Visit any audio dealer, from a discount warehouse to the most exclusive high-end boutique, and you will quickly discover one indisputable scientific fact about the way people judge sound quality. Namely, they like bass. Full, robust bass is usually enough to please the average listener, whereas even the most dignified audiophile speaker will win few fans if it cannot shake the floor a little bit.

Sadly, today’s lifestyle-oriented speakers—in-wall and ceiling models, and sleek designs created to complement plasma TVs—usually produce far too little bass to get your foot tapping. Do not blame them; producing accurate, well-defined, deep bass notes from small cabinets or speakers built into a wall is nearly impossible.

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The EMB-1000’s brass accents and anodized face set it apart from look-alike, “black box” subwoofers. (Click image to enlarge)

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To make these stylish speakers please the public, you must add a subwoofer, a speaker designed specifically for reproducing bass. Subwoofers used to take the form of huge, unsightly black boxes. Recently, many manufacturers have begun producing subwoofers in the form of small, unsightly black boxes, using extremely powerful amplifiers to make up for the subs’ Lilliputian dimensions. Certainly, a small ugly object is better than a large one, but today’s tiny subwoofers seem more apropos for the trunk of a Honda Civic than the living room of a luxury home.

Click here to see the lab measurements.

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With the EMB-1000, James Loudspeakers seeks to combine small size and high output with stylish design. Like other small subwoofers, the EMB-1000 employs an extremely powerful internal amplifier; this one is rated at 1,000 watts, about 10 times as powerful as the typical home audio amplifier. But unlike other small subs, the EMB-1000 features an anodized aluminum faceplate, 18-karat gold accents and pleasing proportions that make it a welcome, if nearly unnoticeable, addition to any living room.

The EMB-1000 offers connections adequate for your installer to interface it with practically any audio system you might own. It also sports a few controls on the back that make it possible for your installer to blend its sound with anything from a couple of tiny bookshelf speakers to a full home theater surround-sound system.

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Controls on the back of the EMB-1000 let your installer fine-tune its sound. The sub’s internal crossover can be bypassed. (Click image to enlarge)

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Given the EMB-1000’s size and looks, it would seem to go with in-wall or ceiling speakers like caviar goes with champagne. That is exactly the use to which I put them—augmenting the sound of Niles Audio’s DS6500AT ceiling speakers. The Niles speakers produce a reasonable amount of bass on their own, but in order to impress rather than merely satisfy, they need a little help with the low notes of electric bass, synthesizers and kick drums.

Once I add the EMB-1000 to the Niles speakers, it proves impossible to subtract it. In fact, I never again listen to the DS6500ATs without the EMB-1000 to fill in the deep bass. With only the most cursory introduction on my part—five minutes of playing with the EMB-1000’s various controls—the speakers and subwoofer get along swimmingly, working together to create a full, smooth sound on both movie soundtracks and music CDs.

Many of the so-called “mini” subwoofers on the market sacrifice precision and accuracy in pursuit of the power and depth necessary to shake floors. For movie soundtracks, that may be the best decision, but such subwoofers tend to make music sound bloated and dull. The EMB-1000 seems to lean the other way. It does not provide the overwhelming, room-rattling power that some mini-subwoofers generate; instead, it focuses on accuracy, faithfully reproducing the delicacy of string bass, percussion, tuba and the lowest notes of the piano. During my listening tests, I repeatedly exchange it with a subwoofer regarded by audiophiles for its accuracy and precision, and am pleased to hear the EMB-1000 match the other sub’s performance practically note-for-note. In fact, my ears can barely tell them apart ... but my eyes certainly can, as the EMB-1000 occupies barely one-third of the space consumed by its competitor.

Movies sound nice with the EMB-1000; it seems well-suited to reproducing the repeated thumps, slams and punches that, for better or worse, fill so many of today’s DVD soundtracks. It also sounds great with music DVDs—even raucous heavy-metal fare such as Rammstein’s Live Aus BerlinStar Wars II: Attack of the Horrible Dialogue, leave the little EMB-1000 gasping for breath. As a music lover, though, I am glad to trade those last few notes of deep bass for the EMB-1000’s pleasing precision. I am still waiting to hear a sub that combines accurate music reproduction with the deep-bass capability required by the most demanding movie soundtracks, but the EMB-1000 does strike a nice balance between the two.

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The front speaker cone is actually a passive radiator—basically a speaker cone without a magnet or voice coil. The actual speaker cone sits a couple of inches behind the passive radiator. (Click image to enlarge)

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The EMB-1000 is the perfect subwoofer for today’s lifestyle speaker systems. I think it likely that your guests will marvel at your system’s wonderful, clear bass response without ever noticing the tiny box over in the corner that is giving them the full sound we all crave.

DESCRIPTION
Powered subwoofer. Adds extra bass to systems using small speakers.

COMPONENTS
10-inch woofer, 10-inch aluminum passive radiator, 1,000-watt amplifier (3,000-watt rated peak output).

CONNECTIONS
Stereo analog line-level RCA inputs and outputs, stereo metal binding posts for speaker connection.

DIMENSIONS
12 x 12 x 14 inches (hwd)

PRICE/CONTACT
PRICE: $1,795 in piano black finish, $1,495 in textured black.
CONTACT: (707) 449-0880
www.jamesloudspeaker.com