Bass takes space
Bass takes space. That?s the immutable law of nature that has frustrated man since the dawn of time. Two 21st century products — the Infinity BassLink and Kenwood?s wOOx — set out to disprove this law, incorporating interesting technological twists and unusual construction to maximize low-frequency output. How successful have these little giants been in their efforts to fool Mother Nature? For two weeks, I lived with these two compact powered subwoofers, playing my favorite test tracks and pushing them to the limits in an effort to gauge the performance characteristics of each.

Two compact subwoofers — Kenwood's "wOOx" and the Infinity BassLink — prepare for battle by kicking back with a great CD.

First, let's get one thing straight. Everybody has different tastes, drives different vehicles, and listens to different music, so everybody has a different opinion on what constitutes great bass. I like to crank up the music LOUD in my Jeep Cherokee, and I like lots of bass. But I don?t like big, boomy bass that imposes itself on the rest of the music, and I like my car system to sound as much like my home system as possible.

Second, I?m comparing these two products against my usual modest system — a well-used, late '90s Polk db 10" subwoofer in a small sealed box, powered by a Rockford Fosgate 200-watt amp. If you are accustomed to a pair of 15" subs driven by several hundred watts, believe me, the two products in this review won't do it for you. These powered subs are designed strictly for the person who wants to add significant bass to a car system without losing a lot of space. I love the way my sub sounds, so I was curious to see how it would stack up against these two products.

The BassLink's control panel offers plenty of options for tailoring the bass to suit your vehicle.

The Infinity BassLink
Infinity's BassLink was first up to the plate. This futuristic-looking device uses a 10" subwoofer, a 10" passive radiator, and a 200-watt Class D amplifier to pump out impressive amounts of bass from an extremely compact enclosure (available in black or clear plastic). Controls include an adjustable low-pass filter (50 Hz to 120 Hz), a bass boost (adjustable from ?6 dB to +3 dB at 40 Hz), a phase switch, and a wired remote control which allows you to control the sub?s level from the front of the vehicle. Installing the BassLink was a breeze — I just attached my existing power, ground, and remote leads to the screw terminals, hooked up my RCA patch cables, and we were off to the races.

The awe-inspiring clear Infinity BassLink is also available in black.

With the BassLink?s gain about halfway up and the low-pass filter set at around 80 Hz, I slid Buddy Guy?s Heavy Love CD into my Pioneer receiver, and cranked it up. The BassLink responded with a massive volley of bass that had me diving for the remote! I turned down the gain, made a few more adjustments, and fell in love. This little box easily matched the output of my usual setup, and it wasn?t even sweating. I did notice a little bit of unpleasant boominess and a lack of distinction in upper bass notes, so I experimented by turning the unit around so the active 10" speaker fired into my seat back. Problem solved — totally!

Over the course of a week, I put the BassLink through its paces with a wide variety of tunes ranging from Badfinger to Panjabi MC, and the Infinity never failed to impress. It produced rock-solid, thick bottom end, and it melded so perfectly with my Infinity Reference components up front that I never once got the sensation of bass coming from behind me. It?s important to experiment with the BassLink?s location before mounting it permanently in your vehicle — its punch and focus varied noticeably according to its placement. But once it's tuned to your vehicle, look out! It's shocking to hear bass of this magnitude coming from such a small enclosure.

Kenwood's KSC-WA62RC — The wOOx
Kenwood?s KSC-WA62RC, affectionately known as "The wOOx," was next at bat. After packing up the relatively heavy and beautifully-built BassLink, I have to admit that the wOOx's appearance was a major letdown. It?s very small, very light, and (dare I say it?) amazingly ugly. My initial reaction was to pack the wOOx back in its box, but my deadline was approaching so into the Cherokee it went.

Kenwood's KSC-WA62RC powered subwoofer (the "wOOx") hides surprising performance beneath its modest exterior.

The wOOx uses a dual voice coil 5-1/4" woofer, a 6-1/2" passive radiator, and a 2-channel (30 watts RMX x 2) amplifier to create bass. The wired remote houses all controls for the unit, including level adjustment, switchable low-pass filter (60, 80, 120, or 160 Hz), and a phase switch. It has no screw terminals, using a plug-in harness instead to make its power connections. As I hooked up the wOOx, I found myself wondering if this David and Goliath test was fair. Kenwood designed this unit with sports cars and smaller vehicles in mind — its compact size (15" x 4-1/2" x 8") enables it to fit into some mighty small spaces. Would it really be capable of filling up the wide open spaces of a Jeep Cherokee?

I set the gain on the wOOx about halfway up, and again relied on Buddy Guy for the all-important first impression. With the first couple of hits from the kick drum, the old maxim "Appearances can be deceiving" came to mind — the wOOx sounded surprisingly good. When I lowered the crossover point down to 60 Hz and adjusted the gain, its performance moved up a notch to really, really good. I asked some friends to listen to the system (without looking, obviously), and then to estimate the size of the subwoofer I was using. Most said it sounded like a 10" speaker, if that gives you an idea of the impact we were feeling. And the wOOx had a very musical sound — kick drum hits sounded natural and tight, and I heard no unnatural boom or dropout in the electric bass notes (the curse of a cheap sub).

The wOOx's wired remote control allows you to make quick, yet extensive adjustments to complement the music.

The wired remote is a flat out joy to use. With bass-heavy modern recordings, I set the crossover at 60 Hz and my system sounded big, clean, and fat. If I played an older disc with less impressive bass content (Beatles or Sonny Boy Williamson, for instance), I just moved the crossover up to 80 Hz and cranked up the gain a touch, and the sound filled out beautifully. And, if you drive a noisy vehicle or like to put the windows down, the wired remote makes it easy to add back the low end punch that's lost to road noise.

I lived with the wOOx for a week, and during that time, its limitations became clear. It had to work hard to fill up my Cherokee with clean bass, but it did a great job, even at high volume levels. However, if I clicked the system up a couple of notches higher than usual (I?m talking loud here), I could hear the little sub starting to freak out. But still, this subwoofer will supply just about any vehicle (short of a full-size van or giant SUV) with plenty of fat bass at a reasonable volume level — a remarkable achievement for a tiny little box with a 5-1/4" driver and 60 watts of power!

The verdict, please!
How do I compare the two? In a week of driving and experimenting, I never heard a hint of distortion from the Infinity BassLink. This precision-engineered product is capable of very high output levels, and it jammed hard in my Jeep with its two 10" subs and 200-watt amp working at about 1/4 capacity. On occasion, I totally forgot it was there — the ultimate compliment you can pay a subwoofer. In any vehicle where space is an issue, I would recommend the BassLink to even the most ardent basshead.

Maybe I?m just a sucker for an underdog, but the real surprise for me was Kenwood?s wOOx. While it's not quite in the same league with the BassLink, it produced remarkably big and very natural-sounding bass. The fact that, after spending a week with the BassLink, I was able to listen to this little box in my car and not suffer from severe bass letdown is a testament to Kenwood?s engineering ingenuity. Its small size makes it a great choice for sports car and compact vehicle owners who previously had to suffer with second rate sound. I wouldn?t recommend it to anyone looking to rattle the windows on their Suburban, but, if you?re looking to add some solid, musical bass to your small to moderately-sized vehicle without losing space, the humble wOOx will knock you out.