Published On: January 13, 2016

GoldenEar Adds Smaller SuperSub X to Its Subwoofer Lineup

Published On: January 13, 2016
Last Updated on: October 31, 2020
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GoldenEar Adds Smaller SuperSub X to Its Subwoofer Lineup

At last week's Consumer Electronics Show, GoldenEar announced and demoed the new SuperSub X subwoofer. The company's goal with the SuperSub line was to design high-performance yet reasonably sized subwoofers, and the SuperSub X measures just 12.5 inches high by 13.5...

GoldenEar Adds Smaller SuperSub X to Its Subwoofer Lineup

By Author: Home Theater Review
The staff at HomeTheaterReview.com is comprised of experts who are dedicated to helping you make better informed buying decisions.

Goldenear-SuperSub-X.jpgAt last week's Consumer Electronics Show, GoldenEar announced and demoed the new SuperSub X subwoofer. The company's goal with the SuperSub line was to design high-performance yet reasonably sized subwoofers, and the SuperSub X measures just 12.5 inches high by 13.5 wide by 12.5 deep. The SuperSub X combines two inertially balanced eight-inch long-throw active drivers in the horizontal plane with two inertially balanced 10- x 11-inch planar infrasonic radiators in the vertical plane, driven by a 1,500-watt Class D amplifier. The SuperSub X, scheduled to ship in the spring, will be priced at $1,249.

From GoldenEar
GoldenEar's new SuperSub lineup is a very special group of ultra-high-performance compact subwoofers that incorporate many recently developed unique and advanced technologies and components. The goal was to create beautifully styled, finely finished, reasonably sized subwoofers that could generate very low-frequency pressure waves of extremely high amplitude, while delivering accurate and precise low-frequency performance that is both highly impactful and extremely musical. In order to achieve this, we have incorporated a unique, patent-pending, 360-degree dual-plane inertially-balanced driver and sub-bass radiator topology, combined with a very advanced electronics package. The first of these extraordinary new subwoofers to be released, the SuperSub XXL, shipped in November 2015, and has already received fantastic press and consumer response. In addition, it is the proud recipient of one of the industry's highest honors, the 2016 International CES Innovations/Design and Engineering Award.

We are now pleased to announce the second SuperSub, the SuperSub X. In reality, the new, amazingly compact SuperSub X was the original focus of this development program. It is, as was intended, the best ultra-compact powered subwoofer ever created, delivering extraordinary musicality along with earthshaking impact.

The attractive enclosure of the X is constructed of very thick, high-density medite, which is beautifully finished in high-gloss piano black lacquer. It is intricately and effectively braced in order to eliminate the possibility of resonances or the flexing of cabinet panels due to the tremendous internal pressure. There is a unique (patent pending) combination of two fully inertially-balanced 8" long-throw active drivers in the horizontal plane and two fully inertially-balanced 10" x 11" planar infrasonic radiators in the vertical plane. This force-cancelling inertial balancing preserves, conserves and focuses all the energy produced by the transducers in order to effectively move the air in the room (rather than the box), as well as enabling full recovery of the finest details, rather than allowing loss and blurring due to wasted box movement. In a way, it is as if the enclosure were a totally inert 500 lb. cabinet, but in some ways even better. Also, because there are two active drivers that are separated horizontally in space, as well as two passive radiators which are separated vertically, the driver-to-room coupling is distributed much more smoothly. The different driver locations couple to different room standing wave patterns, thus working better with and driving multiple room eigenmodes, almost as if you had two separate subwoofers.

The electronics package that drives the fully balanced driver and radiator arrays is unique and effective. There is a 1500-watt Class D Digital Amplifier, originally developed for the Triton One, that is controlled by a 56-bit DSP device with a 192-kHz sample rate. This Programmable Logic State Machine has nearly instantaneous 278-ns update time to perfectly manage a myriad of functions including frequency response, soft clipping, DC offset control, output-stage saturation control, discrete multi-band limiting and phase-perfect equalization. The amplifier also utilizes many small, separate power supplies for each circuit section in order to provide isolation, so there is little opportunity for coupling through the power supplies. A fully balanced topology is used to minimize noise and distortion.

Finally, advanced reconstruction filters are utilized in order to maximize damping factor.
Sonically, the result is rock-solid bass response that is both exceptionally fast and tuneful for music, and extraordinarily deep and powerful, in order to effortlessly reproduce the most extreme movie sound effects. Also, of critical importance is the fact that the electronics have been designed with a strong focus on minimizing latency to an absolute minimum. Latency is basically time delay that exists in digital circuits. It has the effect of moving the subwoofer back from its physical position. This creates a misalignment with the rest of the system. We have measured many subwoofers that have relatively extreme levels of latency, which, in effect, moves the subwoofer back 15 or 20 feet. Two RCA inputs are provided for both LFE connection, as well as low-level connection from a stereo source. There is a precision level control as well as a phase perfect low-pass control to enable seamless integration into any system. U.S. Retail Price is $1249 each. Deliver is expected in Spring 2016.

SuperSub X Specifications:
Enclosure Dimensions: 12 1/2" H (w/feet) x 13.25" W x 12.5" D
Frequency Response: 12Hz-200Hz.
Driver Complement:
Two 8" long-throw high-output bass drivers
Two 10" x 11" quadratic planar infrasonic radiators
Amplifier: 1500 Watt ForceField Digital/DSP Amplifier
Low Pass Filter: 12dB per octave continuously variable from 40Hz-200 Hz. for Stereo Inputs
Inputs: Direct Coupled, unfiltered LFE input / Low Level Left and Right channel inputs

Additional Resources
GoldenEar Introduces Second-Generation Triton Two+ and Triton Three+ Speakers at HomeTheaterReview.com.
GoldenEar SuperCinema 3D Array XL Soundbar Reviewed at HomeTheaterReview.com.

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