Earthquake Sound FF6.5 6.5-Inch Front Firing Subwoofer black

Where do I begin? Let me start with the technology that is offered in this product... This Earthquake FF6.5 is pristine example of proper audio engineering, fine tuning and care in a finished product. Let's start with the enclosure; What you have in the 6.5" model is unlike any offering from other manufacturers out there. The enclosure is an extremely solid(resonance-free) quarter-wave transmission line/horn-loaded hybrid made from a combination of 3/4" and 1/2" MDF. Implementing this technology into a home theater offering is an incredibly wise thing to do. Why? The output and accuracy of low-frequency notes are greatly increased, making this subwoofer not only loud but INCREDIBLY efficient and accurate. Quarter-wave transmission line enclosures, if made correctly, can take a smaller driver(subwoofer) and make it equal in SPL to larger subwoofers with traditional ported or sealed box designs. What this means is if you wanted the true output level of a 10" subwoofer but would like to save some space without compromising anything, this is your sweet spot... This enclosure is built in such a way that the air pressure produced from the subwoofer acts as an efficient cooling setup for the amplifier. This allows the amplifier to be internally concealed as opposed to sticking out the rear end of the enclosure= more saved space! Second... The subwoofer itself. What you have here is a long-throw 6.5" subwoofer with patented Turbine-Cooled-Transducer technology. This technology forces air in through the holes on the bumped backplate, over the voice-coil and out again with each cycle. This allows the subwoofer to play at high levels for a long time while remaining cool, thus keeping the RMS wattage stable... The linear mechanical X-Max (distance cone can travel front to back) is a FULL 2 inches! This is incredible excursion from such a small driver! When I say this subwoofer matches the output of a traditional 10" subwoofer I'm not exaggerating... The voice-coil and motor assembly is modeled after Earthquakes MiniMe series with some concepts taken from their Magma subs as well. Third... Wrap this package up with an extremely efficient Earthquake class A/B digital amplifier, awesome X-over controls and 180 degree phase switching ability and you have something no other company could offer at this price. This amplifier runs at 100 watts RMS with 150 watts peak power output keeping strong power output consistent during the entire time you listen to music or watch movies... If anyone has had the pleasure of talking with professor Joseph Sahyoun of Earthquake Sound you would know the level of genius this man has in audio engineering. The level of quality craftsmanship and technology he puts into his products are something I greatly admire being an audiophile. Most people who have bought this truly don't know what they have. A word of advice; when you get this subwoofer, allow 1 week of proper break-in time to exercise the spider and motor assembly before turning it very high. When subwoofers are sent to you new from the factory, the spider is very stiff with very little play. As you break them in properly they loosen up allowing the sound reproduction to increase in SPL and accuracy/sensitivity. Cranking up a new subwoofer fresh out of the gates stresses the stiff spider and can break the seal between spider and speaker cone= blown sub. Keep the max volume at 65% or so for 4-7 days. A note on the proper application of this subwoofer. This sub is designed to be implemented a space no larger than 12' x 12' x 8' or similar sized rooms. I noticed a bad review from a gentleman who placed this in a kitchen. This is a misapplication of this product... Most kitchens are "open room" designs. In a vast open area like a kitchen you are going to lose your Sound Pressure Level (SPL) which leads to a flat bass response. This is a product designed for a bedroom home theater where the sound pressure is contained(door and windows closed). Another reviewer mentioned a "humming" noise from his sub, this is due to a bad rca line-out source. Traditional cheap rca line-out cables are unshielded. Being unshielded they can pick up EMF signals floating around from other cables, power sources, antenas etc... Using shielded high quality cables will help drastically. I use what is called a "power conditioner" on all my audio and video equipment. This reduces or eliminates interference, voltage fluctuations, over-voltage and damage to components from brown/black outs. If you appreciate a well-balanced audio system and are in the market for a subwoofer 10" or under, seriously consider this 6.5". Many people are afraid to buy a 6.5" for fear of it under-performing. Do NOT fret about this subs size, the technology is there to rival 10" subs...

I had bought 2 of these subwoofers to create a 2.2 speaker setup for my desk in my small bedroom. Upon first listen without break in I was underwhelmed its was weak and shallow. After 100+ hours of break in, these subwoofers are impressive. The bass is impactful, deep, and well controlled at various listening levels. Keep in mind that these are 6.5 subwoofers so its suitable for smaller listening environments or a space where a lease may be at liberty due to noise.

