Amazon has been very quickly ramping up the Echo/Alexa ecosystem in India to bring it on par with the rest of the world. When the second generation echo devices were launched, the Echo Sub was launched along with them. This addition brings boom into your music quite literally. Here is my review of the Echo companion
With Echo Sub and a compatible Echo device, you can add rich bass to your music experience. Echo Sub delivers down-firing, 100W deep bass sound through a 6” woofer. When paired with Echo or Echo Plus (2nd Gen), you can feel the music as it fills the room—just say “Alexa, play music.”
You must be thinking that setting this up will be complicated, it is actually very simple. Plug it in, open the Alexa App and add the device and you are set to go. As simple as 1 2 3
Once out of the packaging, the Echo Sub looks like someone left an Echo-shaped sponge in water overnight and it got mega sized. It’s a cloth-covered pill box with a matte plastic top and it measures 8 inches high and 8.3 inches in diameter (20.2 by 21 cm). The subwoofer is sealed and down-firing, powered by a 100-watt amplifier pushing a 6-inch woofer. The speaker is rated from 200 Hz down to 30Hz (-6dB), with the Alexa app handling the crossover, depending on which device you pair it with. It got a lot of eyeballs and attention once I set it up in my room. It did start many conversations
The Echo Sub is quite diminutive as subwoofers go. The cylindrical, molded-plastic enclosure measures a mere 8 inches tall and 8.3 inches in diameter. It feels quite sturdy, though, with a weight of 9.3 pounds. Its small size is made possible in part because of the enclosure’s sealed design; ported subwoofers typically require larger enclosures. The trade-off is that sealed subs generally can’t play as loud as comparable ported models at lower frequencies, but I don’t see that as a problem for a small system such as this one.
Echo Sub is the first wireless Echo subwoofer for those who want to pump up the bass when listening to music on their existing or new Echo devices. You can connect Echo Sub to compatible Echo devices to create a 1.1 or 2.1 pairing for stereo sound. Plus, with the equalizer feature you can adjust the bass, mid-range, and treble of the pairing simply by using your voice. Just say, “Alexa, turn up the bass.”
Speaking of lower frequencies, the Echo Sub’s bass extension is specified to reach down to 30Hz (-6 dB). That’s pretty good for a single 6-inch conical driver, which is made of coated paper in this case. The low-frequency response is aided by the fact that the driver fires downward toward the floor; sound emerges through slots in the base. The floor acts as a boundary that reinforces the low frequencies. To boost the bass even more, you could place the sub near a wall or corner, but Amazon recommends that you place it well away from walls and furniture.
The driver is powered by a 100-watt Class-D amplifier. This is a highly efficient amp design commonly used in active subwoofers. A system-wide, three-band EQ lets you boost or cut the treble, midrange, and bass by ±6 dB. To adjust the EQ, you need only say something like, “Alexa, set the bass to six” or “Alexa, set the treble to minus three.”
The Echo Sub receives its signal via your home network (802.11a/b/g/n at either 2.4- or 5GHz). It has no physical audio connectors, unlike the main Echo speakers, which have an 3.5mm aux output.
For audiophiles, the lack of granular control over the crossover from the sub may be an issue, but if you are like me and are simply looking to add deep bass to your Alexa enabled music experience, this is a brilliant option. The minute I added this to my room with two 2nd generation Echo devices already running, the difference was amazing. The rich tonality of the bass notes it hit made me feel like the music was being played in the room for me. You can also say cool things like “Alexa, Increase/Decrease the bass” and see the magic happen. But remember that this works only with music from Alexa and not from other sources. But hey, it serves my purpose and I love the change it brings into my living room.
All in all, at INR 12,999/- the Amazon Echo Sub adds a lot of boom to your Alexa-powered music and brings a lot of joy to your ears quite literally.
