I'm seeking a tiny sub to complement a pair of orbs I have in my kitchen for background music via my sonos system. A sonos member recommended the SubStage 100 subwoofer from SoundMatters.com as a solution. I need something tiny becasuse the Sono and Orbs literally hide on top of my kitchen wall cabinets (behind crown molding).

The Sound Matters website looks slick and the owners comments quite intriguing and the price point excellent, but.... No 3rd party reviews of any kind.

Has anyone heard these unusual sub woofers before? If so, please share!

bradesp

How ironic, I was going to pick this sub up last week but had to leave town for work. I found a local dealer in my area. Never heard it but I am going to buy it sight unseen because it will work perfectly (will fit under a small console) in my 3rd setup (2.1 audio for background music). Looks well engineered. I may have a chance to pick it up sometime this week. PM me in about a weeks time as a reminder and I will post my thoughts if I don't get too tied up at work.

How ironic, I was going to pick this sub up last week but had to leave town for work. I found a local dealer in my area. Never heard it but I am going to buy it sight unseen because it will work perfectly (will fit under a small console) in my 3rd setup (2.1 audio for background music). Looks well engineered. I may have a chance to pick it up sometime this week. PM me in about a weeks time as a reminder and I will post my thoughts if I don't get too tied up at work.

Eric,

Thanks! I will try to remind myself to pm you to remind you to post your thoughts... LOL... let's hope one of us remembers! ha.

How ironic, I was going to pick this sub up last week but had to leave town for work. I found a local dealer in my area. Never heard it but I am going to buy it sight unseen because it will work perfectly (will fit under a small console) in my 3rd setup (2.1 audio for background music). Looks well engineered. I may have a chance to pick it up sometime this week. PM me in about a weeks time as a reminder and I will post my thoughts if I don't get too tied up at work.

Eric,

Thanks! I will try to remind myself to pm you to remind you to post your thoughts... LOL... let's hope one of us remembers! ha.

http://ca.geocities.com/eric.chong@rogers.com/avs/Brookstone/mini_sys.JPG

Picked up the SubStage 100 today. It is sitting on the floor situated below the Parasound Z amp on the bottom shelf. To the left of the Parasound Zamp is a Rolls Active Crossover. Above the Zamp is the Brookstone Micro shelf unit (pre/tuner/CD/MP3). The speakers are Totem Arro's.

Before I left the store, I opened the box. No power cord. Normally I wouldn't care but the female side of the IEC plug is 90 degrees - not that common. I am guessing this may have been a demo unit. I also noticed that two of the rubber feet have come off and were in the plastic shipping bag. The sales guy gets me a new SS 100. Feet intact, he puts the power cord back in this box where he originally took it from.

The sub is made in China (no surprise). The "cabinet" seems well constructed out of metal. I took off the metal grill and one of the four rubber gromets stayed housed on the cabinet whereas the other three came off with the grill. The glue to hold the frame of the grill was sloppily applied on the underside. You would only see this if you pulled off the grill. I leaned on the sub lightly and two rubber feet came off. Luckily the rubber feet are slightly recessed so the circular metal footing can "sit" on it. The manual is fairly well written and provides decent setup advice. I didn't like where the controls were situated (under the unit).

As for the sound, it doesn't go down super low which is too be expected given the size. It is rated to 35 Hz -3db. I didn't bring out my sweep CD or spl to verify. I didn't find it boomy unless you switch on the "loudness" +3db @ 70Hz. I would only recommend this loudness switch if you constantly listen at very low volume levels. It has a single silver flat circular upward firing driver and two square downward firing passive radiators. I crossed over the sub @ 80Hz on the Rolls X-over. This definitely helped alleviate the work load for the Arro's little 4" woofers. I did some quick level adjustments by ear.

+ does mid bass well
+ not boomy (it is against one wall in my config see pic)
+ has sufficient SPL for my requirements (mostly background music and some occassional "serious listening")
+ super compact (the primary reason for my purchase)

- could use better contruction on the feet and grill
- need to adjust the controls and then put the sub in place however I assume most people that buy this sub won't be that critical

I was also loooking at getting the very small Totem Dreamcatcher, Pinnacle Subsonic and Subcompact 6. However these subs cost much more. Bottom line - the SubStage 100 does the job I bought it for namely something very small in footprint that would fit in my 3rd system and to give my Arros a little bit more bottom end. I would only recommend this sub for those whose primary requirement is to have a hidden sub. I can see this sub working well aesthetically with very small satellites like the Orbs, Gallo's and for speakers that can be easily hidden / blended to the decor like the Magnepan MMGW. I would not recommend this sub for HT unless you are absolutely space constrained in a small room and are not a basshead.

Eric,

Thanks for posting this... I am planing to order several of these to pair with Orb's and my Sonos system... The Wife and Kids love SONOS, but small, discrete speakers were holding us back from expanding into more rooms without an affordable and SMALL subwoofer.

Thanks again for posting your impressions.

bradesp