Building on the groundbreaking technology of the original Descent, BalancedForce 212 incorporates new features and enhancements that simplify system integration while improving performance. Its signature two-driver, force-canceling configuration virtually eliminates bass-blurring cabinet resonance. And each rugged, custom-built aluminum-cone driver is driven by sophisticated DSP-based, high-power amplifiers. The result is dynamic, unrestrained output to the very lowest frequencies, yet with clarity and definition approaching that of electrostatic transducers.

Chances are you've read or heard at some time that adding a subwoofer to a system built around electrostatic speakers is nearly impossible. Although that's not necessarily true (and we have the subwoofers to prove it), the idea is grounded in experience. For many years subwoofers and electrostats did not blend very well. Turn on the sub and maybe you got the deeper, stronger bass you were looking for but that wonderful electrostatic snap and midrange clarity were, if not gone, now smeared and disconnected.

Our goal, when we began our first subwoofer project, was to deliver the good stuff — deep, tight, powerful bass — and none of the bad. We wanted to build subwoofers that, when combined with ultra-fast electrostatics or conventional cone speakers, would blend seamlessly to the very bottom of the frequency extreme. BalancedForce subwoofers are the full realization of years of engineering by the MartinLogan team combined with the latest innovations in advanced digital signal processing, amplification, electrical system designs, and room correction.

Dual low-distortion woofers pair a high-power magnet structure with 10- and 12-inch aluminum cone diaphragms to deliver huge excursion and sound output while preserving minute bass details, all without a hint of distortion. The cone material's exceptional damping properties ensure the smooth, non-resonant response necessary for seamless blending with high-resolution full-range loudspeakers.

These woofers, spaced 180 degrees apart in a 'BalancedForce' configuration, operate in exact opposition, to nullify distortion causing cabinet vibrations and deliver pure bass energy. Traditional subwoofer enclosures suffer from an equal and opposite reaction to the cone's movement, generating acoustic vibrations within the cabinet. You feel this by touching the cabinet. Although the 'physics' of this phenomenon actually cause a subwoofer cabinet to resonate or even dance, most subwoofer designers apply weight or mass to the cabinet to minimize such disturbances, but still leave one byproduct—'smeared bass'. BalancedForce is an elegantly simple solution that removes the variable of cabinet vibration contributions from the acoustic equation.