Product Reviews

This powered sub-woofer is aimed at those who want high-performance speakers for their music player or PC. Its 21cm bass driver is powered by a 150W amplifier, while two 75W BASH amps power the satellite speakers, which are not included.

The iCub works with a range of satellites, providing switchable crossover settings for large or small speakers. We tested it with Focal's Sib units and wired and optical outputs from an iRiver H140.

The sound quality was considerably better than that from a typical set of 2.1 PC speakers. The bass was focused and powerful, and the satellites' superb definition highlighted the quality of the iCub's amplifiers. However, we found it hard to tweak the bass settings to achieve a flat low-range response.

The iCub is no better suited to its intended market than a good hi-fi amp and speakers. It has no facility for charging portable players, for example, it isn't magnetically shielded and it has limited inputs and no way of selecting them manually. We're not convinced it offers good value, particularly without satellites.