting, buzzing bassline dominating the proceedings. Through the Dynamo 12, it lit up my room with a powerful sound. That track would be a dim reflection of itself without real low-frequency capability. Subsequent tracks don’t quite achieve the low-frequency intensity of track 4, but their bass was still sharply realized by the Dynamo 12. The bass takes a number of different forms, from percussive to thunderous to drony, and in each instance the subwoofer was able to delineate its character fluidly so that there was no confusion. There is almost a cinematic quality to this album in that it’s not just a collection of thematically related tracks, but rather a narrative, and its unusual structure and unusual use of bass both reinforce that. For those interested in a more experimental musical experience in this vein, high-performance bass playback is a must for the full experience of Unseen, Untold, Forgotten, and MartinLogan’s Dynamo 12 is certainly capable of that.

  

Sleepnet is the solo project name of Nik Roos, who was one third of the legendary Noisia before they disbanded in 2020. Roos no longer had to worry about the drum’n’bass expectations of producing music as a part of Noisia, so he was able to get a bit looser and more experimental as a solo artist. But he does still keep the tempo high and the bass hard. Sleepnet’s first release, 2021’s First Light EP, turned out to be a big hit, and he followed it up with the EP II in April of 2024. Despite greatly enjoying First Light, I hadn’t yet sat down to give this album my full attention, but with the Dynamo 12 in-house, it was now time to rectify that error. With massive use of electronic bass, II is sure to be a good test of a subwoofer’s dynamic range at high volumes. I decided to crank it to see what this sub could do.

After a piano solo intro track, heavy bass kicked in in earnest in the second track, “Finality,” where a staccato bassline rippled through my seat, making it feel like an automotive massage seat that was left on the most aggressive setting. The next track took the tempo down a notch and had a rolling bassline that the Dynamo 12 used to fill my room with dense low-frequency sounds. The track “Face Dancer” put massive bass hits right on top of the kick drum for a thunderously pounding rhythm, and the Dynamo 12 punched hard enough that I could feel it in my chest. “Lapse” brought back a high-tempo staccato bass that demonstrated the Dynamo 12’s terrific transient response; for bass like that, decay is as important as attack, and the Dynamo 12 was able to stop as quickly as it started. The Dynamo could get impressively loud on II, but having it at a relatively close proximity to my listening position definitely gave it an assist. As was said before, I wouldn’t try to use a sealed 12” subwoofer to charge a large room with bass. It could probably make itself known even in a large room, especially if you can place it near the listening position, but don’t expect club-level bass from a medium-sized sub as room dimensions grow. The nice thing is that its built-in wireless connectivity makes it easier to place in locations where it will bring the most boom, so that should help in getting it closer to the listening positions in larger rooms. 

Movie Watching

To see what the Dynamo 12 could do with a modern action movie sound mix, I queued up Moon Knight, a 2022 Marvel mini-series about a gift-shop employee who discovers he has another hidden identity as a mercenary with supernatural powers. I am not a big Marvel fan, but I was told this show had good use of low-frequencies by someone who promised it would be worth my time to watch. It was with great hesitation that I agreed to watch it, but if it has lots of deep bass, it may be good as an evaluation tool for the Dynamo 12.

Moon Knight proved to be a fun and somewhat unusual outing for a Marvel show. Most of the sequences featuring heavy bass were reserved for the climax, but there were some moments that allowed the Dynamo 12 to shine up to then. Our antagonist, a cult leader with a magic staff, can call up jackal monsters through an opening in the earth. In these scenes, the subwoofer gave the rupturing earth a subterranean rumble, and the jackal monster’s leaps and crashes were given a tactile whomp for every impact. An amusing car chase involving a cupcake delivery van being pursued by vehicles driven by angry cult members resulted in some satisfying engine roars and resounding collisions. Hesham Nazih’s forceful orchestral score also gave the sub a fair amount of low-frequency content to chew on with clamorous kettle drums, tubas, and double bass abetting the on-screen excitement. As with so many Marvel movies, the climax turned into a battle royale with various characters causing widespread damage. The Dynamo 12 thundered as supernatural beings were thrown through buildings and fell to the ground with colossal force. A ported subwoofer might have had a more gut-churning sensation, but that would have required a much larger enclosure. The Dynamo 12 did exceptionally well for its size, and it helped to make my experience viewing Moon Knight an enjoyable one.

For some reason, Norway has been producing a spate of fairly high-quality disaster movies over the past few years, and one of the more recent ones is La Palma, a 2024 mini-series on Netflix. In this show, a Norwegian family takes a vacation at the titular Canary Island, but their plans for relaxation do not quite pan out when a volcanic eruption triggers a massive tsunami. This series has all the ingredients to get a subwoofer moving, so I set out to see what the Dynamo 12 could do for a disaster movie sound mix.

