Definitive Technology SC4000
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3. common is that they roll off fairly rapidly above 100Hz so that the Definitive Technology SC4000 s output is on average around 15 20dB down at 200Hz This indicates to me that the SC4000 is going to integrate best with loudspeakers whose native response extends at least down to 100Hz This means that in practise any decent sized bookshelf or stand mount speakers would be a good match but I wouldn t recommend using tiny satellite style speakers that are barely bigger than your hand Eag 13 NF 150Hz No EQ if 14 NF 150Hz EQ1 l 15 NF 150Hz EQ2 AJL 55 20 Hz 30 40 50 60 70 80 100 200 LPs Or eA N del pw Definitive Technology SC4000 Subwoofer 4 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 52 Graph 2 seems complicated because it shows the near field sine responses of both the front firing bass driver and one ABR for all four settings of the EQ control including having no EQ at all The solid traces show the driver responses while the dashed same colour traces show the response of just one ABR for each setting The woofer ABR levels have not been adjusted to compensate for the fact that only one ABR was measured so the actual ABR levels would be higher than shown on this graph Graph 3 overlays the near field EQ1 responses from Graph 2 with the far field pink noise EQ1 response so you can see how the outputs of the driver and the two ABRs combine to give the response shown for this setting in Graph 1 and in Gra
4. review comprises a single driven element a 203mm diameter bass driver and two passive elements two 203mm passive plate style auxiliary bass radiators which are usually called drones or ABRs Definitive Technology calls these latter two units pressure coupled planar low bass drivers which is a pretty good and a pretty accu rate description Basically these two drivers are not connected to the amplifier at all Instead they re forced to move by changes in air pressure within the cabinet caused by the single front firing driver s movement 48 Australian hifi Definitive Technology SC4000 Subwoofer As it moves outwards rarefying the air inside the cabinet the two passive drivers are pushed inwards by the air pressure in the listening room As the front firing driver moves inwards it compresses the air inside the cabinet forcing the two passive drivers to move outwards This to and fro motion of the passive radiators generates low frequency sound waves This pressurised air drive system works best at low frequencies and even better when the cabinet containing the drivers is small because it results in larger differences in air pressure than would be possible in a larger cabinet However there is still a slight time delay involved between the action and the reaction and the coupling effect also works better at mid to high volume levels than it does at low levels However with reg
5. what I thought about the SC4000 s performance I should break the suspense I introduced when I mentioned in the third paragraph of this review that I would be talking about the word SuperCube later in this review So here goes The Definitive Technology SC4000 is not a cube at all in any sense of the word since all three dimensions are different so it can hardly be a SuperCube I guess you could argue that because it measures 300x270x329mm it is close to being a cube and it certainly looks cubic to the untrained eye but ultimately if it s not a cube it s not a cube I have no argument about the weight though the SC4000 tips the scales at exactly 14 5678kg PERFORMANCE Small subwoofers are very spouse friendly mostly because they re small but also because they re easier to position out of the way than larger units which often don t fit under or behind other items of furniture you re likely to have in your listening room This isn t quite so easy with the SC4000 because it has driver elements on three of its Definitive Technology SC4000 Subwoofer four sides meaning that only the back of the subwoofer can be placed close to a wall Definitive Technology recommends you try to posi tion the SC4000 on the same side of the room as your front speakers but rather disses the idea of corner placement which I think is bad advice If you find the SC4000 works best in your room in one of
