If you want great sound in a home theater, you need solid bass. Definitive Technology has made a reputation for providing speakers of all kinds with great bass response at a reasonable price. The Definitive Technology SuperCube Reference is currently the second largest subwoofer they make, only outdone by the famed Definitive Technology Trinity subwoofer, which was designed to reproduce pipe organs in the New York's Trinity Church after 9/11. Whether you are looking to make your home theater accurately reproduce cannons or want to supplement the low-end response of your main speakers for two-channel or multi-channel listening, you need a subwoofer. Retailing for $1,899, the SuperCube Reference promises to be one of the last subwoofers you'll ever need to buy.

The SuperCube Reference houses a 14-inch proprietary driver powered by an 1,800-watt class-D digital amplifier. coupled to two 14-inch infrasonic radiators. All this driver size allows this subwoofer to reproduce down to 11 Hz, so you won't have to worry about the low end, while the continuously variable level, high- and low-pass crossovers and phase control insure the sub can be integrated into any system. To top it off, not only are there stereo line-level and LFE inputs, but the SuperCube Reference has powered inputs for integration into two-channel systems. The entire package is just less than 17 inches square and weighs 97 pounds. The finish is in high gloss black for the top and bottom plate, while the entire surround is covered by mesh.

The Hookup
Once I managed to unpack this monster, I connected it to my reference home theater. I placed it where I have found subwoofers work best in my room, connected it to the LFE output and powered it up. A little tweaking to get the level right was all it took and I was off and running with my new subwoofer. I found that the SuperCube Reference was designed to output very high levels of bass, so I adjusted its level downward so my AV preamp didn't have to do much work on the sub output. I also turned down the high-pass crossover to about 80 Hz, as my mains and rears will all reproduce that low.

I later added my Canton Vento 802 DC monitors and used the powered inputs to see how it melded into that system for two-channel listening. I found the high- and low-pass crossovers worked great in getting the sub to mate with these speakers and, after a few minutes of tweaking, I was completely happy with the combination. Mating a subwoofer to a two-channel system can be very difficult, but it went pretty quickly with this combo.

Performance
Well, when you are adding a 14-inch sub with two infrasonic radiators to your system, you expect a lot, but I wasn't fully ready for what I got. My initial set-up had the level of the subwoofer down pretty low, so I was wondering if it could handle the extreme levels I sometimes like: it could. The first thing I used it for was the new Batman film The Dark Knight (Warner Home Video) on Blu-ray and the sub never hiccupped, despite the massive explosions on the uncompressed Dolby TrueHD soundtrack. The SuperCube Reference produced not only high levels of bass, but the bass it made was smooth and deep, with great control. The fill-in for the rest of the audio in more subtle ways was also wonderful. Music had greater depth and the subtlety of footsteps and the depth of Batman's voice were enhanced by the subwoofer.

I next watched Kung Fu Panda (Paramount Home Entertainment) on Blu-ray and SuperCube Reference didn't let me down. Despite being a cartoon, this film offers a Dolby TrueHD uncompressed soundtrack, and the depth of bass shown in the fight scenes was excellent. I listened to this film at a much lower level than The Dark Knight, so it was good to see that this subwoofer could do well at both levels. The thud of the animals hitting the ground was timely and powerful, despite the casual listening level.

I swapped out my main speakers for my Canton Vento 802 DC monitors and wired the subwoofer via the high-level inputs, then to my monitors, and cued up Nickelback's All the Right Reasons (Roadrunner Records). This album has some amazing bass and, from the start of "Follow You Home," I was hooked. The drums blew me away. Whether I was listening at reasonable wife-tolerated levels or the sickest of max volume, everything stayed together and was clear and detailed. From the powerful riffs of this song to the more mellow sarcastic side of "Rockstar," the SuperCube Reference kept pace with the music and added depth and fullness to these small monitors creating a solid, full-range sound.

I cued up Junior Wells Keep On Steppin': The Best of Junior Wells (Telarc) and was treated to a fullness and depth that were simply not there previously with the Cantons. This isn't to fault these speakers, but they simply can't reproduce bass as deep as the SuperCube Reference does. With the sub integrated into this system, Junior's voice was fuller and more robust, without being bloated, from "Give Me One Reason," where the strings stood out more and bass was fuller and smoother, to the title track, where the bass was simply cleaner and more solid than without the subwoofer. Satellite/subwoofer systems can be tough to combine, but this combo simply sang and was pretty easy to adjust to make it blend smoothly.

Low Points
I find the size of the SuperCube Reference to be relatively small, but those looking to hide it under the couch or coffee table will need to look elsewhere. While offering tons of flexibility in connection options, the SuperCube Reference does not offer balanced inputs. I realize most people don't use them, but I prefer them when possible and it would have made this subwoofer perfect in my eyes. This subwoofer goes deep, and can put out very high levels effortlessly, so make sure your flooring is solid, as this little beast needs a stable platform to sound its best, and maybe clear loose items from the walls to keep them from getting shaken off.

Conclusion
When building a system, whether it's two-channel, multi-channel or a home theater, you want, nay, need bass. The Definitive Technology SuperCube Reference can provide all the bass you could ever need for a room of almost any size. If you need more, you could get their Trinity subwoofer, but as most of us live in homes, I suspect this subwoofer will more than meet your needs. During my time with the subwoofer, I never turned its level over halfway up and was never shorted for bass, even at very high listening levels. This sub plays to extreme listening levels and, while I am a big fan of multiple subwoofers, I am completely happy with my single SuperCube Reference. It is capable of filling my large room with powerful and accurate bass and does equally as well with shaking the floors for movies as it does filling in the bottom end for music.

The vast array of input and control options allow easily integration into many different types of systems, while the fast and tight bass that extends to subsonic levels will shake even the most solid foundation, keeping the home theater buff and two-channel listener equally happy. The high- and low-pass crossovers made this sub easy to integrate into my satellite/sub system.

While its nearly 17-inch square size makes this subwoofer larger than the modern crop of tiny subwoofers, the bass it outputs will prove size really does matter. I was able to get obscene levels of output in a large room with this subwoofer and never pushed it close to its limits. I never turned the level more than halfway up to get these levels either. This subwoofer rocks, and I can't imagine needing more bass than the SuperCube Reference puts out. Definitive is known for providing powerful, deep bass at a reasonable price, and they have done it again with the SuperCube Reference. This is a topnotch sub for a reasonable price. More expensive subwoofers exist, but once you hear the Definitive Technology's SuperCube Reference, you'll do what I did: save your money, buy the SuperCube Reference and know you've got one of the best subwoofers on the planet.