  

La Palma wasn’t a wall-to-wall bass fest, but when the volcanic activity started to pick up in the last half of the series, the sub did get some good workout moments. The first eruption was given a nice ground-shaking tremor by the Dynamo 12, but the climax was when things really started to cook. A pyroclastic cloud took out a plane’s engines, causing it to crash in the distance with a deep, thunderous rumble. The Dynamo 12 shook my seat when an absolutely massive landslide caved into the sea, displacing a large chunk of the ocean. The resulting tsunami roared with authority on the Dynamo 12 as some characters attempted to outrun it in a powered boat. The musical score also urged the sub on with kettle drums and bass violins, adding urgency with a pensive pulse for the on-screen perils. La Palma was predictable but competent, so it was easy viewing that was aided mightily by the MartinLogan subwoofer. I can recommend it for those who enjoy disaster cinema, but it really ought to be watched with a sound system with good bass dynamics, like I did with the Dynamo 12.

MartinLogan Dynamo 12 Subwoofer Measurements and Analysis

 

Testing on the MartinLogan Dynamo 12 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 Dynamo 12 subwoofer for each of its operating modes. ‘Music Mode’ provides the most neutral response; ‘Movie Mode’ gives a bit more mid-bass oomph; and ‘Night Mode’ simply lessens output as the frequency lowers. ‘Music Mode’ will give the most weight to deep bass in this set of responses, so I am not sure why anyone wouldn’t just use that mode for movie watching as well as music listening. ‘Movie Mode’ and ‘Music Mode’ should yield a solid in-room response down to below 20Hz. However, a single sealed 12” sub isn’t going to have gobs of headroom at very deep frequencies, as we shall see, so multiple Dynamo 12s would be recommended for those interested in lots of deep bass output. ‘Night Mode’ shaves off deep bass output, and that might help lessen the transmission of sound through walls in typical household construction, but it wouldn’t eliminate the sound transmission altogether.

 

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 Dynamo 12 is able to produce a healthy level of deep bass along with a nice mid-bass punch. While output at 16Hz and below is not tremendous, 91.7dB at 20Hz and 97.6dB at 25Hz is an appreciable amount of deep bass, and not bad at all coming from a sealed 12” subwoofer. Above 50Hz, output averages above 110dB, so the Dynamo 12 is able to throw a truly meaty jab in music-range bass. These measurements net the Dynamo 12 our Bassaholics ‘Medium’ Room Rating, meaning it should be able to handle rooms of up to 3,000 cubic feet. It is a bit restricted at lower frequencies to earn a larger room rating, but it could probably handle a larger room size for those who just wanted it for acoustic music bass rather than movie bass. 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.

This test was conducted with the Dynamo 12 in ‘Music Mode.’ We can see how compression changes the response at higher drive levels. As the sub is pushed harder, it overrides its equalized ‘mode’ response and begins to conform to the native response of the driver in the enclosure. By the highest drive level, we see a typical sealed subwoofer response with a 2nd-order roll-off. This would occur in ‘Movie Mode’ as well. We can see that for ‘Night Mode,’ MartinLogan simply allowed the native response of the sub. In the end, we can see that the Dynamo 12 is capable of quite a bit more mid-bass than deep bass, but that is true for most sealed subwoofer designs. 

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.

As with many other sealed subwoofers, distortion ramps up as frequency goes down. Sealed system drivers are put under a lot of strain to produce deep bass; for every octave lower the driver is tasked to play, the excursion demands quadruple to maintain the same SPL. It gets no assistance from a port or passive radiators. A sealed system runs out of headroom quickly in deep bass, and when the driver reaches the limits of its excursion, it begins to produce distortion. For the Dynamo 12, at nominal levels at the 90dB sweep or lower, distortion is kept in check pretty well, especially above 40Hz, where it barely rises above 1%. Even at full throttle, distortion in mid-bass just barely goes over 10%.

 

 

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.

One point of interest about the above graphs is how we can see that even-order distortion is more prominent at lower levels than odd-order distortion, but as the drive level increases, odd-order takes over, at least in lower frequencies. The good news about that is that even-order products are more difficult to perceive than odd-order, so the Dynamo 12’s distortion should be fairly subtle until you push the sub hard in deep bass. I would guess from the shape of the even-order distortion response that its root cause is induction. I don’t know if MartinLogan employs shorting rings or a pole piece cap that could reduce induction. A 12” driver that could handle the 800 watts of the amp needs quite a bit of coil to handle all of that power, and that is bound to generate some significant induction.

