Subwoofer Reviews

Subwoofers are a fundamentally unpopular and underestimated but also highly interesting product genre. They are regarded as ugly “blocks”, which no one wants to be looking at in their living room. Further, they have the dubious reputation of the “unskilled worker”, who is only employed as Plan B to supplement a home cinema or compact speaker setup. For some, the subwoofer is, therefore, nothing more than a “necessary evil” in order to avoid using larger floorstanding speakers.

The misunderstanding could hardly be any bigger than that. In fact, the “spirits of the deep” are very useful also beyond the purpose of supporting deep frequencies or achieving the desired „boom“ in a home cinema.

For example, when it comes to simulating three-dimensionality and to being an additional center of generating sound in order to distribute bass energy more ideally throughout the room. This is due to the fact that resonances are stimulated stronger by a single source of maximum energy than by several sourced of reduced energy. That‘s why one or even two subwoofers can also be beneficial for floorstanding speakers.

Finding evidence is easy. We have put the B&W 606 – a phenomenal compact speaker in its price class – into position for this purpose. The respective active subwoofer was positioned slightly in front of them and adjusted in such a way that it only discreetly supported them in the lower one and a half octaves. Party-mode with hip-hop is of course also possible, but that‘s not what we were looking for in this case. Integration is the key.

Already with quasi-quiet passages, we notice how the atmosphere changed when switching the subwoofer between on and off – and not just marginally! The stage extended noticeably and seemed far bigger, because the human ear connects low frequencies with larger rooms and hence interprets them as such. Even small loudspeakers benefit from this „effect“, which is simply amazing.

It goes without saying that same effect appears somewhat weaker when the main loudspeakers are more voluminous and thus physically capable of more bass themselves. Then the idea of better sound distribution becomes more important, which can contribute to a considerably cleaner reproduction of the lower frequencies. By the way, most of the test candidates have 25-centimetre drivers with a large stroke, very powerful amplifiers and a rather compact enclosure for living room-friendliness and a closed cabinet for better precision. For many, this is an ideal compromise of great universality – just like the prices from 1000 Euro. Internal DSPs/Equalizers ensure that the amplifier power illuminates even the darkest deep-sea frequencies that would be completely of the charts with passive bass speakers of similar volumes. The useful bass aid workers are usually connected via cinch cables to the pre-out of integrated- or pre-amplifiers. REL has always preferred high level, i.e. loudspeaker, outputs.

In the listening room, the JL Audio presented itself from its absolute best side. Deep black and rumbling it descends into the bass-catacombs below 20 Hertz where only very few subwoofers reach, let alone still make an impact. When I read 25 Hertz as the specification of the lower crossover frequency I had already mumbled "show-off" quietly to myself – apparently prematurely. Watching the thick beaded driver working is definitely more fun than you might expect. With Phono we recommend to treat the JL to a subsonic filter in the previous signal path.

JL Audio combines the home cinema enthusiast's desire for pressure, abundance and explosive-spectacular punch with the audiophile's urge for musicality, flow, rhythm and precision, therefore providing a universally valid answer – and it isn’t 42, but E110!

That's exactly what it is. Whether you want to support compact speakers or small to medium-sized, possibly even slightly larger floorstanding speakers, the JL Audio is your man. This subwoofer has stamina, and probably won’t get out of breath easily – but will take it away from any listener!

While in "Four Seasons" it contributes more to the overall picture and is only immediately present when the larger string instruments and tutti come into play, in Bach's organ legacy "Toccata" it makes the amazing opulence of this instrument tangible and comprehensible in its entirety. Just as vibrant as sometimes threatening, the same character shines through with Yello, AC/DC or Ray Brown, and can be called no less than astounding.

M&K Sound has earned itself a top reputation in studios and cinemas already since 1976.

The primary goal of this manufacturer is „Accuracy“, which we interpret as precision, balanced neutrality and naturalism, as well in terms of energy distribution, but also as the aiming for a balance between the brutal honesty of professional studio equipment and the often rather forgiving tuning of home loudspeakers.

The benchmark is the natural sound event that is to be reproduced as free of loss, discoloration and distortion as possible. 

And, in fact, the V10 manages this nearly as perfectly as the description promises in our STEREO listening room, together with the compact B&W 606 and the floorstanding Monitor Audio Gold 200.

The Dane, with its black finish, was indeed very fast and drew surprisingly precise and easy to follow textures in Supertramp‘s „School“ (Blu-ray „Live in Paris“).

Its ability to integrate is superb, as it blends in discreetly and with excellent timing, while never getting carried away. This leads, if at all, to a very slight advantage of the M&K Sound V10 in music and transient reproduction, but also to a minimal disadvantage in rendering film effects such as dramatically rumbling explosions, which could possibly benefit of a touch more pressure and power.

Certainly everybody has his own preferences in that regard, however in this shootout these small differences come very close to hairsplitting, because we are talking about finest nuances. The value offered here for 1100 Euros is substantial, even in home cinema, of which the author was of course able to convince himself first hand. Very impressive performance!

Aluminum is Piega‘s material of choice – also for the PS 101 subwoofer.

The other connectivity options correspond to what you‘d expect nowadays: level control, a crossover control to adjust the 101‘s upper cut-off frequency, a phase toggle switch, and an automatic switch-on function to immediately awaken the subwoofer as soon as a signal is recognized.

The instruction manual, however, is a weak spot of this subwoofer. Apparently the company from Horgen assumes that their customers won’t deal with delivery and installation themselves, but leave this to their experienced dealer. We ourselves are not so sure about this assumption and would therefore appreciate it if we could find detailed instructions with practical tips and possibly even a test CD included in the scope of delivery. That way, with a little time and patience, customers could determine the perfect setup in their listening room all by themselves with a manageable amount of effort. And although the nearly 25 kilos might indeed seem to be an obstacle, we are sure that a serious music lover wouldn’t mind that much to move the sub back and forth a little here and there.

In some countries a subwoofer is sold for almost every loudspeaker, while in this country they are only regarded as indispensable by home cinema freaks. However, anyone who has ever had the pleasure of listening to their jaws dropping when the first tones sounded from a perfectly integrated subwoofer is certainly going to ask themselves why. The „more“ in space, dynamics and serenity, which can immediately be felt even by beginners, combined with a significantly increased transparency for fine details in the fundamental frequencies, is absolutely spectacular. Such a spectacle does, in fact, cast doubt on the usefulness of some other accessories.

The Piega did very well with both the small and affordable B&W 606 as well as  Monitor Audio’s Gold 200. Connected to Audionet‘s SAM using speaker cables and Piega‘s high level inputs, it proved that it can generate almost unlimited pressure, without slightest traces of distortion.

REL‘s business model is as simple as it is unusual: they only build subwoofers. These are, however, also of the highest quality.