6. 3dB and as you can see rises slowly from 26Hz to top out at 65Hz before rolling off down to 140Hz so is very balanced which will give a neutral bass sound All the other EQ settings tend to favour one area of bass over others so all will give a particular sonic flavour to the subwoofer s sound when they re used What all the four EQ settings have in common is that they will all sound louder when you switch to them as well as sounding different due to the way they alter the native frequency response dBPa Newport Test Labs This means that it s highly likely that any EQ setting you switch to will sound better to you simply because it is louder rather than from any other difference so be aware of this when choosing a mode Just from eyeballing the graphs I can see that compared to having the EQ switched off EQ1 the green trace gives a huge boost to the very lowest frequencies nearly 10dB at 35Hz EQ2 and EQ3 are similar and tend to emphasise the frequency range around 50Hz where bass drums and bass guitars produce the most energy while EQ4 attenuates the deep bass Interesting although it s not obvious on this graph almost all the frequency tailoring is happening below 70Hz You can see this more clearly on Graph 8 which has is exactly the same traces as Graph 1 but all have been adjusted in level via post processing to be equal in level at 200Hz What all settings also have in
7. ON TEST a E 7 may ky Mit F pef Definitive Technology SC4000 SUBWOOFER ine s bigger than yours That s one thing you ll never be able to say about Defini tive Technology s new SC4000 subwoofer because it s one of the smallest subwoofers I have ever reviewed However you will be able to boast about something because its digital display is by far and away the largest I have ever seen on a subwoofer indeed it s almost ridiculously big What were they thinking But you will also be able to boast about the level of performance you re getting because for a small sub the SC4000 packs a powerful punch and for not a whole lot of money THE EQUIPMENT The reason the display is so large is that it s always hidden underneath the black cloth covering that Definitive Technology uses as a finish for most of its speakers so if it were the usual size you probably wouldn t be able to see it or you d be able to see it but not be able to distinguish the numerals A high gloss piano lacquer top plate adds a touch of class and there is an edge of black gloss panelling around the base of the subwoofer but otherwise both sides and the front of the subwoofer are covered by black cloth I am not normally a fan of clothed finishes but on the SC4000 I think it works quite well The driver complement of the SC4300 SuperCube about which Ill have more to say later on in this
8. SH modules are MOSFETs Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistors that are deployed in bridged Class B mode The power for these is provided by a switch mode power supply whose output voltage is controlled by an audio processor that generates a PWM gate pulse for the BASH converter Although the BASH audio processor uses much the same schema as Class D pulse width modula tion PWM digital amplifiers it controls the rail voltage rather than the audio signal itself which is handled in analogue by the MOSFETs For those who are interested in the history behind the BASH circuit the applicable patent is US patent 5 075 634 for a Composite Bridge Amplifier where the inventor is named as one John B French You get more than the usual control over what the BASH amp does in that in addition to adjusting volume phase you can choose between four fixed settings 0 90 180 and 270 and crossover frequency 18 fixed settings to choose from starting at 40Hz then proceeding in 5dB steps to 100Hz after which in 10dB steps to 150Hz you can also invoke the Night Mode mentioned previous ly as well as toggle between four differently pre programmed EQ settings that alter the frequency response of the SC4000 According to Definitive Technology s User Manual the EQ setting maximises the lowest bass but in so doing sacrifices maximum volume level so that you won t be able to play the
9. See Key Solid traces show driver responses dotted traces show ABR responses Definitive Technology SC4000 Subwoofer dBPa 5 1 PN450Hz porasmoout 4 PN 450Hz Smo ed 2 PN 150Hz EQ1 Smoothed 5 PN 150Hz EQ4 Smoothed 3 PN 150Hz EQ2 Smoothed Graph 4 Pink noise frequency responses smoothed to third octave at 2 0 metres with no EQ Black Trace with crossover control at maximum 150Hz at 150Hz showing effect of EQ settings See Colour Key all adjusted for level Definitive Technology SC4000 i i a aii vais ac te aiii eee eeE KRIX HARMONIX MK2 Loudspeakers australian MICROMEGA MYZIC EA a Headphone Ampliier i Yes you can read some of our reviews in full on RICHTER SORCERER i ARCAM Pier Ul AVHub com au You can now swipe your way through DEQX PREMATE DSP Preamp DAC every page of Australian HiFi on your iPad or Android Turntable tablet or computer using our snazzy Digital Issues But there s nothing like the proper print edition March April 2014 landing in your letterbox sealed in shiny cellophane ready for you to read at your leisure at full size in the order we intended in the bath if you like Get every l 1E issue of Australian Hi Fi the way it should be i BP subscribe online anytime mymagazines com au YES PLEASE SEND MEA E 14 ISSUES 2YEARS 95 SAVE OVER 32 SUBSCRIPTION TO AUSTRALIAN HI FI 7 ISSUES 1YEAR 49 SAVE 23
