The BX10s active subwoofer delivers the kind of bass response necessary for today’s music, film, and multimedia projects. Since car and home audio systems have evolved to include subwoofers that reproduce very low frequencies, it has become even more critical that the monitors in your audio production environment reflect these changes. When paired with either the M-Audio BX5a or BX8a active reference monitors, the BX10s becomes part of an integrated system that provides accurate monitoring for the entire 20Hz to 20kHz spectrum.

Active Crossover for Two-Channel Setups

The BX10s accepts the two-channel stereo outputs from your mixer, audio interface or sound card. Then your main monitors connect to the subwoofer’s outputs. The internal crossover network of the BX10s splits the signal at a user-defined crossover frequency (50-200Hz), routing everything below it to the internal sub and everything above it to the main speakers. This significantly improves fidelity because the components aren’t tripping over each other to reproduce the same frequency—and each only has to deliver frequencies to which it is ideally suited. The variable crossover makes it possible to tailor the bass response in your monitoring environment in order to achieve the most accurate acoustic response—and there are even easy settings for compliance with Dolby Digital®, DTS® and THX® specifications.

Products like the BX5a and BX8a are designed to work well as full-range monitors. Yet when they reproduce bass-heavy material at high volumes, it can be both taxing on the speakers and fatiguing to the listener. However, when they're used in tandem with the BX10s, the system can comfortably reproduce full-range signals at any volume without stressing the components.

No More Guesswork

A good monitoring system is, by definition, one that allows you to create material that translates well across a variety of playback environments. As such, it's important to know what your mixes will sound like both with and without the low-frequency extension a subwoofer provides. Fortunately, the BX10s includes a subwoofer bypass function that completely removes the subwoofer amp, speaker, and crossover from the signal path—sending the full-bandwidth program to your direct-field monitors. By plugging the included M-Audio sustain pedal into the footswitch input on the back of the BX10s, you can control this function dynamically as you’re playing back your material—even from across the room. With the BX10s temporally bypassed, it becomes easy to judge how a mix will sound in an environment without a dedicated subwoofer.

Plays Well With Others