ken kreisel dxd-1000 subwoofer

In 2012, Ken Kreisel released the MX-5000 Mk3 , the latest version of the original MX-5000 released exactly 20 years previous. Known in the U.K. as the DXD12012, it brought the very best in speed, timing, and detail to home theatre in a package the same size as the revered MX350, and in doing so, produced one of the most accomplished and tactile sounding subwoofers available - not only for movies, but for music reproduction as well.

Ken Kreisel invented the push-pull subwoofer design in 1989, which greatly reduces distortion, and the DXD12012 possessed not only the lowest distortion levels in it price range, but for any price range! With the DXD12012, he took the push-pull design to another level. By inversely "stacking" 2 or 4 DXD12012 subwoofers, the multiple opposing drivers brought the benefits of force-cancelling to the design, producing a 'mechanically stable' stack. Not only did this give the same audio quality as a single DXD12012 and double (or quadruple, in the case of stacking four) the SPL output and provide stronger, firmer deep in-room bass below 10Hz, but it also addressed the issue of room coverage and bass hotspots by creating a full room-height bass radiation wave.

Now, the DXD12012 gets an upgrade - the DXD1000 providing more power to aid depth, control, and ultimate SPL levels.

Within the 600mm high, 390mm wide, and 490mm deep matte finish cabinet, sits not only two bass drivers, but also two amplifiers.
Two long-throw 12" bass drivers work in a push-pull configuration in order to cancel out any even-order harmonic distortions, improving clarity and lowering noise floor. This is a far better way to utilise two drivers than just mounting them both on the front face of the cabinet, which also means extra height.

Each 12" driver is driven by its very own dedicated 500 watt output Class D amplifier, producing 1000 watts of continuous output in total. Additionally, the two cool running amplifiers are configured in a push-pull design, offering around 3,000 watts of peak power to take care of the all important sudden dynamic bursts that are required for not only moved, but also music.

Why pay twice the price for two 12" drivers and similar specifications?

Even though a single DXD1000 will outperform any equivalently priced subwoofer from a quality point of view, you may feel the need to upgrade, or want more - it's only natural! Why lose money on your existing sub to buy a bigger one with bigger specifications, larger drivers, more power etc that takes up more floor space? Just supersize it!

With the stacking capabilities of any Ken Kreisel subwoofer (safely anchored together by suitable brackets), all you need to do is add another one! Same footprint, but now you have double the output, double the headroom, and a deeper bass to boot! Better specs without losing money or floor space.

In this configuration, you have two drivers top and bottom firing in opposing directions, and two drivers on opposing sides firing outwards, keeping the whole energy of the stack mechanically opposed and stable..

At way below half of the price of a single JL Audio Gotham 213, two stacked DXD1000s give you a larger cone surface area (4x 12" vs 2x 13.5") and 33% more power (6000w peak vs 4500w peak).

And if you have a dedicated home theatre room, you can stack four DXD1000 subwoofers - utilising the same floorspace as a single DXD1000 - but now you have 8x 12" drivers driven by around 12,000w peak current of power! A continuous output of around 4,000 watts - almost the peak output of the Gotham! And saving you around £13,000...

Or you could even go crazy and use multiple "Quattro" stacks...

How are Ken Kreisel's subwoofers so competitive?

For one thing, functional looks. There's no excess of exotic cabinet materials in order to make the design look more expensive than it needs to be. The cabinet is there to perform a function - outside of that function, any amount of money can be spent to "dress it up", but it is superfluous. The majority of the budget of a Ken Kreisel subwoofer concentrates on the most important aspects first, such as the drivers and electronics.

There's also no massively "over-engineered" bass drivers with huge, thick roll surrounds and oversize magnets. The highly responsive, lightweight drivers of a Ken Kreisel subwoofer are designed in such a way that they do not need over-sized magnets in order to keep them under control, nor do they need excessive industrial gaskets to take the weight of such an unnecessary magnet.

Ken Kreisel DXD-1000 home theatre subwoofer,

Ken Kreisel subwoofers aren't designed to produce the highest possible output at a particular frequency in the middle of a field (a popular testing technique in the U.S.). They are designed to sound good in-room - real world situations - utilising the natural gain of your room's boundary to reinforce their output. Because of this, a Ken Kreisel subwoofer will sound far more natural in any normal room situation, where many other subwoofers end up sounding boomy, and in definite need of EQ'ing in order to get closer to a flat response..

Their low end output is also "unfiltered". Most other subwoofer designs - which try and produce the best specifications from as small a box as possible - will have a low end limiter in order to make sure the driver and amplifier don't suddenly find themselves completely out of their depth (pardon the pun!). Ken Kreisel subwoofers are able to handle this, and the absence of this filter retains sound quality and also allows them to naturally reach lower than other designs. One of the many reasons mastering studios worldwide use Ken Kreisel subwoofers.

There will be plenty of subwoofers out there that produce "more" bass than a Ken Kreisel subwoofer. The aim of many subwoofer manufacturers is to produce as deep a bass as possible, and as much bass as possible, from either the smallest box possible, or from something the size of a wardrobe. A Ken Kreisel subwoofer is designed to produce a more balanced in-room response in almost any room, producing a more natural sound that is equally adept with music as it is with home theatre.

Many movies have been produced using the DXD1000's predecessors, some of them Oscar winning for sound design - Peter Jackson's King Kong, Pearl Harbor, Black Hawk Down, Lord Of The Rings, Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, and one of my favourites, The Incredibles! To name but a few. Even games have used them, like several of the Call Of Duty series.

Full details are on the Ken Kreisel Timeline.

stackable design
sealed cabinet design
push-pull driver design
push-pull amplifier design
dual 12" bass drivers
dual 500w Class D amplifiers
1000w continuous output
3000w peak output
122dB output (1m for 10 seconds)
<0.3% total harmonic distortion
H 600mm x W 490mm x D 390mm
available in black with red trim

£TBA