Subwoofers

You have to love the phrase ‘doing the doof-doofs’. A silly term for describing a clever technical process where a device, either a subwoofer or a system-tuning equaliser, has both voice and ears. The voice makes tone burst sounds that sweep from low to high (and go ‘doof-doof’) and the ears are the microphone, supplied with the Velodyne EQ-Max12 – part of a new range of mid-priced subs from the LFE brand. The Digital Signal Processor inside is a five-band parametric equaliser – and it strives to set the woofer to best suit not just your room, but exactly where you put and point it.

Like a wolf in sheep’s clothing Adam Rayner finds that the power behind this sub belies its cute size

If you have a copy of Men in Black II or even Stuart Little II on DVD then you have the 2001-2002 Academy Award-winning animated short, The ChubbChubbs. Its stars are some impossibly cute, fuzzy things that look like ducklings with noses like piglets – yet they turn out to be scary monsters with huge teeth and a terrifyingly large appetite.

I love a purist. When I buy kit I want it to be the offering of those obsessive designers, who create trends that get the ultimate kudos of being copied. That’s why I love Velodyne – for its approach and its purity. A company run by utter bass heads.

Newish Swedish manufacturer XTZ only sells its subwoofers online in the UK. This practice often means good value, but as you can only audition the kit by paying a deposit for a two-week trial, it has to review well and beat most in its class, irrespective of price.