Echo Sub, Powerful subwoofer for your Echo, Requires compatible Echo device

Amazon Echo Sub-Woofer Where do I start? At this point I am here to say this is a GREAT product, well worth the money. Five Stars for sure. But I digress... I started out with an Amazon Echo, first generation, paid nearly $100 for it, but was quite pleased with its performance. I was very pleased with the sound output of that small device. I liked it so much I bought another for another room. Being an Amazon Prime member, I started listening to music from Amazon. Again, pleased - and I decided to add the unlimited subscription to Amazon Music. I have a traditional stereo system - two speakers, an amplifier, and a CD player. I got to thinking I would like to feed the Amazon music into the stereo and researched the subject on the internet. Turned out to be stupidly simple. I bought a third generation Dot, now less than $50, and a simple adapter cable. The cable plugged into the output jack of the Dot and into the right and left stereo inputs on my amplifier. I had to do a little volume adjustments of the Dot and of the stereo amp to get the levels right - but that was a five minute exercise, and suddenly I had beautiful music in full stereo. But in researching the stereo bit, I discovered something else interesting on the internet - that it was simple to set up two identical Echo units to give full stereo. Well, I have two identical first generation Echos. So I tried it, setting up in a different room. A note here - it is unlikely that most of us could ever set a stereo pair up without some very simple instruction from the internet. You have to use the Amazon app on a smart phone. But with that instruction it is a very simple exercise. I did it. And it sounded great. And that’s also about when I discover the existence of the Amazon Echo Sub-Woofer. OK. I admit at first I was skeptical. How could a six inch diameter speaker generate significant base? But then how could a tiny Amazon Echo Dot sound so terrific? But they do. The gold standard for bass performance for many is the piece, “Thus Spake Zarathustra” by Richard Strauss. To quote Wikipedia, “The piece starts with a sustained double low C on the double basses, contrabassoon and church organ.” This corresponds to a tone of some duration at a frequency of 32 hertz. Only higher end classic stereo systems will deliver this tone. In most, it plays as a low level buzz that would be obnoxious were it any louder. So OK. I pulled up the specs on the unit. Hmm. Goes to 30 hertz at minus 6 db. You know, that ain’t bad! And you could goose up the low end a bit with the equalizer in the Amazon app. The built in 100 watt amplifier and cross over network built into the sub-woofer help a lot. Hmm. OK, I went ahead and ordered it. And immediately discovered that at the time there was a 4 week wait for delivery. The unit did show up as promised, and I was anxious to get it going. A comment here: normally I am rather contemptuous of “unpacking” videos on the internet. But, the packing and packaging of this unit is a performance art master class on how it should be done. I will say no more on that subject except that I was hugely impressed. Setting it up was mostly easy - but NOT as easy as the Amazon site suggests. The main issue is that if you integrating it into an existing stereo pair of Echo units, as I was, first you have to unpair the existing units, then rebuild with the addition of the sub-woofer. Very simple to do on the app - but NOT intuitive. Again, the internet is your friend. I easily found simple instructions and proceeded - and five minutes later had everything networked and playing. It sounded OK, but honestly not all that terrific. Certainly not what I was expecting. Playing “Thus Spake Zarathustra” was, frankly, disappointing. But, I have had experience with base woofers before, and had a suspicion it wold improve. It seems such speakers need to be used a bit to loosen up to reach their desired performance levels. I am very happy to report that this proved to be exactly the case. After a few hours, the speaker was clearly doing better. A few days and it was sounding great. And today, I was sitting in my chair listening to Hans Zimmer’s sound track for “The Dark Knight”, a piece I had played several times before. But this time, it seemed like the whole room was shaking from an outstanding base source. I was astounded - and hugely delighted! I am truly pleased. A closing note - truly serious audiophiles are guaranteed to turn up their noses at this system. I am talking about the people that only use virgin vinyl records for a music source, heavy oxygen free copper cables to the tube amplifier with heavy iron transformers, huge engineered bass reflex speakers or the like etc. etc. Good for them - and perfection has its price. But for us lesser mortals who love music, the Amazon system offers a quality system offering a lot of pleasure at a modest price.