Poor build quality. Granted, I did not expect a lot from this sub considering the price, (I only wanted something simple with a small footprint and somewhat acceptable performance), but when I attached the Line-In on the sub to the Line-Out on my primary speakers, it created a constant hum. (I used good quality cables that I have used with other component connections with no issues.) The hum was actually on the primary speakers as well as the sub. So whatever cheap circuitry is in the sub was affecting the primary speakers with some type of feedback as well. This was not happening with the 12yr old sub I currently have attached using the same Line-In and Line-Out connections. The primary speakers are very good quality, so this was the sub causing it, no doubt. When I played music, it performed as a low-price sub would. Ok sound at low volume and some distortion at higher volumes. As others have mentioned, the shipping box was unacceptably thin and cheap and had some damage to it. It did not appear to damage the unit itself in my case, but I could see in general the box not being sufficient for shipping and causing damage. You may not experience the same issue if you are attaching it directly to a AV receiver that may be able to handle the feedback, but in my connection scenario, there is no way I can put up with the constant hum, even with nothing being played. I packed it up and returned it the same day.

I I purchased this after reading some of the good reviews that it got. Once I hooked it up and tested it, I kept thinking back to those good reviews it got and wondering how it could have gotten such good reviews. This little subwoofer hardly puts out any base. I have it paired with a set of Martin Logan floor standing speakers with two five and a quarter inch woofers. These offers produced more base than this little sub did. I also have a $1,000 paradigm subwoofer that I turned off while testing this. I bought this to act as mid-bass and fill in some of the 100 to 120 HZ mid-base frequencies. I could hear the bass from my Martin Logan speakers more than I could this subwoofer. I had high expectations for it because of the band pass and closure which typically produces more base than a standard cabinet. This thing is either underpowered or you have to really really turn it up. I turned up the subwoofer level on my receiver which has two subwoofer outputs. Problem with turning up my subwoofer in the GUI is that it would also turn up my paradigm which is already very loud and rocks the house. The other deal breaker for me and this sub is that it hummed right when I plugged it in. And it's a humming that you can hear even if you're right next to it. I have a very expensive shielded RCA subwoofer cable. So that is not the issue. The only way I could get the humming to turn down was to turn the volume on the sub down which made it play even lower. I wound up returning it to Amazon because of the humming and the low-bass reproduction. The only thing I really liked about it was the build quality and the small size. I really had high hopes for this and wished that it had met my expectations but I was left severely disappointed.

There was a couple reviews that state "Couldn't hear hardly anything, had to turn bass volume and frequency all the way up barely hearing any bass." That couldn't be further from the truth! Let me explain why I think they said so. #1) If they are around my age then they most likely know and recognize the brand name (Earthquake) from there late teens and into there 20's being a car audio subwoofer that took insane amount of watts with one the most heavy huge magnet and basket for it's time and with the proper installation would set off car alarms, rattle mirrors to the ground and even blow out back windows. Well this isn't that and nor should it being a home audio subwoofer. It should never overtake the experience and sound of your main speakers should only complement the sound of your system allowing your speakers low end to not be worked so hard to achieve sound greatness. #2) Those other 2 reviews well how can I put this, in the words of a ex president "those 2 reviews are Fake News." Size to sound output it would compare to something like a little mouse 🐀 walking up to you and punching you in the face with the power of Mike Tyson. Buy this Sub and don't look back with any regrets and enjoy great bass at a afford price.

1st things first. You're only going to get out what you put into to drive this subwoofer. If you're inputting under 60 watts, expect your results to vary significantly. With that said I have this plugged into my Yamaha TSR-700 which is rated at 100 watts per channel. (See settings settings in the attached pic.) No need to crank it up to get very good frequency response. Testing with over air FM transmission delivered impressive tonal response. Direct connect HDMI devices or Streaming should excell. Will update review then. Controls The Filter, Volume, and Phase controls all work as they should. The filter feature really dials in response nicely. The Auto On/Off works very well. The speaker shuts off after 30mins of not receiving a signal. Some of these features aren't even included on bigger subs from more established brands. Note: Don't blow crazy money on RCA cables. I'm using tried and true quality cables I've owned for over 10 years.

