Feature Subwoofers 2 - Neby Hi-Fi Concept AS

g r o u p t e s t / s u b w o o f e r s
26 august / september 2005 >>FFWD
Shake!
A quality subwoofer adds being-there
sophistication to a bass line, and chestshuddering
realism to Vin Diesel’s latest
car crash. Scott Bartley rates four of
the best from $999.

How we test
g r o u p t e s t / s u b w o o f e r s
Reviewing subwoofers, much like any other speaker, is
a notoriously difficult affair. Firstly and most obviously,
the person doing the review has their own tastes and
preferences. Secondly, the room in which the review
is being performed plays an important role in how a
subwoofer sounds. Whenever we test a subwoofer here
at >>FFWD we find that the quickest and easiest way to
test its mettle is to use it in a two-channel music setup.
It gives an immediate impression of its performance
capabilities when using selections of familiar music. A
selection of DVD movies we know well are used in a 5.1
setup to test bass response in home theatre guise and
a switch box is used to perform simple a/b comparisons
between units. We also use test tones at specific
frequencies and measure room-sound pressure levels
using an SPL (sound pressure level) meter — a gadget
that, when pointed at a subwoofer, measures sound
levels in decibels.
What we used:
AMPLIFIER: Denon AVC-A1XV
DVD PLAYER: Denon DVD-A1XV
DVDS: Saving Private Ryan, The Incredibles,
Black Hawk Down, Blade: Trinity
CDS: Lisa Ekdahl: Back To Earth, Cincinnati
Symphony Orchestra: Tchaikovsky 1812
Overture, Stereophile Test CD
S
ubwoofers mean different things to different people.
To a boy racer it means being able to make various
panels on a car (and those around it) vibrate excessively
for the least amount of money possible. To a
home theatre enthusiast it means nuclear explosions
in your lounge, while to audiophiles it means being able
to hear the weight behind a bass drum in a concert hall.
That’s a lot to ask from a single piece of home audio equipment.
Because we’re >>FFWD and actually care about quality in audio
reproduction, we’ll forget about those boy racers and leave them to
their $99 subs from the big red sheds. Instead, we’ll take a look at
proper subwoofers designed for use in the home, and, because we’re
not all made of money (sadly), we’ll limit the contenders to a maximum
retail price of $1,700.
NOT ALL SUBWOOFERS ARE CREATED EQUAL
Why would someone want to spend $1,000-plus on a sub when they
can buy one with the ‘same’ specs for less than half the price from
their local appliance store? Well, the popular misconception that subwoofers
are boom boxes where only raw wattage counts is a myth that
we’d quite like to dispel. We’re not going to tell you you need to spend
thousands on something that’s as big as a fridge but we implore you
to spend more than a few hundred dollars on the cheapest 1,500W
mega-box you can find. A quality sub makes a staggering difference
to bass reproduction and is an essential part of any home theatre or
hi-fi system worth its salt.
>>FFWD august / september 2005 27