10. annot eliminate with the wireless link and that s the 240V cable that you ll need to run from the SC4000 to the nearest power point One advantage of having the passive radiators on opposite sides of the cabinet is that some of the inevitable unwanted cabinet vibrations will be cancelled but there is still some cabinet vibration caused by the front mounted driver particularly at high volume levels The SC4000 is supplied with vibration absorbing rubber feet so none of these vibrations can be transmitted to the surface it s standing on particularly if that surface is reverberant such as a suspended wooden floor but more importantly the rubber feet will also stop the subwoofer creeping along the floor as a result of it vibrating Definitive Technology also supplies spikes just in case you don t want to use the rubber feet One cosmetic touch that constantly caught my eye whilst I was auditioning mainly because I had positioned the sub at the front of the room facing the listening position was that Definitive Technology does not put its full name on the front of the subwoofer just the first half of it the single word Definitive What s that about can t see Aston Martin just putting the word Aston on its motor vehicles Another jarring cosmetic touch was the typeface used for the display It may be just me but I found it difficult to read despite the size Before moving on to tell you
11. ard to this last Definitive Technology has provided a fix in the form of a Night Mode circuit which compresses the dynamic range of the subwoofer so that in the company s words the loudest bass in a movie doesn t get loud enough to wake the kids which is why it s called a Night Mode circuit However you can also use this circuit to increase the apparent level of bass when playing at low volume ef fectively increasing the output of the passive radiators As for that single front firing driver which has a polypropylene cone and a Thiele Small diameter of 165mm for an Sd of 214cm_7 it s driven by a BASH amplifier that Definitive Technology rates at 1 200 watts BASH the letters stand for Bridged Amplifier Switch ing Hybrid is a trademark owned by US company Indigo which holds US patents 5 075 634 and 5 510 753 for this ampli fier type which is essentially an analogue Class AB amplifier that uses a fast response pulse width modulated power supply to deliver what is arguably a Class H amplifier In a Class H topology rather than the rail voltage being fixed it is instead continuously varied in time with the incoming audio signal a technique that allows very high efficiency operation and is usually called a rail tracking or tracking topology Though the general BASH topology also bears similari ties with Class G and Class D amplifiers The output devices used in BA
12. cord should make it easier to find when you lose it Note that I said when and not if CONCLUSION This is a magnificent little sub It s powerful well equipped and can deliver bass so deep that I guarantee you ll be absolutely amazed r pmm i eo by what it s capable of it easily outperforms ASFA ma _N much larger and more expensive subwoof Srey ers But I guess the real proof will come when you listen to it yourself which I recommend you do before the Aussie dollar takes another downwards dive 4N greg borrowman LAB REPORT ON PAGE 82 LABORATORY TEST RESULTS The number of EQ settings available on the SC4000 meant a lot more testing was required by Newport Test Labs than usual and unfortunately more complex graphs than usual The number of EQ settings also means the frequency response of the SC4000 is not easily quantified since it will vary depending on what setting you use as well as the setting of the crossover control Graph 1 shows the pink noise frequency responses obtained from the Definitive Technology SC4000 using all settings of the EQ control including no EQ at all with the crossover control set at maximum 150Hz plus one trace without EQ with the crossover control set at minimum 40Hz It s difficult to see but overall the flattest and most linear response was obtained without any equalisation applied at all black trace It extends from 26Hz to 140Hz
