What the Arsenal is all about.

---

quote:

The Arsenal subwoofer is here. The design philosophy was simple: Improve upon our already high-performance subwoofers in every way and make a better product for less money. We looked at the now legendary Atlas and Avalanche subwoofers and set a course for even higher ground. We took the best of both worlds and improved upon them until they were better in nearly every way.

The Arsenal subwoofer was created after months of testing, measuring, and listening. Rather than only aiming for a given set of specs, we started from scratch. Different motor topologies, voice coils, spiders, cones and surrounds were actually auditioned, not simulated. We tried different materials and sizes for each and every part, and every time something was changed it was also measured. The measurements quickly showed what improved performance and what did not. We only moved forward when there was an improvement.

We opted for a large cone and matching surround rather than an enormous surround and a smaller cone. Large surrounds look impressive, but they make the effective cone area smaller and lower overall efficiency. They also require more excursion for the same output as a subwoofer with a larger cone area. A larger cone requires less excursion for the same output. And as the measurements showed, the less the cone moves for a given output level the lower the distortion. The chosen cone is a very high quality paper-pulp cone with Kevlar fibers running through it.

When you look at the motor, you should notice a couple of things. The motor actually has more magnet volume than the Avalanche. However, it only needs a fraction as much steel to properly focus its motor strength to the voice coil. Internally, the motor features an incredibly effective aluminum shorting ring. The shorting ring keeps inductance well under control and allows the Arsenal to achieve a very flat frequency response. A 2.5 inch aluminum voice coil is used to power the cone. While the voice coil is slightly smaller in diameter than the Avalanche, it is actually nearly twice as long. This results in excellent thermal power handling.

So what does this all mean? The Arsenal plays louder than the Avalanche with less power, and does so with lower distortion and a flatter more extended frequency response. Unlike many large subwoofers, there is no roll-off on the high end that can lead to a boomy sound that lacks impact. The Arsenal combines massive low frequency abilities with the high end of an SQ subwoofer. The resultant sound is a powerful low end with a top end that absolutely slams.

---