The Cambridge BassCube 12 is a self-powered subwoofer from Cambridge Soundworks, the speaker company founded by Henry Kloss of AR, KLH, and Advent fame.

What is a subwoofer? It is a speaker designed to produce only bass frequencies, from the bottom notes of the church organ to the strings of a bass guitar. This generally means frequencies from about 20 hz to about 150 hz.

A subwoofer is used when your regular speakers are small and can't produce the deepest bass notes (for example the Paradigm Reference Studio/20, an excellent small speaker retailing for about $650) or when you want to supplement the bass of your existing floor-standing speakers. I use an older M&K subwoofer in my system even though my regular speakers (older DCM Time Windows) have pretty good bass response. The difference is EASY to hear, especially on organ and well-recorded rock recordings.

Self-powered means you don't need another amplifier to power the thing; it has its own built-in amplifier.

The Cambridge 12 has an adjustable crossover frequency and a volume control. The adjustable crossover frequency means you can use the subwoofer to supplement only the very deepest bass notes (produced by a church organ, the bottom notes on a piano, or the lowest strings on a bass guitar) or the entire bass range. I cross my subwoofer over at the lowest possible frequency (about 45 hz) so as not to adversely affect the upper-bass response.

The volume control simply means you can adjust the amount of bass, relative to the volume of the rest of your system. Once set, you leave this volume control at a given level, and allow your normal amplifier volume control to adjust the overall playback level.

The Cambridge BassCube 12 produces tight and deep bass, and sounds great whether you use it with Cambridge's speakers or speakers from other manufacturers. The bass of the 12 actually sounds tighter to me than that of their more expensive BassCube 15, which uses a 15 inch woofer instead of a 12 inch woofer. Sometimes there is a trade-off between amount of bass and bass control. The 12 seemed to have better control than the 15.

The 12's bass is NOT quit as tight, nor does it go quite as deep with authority, as some more expensive subwoofers (which can cost several thousand dollars), but overall it does a commendable job. On well-recorded rock, jazz, or classical music, the bass came through with good depth and speed.

On music that didn't have much low bass material, you could hardly tell the subwoofer was on. Turning it off slightly reduced the overall sense of the recording space (some room ambiance occurs at very low frequencies).

It is also noteworthy that Cambridge has a 45 day guarantee on all their products, meaning that if it does not work to your satisfaction in YOUR system, you can bring it back for a full refund.

If you have a good stereo but need more bass, or if you are putting together a home theater and want to experience the full impact of today's movies' special effects, I recommend you give the Cambridge Soundworks BassCube 12 a listen. At under $500 when not on sale, I consider it something of a bargain.


Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 450 (retail)