McIntosh's giant new subwoofer is 1,000W of body-blasting bass
Money no object: the sub with enough bass to blast you into space
If you're the kind of person who loves to feel music in your bones, you're going to love the new PS1K Powered Subwoofer from high-end audio firm McIntosh. With its dual 13-inch woofers and twin 500W Class D amplifiers, it promises to deliver earth-shaking bass in music and movies while also delivering exceptional clarity.
The secret sauce is McIntosh's Low Distortion High Performance (LD/HP) magnetic circuit design. As the name suggests, it's designed to reduce distortion to deliver a purer sonic signature – so you should be able to crank this sub up to serious volumes without sacrificing any sonic subtlety.
McIntosh PS1K Powered Subwoofer: key features
In addition to those Class D amps and the LD/HP circuits the PS1K also features McIntosh's Power Guard, which uses photo-optics to react in the tiniest fraction of a second to regulate the power levels to avoid clipping, which isn't just bad to listen to but potentially bad news for the speakers and amplifiers too.
The PS1K also features McIntosh's proprietary and patented Sentry Monitor, which can detect short circuits and automatically disengage the output stage.
The subwoofer is designed to play nice with a wide range of the best speakers and features flexible inputs and outputs including balanced and unbalanced subwoofer connections. It also has adjustable filters and parametric EQ to get the sound just-so in any environment.
The PS1K is finished in a high gloss black with carbon trim and an aluminum base, and there are spikes for carpets and glide feet for hard floors. It's available now from authorized McIntosh dealers with an MSRP of $35,000 USD / $50,000 CAD / €41,999 EUR (including VAT) / (£35,995 GBP including VAT).
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Writer, broadcaster, musician and kitchen gadget obsessive Carrie Marshall has been writing about tech since 1998, contributing sage advice and odd opinions to all kinds of magazines and websites as well as writing more than a dozen books. Her memoir, Carrie Kills A Man, is on sale now and her next book, about pop music, is out in 2025. She is the singer in Glaswegian rock band Unquiet Mind.