It's understandable that some write off our Inkognito subwoofer range as "design speakers", assuming you have to pay a premium for the looks and size rather than sound. Nothing could be further from the truth.
But if we are true to our word when we claim that these subwoofers will provide you with both high-end sound and realistic sound pressure during music and movies, how on earth do we pull that off?
We're happy to explain what's under the hood, read on to find out!
Are they really that small?
First of all, they're not actually as small as it may seem in the pictures. On the floor, they have a moderately large footprint (65x54cm). But they are unusually shallow. On the floor, the height is only 18,5 cm for Inkognito 10 and 20 cm for Inkognito 12. Still, this translates to roughly 30l volume for our 10", and almost 40l for our 12". The option of on-wall installation will of course also help free up floor space despite the size.
Subwoofer drivers and amplifiers
With such a shallow enclosure, you might assume we use inferior, shallow mount drivers. In reality, we use full size 10" and 12" drivers, each weighing more than 6kg. We literally had to carve out 3mm in the back plate of the cabinet to make them fit. To fuel them, we use high-end grade amplifiers with plenty of power and advanced DSP capabilities.
A box isn't just a box
That the cabinet is small(ish) and shallow, actually works to our advantage, as it makes it easier to make a rigid cabinet. There are of course a number of braces inside the cabinet to make it as stiff as possible. Also, the size isn't randomly choosen, it has been specifically constructed based on the parameters of the drivers and the design goal of this subwoofer range. The cabinet is sealed, as it is the only thing that makes sense. It would not be feasible to create a ported subwoofer of this size without port noises and distortion at high playback levels.
Magic dust (Digital Signal Processing)
Finally, we have gone to painstaking lengths to make sure we realize the full potential of the woofers. If we had accepted the natural frequency response of the driver in a sealed cabinet, we would have left a lot of bass on the table. Instead, we use simulation and DSP to utilize as much as possible of the available cone travel at any given frequency. We have also engaged with Scan-Speak engineers to make sure we fully understand the capabilities of the drivers. The result is a flatter frequency response and significantly louder and deeper bass than would be possible without DSP.
We want every bit of cone travel available, and no more. We don't want your movie to be interrupted by the sound of your subwoofer bottoming out and distorting heavily. This is a fine balance, and many subwoofers fall off the edge trying to master it. We think you will find that the Inkognito subwoofers can stay in their default "Deeper" setting for almost anything. But if you prefer to play even louder at the expense of a little low end extension, we provide a separate preset called "Louder" that will allow you to do just that - adding an additional 2-3dB of SPL to your disposal at higher frequencies, while removing the same at the very bottom end.
Summing up
We hope this helped explain how "designer boxes" can play both deep and loud, accurately reproducing your music and movies, the way they were supposed to sound!