It's not even close to our $500 SRS ported 10" sub, but it's not even in the same echelon, to be honest, so it's not worth comparing. I do have an Energy ported 8" sub that I purchased about a decade ago, that it can be compared to. To ensure the Energy sub doesn't sound terrible, I have to set the Energy sub's cross-over to the minimum setting (there is no LFE for this sub, only component-level inputs). The Echo Sub, by comparison, seems to be set very well, mostly pumping out very low frequencies. From the Echo Sub I was honestly only expecting a modest upgrade; I was expecting to want to return it right away, actually. That's not the case. Even in the same room where we have our 10" SRS sub, it emits clear, accurate low-frequencies that fill both the room it's in and the adjacent dining room and kitchen (open floor plan). Our family-room group consists of our family room sound-bar (hooked up to a 2nd-gen Echo Dot, as well as SRS 10" sub and Energy 8" sub), kitchen Echo (which is actually situated right at the border of the family-room/dining-room, on the family-room side of the partition. I was expecting so many different devices to compete and not sound harmonious (at best) or cancel each other out (at worst). The subs had to be phased to prevent cancellation, but the rest of the speakers, playing together, allow for a very nice room-to-room experience! We listen to classical music during dinner and hear it in the dining from from all angles, which has a very nice affect. While cleaning, I don't have to turn up the family Echo Dot-to-sound-bar (and sound-bar/subs), because the other Echos (and Echo Sub) compliment the family-room speakers nicely, allowing for (again...) room-to-room transit with relatively consistent sound. The benefit to this: turning up the family room set (Echo Dot-to-sound-bar and Subs) causes some low-frequency reverberation in the kitchen and other areas of the house (e.g., the bathroom). With it at a lower volume and the Echo Sub providing the low-frequency response for the kitchen and dining room area, things sound much better. If we're solely hanging out in the dining room or kitchen area, I don't even feel the need to turn on the family room Echo Dot (and etc.). The output from the Echo and Echo Plus in the area, supplemented by the Echo Sub, sounds great. If you're expecting this to sound like a $500 sub, you're delusional. If you're looking to add a very nice upgrade to the low-frequency output of your Echos or Echo Plus' easily, then this is your sub. Installation: I've got very low patience and expect things (especially from Amazon) to be top-notch, and found myself only MILDLY frustrated setting this thing up - the Echo Sub took maybe four times longer than any other Echo (we have 7 total) to setup, but it really isn't that bad. The setup of this will DEFINITELY be revised to help out those who frustrate easily or who aren't savvy enough to figure things out on their own, but most people who have even a rudimentary set of tech skills shouldn't have a problem. Setup: 1. Mine did not go into pairing mode right away. I had to press and hold the single button on the Echo Sub for MORE THAN the instructed SIX (6) seconds for the dot to turn orange. Note: You can't SEE the color of the LED, because it's in the center of the button and obstructed by the finger you're pressing it with...while pressing. Kinda dumb ... 2. Once the sub was in pairing mode (orange light on the sub lit), things went swimmingly, using the app. This is the ONLY part that I had an issue with, since the included instructions were OVERLY simplistic and didn't cover it. If anyone wants a more detailed how-to, just comment below and, if someone hasn't already provided one online, I'll do so.

Context Disclosure: I began writing and completed this review in real time during my setup experience of my Echo Sub. Received the Echo sub after some issues with the carrier since Amazon ships it only signature required in my area, took an extra day for me to make arrangements to pickup the item elsewhere. Upon unboxing the Echo sub the first thing I noticed is its fabric doesn't match the Charcoal echo design or any other currently available Echo fabric. I don't mind this much but it would have been nice if they matched. The Echo sub has this large sticker over the power connection that says to NOT configure it until I have configured my other Echo devices first. I purchased this Echo sub with a pair of brand-new Echo devices as part of an Amazon Bundle. I unboxed my Echo devices and began setting them up. After completing the setup process and naming my 2 new echo devices (I have more than 10 echo devices in my home, it's becoming a little confusing when keeping track of the new ones) I proceeded to setup the Echo Sub. I had already noticed in adding devices to my updated Amazon Alexa app that there is a new Echo sub option, so I proceeded through that setup process. The setup process makes you watch a video on your device that helps you understand the capability and recommended placement of your new Echo Sub. I really didn't need to watch this video for the information it provided so it would have been nice to skip this. After the Video was completed I proceeded through the steps of connecting it to my home wireless network and setting up a speaker pair / group. I got to the screen where I could clearly see my new Echo devices that I had previously labeled "One" and "Two" and to my surprise they were unable to be added to the speaker pair / group. The reason for this is both devices indicated they needed an update and I should check back in "~2 Hours". Knowing you can force Echo devices to update faster by muting them I placed both on mute and began typing this review. I'm pleased to report that by the time I got to this paragraph that both devices had completed the update and have rebooted themselves... One moment while I continue through the setup... (you can imagine, as I did, that I thought I was going to come back 15 minutes or so later after playing with the devices before reading the following paragraphs and my summary) I still had the app open on my screen before the updates took place. Post the echos completing their self update, the devices still said they needed to be updated in the app. I couldn't select them, and my only option was to add other devices to the group or cancel. I chose the cancel button which took me back to the previous setup screen and I again was able to select "Continue" to setup a group. After the page refreshed, I could now select my "One" and "Two" Echo devices. I selected my One Device and immediately all other devices went into "Connectivity Error/Not Compatible" on the app. If I unselect "One" all devices go back to available. If I select "Two" all devices co back into "Connectivity Error/Not Compatible". As I was unable to select 2 devices to pair together with my Sub. I again could not continue with the setup process. I again chose to "Cancel" the creation and go back to the previous screen. I repeated the same steps above and