Petaluma, CA-based luxury and top-shelf subwoofer maker Sunfire makes a sub that seems to defy the laws of physics. The Atmos is one of the smallest subs we’ve seen to have such a rich array of technologies and capabilities. You’ll need a cool $2,000 to make it yours, but we don’t think that’s too unreasonable a price for such a powerful little box, even without a proper hands-on examination. If you don’t have the room in your studio apartment for a full-on, monstrosity of a home theater setup — but your budget has a high ceiling — the Atmos is probably your go-to guy.
Though it was released way back in late 2012, the 8-inch tall sub is still the solution for those looking for one of the most compact, high-performance sub solutions for a smallish setup.
You’ll get two custom-designed 6.5-inch woofers within a sealed, extruded aluminum case that’s engineered to withstand increased backpressures reaching 24.4 PSI, almost two atmospheres of pressure — and here lies Sunfire’s inspiration behind the “Atmos” moniker. In all, it comes to an unexpectedly husky 40 lbs.
According to Sunfire’s press release, the 1400-watt device has “a footprint smaller than an Xbox 360” and “drivers capable of massive excursion (movement) of up to 1.8 inches” — that’s a ton of energy and momentum crammed into such a teensy cube. Sunfire, a company originally founded by audio legend Bob Carver, has also apparently modeled the cardioid encasings surrounding the drivers after the varying thickness of the human heart for “superior linearity even at the furthest extension,” cautiously allowing the smaller-than-normal drivers to move greater amounts of air.
Among its variety of futuristic features, the sub can adapt to the unique acoustics of every room via a microphone and auto-room equalizer circuit that automatically adjusts the sub’s response to best suit its surrounding environment, for optimized low-end quality. You can read about the Atmos’ Tracking Downconverter technology and the related Finite Element Analysis science, among other wildly extravagant onboard tools, in the product brochure.
The sub appears to fall into line with Sunfire’s mantra: “Small form, high fidelity, with high output and reliability,” and, like the obscure DC Comics superhero Atmos, it’s truly a champion among its kind.
