Velodyne Microvee review

The Microvee is an aluminium extrusion with holes in the sides - covered with grilles - a black back plate and a neat cloth cover over the front. Remove the cover and you'll find a 6.5in driver, actually no bigger than the paired ones that live in the reference Acoustic Energy Veritas floorstanders which I use for fronts.

It has a metal cone of only 5ins in diameter but, thanks to a 2in voice coil and daft amounts of linear excursion, it moves air and can make stonking amounts of bass. It's helped in this endeavour by the two similar-sized passive radiators, one per flank.

A versatile sub

The Microvee cannot begin to approach the really deep stuff below its 38Hz declared -3dB point, as the cone area is so small. However, taking it to task for that would be missing the point of this wonder woofer.

Not only can it ramp up your soundtrack bass a notch or three, when a larger woofer just isn't practical, it even has a couple of microjack holes to go with the phono and speaker high level in- and outputs, allowing an iPod dock to be hooked up! Put another way: this sub is as versatile as it tidy.

To push its performance, I hooked it up as part of a serious system and it worked a treat. I was astonished.

Romero rumbler

Sure the MicroVee has its limits, and it shakes so hard it often tries to wander around like a bemused extra from Dawn Of The Dead. But, in my opinion, this tiny thing can deliver clean and melodic lows in systems where nothing else will fit. Small, but undeniably quite amazing.