Velodyne SC-600 IF/IC In-Floor / In-Ceiling Subwoofer

For those of you new to the home theater game Velodyne has been making subwoofers for longer than some directors have been making movies. They make big ones, small ones, loud ones, and even louder ones. They were also one of the first to recognize the importance of room correction in the subwoofer domain and have many products that feature equalization and digital sound processing. The subwoofer featured here is part of the SubContractor line of subwoofers. This unit is designed to be used in-floor or in-ceiling, and fits snuggly between standard (16 inch centered) floor joists or ceiling trusses, which is a 14" space. Unlike most powered subwoofers the amplification for this unit is housed in a separate box which also contains digital sound processing to counteract room issues. A measurement microphone is included to program the auto-eq features. The amplifier is the same one provided with the SC-600 IW reviewed recently by Jim Milton.

The big draw to a ceiling mounted subwoofer is looks. Taking the biggest speaker out of the room is a huge bonus for many spouses. The drawback is that you only get one chance to mount the sub - unless you like re-finishing your ceiling. So what happens if the bass sounds bad? You can move your chair and you can equalize the response to reduce room issues. To do equalization right you need measurement gear, and of course, the equalizer. With the SC-600 package you get a measurement microphone and an automatic seven band eq built into the powerful amplifier.