g r o u p t e s t / s u b w o o f e r s
TYPE: 175W bass reflex
WOOFER: 8-inch
FREQUENCY RANGE:
27–100Hz
DIMENSIONS (W/H/D):
320 x 385 x 355mm
WEIGHT: 16.8kg
CONTACT: Viganoni and
Viganoni, 09-473 2099,
www.audiopro.com
28 august / september 2005 >>FFWD
WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?
It’s all about distortion when it comes to subwoofers and a great
many people mistake distortion for bass. However, it’s an easy
mistake to make, and until you’ve heard a really good subwoofer
in operation it’s one that will probably never be rectified. You could
well blast away for years never knowing what you’re missing out
on. This is where group tests such as this play an important role (to
the chagrin of many a vendor) since a subwoofer that, objectively
speaking, sounded pretty good before, can suddenly sound a
Audio Pro Sub B1.28 — $1,499
W
e’ve yet to hear a speaker or subwoofer from Swedish
manufacturer Audio Pro that hasn’t performed beyond
our expectations, and this one is no exception.
The B1.28 is a small unit when stood next to the other
competitors in this roundup and yet it somehow manages to
sound much larger than it actually is — it’s a perfect choice for
small and medium-sized rooms.
The black, high-gloss finish is utterly superb and is easily
the most impressive of the contenders in the test. It encloses
an 8-inch, front-firing (forward facing), long-throw woofer that
is powered by a 175W ace-bass amplifier. The entire unit is
little pale when compared directly to a superior unit.
True deep bass is different to a one-note, floor-shaking rumble
filled with distortion. Bass should have weight to it and should
appear to roll smoothly out of the subwoofer, through the floor, to
your feet and up through your body. It should make a huge classical
bass drum with an indefinite pitch sound three feet wide, yet
it must also convey the great variations in frequency of a double
bass. And that’s before we’ve even started with the DVD movies
a subwoofer must cope with.
of a bass reflex design with a down-firing (downward facing)
port.
The ‘ace-bass’ technology we mention here is more than
just a marketing gimmick; it’s actually a patented technology
Audio Pro invented back in 1978. It stands for amplifier
controlled euphonic bass and uses a complex mathematical
equation that equalises all resistances within the loudspeaker
with almost no distortion. We won’t even pretend to understand
how it works but the net result is deep bass without the need
for large woofers (by that we mean over 12 inches) and even
larger enclosures. The ace-bass really works some magic here.
And boy if it isn’t ever the Harry Potter of the subwoofer world
— this tiny sub produces some prodigious bass.
Using test tones at the lower end of the scale, we measured
the output with an SPL meter and the B1.28 was the only sub
to produce useable bass at the 25Hz and 20Hz levels. This is
a perfect example of why you should never trust specification
boxes from manufacturers. Audio Pro lists a flat frequency
response of 27–100Hz (what we’d call a true reading, meaning
it measures flat to 27Hz then starts to roll off) while others list
frequency response as low as 19Hz. This may appear better
than the Audio Pro on paper, but in reality that 19Hz measurement
is so low it’s almost inaudible.
Test tones aside, the B1.28 was musically unmatched for
two reasons. Firstly, bass response was so incredibly tight and
deep it really must be heard to be believed, especially from
such a small box. And secondly, it integrated so sweetly with
the mains that it simply blended into the mix so we weren’t sure
exactly when the main speakers rolled off and the subwoofer
took over — the ultimate goal of any subwoofer designer.
In straight a/b comparisons of fast-paced tracks with deep
bass, the B1.28 produced sound with real weight to it. From
Lynyrd Skynyrd’s punchy ‘Kiss Your Freedom Goodbye’ to
a fantastic Telarc recording of the 1812 Overture to Saving
Private Ryan’s second chapter, the B1.28’s performance was
breathtaking.
It’s small, easy to place, has a full complement of line-level
and speaker-level inputs and outputs and what’s more, it’s a
bargain at $1,499.

