Audiophiles have regarded subwoofers as anathema to perfectionist music systems. Sure, they provide one thing: deep bass. But they typically do so at the cost of degrad- ing performance in a whole host of other areas. The—not unreasonable—argument holds that since very little musical information occupies the ultra-deep bass region, not much is compromised by reducing output in the bottom octave.

In reality, though, the ideal subwoofer can reproduce more than the lowest pipe organ note. There is a wealth of ambient music cues in the deep-bass region. The ideal subwoofer opens up the soundstage to an extraordinary degree.

The benchmark in designing Thor’s Hammer was simple: Create a subwoofer that would be, in every measure, a worthy addition to a music system built around Wilson’s flagship loudspeaker, the Chronosonic XVX or Alexx V—no easy task since both loudspeakers extend comfortably below 20 Hz.

That meant primarily two things: First, the subwoofer had to perform with the same alacrity and dynamic range as the XVX and Alexx V. Secondly, it was critical that the Hammer not create out-of-band distortions and colorations (both typify almost all consumer subs) that would rob the bigger Wilsons of their singular glory, which is, natural, revelatory, and seductive midrange.

It goes without saying, having built a subwoofer that integrates seamlessly with Chronosonic XVX (Thor extends a loudspeaker’s bandwidth down to 10 Hz), we’ve also created a subwoofer that will enhance systems built around Alexx V, Alexias, Sashas—or even, if you’re into physical extremes, SabrinaX.