By An old-time audiophile with a background in pro audio once told me that the fastest way to make your system sound better quickly (and often easily) was to add a subwoofer. That long-ago-given advice has never been more relevant than when talking about the MartinLogan Abyss 8 subwoofer, as it, like its other MartinLogan audiophile subwoofer brethren, doesn’t focus on anything but bass and what it can do for your listening experience. Even today’s best MartinLogan ESL hybrid electrostatic speakers come with powered low-frequency drivers, which can go pretty low, but not as low as a standalone audiophile subwoofer.
You don’t have to spend a fortune on an LFE (a fancy word for subwoofers from the world of home theater or even movie theaters) to get really system-liberating low bass. Thanks to many designs from the top subwoofer companies out there, you also don’t need to have a coffin-sized box in your listening room to rock the depths of what a Roland 808 or other synths (or even pipe organs, assuming you ever listen to those) reach. At $1,399, the MartinLogan Abyss 8 (buy at Crutchfield) is priced at an accessible point for many audiophiles, but it has serious competition from every direction. How does it compare with the best of the best in the relatively small subwoofer market? That’s what we are here to find out …
What Makes the MartinLogan Abyss 8 Subwoofer Special?
- The amount of output that you get from a small subwoofer is the MartinLogan Abyss 8’s special sauce. This physically diminutive subwoofer does everything in its power to not sound small. The eight-inch driver is built to fantastic tolerances and has strong output. The two eight-inch passive radiators allow enough air to move from a small subwoofer so that it doesn’t really sound small at all.
- MartinLogan used its decades of subwoofer, DSP, and amplifier design experience to ensure the Abyss 8 has enough power to drive the long-throw driver. Inside of the MartinLogan Abyss 8 subwoofer is a 500-watt (peaks at 1,000 watts) Magnitude amplifier designed to power up a long-throw driver like the one used in this subwoofer. Unlike many other audiophile applications, with which you don’t know the speaker(s) that you will using, in the case of a powered sub, that variable is static. The designers at MartinLogan are then free to tweak their amp design to get the most high-output yet low-distortion performance that they can.
- There was a day when subwoofers weren’t like computers, and that day was yesterday, as the MartinLogan Abyss 8 comes with a 64-bit processor. Who says semiconductors aren’t the most important commodity in the world today?
- Anthem room correction is the most consumer-friendly DRC (digital room correction) software in the market today. I use Anthem ARC extensively in my Anthem STR preamp. Fellow reviewer Mike Prager uses an Anthem STR stereo preamp to manage four (yes, four) SVS SB-3000 subwoofers (read his review). The MartinLogan Abyss 8 subwoofer comes with ARC included, but you do need to get a mic to make it all work with your computer. It is a small investment for big gains for one subwoofer, and even bigger gains for a pair of subs, in an audiophile system.
- MartinLogan’s app allows for a lot of control, even if you can’t run ARC from it. The days of leaning over a subwoofer and trying to read knobs and dials upside-down are thankfully over. The MartinLogan Abyss 8 subwoofer allows you to use MartinLogan’s app on your smartphone and make changes from your favorite listening position.
- The MartinLogan Abyss 8 subwoofer is a wireless subwoofer right out of the box. You don’t need a retrofit kit or any kind of unnecessary clutter. There are some of us old-school guys who believe in a hardwired connection when you can get one (mine was a single AudioQuest RCA connector), but by no means do you need to connect your MartinLogan Abyss 8 subwoofer with a hardwired cable, as it is ready to rock wirelessly. There are some who say that they can hear the difference. I can’t, and I have pretty good hearing.
- The cabinet work and internal bracing of the MartinLogan Abyss 8 subwoofer is insane.The MartinLogan Abyss 8 subwoofer is a box made of one-inch MDF. That’s thick. Do the old stereo store trick of knocking your fingers on the cabinet and tell me what you think. It is beyond solid to the touch, and that helps make for a more distortion-free, deep-diving subwoofer.
- Input options abound on the MartinLogan Abyss 8 subwoofer. RCA and XLR speaker inputs are offered. A USB-C only ARC input helps with that for more trustworthy digital room correction inputs. A 12-volt input allows for switching. There is a pairing option (wireless only) that makes the MartinLogan Abyss 8 subwoofer connect to your system like a pair of good audiophile headphones. There are also speaker inputs for people who want to go that route as REL is famous for. There are lots of meaningful things to do from the back panel of the MartinLogan Abyss 8 subwoofer.
