The Woofer That Just Won't Die

by Jeff Harris Jeff Harris

Your kid borrows the car, blasts too many techno tracks, and blows out the subwoofer. It used to be that you´d have two choices: Buy a new one (woofer, not kid) or put up with a hoarse bass line. But when a subwoofer pops, it´s usually only the voice coil-the part that drives the cone-that´s burned out; the rest of the assembly is just fine. Boston Acoustics´s SPG555 subwoofer is the first with a replaceable voice coil that you can install yourself. Simply undo six screws around the coil´s cap, swap the fried coil for a new one, and get back to booming. The sub is driven by powerful, hockey-puck-size neodymium magnets, making it half the size and weight of similar units using ferrite magnets, so you won´t have to choose between trunk space and heavy-hitting bass.

Boston Acoustics SPG555


Weight: 26 lbs.


Size: 11.9 x 14.3 x
8.3 in.


Frequency: 20 to 350 Hz


Power: 1,000 watts


Price: $700;
$70 for a new voice coil


Get it: bostonacoustics.com