Energy S12.3 — $1,699
he first of two subwoofers tested here to come out of
T Canadian Audio Products International is the Energy
S12.3. We didn’t intentionally set out to gather two similar
subs from the same parent company (they’re distributed
by different companies here in New Zealand), it just kind of
happened. It wasn’t until they were unpacked, plugged in
and calibrated that we noticed distinct similarities between
this one and the Mirage.
The black ash veneer looks all but identical, although the
Mirage seems to have had a little more care taken during its
application to the MDF (medium density fibreboard) chassis as
the Energy has a few glue splotches around the joins. It’s all
but unnoticeable, however, unless you’re up close inspecting
it as we were.
Volume control is handily placed on the front panel while all
other controls, including variable low pass filter (50Hz–110Hz),
line level input and stereo high-level inputs for speaker level
connection options, are on the back. The low pass filter can
be switched off completely, letting a suitably equipped receiver
or processor handle the crossover workload if you prefer. The
S12.3 features an auto-off function (as do all the subwoofers in
the group test) that puts the sub into standby mode if it hasn’t
received a signal after a few minutes.
The woofers in both the Energy and the Mirage, although
different sizes, look to be cut from the same cloth and they even
use the same patented ‘Ribbed Elliptical Surround’ technology
— said to decrease distortion from high-excursion drivers.
According to the website (the two-page manual was no help),
the Elliptical Surround will “increase excursion, eliminate surround
distortion and raise efficiency”. The little ribs eliminate
dimpling in the material surrounding the woofer which Mirage
says enables the S12.3 to “play lower with greater output fidelity
than the competition”. Bold claims indeed.
The 12-inch, front-facing woofer with a down-firing bass
reflex port is easily the largest in our test and, as such, produces
a satisfyingly ‘big’ sound, thanks to a 300W amplifier. Even so, it
doesn’t go as deep in our test environment as the specifications
THE S12.3 IS A BIG, BRASH
SUBWOOFER THAT LIKES TO
RUMBLE ITS WAY INTO YOUR
HEART WITH SLAM-AND-BANG
EFFECTS. BUT IT LACKS THE
SPEED TO DEFINE FAST-PACED
BASS EFFECTS, WHETHER IT BE
BASS DRUM OR MACHINE GUN.
claim and we think the 19Hz +/-3dB rating may be an unrealistic
measurement taken from an anechoic chamber (an accoustically
dead room with no echoes). Running a 20Hz test tone saw
a drop in SPL of 15dB from the previous 25Hz measurement,
making the bass all but inaudible at reference volume.
During our real-world listening tests we found it most enjoyable
in its guise as a home theatre sub, as opposed to when
it was being used to listen to music. Why is this? The S12.3 is
a big, brash subwoofer that likes to rumble its way into your
heart with slam-and-bang effects. But it lacks the speed to
define fast-paced bass effects, whether it be bass drum or
machine gun. This meant the low end tended to meld together
at a time when music and movies were crying out for clearly
defined kick-drum beats or gun-fire with distinction between
shots. For the most part, this kind of behaviour is forgivable
during movie playback, since even though you miss out on
detail you still get the impressive impact of the action onscreen.
Music, which relies completely on your aural sensibilities, suffers
at the hands of the S12.3. Like we said earlier, you may not
realise this if you’ve not heard a better subwoofer reproducing
the same track.
g r o u p t e s t / s u b w o o f e r s
TYPE: 300W bass reflex
WOOFER: 12-inch
FREQUENCY RANGE:
19–120Hz (+/- 3dB)
DIMENSIONS (W/H/D):
418 x 490 x 465mm
WEIGHT: 21.3kg
CONTACT: Audio Products,
09-443 3302, www.energyspeakers.com
>>FFWD august / september 2005 29

g r o u p t e s t / s u b w o o f e r s
TYPE: 200W bass reflex
WOOFER: 10-inch
FREQUENCY RANGE:
21–120Hz (+/- 3dB)
DIMENSIONS (W/H/D):
373 x 431 x 469mm
WEIGHT: 18.6kg
CONTACT: Denco Audio,
03-379 0743, www.miragespeakers.com
30 august / september 2005 >>FFWD
Mirage Omni S10 — $1,099
W
e’ve already discussed the similarities between this
sub and its first cousin from Energy, and despite
the smaller 10-inch woofer in the Mirage, they do look very
alike. The Omni S10 uses the same black ash veneer but
it differs in cabinet construction, thanks to some smartlooking
bevelled edges. Volume control is located on the
front panel, but unlike the Energy the variable crossover is
included along with two switches for phase adjustment and
to turn off the built-in crossover. It’s all hidden away under
the black cloth grille, which is great for both aesthetic and
practical reasons. While it’s handy to have these controls on
the front, anyone with small children will soon find the levels
they spent hours getting just right have been mindlessly
altered by their three-year-old who cares not for perfect
bass response. Hiding the controls under the grille keeps
them handy for you, but not your offspring.
On the back panel we find the rest of the controls, which
include line level and speaker level ins and outs.
The 10-inch woofer is front firing, made of the same
silver/black coloured material as the Energy and powered
by a 200W built-in amplifier. The Ribbed Elliptical Surround
is used also, so it’s only sensible we delve a little deeper
into why this Canadian company has developed it. It gives
the woofer a greater ‘peak-to-peak’ range of movement
and Mirage claims that this movement is more than double
that of its competitors. Greater movement in this manner
means it can move more air and the non-dimpling Elliptical
Surround means it doesn’t result in the distortion typical of
such high-excursion drivers.
Mirage states the frequency range as 21–120Hz at +/-3dB.
Again, we suspect this to be an anechoic measurement,
since the Omni S10 certainly didn’t go as deep as the Audio
Pro and in our SPL measurement tests it fell away sharply
below 25Hz. In its favour, however, is the 10-inch driver,
which is far more agile than the 12-incher in the Energy,
making it more responsive to fast-paced action scenes or
music tracks. Still, we suspect the very thing Mirage touts
as a breakthrough technology (the Elliptical Surround) is
holding it back in some respects. The extra movement of
the woofer slows it down and again we found bass sounds
tended to blur together whenever speed was called for in
audio reproduction.
Bass from the Omni simply didn’t carry as much weight
as the Audio Pro, despite producing results in our SPL tests
that were pretty decent unto themselves. At $1,099 (or
$999, if you shop around) it is the least expensive of all the
contenders by a substantial margin, but somehow the little
Audio Pro subwoofer still leads the way in this group test.
Can the Wharfedale fare any better? Read on.
AT $1,099 IT IS THE LEAST
EXPENSIVE OF ALL THE
CONTENDERS BY A SUBSTANTIAL
MARGIN, BUT SOMEHOW THE
LITTLE AUDIO PRO SUBWOOFER
STILL LEADS THE WAY IN THIS
GROUP TEST.

