Impressions
Our review room is not that big: only 4 by 5 meters, albeit with free walk-through to other rooms. Furthermore, we use electrostatic speakers which will demand very little volume from a subwoofer or it would overpower them. That’s why we decided to go for the lowest notes and plug all three of the ports. That enables the PC13-Ultra to go as low as 10 Hz (wavelengths of that size don’t fit in our review room) and yet the volume range doesn’t seem to be decreased very much. That is without a doubt due to the massive 1000 Watt power of the built-in subwoofer amplifier.
After that, we only had to adjust the subwoofer gain to make it integrate as seamlessly as possible with the main speakers. We do that by means of a decibel meter and by ear. We start with the sound level meter and a cd with test tones between 20 and 200 Hz. The PC13-Ultra gain level is configured to the point where we can’t hear any difference when sound crosses over the 70 Hz crossover setting and everything has the same volume. Then, we repeat the test with musical instruments that cross this 70 Hz boundary, like cellos, double basses and piano. By ear, we try to determine that the subwoofer integrates seamlessly and overpowers nowhere. Once we’re satisfied that that is the case, the real listening can begin. We had the set the subwoofer to a gain setting of -10 dB, by the way.
The first sounds produced convey a strong impression: tight! Very tight. Much tighter even than its predecessor of the same name. If that one was set too loud, it would boom. Not this new PC13-Ultra. It remains tight and dry as desert sand, even if set too loud. That way, there’s no chance of listening fatigue.
As you would expect, it’s rather obvious to review this sub with lots of superlow basses: crashes, explosions and more thunderous sounds from films like ‘Inception’, the three ‘Lord of the Rings’ movies and the fantastic submarine flic ‘U-571’ on dvd and Blu-Ray, plus the deepest low notes in hiphop music or of organs in classical music. We did all that and we were very impressed with how deep and tight this subwoofer can deliver those notes and sounds. The real test, however, is with much more subtle sounds. How does a man sound when singing on a wooden stage with and without the sub? If we disconnect the main speakers, can the subwoofer then reproduce the full melody of the bass clarinet from Willem Vermandere’s instrumental piece ‘Diepe Adem’ (‘Deep Breath’, from the instumental cd ‘Omzwervingen’ – ‘Roamings’)? The answer to the first question is: it sounds better, with a much more defined stage presence. And to the second question: yes, the melody is reproduced clearly.