this time both devices showed "Online”, and I was able to add them to the group/pair and continue. I received a message requesting I select which channel Left or Right for "Two". I selected Right and both One and Two devices began to flash white while the app indicating it was connecting to the speakers.... (waiting while I'm still typing this for this step to complete) ...well I think the step completed, not sure as the app went back to an "Add Group" Screen with no indication of a success or failure of the task. I scrolled down on the app and found a new group called "Stereo Pair" that has been created. I selected the "Stereo Pair" and was show the option to unpair them... not doing that. One moment while I jack with this app and figure out if its working or not... (insert Jeopardy music) Well I can't rename Stereo Pair on the app, let’s see if I can do it from the Web Interface https://alexa.amazon.com ... nope group doesn't exist there yet or at all, maybe it takes some time. Let’s see if the pair even works. Yup it plays music on the speaker pair but WITHOUT the sub in the group... Wasn't I setting up an Echo Sub when I started this? I proceed back to the app and attempt to add a group and I'm greeted with the message that I must unpair existing speakers before adding them to a pair. So, I proceed to unpair the Stereo Pair group I just created. (wish it would let me give this a name other than "Stereo Pair") Recreating the Speaker Group, I realized I found my error. I must select One, Two, and the Sub to pair the 3 devices together.... Funny because I was setting up the Echo Sub when this pairing screen was presented, you would think they would have included the sub automatically. To locate the Echo Sub in my case, I had scroll down on the pairing screen to find the Sub at the bottom. I suspect I wouldn't have made this error if I didn't have a ton of Echo devices already. Attempt to add all 3 to the group "Failed to Initiate playback on Stereo Pair" Error message yet it still created a new group called "Stereo Sub Pair" (these group names are awful). Success? I tried playing some music to the "Stereo Sub Pair" group and it's working! First impressions are it's significantly better sounding than I thought it would be for such a small setup. Upped the Volume, Upped the Bass, now it sounds perfect for my listening enjoyment. Now to go set the devices where I plan on using them and try it out. Lastly, I tried to see if could rename the “Stereo Sub Pair” Group name to something else by the time I completed reviewing my notes from this review and unfortunately, I can report you can’t change the group name yet. However, once the speakers are paired you don’t need to say the group name to get them to play together like you do with multi-room music. Summary: I am pleasantly surprised with the Echo Sub and despite the issues above from being an early adopter of the device, I would buy it again. Sound is great and just what I needed for my "Bass-lacking" audio space. Overall, I give this experience 4 stars only because of the issues I encountered that I’m sure will be resolved in time combined with the fact the sub doesn’t match the echo devices themselves. The Sub audio itself, I give 5 stars.

Had to add something after reading some recent reviews - My Dots knew The Echo Sub was coming and once it arrived and was plugged in, it took maybe 30 seconds for it be recognized and another minute to pair everything up. Your experience may differ, but that's how it went for me. The Echo Sub, it turns out, is vital to your Alexa Echo Dot setup if you want to actually enjoy the music you are streaming. It turns what is a pretty decent little set up for quiet music or background sound into a full blown system that can rock your world. Or jazz it or rap it or country it. Whatever it is you like. The sound produced by the Echo Sub is full, rich and room filling. I absolutely love it. It is rather hefty. Your dog probably won't be knocking it around. It is large and round. If your sofa is against a wall, this won't fit back there. (my original intention) Allow me to share with you a few thoughts and tips concerning the Echo Sub matched with the Echo Dots. Let me describe the environment first - Smaller home (1000 sqft) with wood floors. I believe the wood floors play a major role in the sound I'm able get from this set up. 3br, living room with dining area, bath and galley type kitchen. The LR and dining area are really just one large room. The setup (so far) - 3 Echo Dots (3rd gen) and the Echo Sub. 4th Dot is on its way as well as an Echo. So I've paired 2 of the Dots with the Sub for the living room and 1 Dot in the master BR. By creating 2 groups (LR and Master) and making the wake word for the LR 'Computer' and leaving the Master as the default Alexa, I can control them separately. I can talk to one set or the other without messing with the other. By enabling the multi-room music function, and creating a 3rd group (placing the first two groups into it) named Everywhere, I can fill my entire house with music just by saying "Alexa, play smooth jazz Everywhere." for example. Now the good stuff. Alexa tip #1. Your Dots are not anything close to being "dynamic" right out of the box, but you can help them a bit. Try to set them on something hollow. I've got one sitting on a small table which has a drawer and the other on an end table which is a cabinet. In the bedroom the Dot sits atop a dresser. That makes a huge difference right off the bat. Tip #2 Make sure the Dots are opposite each other and the Echo Sub as near to center between them as possible. Tip #3 Use these three songs and adjust the equalizer by voice commands by saying "Alexa, set bass (or midrange, treble) to..." and chose a value from -6 to +6. Lazy by Deep Purple. This song is nothing but bass. Next, Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen. This song gives you an incredible range of notes and sound. Lastly, Mozart's Symphony No. 41 Jupiter. This is for the fine tuning. You can always tell Alexa to reset the equalizer at anytime and start over if need be. Once you have your EQ set, you're ready to go. And the sound is incredible. I've got a set of old school speakers I've had for over 30 years that are top notch paired with a Sony receiver and this Echo setup can rival them. Not in total volume level, but certainly in quality. It truly is amazing. And while they won't peel paint off your walls, they are more than capable of providing music for a party. Loud enough that you can't talk over them comfortably and given the right time of night and music, get the cops to show up. If you're into that sort of thing. I can't wait for my fourth Dot to arrive so I can group 4 Dots with the Echo Sub (with an Echo replacing the Dot in the bedroom) and create a pseudo-surround environment throughout the house. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the Echo Sub (and Dots) to anyone looking to add great sound and flexibility to their home audio system. I'd give the Echo Sub a 6th star of I could.

