Pinnacle^® SUBcompact 6

"...........  Astonishing  .........."

Excerpted from ‘Strange Creatures from the Deep’ - By Brent Butterworth & Alex Gonzalez, Robb Report - Home Entertainment, August 2005

A Bug’s Life

Next to the M Design Godfather 1500, the Pinnacle SUBcompact 6 seems almost endangered, as if an especially deep note from the Godfather could crush the little Pinnacle. At only 8 by 7.9 by 9.4 inches and 16 pounds, the $499 SUBcompact 6 looks like one of the feeble quasi-subwoofers that come with $39 plastic computer speakers that even Wal-Mart should be ashamed to carry. But do not be fooled—the SUBcompact 6 is a real subwoofer, with a high-quality 6.5-inch woofer and a built-in 200-watt amplifier. Through some engineering sleight-of-hand, Pinnacle managed to get plenty of bass output from this little box. It cannot replace a full-size sub or even a good minisub, but in the right room, it works miracles.

The SUBcompact 6’s safest burrow is a bedroom, perhaps in a system with a plasma TV and Pinnacle’s excellent Quantum Plasma 3 on-wall speakers. In this setting, it fills out the sound of the on-wall speakers (which generally can’t reproduce bass) yet can be easily stuffed into any available niche. It works especially well in a corner, where the surrounding walls and floor reinforce its output.

Play a DVD soundtrack at normal listening levels, and you will never realize you are listening to a sub that’s smaller than some clock radios. It really is astonishing how satisfying this little sub’s sound can be; it makes a small, anemic Home Theater system sound much fuller and more robust. Push it further, though, and you will hit the SUBcompact 6’s limits. It does not threaten to self-destruct when played loud, but it does distort. To our surprise, the SUBcompact 6’s limitations are most apparent when we listen to music; the distortion makes bass guitar and kick drum sound thuddy rather than tuneful.

The whole aesthetic of on-wall speakers and plasma TVs is spoiled if you have to chew up floor space with a subwoofer. But given the SUBcompact 6’s satisfying sound and incredibly minuscule mass, it seems the simplest, most attractive way to fill out the sound of an on-wall speaker system.