This little bass box left me looking for more for the money. I feel that I got just as good of bass from other computer sub boxes then this Earthquake. Now don't get me wrong I like their other products and Earthquake is known for their other BIG Boy sub's but this one fell short for me. I kept wanting to add an RCA inline F-mod to remove subsonic bass signals (30Hz and lower) from going to the box and causing bottoming out. I call it a box and not a subwoofer because it just doesn’t sound like a subwoofer. It sounds like a bass module. To let you know I didn't just open the box listen and put it right back in its box and send it back. I wanted to give this box a fair chance and break it in as well. I must say that as the week went on it did break in and sound better. But still fell short to my expectations in quality output of bass. The "Fart" as another reviewer mentioned were really evident. I felt it didn't fill the room with bass, but was more near field sounding. (Sounds good close by) I tried different locations as well as different levels within the room. Oh I forgot to mention it's used in the kitchen which is 13' by 15'. Yep kitchen surround sound is the new thing. I've sense replaced this sub with a Definitive Supercube 2000 which is more in cost but so much more of a subwoofer and fills the room with good sounding bass that you can feel in the air and ears. No subsonic filter needed here as it handles everything I throw at it with ease. And it hasn't broken in yet. To tell you its more musical would be a better way to describe it. But it also has a lot more speaker cone surface area then this Earthquake. 1 active 7 1/2" sub and 2 passive 7 1/2" bass radiators. Also the Supercube took up a smaller footprint then the Earthquake but they are shaped differently. For me the Supercube was more Bass with less floor space taken up to get it. Win Win Now you’re probably saying well the Supercube costs so much more than the Earthquake and that isn’t a fair comparison. Well in comparison it was only $95 more for mine. Look around and you will find them. You could even choose an older model Supercube which is about the same that should do the trick. Then again you could save yourself some money and find a computer sub as I mentioned earlier. I would have to say that the cost of this sub should be lower compared to other offerings on the market but it is what it is. It’s a get what you pay for world. I imagine if I tried the F-mod subsonic filter inline on the RCA cable before the box then IT MAY HAVE PREFORMED BETTER without the farting/bottoming out.

Update - 08-01-2022: Bumped the rating back up to 4. TIP - Installed a ground-loop isolater (from a 12v system) and FINALLY I have good sound out of this little box. It's still not a full room-thumper, but now I can safely recommend this to others (if they don't mind a manual upgrade). Update - 8/11/2017: Some time with this sub has inspired me to drop my review down to 3 stars. Yes, the sub can accurately produce very low frequencies, but at spl that will require a very quiet room to appreciate. If you turn this thing up to the level where you might normally appreciate a subwoofer (e.g. tactile), you will be extremely dissatisfied with the audio quality. It starts chuffing and farting like it’s going out of style. After all, high excursion drivers are not notoriously accurate. Then the crossover just does not clip nearly enough. With the filter at the lowest setting (40Hz) I can still hear soooo much of my mids in this guy messing up my sound. I’ve tried it with different x-over settings, with different sources, at different room positions, and with a signal pre-amp – I just can’t get it to output any quality sound above ‘gentle’, and honestly I want more. Original Post: Went through the same trouble with the buzzing as other reviewers when I got this one. Somewhere between the first turn on, the multimeter measurements, and the last turn on the problem went away. Boy was it annoying though. The buzz seemed like a ground loop issue, but somehow it's resolved even though I'm using the same cables, placement, and electrical outlet. It was acutally sending noise from the output of the FF6.5 over to my lovey Audioengine A5 monitors. On to the sub performance. For the size of it, I think it does a nice job. I have not really taxed the output, but it's for an 11x14 room just to add low end to my A5's. Running it with the x-over set to 90Hz, and this seems to blend the best with my monitors. The auto on/off seems to work well, and it has a soft start/stop so no annoying pops or crackles. The sound is definitely more smooth and low rather than tight and detailed, so I can't say I'd recommend it for critical musical listening, but for jamming in your office or playing video games in a small room I think you will be very happy. It certainly does get into the low end, and I appreciate that very much. Most subs in this range will rapidly roll off at 50Hz, and this one holds on tight up until about 30, and becomes almost gone by around 24, but that's really good for a 6.5 sub at this price. My target was useful 20Hz at under $200. Yes, almost impossible, but I got really close here. I think I did well considering the price range, and that the speaker is worth it's price-tag (even if it came to me making funny noises). I'm not falling out of my chair in admiration, so 4 stars, but I am pleased with it and satisfied with the purchase. Can't say I've compared it to everything out there, but you probably won't get better low frequency sound with anything else in this price range. As for output, it's more than I need for my office so - huzzah.