image credit: Earth Quake

EARTHQUAKE SUB-80 Review

PRICE: $ 490

PROS: Deep bass with small dimensions

CONS: Rustic appearance, overpriced

VERDICT: Compact subwoofer that performs well both in music and in movies.

The Earthquake SUB-80 subwoofer is compact (34 cm high, 24 cm wide) and features an 8-inch speaker with a pressed paper cone and Santoprene surround. The speaker is directed to the floor, and a bass reflex port flaunts on the front panel. To be honest, neither the looks nor the build quality of Earthquake is impressive. And the remote control would not hurt. The sub is equipped with a 150 W amplifier, linear and high-level inputs and outputs, a two-position phase switch and a smooth cutoff frequency control (in the range from 40 to 130 Hz).

The manual recommends installing the Sub-80 closer to the wall, and indeed, by placing Earthquake behind the front speakers, you will achieve a smoother bass reproduction than when installed in line with them. In general, you will have to tinker with the adjustments, because the subwoofer constantly presents a choice: deeper or faster bass. When we turned off the subwoofer filter in the multichannel processor, and set the cutoff frequency on the Sub-80 to about 60 Hz, Earthquake coped with such difficult tasks as the abstruse Burnin 'hip-hop track by the Material group (with deep, multi-part bass) or the explosion of a pleasure boat in "Deja Vu".