Harman’s Revel has revealed its new Ultima2 Series Rhythm2 powered subwoofer, featuring an 18-inch woofer, a massive 2,000 watts of amplifier power and built-in DSP room equalization to deliver the ultimate in deep bass reproduction in music and home theater systems.
“People expect the very best from Revel Ultima and our Rhythm2 was designed to exceed their expectations,” said Jim Garrett, director of marketing and product management, Harman Luxury Audio Group and Loudspeakers. “Although it can deliver prodigious amounts of deep bass, that’s only part of Rhythm2’s capabilities. Its built-in digital room EQ takes the contribution of the main speakers into account when measuring and adjusting the EQ of the subwoofer, which enables a system to achieve flatter and more accurate frequency response in any listening room.”
Measuring 24.6 inches high by 27.9 inches wide by 28 inches deep, the Revel Rhythm2 employs an 18-inch aluminum cast-frame front-firing woofer with a 4-inch diameter by 1.75-inch long Xmax voice coil, and a high-power neodymium-magnet motor system with a symmetrical magnetic field configuration that reduces distortion and dynamic compression to a minimum. The Rhythm2’s 2,000-watt amplifier (RMS; 4,000 watts peak) provides power to drive the woofer to over 115dB without strain and deliver authoritative bass down to below 20 Hz.
The Rhythm2’s DSP parametric equalization takes its sonic accuracy in a “2.1 stereo” or multichannel system to a level that the company says is not possible with conventional subwoofers. The Rhythm2’s built-in DSP compensates for room-related irregularities by applying a corresponding inverse target EQ curve to achieve more accurate in-room low-frequency response.
The EQ takes into account not just the output from the subwoofer but the combined low-frequency output from the subwoofer and the main speakers. This is because the main speakers and not just the subwoofer have a major impact on a system’s overall low-frequency response. The Rhythm2’s EQ adjusts the subwoofer’s EQ such that the combination of the subwoofer and the main speaker’s output is optimized. The result is improved realism for music and movie soundtracks with cleaner, more articulate bass. The Rhythm2’s PC or Mac-based software provides flexible and precise room correction.
The Rhythm2 offers a full complement of controls and connections including a fully configurable electronic crossover with adjustable delays, volume, line- level inputs, a USB input to connect a PC or Mac and more.
The Revel Rhythm2 powered subwoofer will be available in February 2013 at a suggested retail price of $10,000.