 

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 performance shown by the Dynamo 12 above is very good. Above 40Hz, it doesn’t even get close to 10ms of delay. By the time it exceeds our worst-case scenario of 20ms, it is under 30Hz where human hearing acuity is greatly diminished. Furthermore, there is very little musical content under 30Hz. The rise in group delay is caused by the response shaping from the DSP. Without this equalization, the Dynamo 12 would likely have extremely low group delay across all frequencies. As it is, in the range where it matters, it has terrific time domain performance. Anyone worried about the Dynamo 12 sounding slow or lingering does not need to be. It’s razor-sharp with excellent transient response.

 

The above graph is the in-room frequency response I measured with and without ARC active. Each curve is an average of five positions. As can be seen, ARC makes a big improvement. This isn’t just seen on a graph but heard in person. From 30Hz to 100Hz, ARC irons out the response to within a 3dB window. Without ARC, the response takes wild swings and has about an 11dB window within that same frequency range. Peaks are trimmed and dips are lifted. Users will need to buy the ARC calibration microphone to use the software onboard the sub, but I would say it is well worth the expense, given these results.

MartinLogan Dynamo 12 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. Regarding MartinLogan’s Dynamo 12, the only qualm I have about it is the over-reliance on the app to control many of the sub’s functions. MartinLogan should have at least included phase and low-pass filter controls outside of the app. Other manufacturers have found ways to bring many of the advanced app features to the controls on the sub itself. I wish MartinLogan could have found a way to do that as well. It is definitely not too much to ask for at the Dynamo 12’s pricing.

There isn’t anything else to complain about aside from the lack of controls on the sub itself. That brings us to the discussion of the Dynamo 12’s strengths. I think its strongest point is that it is one of the best-built and best-looking subs around. MartinLogan wanted to make a really nice sub, and that they did. It is not a cheap sub, but when you look at it in person and handle it, the pricing does make sense. Its high-quality gloss finish, along with the boulder-like build quality, elevate it to a true luxury-class product. It’s difficult to imagine a sealed 12” with a higher spousal-approval-factor. It would be nice to see a white finish option for those interiors where black would be a bit too stark.

 

The Dynamo 12 also sounds as good as it looks. MartinLogan gave it a good driver and then gave that driver plenty of power. The performance is certainly above average for a sealed 12”. The ARC equalization helps in this respect too, and it made a big audible difference for the better. It probably won’t be needed for systems that will be using other room correction programs like Audyssey or Dirac, but for systems that don’t have that capability, ARC is a major advantage. 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. Relative to other room correction programs that some other subs have, ARC works well.

In addition to ARC, the Dynamo 12 has an excellent feature set. While I complained that too much was relegated to the app, the MartinLogans’ Subwoofer Control App itself is very nice and worked without a hitch for me. The inclusion of wireless connectivity, as well as a balanced XLR input and even speaker-level inputs, makes it possible to easily connect the Dynamo 12 into any type of sound system. MartinLogan’s onboard tone generator is very useful, and other manufacturers should think about implementing something similar.

MartinLogan Dynamo 12 vs the Competition

There are lots of sealed 12” subs that the Dynamo 12 competes against, so let’s take a quick glance at a few of them. Rel Acoustics has the Classic 99 subwoofer, a sealed 12” powered by a 450-watt amplifier. It doesn’t have the sophisticated feature set of the Dynamo 12, and what sets it apart is its midcentury-modern enclosure styling. SVS has the SB-2000 Pro, which has comparable performance to the Dynamo 12 and also has app control, and it costs less. However, it doesn’t have the build quality, connectivity, or a room EQ system like ARC. Arendal Sound is bringing back the 1961 Subwoofer 1S that we reviewed here: Arendal Sound 1961 Subwoofer 1S Review. While pricing for its return isn’t known yet, I would expect it to be priced below the Dynamo 12. It has great performance for its size, as well as app control and top-notch build quality. It doesn’t have a swank gloss finish like the Dynamo 12, nor does it have automated room equalization software like ARC. RBH Sound has the S-12HPS, which also powers its driver with an 800-watt amp. It won’t quite have an advanced feature set like the Dynamo 12, but it is sure to pack a serious punch given the caliber of drivers that RBH typically uses. Bowers & Wilkins has the 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. 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.

In the end, I found the Dynamo 12 to be an all-around solid sealed subwoofer. It’s not an inexpensive one, but as high-end products go, $1.5k isn’t an astronomical sum, especially considering its extensive feature set. It’s a good-looking, well-built, feature-rich, high-performing subwoofer, and it doesn’t lack for anything. I enjoyed my time with it, and if I were putting together a high-end system while trying to avoid large subs, it would be among my top choices.

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