Wharfedale SW250R — $1,299
ood old British engineering. If you believe the guys on Top
G Gear, who stubbornly refuse to accept that British-made
cars aren’t the be-all and end-all of the automotive world, you
might think this subwoofer unbeatable also. Turns out it is
beatable and, much to the disdain of Jeremy Clarkson et al, it’s
been beaten by the Swedes — that’s right, the same people
who gave the world Volvo and Abba. But we’re getting ahead
of ourselves, first let’s see what the Brits have to offer us.
The SW250R is a medium-sized subwoofer (though not
quite as big as the Energy S12.3) that opts for a non-conventional
curved cabinet. It’s also the heaviest in the group test
but we’re not sure by how much because Wharfedale, the
modest company it is, doesn’t list the weight in any documentation
or on its website. At a guess, it feels somewhere
around the 25kg mark. A quick knuckle rap test confirmed
the solidity and gave a satisfying dull thud, as opposed
to the somewhat echoey hollow sound of the Mirage and
Energy subs (the Audio Pro, like Wharfedale, also sounded
reassuringly solid).
The vinyl veneer looks great and as for controls, well, there
aren’t any. Not on the subwoofer at least. It’s all electronically
controlled via remote. This is particularly handy because
you can store four different volume/crossover settings in
memory. You could have one setting for movies, one for TV,
one for music at low volume and one for music played loud.
The remote lets you make all adjustments from your listening
position — no more running back and forth from your chair to
the sub making fine adjustments while reaching around the
back of the thing. The variable crossover is a little frustrating
if you like absolute control over your bass, because instead
of being able to set the crossover exactly there are but six
presets ranging from 85Hz to 35Hz. Thankfully, this can be
g r o u p t e s t / s u b w o o f e r s
THE REMOTE
LETS YOU
MAKE ALL
ADJUSTMENTS
FROM YOUR
LISTENING
POSITION — NO
MORE RUNNING
BACK AND
FORTH FROM
YOUR CHAIR
TO THE SUB
MAKING FINE
ADJUSTMENTS.
>>FFWD august / september 2005 31

g r o u p t e s t / s u b w o o f e r s
32 august / september 2005 >>FFWD

TYPE: 250W sealed box
WOOFER: 10-inch
FREQUENCY RANGE:
30–110Hz
DIMENSIONS (W/H/D):
420 x 420 x 375mm
WEIGHT: 25kg (approx)
CONTACT: Monaco, 09-
415 6000, www.wharfedale.
co.nz
turned off to use a receiver’s bass management instead.
The SW250R uses a 10-inch down-firing driver in a sealed
box design — the only sub in the group to do so. Sealed-box
subwoofers have no bass port to allow air to move along with
the driver, a system that, in theory, provides tighter bass with
greater control than bass reflex subs, but generally requires
substantially more amplifier power in return (the SW250R has
a 250W amp). However, as we’ve discovered with the Audio
Pro B1.28, fast bass can be achieved by other means using
a less power-hungry amp.
The SW250R’s frequency response is 30–110Hz which is,
on paper, the worst of the bunch. Don’t forget, though, that
the two Canadians seem a little optimistic with their specs.
Indeed, our SPL tests showed almost nothing at 25Hz but
plenty of volume at 31.5Hz.
In practice the Wharfedale provided the second-best
bass response in the group. It was able to blend seamlessly
with the mains, go loud with little distortion and was deep
enough and fast enough to satisfy movie lovers. Music lovers,
on the other hand, will prefer the even deeper bass of the true
performer in this roundup, the Audio Pro B1.28.
scott_bartley@idg.co.nz
g r o u p t e s t / s u b w o o f e r s
>>FFWD august / september 2005 33