Auralex SubDude HD Review

What the heck is it? OK, the SubDude HD is a platform for your subwoofer. Why would you want it? Well, a subwoofer, as you may know, generates a lot of vibration due to the fact that it puts out low frequencies and has a larger driver than most speakers. Well, these vibrations move into your floor and reduce the actual efficiency of the sub. After all, if it's expending energy into moving your furniture around the room, its not putting all of its energy potential into making sound waves. Plus it can just be a nuisance - as anyone who has experienced dishes rattling in their cupboards during a bass-heavy scene can testify.

Auralex SubDude HD Video Review from Audioholics

The technical mumbo jumbo behind this is a principle called secondary resonance. Essentially you create another vibrating source (or two, or three) that cancels out some of the output from the subwoofer. It's no good and it can be alleviated. The SubDude HD effectively reduces secondary resonance by decoupling your subwoofer from the floor so you hear your sub, and not the vibration of the other objects in your room. When speakers are tested in anechoic chambers, they are isolated from objects around them that could introduce resonance. With the SubDude HD, you are sort of recreating a similar scenario in your living room.

We use SubDudes in several of our reference systems and the results seem to be clearer bass with less muddiness around the point where the sub crosses over into the range of our main speakers. At just $60 each, it's a fix you almost can't help but try.

The Auralex SubDude HD is a 15" x 15" x 2.5" platform wrapped with a cleanable velour. It is available in any color so long as it's black. The SubDude may not get rid of all your rattles, but seriously, that's what we can a "quality" problem.

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