- MartinLogan doesn’t skimp on the feet, because isolation helps get better sound from today’s high-performance subwoofers. The MartinLogan Abyss 8 subwoofer doesn’t sink into your carpet when you set it up because of the excellent metal feet provided. In the past, placing your sub on cones or aftermarket feet was a viable upgrade. Now, such an investment (or tweak) is not even a consideration, because MartinLogan was already looking out for your best interests.
Why Should You Care About the MartinLogan Abyss 8 Subwoofer?
The audiophile who is interested in the MartinLogan Abyss 8 subwoofer knows that the advantage of having a subwoofer or two in their rig isn’t just for going deep. Realistically, there isn’t a lot of music that goes to 20 Hz or lower, but that’s not the sonic advantage of having a high-output subwoofer in your 2.1 audiophile rig. The real advantage is that a sub in an audiophile setup takes the pressure off of your main floorstanding speakers (or bookshelf speakers, for that matter). With a subwoofer properly connected and dialed into your system, you get better overall range from your system, but the coherence is the real draw. There is just more ease to presenting complicated and/or dynamic music.
Some Things You Might Not Like About the MartinLogan Abyss 8 Subwoofer
- There are companies like REL that offer more designer colors and finishes to make your subwoofer visually pop. While the MartinLogan Abyss 8 subwoofer is a slick-looking and well-engineered subwoofer, it isn’t the prettiest elite in the market. Its visual goal is to be out of the way and I understand the appeal of that design aspiration, too.
- 23 Hz is nearly to the point where you feel sound – not hear it. And that is where the MartinLogan Abyss 8 subwoofer is measured in its anechoic chamber and its low-frequency limit. I would love to see a sub that goes to 20 Hz, but even the bigger MartinLogan Abyss 10 subwoofer doesn’t get there, so perhaps I am being too demanding. I guess there is something appealing about round numbers like 20 Hz.
- Another wishlist item that I would love is to be able to run ARC from the MartinLogan app with the measurement mic somehow built-in. That would clearly raise the price of the sub, but it would also make it so much more integrated and configurable. Consider this more of a Version 2 upgrade wish than a serious ding on the MartinLogan Abyss 8 subwoofer.
Listening to the MartinLogan Abyss 8 Subwoofer …
The demo rig that I was able to listen to the MartinLogan Abyss 8 subwoofer on was varied. I had a Marantz Model 30 integrated amp (read the review), as well as a McIntosh MA5300 integrated amp for electronics, while being powered by a BlueSound Node 2024 music streamer (read the review). The speakers used were either Bowers & Wilkins 702 SEs (read Bob Barrett’s review) or my trusty Bowers & Wilkins 802 D4s (read my review).
I am a sucker for a musical super group, be it Cream, Derek and the Dominos, Night Ranger, Toto or in this case Velvet Revolver. On the song “Slither,” you get a very hard-hitting rock and roll track that benefits greatly from the addition of a subwoofer like the MartinLogan Abyss 8 subwoofer. As huge guitar chords are struck in the chorus, you get a big sound and, with the MartinLogan Abyss 8 subwoofer in the loop, you get both an additional heft or sonic gravitas, and that’s impressive, but that wasn’t what really got me excited (it was a good start). What made me fall in love was how the Bowers & Wilkins speakers seemed to be just a little lighter on their sonic toes with the MartinLogan Abyss 8 subwoofer in my test setup. It sounded like a little bit of burden was lifted. The system has a bit more ease to it, which is crazy when you consider the hard rock/heavy metal nature of this track.
On this day, we are all mourning the loss of the Prince of Darkness, Mr. Ozzy Osbourne, who is basically the grandfather of heavy metal. His recordings wouldn’t be heard very often at audiophile shows, but some of the more modern stuff (Zakk Wylde era) is really pretty good. On “Mama, I’m Coming Home” (Qobuz), a song that feels sadly just a little too relevant, I loved the low-end reinforcement. This is a slick track with some delicate acoustical elements, but also a more lighter-in-the-air (yes, kids, that’s how you really do it at a concert) type of ballad. The big bass in the power parts of this power ballad made for a bigger, more impressive musical experience. It made me feel like I was listening at louder levels than I was and without any noticeable fatigue. You simply didn’t need to push the system, because even at lower levels, you had that big V8 subwoofer power behind you.