13. dn t turn off even during my torture testing so all in all a pass with flying colours on the movie front Playing music I was impressed by the overall tightness of the SC4000 s sound quality and the ease with which I was able to integrate the subwoofer s output with that from both my main floor standing speakers using the 40Hz crossover point in my living listening room and the smaller 50 Australian hi fi ON TEST Definitive Technology SC4000 Subwoofer il This is a magnificent little sub It s powerful well equipped and can deliver bass so deep that I guarantee you Il be absolutely amazed by what it s capable of stand mount speakers in my den using the 140Hz setting of the crossover I did experiment with the EQ setting in both rooms but found that overall I preferred to leave it off with both movies and music As for the Night Mode I found I mostly left it on all the time with movies and didn t use it at all with music even at low volume levels I did however come to appreciate that having a remote control made it really easy to change between modes and EQ settings so I was never in any doubt that I was always using the best mode for each particular set up and volume level The mute button also gives you a good chance to audition with and without the subwoofer s contribution so you can hear what a difference it s making to your enjoyment of what you re hearing and the ans
14. ht Mode the amount of deep bass boost is incredible is switched and displayed is rather odd N but it s also incredible that the SC4000 can N means Off and N Y means On and cope with the deep bass boost I also found also that you can t toggle directly between the EQ3 setting needed to be treated with the two modes using the Night Mode switch care quite a bit of boost there as well You have to select then go to another mode then come back in to Night Mode in order to change it Also whenever I muted the subwoofer it made a single high frequency tick sound which I found annoying but I guess it was vaguely reassuring at the same time The ticking also occurs every time you adjust phase but you ll only do this once ot during set up whereas you ll likely be muting Definitit lech Hi MOLY x the sub fairly regularly Seay Ppi Tai mY Mia Aigi Mevel Arat EN EA aed 52 Australian hi fi Did I mention the remote control was small In point of fact I decided it was perhaps a little too small I even lost it down between the cushions on my couch that is between Sc 4000 them not down the back where there s Sopertobe enough room to swallow an ordinary remote srimwdaoafer Hipital Ceeaiew pi al oo Pee In retrospect this wasn t surprising because the remote is only 7mm thick It does have a small hole in one corner so attaching a length of
15. interested in a full technical appraisal of the performance of the Definitive Technology SC4000 Sub woofer should continue on and read LACA FANON ONAN ONEN NAERA page 82 Readers should note that the results mentioned in the report tabu lated in performance charts and or displayed using graphs and or photographs should be construed as applying only to the specific sample tested Lab Report on page 82 avhub com au hifi 49 ON TEST When you stop play ing the subwoofer will remain in a powered up ready state for around an hour before it decides you have definitely finished for the day upon which it will turn itself off When i I say Off it s not completely Off of course it s just in standby mode so you ll be pleased to hear it draws less than 0 5 watts in this mode which is low enough to earn the SC4000 an Energy Star rating for being green Iia As you can see from the photograph there s a gaping recess on the rear of the subwoofer control plate that s marked Wireless Adaptor Port So if you find the best position for the SC4000 is at the back or side of your room for either acoustic and or aesthetic reasons and you do not want to run a wire from it all the way back to your main system you can pay 85 extra for the SCW 100 wireless link which buys you both the transmitter and receiver Remember however that there is one wire you c
16. ph 4 On this graph the ABR response has been adjusted Graph 4 as stated previously shows exactly the same traces that are shown in Graph 1 but all the traces have been adjusted in level via post processing to be equal in level at 200Hz in order that the frequency tailoring of the EQ modes is made more obvious in other words by eliminating the level tailoring The Definitive Technology SC4000 Subwoofer is well designed offers a wide range of useful equalisation settings and has an excellent frequency response at low frequencies below 100H2 Steve Holding Newport Test Labs RAL a AANA TNN SS N Hz 19 NF 150Hz ABR EQ 7 NF150HZEQ4 20 NF 150Hz ABR EQ H z 2 1 NF 150Hz ABR EQB Graph 1 Pink noise frequency responses smoothed to third octave at 2 0 metres with no EQ Black Trace with crossover control at maximum 150Hz at 150Hz showing effect of EQ settings See Colour Key and at minimum 40Hz without EQ Red Trace SC4000 Newport Test Labs 30 20 Hz 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 200 Graph 3 Frequency responses with EQ1 setting Black trace shows pink noise response at 2 metres smoothed to one third octave Red trace shows nearfield response of bass driver green trace shows nearfield response of ABRs Definitive Technology SC4000 82 Australian hi fi Graph 2 Nearfield frequency responses measured with crossover control at maximum 150Hz showing all possible EQ settings
