"I am a professional mastering
engineer. I recently purchased a pair of Fathom F-112
subwoofers to replace my previous subwoofers for my mastering
room. Everything about the construction and circuitry
of these woofers is first rate, but most important to
a professional, was the ability to linearize my room,
to get the flattest, tightest, most even bass that I've
ever heard. They have every control I consider essential
to a subwoofer level, continuously-variable phase,
polarity switch, 12 or 24 dB per octave slope, continuously-variable
low pass frequency, and extreme low frequency EQ. In addition,
they come with a test microphone for an automatic room
optimization feature that I was initially skeptical about,
but now I'm convinced it works great. The A.R.O. was able
to correct a measured +9 dB 65 Hz bump in my room with
no audible artifacts. After A.R.O., every well-made recording
now sounds correct in my room, whether it has sustained
bass or rhythmic bass. The masters that I've previously
made for my clients sound even better than before, and
with the Fathoms it's much easier and less fatiguing to
make new masters, as I can identify any bass errors with
great certainty.
As a bonus, in addition to playing
music cleanly, these woofers are able to reproduce the
most demanding low-frequency recording anyone has ever
made! There is a very clean, wide range 24 bit 96 kHz
recording that I made of the Space Shuttle Discovery from
the Press site, which is the closest anyone is allowed
to the rocket during launch. I can reproduce the recording
in my room at exactly the measured SPL of the launch,
without audible distortion! This is one helluva low-frequency
demonstration. Needless to say, I'm a happy camper."
Basically, this is a big step upward
for me, bigger than I had imagined it might be. I was
able to make the flattest, most even bass response in
my room ever, with seemingly infinite bass headroom. The
flat bass completes the Lipinskis, the total sound result
is warmer, definitely more correct than ever, without
having to do any tricks for "more bass" or overlap
or anything. It helps make them a bit more musical on
a wider range of material without losing their discrimination
ability.
The bottom end is so correct now it
gives you goosebumps. There's not a note out of place.
I can hear bass notes that I didn't know were there...
I've re-optimized the room, tweaked the listening position
for flattest response, not one stone left unturned. I
invite you all to drop in for the experience. The sound
is accurate, tight, clean, powerful... I've been listening
to everything I have to play for hours and hours, it's
habit-forming!"
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