The woofers are usually too small, under-powered and, in general, lack punch. For those of you that think an 8 woofer isn t that much better than the 6 one you have now, remember that we re talking about diameter of a circle. An 8 cone has almost twice the surface area of a 6 cone. The woofer is rated at 40 Watts RMS, and boasts a large 3 magnet. If this is indeed the case, it s a welcome change.
Synthetic cones are more rigid, and tend to distort less than their paper counterparts.
Although the woofer is down-firing, and should therefore be generally out of harm's way, Altec has covered the unit with a metal grille for extra protection. The system is rated down to 20 Hz, with a crossover frequency of 150 Hz. Hz was definitely sub-par. However, overall, the unit does provide deep, full sound over most of the spectrum. I don t feel this is a major concern, however, as the woofer was clear up to extremely high volume levels.