17. rms and or your eyes can focus up close rather better than mine are able to do the display being so big you will find it quite difficult to use the rear panel controls while you re looking at the display The good news is that j ei ool ON TEST Definitive Technology includes with every SC4000 a small actually it s tiny measur ing just 47x100x7mm infra red remote control that will allow you to make all your adjustments from the comfort of your own listening chair which is actually the best place to make such adjustments The remote also offers Mute and power On Off but tons neither of which are available on the subwoofer itself Power button notwithstanding you don t actually have to use it to turn the subwoofer on or off the SC4000 will do that itself automatically via a signal sensing circuit If the sub is off and it detects that you have started playing music or a movie it will turn on instantly DEFINITIVE TECHNOLOGY C4000 DSP SUBWOOFER Brand Definitive Technology Model SC4000 Category Powered Subwoofer RRP 1 545 Warranty 3 5 Years Distributor Advance Audio Australia Address Unit 8 509 529 Parramatta Rd Leichhardt NSW 2040 02 9561 0799 bX info advanceaudio com au www advanceaudio com au e Large display Wireless option small footprint IWNDIOINNMT 1 _ e Large display _ e Size of remote Display typeface LAB REPORT Readers
18. the corners that s where ee ET you should put it As to how to work out the best place to put the SC4000 it s a bit too complex to cover in el as this review so you can read it on line at www tinyurl com subwoofer placement I warmed up and familiarised myself with the SC4000 using movie soundtracks not least because these days movie soundtracks contain more and deeper bass than most musical works The reason for this is simply that movie directors use these very low frequency sounds to create a sense of foreboding in viewers it gives them a portent that something bad is about to happen whether it s the stomp of an invisible Tyrannosaurus Rex or a vibration that will soon reveal itself on screen as being caused by an incoming tsunami I found that whatever movie I watched which had impressive low frequency sound effects SFX Jurassic Park Flood 10 5 Apocalypse Vertical Limit and of course my favourite cringe movie Avalanche the one from 1978 with Rock Hudson and Mia Farrow the plot and dialogue of which are so exquisitely bad they re hilarious but I digress The SFX in all these movies were delivered appropriately by the SC4000 with excellent low frequency heft that I could feel in the pit of my stomach as well as with my ears It could deliver this at impressively high volume levels as well I didn t hear any distortion or compression while listening and the subwoofer di
19. wer is a lot If you have small bookshelf standmount loudspeakers a subwoofer will make an incredible difference to the sound you hear so I reckon owning one is mandatory in such a situation Even if you have large floor standing speakers I would always recommend adding a subwoofer because it will add significantly Definitive Phase f to your musical enjoyment But once again I digress In addition to being tight TE Volga the sound from the Definitive Technology was also tuneful the low frequencies were clearly reproduced and it was easy to differentiate between different instruments l ei playing at around the same pitch and also Su perc ube easy to follow quick complex bass guitar and double bass runs and riffs The sound of the SC4000 does get thicker inhi if you play cacy 1 ene ou levels Mita Display EQ particularly if you re playing pipe organ a works but unless you have a large room in which case you should probably be looking A ae ee E a at the larger SC6000 or SC8000 models the volume level at which this happens is so i ji high that it s really not likely to occur under normal circumstances And if you re planning ze x E 3 re E I tomas Gah Wh to use it mostly for movies it d be fine even in a large room You should certainly watch Operationally the SC4000 worked the volume levels when using EQ1 because perfectly I did find the way the Nig
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