Velodyne Digital Drive Sub

ezc

I got to see the new Velodyne Digital Drive 12" sub this past saturday at the monthly home theater club meeting. One of the members is Velodynes rep localy here. He brought the new 12" with the digital drive circuit. Very cool. The sub is rated to play down to 16hz in the specs. The sub comes with a mic, mic stand, video cables, & remote (of course the instructions) The sub was hooked up to a computer monitor for setting adjustment. We set the mic up at the listening position & switched the subs setting screen to real time display which we could watch on the monitor. The settings are done with the remote & there are 5 presets if I remember correctly, each preset can be adjusted to suit you rooms needs. Each preset can be assignesd for ex: movies, music, pro logic2 etc. We got to adjust the subs settings to get the response as flat as possible & to splice the sub with main speakers at a 80 crossover. There is a equlizer built into the subs software which you make changes to with the remote & on screen to do corrections to try keep the response as flat as possible. We did get to listen for a short time & the sub sounded really good! I think I may want to get one. One good thing is the back of the sub dosnt have controls. You cant hook this sub up the Polk way, speaker level in & speaker level out, this sub has only speaker level in, but has the usual lfe in, in & outs (rca). There are only 2 vol buttons on the back vol up & vol down. Everything is done on screen with the remote. That may be a good thing, how many times have you done a install & set the system up & go back at a later time to install a new component or somthing only to find the sub cranked all the way up. Now with the adjustments on screen I think most customers wont play with the settings once its set up. We were told the retail price would be about $3000. There are soooo much to learn about the sub & we just got a taste of what could do. The feature I likes most was the on screen readout in real time, & being able to make adjustments & see what needed corrections & what worked. Its like having a $2000 sencore sound meter built into the sub, & you can use the realtime readout to even adjust the main speakers! As I get more info Ill post!

Dr. Spec

Velodyne continues to be a leader in high end subwoofers.

The Digital Drive circuit is much faster than the older HGS servo system. I think you can even adjust the amount/speed of servo control and allow the sub to distort a bit more for maximum output for larger rooms and HT applications.

When I say distort a bit more, I mean going from 1% THD to maybe 3% THD or along those lines. Still incredibly low compared to a run of the mill OEM sub.

Even in max output mode, the DD circuit will still significantly limit maximum output capability. Many will find that two DD subs are needed for a larger room and/or playback high volumes.

Overall, a very impressive advancement in sub technology, but the price is extremely high. For $3,000, I can do better - that's REALLY expensive.

Doc