If you're looking for a high-end powered subwoofer for those deep bass frequencies with hard-hitting power, especially for those deep, rumbling effects on your home theater system which regular speakers won't reproduce, take a look at the ASW610 and the ASW610XP from Bowers & Wilkins.
In summary, these are not for the tiny budget, especially for those interested in the ASW610XP, which is well over the $1000 price range.
The ASW610 costs lesser though and is smaller & lighter. The trade-off is much lesser output power. Both produce immaculate sound quality signature to this premium brand.
- Do make sure to check out their side-by-side ASW610 vs ASW610XP price & spec comparison page here at Crutchfield.
Now let’s take a closer look.
Design
Front-firing ports, a minimal, sleek aesthetic, and a slick, no-nonsense black finish give these subwoofers a very stately, serious but ambivalent look that screams audiophile. It is very evident that this is a premium product at first glance. Something your home will be grateful for in addition to the streamlined, minimalistic vibe which makes them very easy to blend in. The only possible disadvantage to this is that they won’t really pop out visually, in case you were looking for a more ‘flashy’ look.
The included rubber and spike feet are another big plus. These ensure a firm grip on the ground. The spike feet are perfect for carpeted homes while the rubber feet make sure the speaker remains stable and shock-absorbent on laminate, hardwood, tile, or vinyl floors.
The small LED indicator remains lit when the 3-way power switch is activated. The three modes (On, Auto, and Standby) leave it glowing in green or red. A subtle little sign of high-end quality that can make the world of difference and add value to your investment.
While the speakers could pass off as almost identical from a distance, it’s the size and weight which truly set them apart optically.
Bowers & Wilkins ASW610
- Dimensions with Rubber Feet: 12.25 Inches wide x 12.625 inches high x 15.5 inches deep.
- Dimensions with Spike Feet: 12.25 inches wide x 13.5 inches tall x 15.5inches deep.
- Weight: 27.6 lbs
Bowers & Wilkins ASW610XP
- Dimensions with Rubber Feet: 12.875 inches wide x 13.25 inches tall x 16.125 inches deep.
- Dimensions with Spike Feet: 12.875 inches wide x 14.125 inches tall x 16.125 inches deep.
- Weight: 41.12 lbs
You may check out this comparison of Bowers & Wilkins 600 Series Subwoofers.
Features
Both the ASW610 and ASW610XP come with a generous array of controls to give the consumer a seamless audio experience.
Both the Bowers & Wilkins ASW610 (see image) and ASW610XP come with a generous array of controls to give the consumer a seamless audio experience.
Volume Level: Individual Volume Levels and inputs can be suitably adjusted to the rest of the speakers in the system according to taste.
Low Pass Crossover: This gives you a Low Pass Crossover and Low Pass Filter to adjust the variable Frequency settings at around 25-140Hz for a balanced and clean output from the overall system.
Bass Extension: The Bass Extension feature offers three settings giving you a very high degree of flexibility with respect to the degree of bass you actually want in the overall sound in the room. Keep in Position A for most rooms and try out other options for added power.
EQ (Equalization): This lets you choose an EQ position that best works for the environment you want to use this in. While the human ear actually has a very limited perception of both the volume and locations of low frequencies, this does give you the kind of added flexibility to add or roll off some frequencies for fine-tuning. Definitely premium stuff.
Phase Switch: Very handy when the subwoofer is placed far away from the rest of the speakers, in order to avoid frequency cancellations. If that’s too techie for you, what it means is that making adjustments here will help you create a more cohesive sound system together with the rest of the components on the whole system.
Do make sure to check out their side-by-side ASW610 vs ASW610XP price & spec comparison page here at Crutchfield.
Sound
Let me tell you something right off the bat.
The sound quality performance you'll end up getting from a speaker will always depend on your room acoustics - particularly room dimensions and speaker positions.
The impact of the combination of these two is actually so strong that in most cases, it doesn't even make sense to utter a single word on sound quality without speaking of them.
This is also why it's not unusual to see completely different reviews of the same speaker.
In one case the speaker might be placed in a sweet spot inside the room and hence the user might be satisfied. In other cases the same speaker might be ill placed and hence user might even have returned it.
The point most people miss here is that it mostly isn't even about the engineering behind the speaker itself. It's about where you place the speaker inside which room.
So, in order to solve this problem, I've partnered with Acoustics and Audio Engineering PhD Andrea Cicero from AC Acustica and created Soundton - a simple, 2D, browser accessible online speaker placement calculator.
With Soundton, now there's a way to figure the sound quality of most speakers before you buy them.
Read more about its working principles at soundton.com/documentation/.
The end colormap provides you the locations with the best (green) and worst (red) acoustics.