The way Polish guitar god Marcin sells his cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir” is that it is played on one guitar, which is a bit of an oversimplification, but you will get the point of his unique arrangement from the YouTube.com video below, assuming you aren’t already hip to this modern-day audiophile instant classic. There is a little bass (synth possibly), but this isn’t a track with crazy low bass. However, the space created by the MartinLogan Abyss 8 subwoofer was where I found its real value. I was able to rig another MartinLogan Abyss 10 ($1,899) to try two subwoofers and, YES PLEASE, I liked that even better. By no means must you have a second subwoofer in your setup, but it has been suggested to me by those who really know speaker and sub design that a second, slightly different sub can really help smooth out the performance in a room. Mike Prager published such charts on his NAD M66 stereo preamp review.
Will the MartinLogan Abyss 8 Hold Its Value?
The MartinLogan Abyss 8 is a strong performer that is built like a tank and performs well above its price range. That will appeal to a lot of audiophiles now and for years to come. MartinLogan’s distribution chain is topnotch, so there are tens of thousands of legacy MartinLogan clients who would benefit from a first MartinLogan Abyss 8. Then there are those of us who popped for the first MartinLogan Abyss 8, but want a second. That’s a whole other group of potential clients. With all those factors in mind, I think your investment in a MartinLogan Abyss 8 is relatively safe.
What is the Competition for the MartinLogan Abyss 8 Subwoofer?
The REL T/x9 at $1,500 (buy at Crutchfield) is a colorful, powerful and sexy option for an extra hundred bucks. The build quality of the REL T/x9 is one of the few that can compete with the MartinLogan Abyss 8. The REL also has excellent feet, which is another big advantage the Abyss 8 has over the competition. The REL T/x9 (read the review) comes with a 10-inch driver, which is bigger than an eight-inch one, even with (2) eight-inch passive radiators. The designer colors are another nice perk to the REL.
The SVS SB-3000 (read the review – $1,199) is a powered, sealed-box design from one of our favorite subwoofer companies. The SVS SB-3000 (buy at Crutchfield) is such a good woofer that our reviewer Mike Prager uses four of them in his audiophile system. The power of this sealed-box SVS option is ample, as is the output. The fit and finish is a bit more utilitarian than that of the MartinLogan and especially the REL. The SVS’ app is topnotch and that’s not just for subwoofer apps – that for anything to do with audiophile hobby apps.
While related because PML Sound owns Paradigm, MartinLogan, Anthem and now GoldenEar, the Paradigm Defiance X12 ($1,499 Buy at Crutchfield) is an option for someone who is looking for a bigger woofer for their $1,500 investment. The Paradigm Defiance X12 comes with (wait – you will see) a 12-inch driver versus the MartinLogan Abyss 8, which again has an eight-inch design with two eight-inch passive radiators. The Paradigm Defiance X12 is about $100 more and also comes with Anthem room correction.
Final Thoughts on the MartinLogan Abyss 8 Subwoofer …
The $1,500 subwoofer market is filled with excellent options that can have a more than subtle, but always positive, impact on the sound of your audiophile music playback system. While not the most expensive option in the category, the MartinLogan Abyss 8 (buy at Crutchfield) meets a lot of needs. It is built like a brick shithouse. It has ample internal power. It has the best and easiest-to-use room correction in ARC. It is small, as well as easy on the eyes. Most importantly, it is a sonically fast and accurate subwoofer that dips down to a measured 23 Hz.
Whether adding a subwoofer to make a pair or extending the bass on a pair of speakers costing much more than $1,399 – the MartinLogan Abyss 8 is up for the challenge. This pretty subwoofer can get down and dirty with the lowest of lows and always be in control. I was able to torture-test this sucker and I am more impressed than I was expecting to be. Don’t discount a company known for making loudspeakers when it comes to the brand of subwoofer that you buy, because the MartinLogan Abyss 8 is the real audiophile deal.
