The Sound of Thunder
Prior to Home Cinema, audiophiles have a disdain for subwoofers – citing fat and boomy room response, ‘slow’ bass that had trouble catching up with the main speakers and to an extent, most audio recordings have very little low bass information below 40 Hz. So if you would buy a subwoofer to ‘augment’ your loudspeaker, you want to be able to ‘hear’ the subwoofer to get your money’s worth. If you don’t hear anything, most people would probably just keep turning it up till you can hear some boom. By then it is boom – room resonance – and not real bass information. With home cinema, the subwoofer is perhaps the second most important speaker in the system, the first being the center channel speaker. In a home cinema system, the main speakers (left, center and right or otherwise known as LCR) are spared the agony of having to reproduce sub 90 - 100Hz frequencies, which is then delegated to the subwoofer. The main speakers, relieved of the need for the small 6.5-inch or 8-inch drive units to perform such a Herculean task, would simply sound better on the range above 100 Hz. It is at this point, the subwoofer plays its biggest role – it handles all the 5 or 7 channels monoed into a sub 100Hz range – it has to move a lot of air - a massive task indeed. An effective subwoofer system can increase the apparent loudness of the system before distortion sets in, increase clarity (by improving the main speakers performance as outlined above), increase dynamics (loud parts play louder while soft parts remains audible) and add to the overall sense of realism, especially when it is a big 100”+ projector based home cinema system. I used to think big subwoofers is better than a small subwoofer – a bigger subwoofer may add only another 3 – 5 Hz of extension but at the low end, every Hz makes a difference. Then ‘long excursion’ subwoofers came along, thanks to the SPL competition in car audio, a long excursion 10” subwoofer can produce as much extension and output as a ‘normal’ 12” or even 15” subwoofer. Improvements in spider design, high temperature voice coils that don’t melt under extreme power output, diaphragm materials and the ‘long throw’ cone surround all contribute to a whole new generation of high performance subwoofers that are not only smaller but also sound better than the subwoofers of yesteryear. These subwoofers are equally effective for 2-channel systems as well as multi-channel home cinema systems. Given the technological advancements in subwoofer design, some of my preconceived notions no longer hold true - like a large subwoofer is not necessarily better than a small ‘long throw’ subwoofer. A subwoofer need not be boomy sounding even in a 2-channel hifi system. And modern subwoofers are ‘fast’ enough to match with high performance loudspeakers. Witness the Mini Me active subwoofers from Earthquake. The name, taken from a certain character in a naughty British comedy movie, is distinctly obvious! This is perhaps one of the smallest subwoofer you can find in the market – compare size for size – say a 10” Mini Me vs any other 10” subwoofer and you’ll be stumped! It is way smaller, go deeper, play louder and cleaner and most important, very cost effective. I’ll put it this way – get a good subwoofer and it will survive several speaker systems upgrade! Let’s take a look at the 3 models in this range. The smallest Mini Me is the P8, an 8” long throw subwoofer would equal any 10” normal subwoofer but it has an additional 8” passive radiator in the same cabinet which makes it an equal of a 12” subwoofer with an extension down to 25 Hz! The drivers are mounted back to back in a small cabinet which also houses a 320 watt Class D amplifier (Class D amplifiers are efficient and generate very little heat. Class D amplifiers are popular in car audio for its high output power for driving subwoofers). Placed as recommended by Earthquake – in a corner of a room - it can generate up to 108 dB in loudness! The P8 is so small you can dress up the corner and it would simply disappear! The P8 is available in high gloss black or high gloss white finish and retails at Sing$999. The next two models are the P10 and P12 with a 10” and 12” subwoofer/passive radiator configuration. The internal amplifier is up-rated to 600 watts and promises extension down to 20 and 18 Hz respectively. The P10 and P12 are available in high gloss black finish and retails for Sing$1299 and Sing$1599 respectively. There is a lot more specs you can glean at our eSHOP but why not drop by the showroom for an audition?
