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The Alpine PLV-7 box design is based on Whise patent pending UR technology. |
“This is the first sub/satellite system we’ve heard that has everything right” |
Whise 616 provides the sub bass (Flat to 16Hz) in “Best Home Theatre over $1,000,000” |
“…packed with innovative technology that lets it beat subwoofers twice its size and price.” |
Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door. That famous saying was not true of mousetraps and certainly doesn't apply to the building of subwoofers. Whise, a small technology innovator based in Melbourne, has invented a better subwoofer but can't even get hi-fi stores to buy demonstration models. One could understand hi-fi dealers being cautious if Whise was a start-up company and its Profunder subwoofer a completely unknown quantity, but Whise has been in the professional audio side of the business for 15 years and uses such world-famous consultants as Neville Thiele, who developed the unique crossover network used in the Profunder 319A. Tomlinson Holman, the man who gave his initials to the THX system used in movie cinemas throughout the world (the "X" stands for experiment) wrote the technical paper explaining how they work. Explaining how the Profunder works may be one reason dealers are dragging their heels, because it's difficult to explain. Whise uses a new system it invented called Parametric Acoustic Modelling (PAM) to design the enclosures. Whereas the inside of a conventional subwoofer is empty, Profunder subwoofers are filled with complex arrangements of baffles that physically change the acoustic frequency response of the bass driver without affecting its electrical performance. The PAM enclosure allows Whise to extract the maximum acoustic output from the driver, yet at the same time deliver a flat frequency response with extremely low distortion. They'd also have to explain how the Neville Thiele Method (NTM) crossover operates. Although similar to the well-known Butterworth and Linkwitz-Riley filters, NTM crossovers enable both acoustic summing and accurate phase control over the crossover point. More significantly, the NTM crossover removes unwanted high-frequency signals far more effectively. Conventional subwoofer crossovers have 6--12dB/octave slopes, with a few top-line models offering 24dB/octave. The 319A's NTM network operates at an incredible 100dB/octave. The 381mm-diameter bass driver hidden inside the 319A is built in Victoria specifically for Whise. It's capable of generating sound pressure levels in excess of 117dB anywhere between 19Hz and 120Hz. Awesome is the only word that adequately describes the bass that issued from our Profunder 319A review sample. It's not for nothing that Whise warns it will not be responsible for structural damage to homes in which the Profunder is installed. After only a few minutes with the volume control just halfway up we'd managed to rattle a wall hard enough to dislodge a section of skirting. The bass is not only low and loud, it's also wonderfully clean. There is no audible distortion whatsoever, nor is there any output above the pass-band. That's something we've not been able to say about any other subwoofer we've ever auditioned. Whise's Profunder 319A is so good that it makes existing subwoofers sound feeble by comparison, even those that are much larger and more costly. Which may be the real reason some hi-fi dealers are less than enthusiastic about this impressive newcomer. *Greg Borrowman is the editor of Australian HI-FI Magazine and a columnist for The Guide, published in the Sydney Morning Herald. This review first appeared in The Guide, Sydney Morning Herald, August 26, 2002. Copyright. Reprinted with permission. |
In the May issue of Stereophile GUIDE to HOME THEATER, Thomas J. Norton gives his impression of the Whise TMH Corporation demonstration in Las Vegas. "It was the most amazing multi-channel sound I have ever heard. I was simply in the space occupied by the performance." ... "The bass in the demonstration was certainly awe inspiring." p56 |
In the May 1999 edition of US Stereophile Shannon Dickson reports on Whise PAM technology and Tom Holman Test Discs. |
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“One of the best sub/systems we’ve ever seen” |
“The Model 325 has so little distortion compared with any other subwoofer that it’s immediately noticeable by its absence” |
“… fast and precise bass response that is quite flat … massive attack and excellent punch. … almost devoid of unwanted boom and harmonics” |
“There’s only one word that even comes close to describing the bass: Awesome.” |
In the July/August 99 issue of Stereophile GUIDE to HOME THEATER, Thomas J. Norton reviews the Profunder 624 sub bass loudspeaker. He comments... "The performance of the Whise Profunder 624 is simply mind-blowing. The detail is outstanding. The impact and quality of bass it provides are unsurpassed in my experience..... But most of all, the 624 brings immense dynamic range to the home-theater experience" (copyright, reprint with permission) |
"…. gobs of clean bass all the way down to subterranean 16Hz territory. ...the loudest, cleanest and lowest bass I have heard …. ...the best of any subwoofer I have tested." by DB Keele Jr (copyright, reprint with permission) |
"....Whise Profunder 624 subwoofers are a couple of the most intensely musical, intensely accurate, and intensely intense subwoofers around." by Darryl Wilkinson (copyright, reprint with permission) |
In the March/April 2000 issue of Stereophile GUIDE to HOME THEATER, Whise Profunder 624 is given a AAA rating and the editor says it comes close to "bumping every other subwoofer out of Class AAA and throwing our subwoofer ratings into chaos" "Its performance is simply mind-blowing ..... in a class by itself" "The detail from the 624 is outstanding." "The 624 brings immense dynamic range ....." p55 |
In the January 2000 issue of Stereophile GUIDE to HOME THEATER, Whise Profunder 624 wins Platinum Award for "The Best Subwoofer" in The Best & Brightest Editors' Choice Awards. "Nothing I have heard in my listening room, ... , can shake the room with more authority." "You might be able to drive Whise into audible overload, but I don't want to be in the same room when you do." |
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