I've been playing with subwoofers for home theatre and music for around 15 years. Before powered subs. became widely available for domestic sound systems one of our employees used to design and manufacture subwoofers disguised as coffee tables with a built in 100 watt amplifier. I'm telling you this to explain that I've seen, heard and sold most noted brands over the years (Velodyne, M&K, Altec-Lansing, Yamaha, Kenwood - back in their glory days, Jamo etc.) and nothing I've heard or experienced comes close to the Paradigm Servo 15.

    Firstly, lets get technical. As the name indicates, the driver is a 15" unit. It's made up of a Kevlar composite cone sitting in an aluminium die-cast basket giving a 2.5cm peak to peak travel. An accelerometer is used to continuously monitor the travel and output of the cone and adjusts the amplifier output to result in ultra low distortion. The built in amplifier is a 1200/400 Watt hybrid design (400 Watts RMS continuous with 1200 watts on demand) with less than 0.005% distortion. The box size is 50cm H X 46cm W X 58cm D and weighs an impressive 41 kg. The only control on the unit is output, consequently unless you have an amplifier with built in crossover such as some of the Marantz receivers, you need the matching external crossover X20. This is not a bad thing since you can place the control box next to your seating position for more accurate setting up.

    The box design is a sealed enclosure which allows a -3dB point of 14 Hz which is way lower than any music you'll ever hear (the lowest note is 27.5 Hz except for a few synthesizers and a couple of pipe organs with 64' pipes). Due to a combination of the extra stiff compliance driver, sealed enclosure, accelerometer and high output amplifier this is one of the few subwoofers with a prodigious output that can also play music without being overwhelming. The one thing I found with the M&K THX5000 subwoofers (the most expensive subs. I've ever sold at $5000 +) is their inability to be controlled musically at lower volume levels whereas the Paradigm just blends in with whatever speakers are playing and is only noticeable by it's absence (and boy! do you ever miss it when it's turned off).

    Our set up consisted of a Marantz SR-9200 receiver, Marantz DV-8300 DVD and a pair of Paradigm Studio 100 speakers. Playing my favourite bass set up disc, Joe Jackson's "Night and Day", the Servo-15 gave a nicely controlled punchy bass line which, as I mentioned earlier, was only noticeable by it's absence when tuned off - remembering the Studio 100's are no slouch in the bass department themselves. The ultimate test however is the DVD called "The Eruption of Mount St. Helens" which is an IMAX test of human endurance with regards to the auditory system. This DVD should come with a warning notice 'cause with lesser systems it will destroy the main speakers and subwoofer driver, with better systems it will destroy the ears of anyone within 50 metres and with the Paradigm Servo-15 it will destroy anything including concrete bunkers within 100 metres! I shit you not, when we played this DVD on our test rig it nearly brought the roof down (it's one of those nasty shopping centre suspended roofs) things were shaking, dust was emerging from all existing cracks and new cracks were being formed in front of our eyes. Yes, this is a SUBWOOFER! It will enhance your music listening and deliver bass for your home theatre rig as you've never heard before. Even if you're not in the market for one, you really need to get a demonstration of this beast.

    The bottom line on this one is that if you can afford it (RRP $3850 including the X20) and you can fit it in the room, buy it, you won't hear or feel a better subwoofer under $7000.

WARNING - If your neighbour buy's one of these units AND the DVD of Mount St.Helens - MOVE!