Two recent press releases and one personal purchase netting a brief review prompted today's feature.
Børresen's new Bass Module 3 is a quad 8" folded dipole bass system with onboard 300-watt Pascal-based stereo amp and 30-80Hz analog low pass across 11 selectable frequencies with ±6dB cut/boost in 0.25dB increments via remote control. At €21'000 and in high-gloss black lacquer with carbon details, it's a very exclusive subwoofer but further proponent of the rare Axel Ridthaler RiPol concept previously adopted by Ecobox, ModalAkustikk, sound|kaos and Voxativ.
In their upscale DACs, preamps and integrateds, sister brand Aavik offer matching analog high pass outputs to relieve the main speakers of seeing any low bass and hand over seamlessly to this outboard bass array. The focus on analog filtering eliminates digital latency and its timing issues.
Voxativ's new Aries is a fixed 50Hz/2nd-order also pure analogue high-pass filter intended for their Hagen² and Alberich² speaker systems. The latter docks a special version of Hagen² atop a single-woofer RiPol stand whilst standalone single and dual Ripol subs are part of this Berlin portfolio. At €4'900, this is another costly yet very welcome entry into how to properly integrate active bass systems with passive speakers. Also from Germany is spl's Crossover Mk2, a €3'399 pure analogue device running proprietary ±60V discrete opamps. With selectable 2nd/4th-order hi/lo-pass slopes, 18 assignable frequencies, stereo or mono summing, 20Hz low cut, ±10dB low-pass attenuator and more, this component shows how a brand from the pro-audio sector approaches and prices the topic. Regardless, convergence is obvious. These three players agree on analogue active filtering and high-passed mains as the best way to seamlessly dovetail a stereo 2.1 or 2.2 system for advanced music listening not mere FX-chasing movie watching.
Coming from such different walks of life, this convergence seemed one coincidence too many hence birthed this brief article. Happy subwoofing!