For its cost and use with Echo devices, this is a good subwoofer. I considered giving it a 4 out of 5 but only because of how long it took for my Fire TV Stick 4K Max took to recognize the device. Despite how long it took, I was patient and it eventually recognized it hours after the sub was connected to my wifi. This was the only issue. I was also familiar with this issue since I have two of these subs, so I knew what I was getting into - it's not at all a deal breaker. Once the device is setup, you're mostly all set. My first Echo Sub is connected with two 1st Gen Echo Studios using a gen 3 Fire TV Cube. The sound is very good on this system. The 2nd Echo Sub was added to 5 2nd Gen Echo Studios connected to the 4k Fire TV Max Stick for the maximum new theater setup. Overkill? No. The added bass works very well and doesn't over do it on the low end. When listening to music, it's easy to adjust the bass in the Alexa app if there is too much bass. As mentioned before, this isn't usually an issue, but the option is there. Music sounds great with the sub. For movies, the bass adds a very nice dynamic that im glad is part of the theater system. The two generations of Echo Studios DO have good bass, but the added sub brings a noticeable difference that makes the addition worth it. Echo speakers with an Echo Sub isn't a top of the line sound system. However, it's really good for the price you pay. I've read many reviews of Sonos speakers having connection issues and I already have the Amazon music unlimited subscription and prime membership, so it was a no brainer. This isn't to knick on Sonos as I've also heard great things, but with everything considered, I went with Echo devices. My Echos sound great and adding the sub makes a positive difference.

When it and the speakers it pairs with work, this sub works overtime and is surprisingly good for its size. Unfortunately you pair this sub with echo studio speakers and here is my review of those, including this subwoofer. I really want to love these. Quite simply, if they worked consistently, I would, but it has been almost a day to day effort to keep 2 studios and the sub working as either a music player and or as a home theater set up paired with firestick 4k max. Music played from Amazon music (the only way to enjoy atmos and 3d music, a major selling point of these) often stops for no reason when it never has on any other device, even the lesser model echos. (My WiFi signal is extremely strong throughout the house.) sometimes it says ok, it will play “xyz” and then doesn’t. Often the left speaker has almost no sound coming from it. I have to unplug it for a minute to fix it. The sub sometimes fails and produces no sound. Same fix. When they cooperate, they play well from the firestick and are surprisingly effective as entry theater speakers, but getting other devices such as Xbox or regular tv to play through the echoes is spotty at best and an absolute nightmare. When I’ve called tech support I know more than them just from my own research, so it’s zero help. I have spent an INSANE amount of time trying to find the problems, certainly more than any casual customer ever would. If you look these issues up on forums, well, that’s just the way it is. There is no fix for these problems which means an incomplete, inconsistent product was put out and at this price point that’s just criminal. I am so disappointed in Amazon. I have had almost every other echo and accepted their limitations but always enjoyed what they could do. We all read negative reviews and wonder if that particular person is just unhinged or has a chip on their shoulder. This isn’t that. I’ve been tinkering with home theater and sound all my life. I can typically figure out what’s wrong, but not here. You probly want to know about the sound? I’ve also been around good sound my whole life. I knew this was a downgrade but was fine with it for space and aesthetic reasons as well as multi room sound. They sound fine if not good. Won’t blow you away but they sound nice. They have gimmicks like poor man’s atmos and spatial enhancement and I found these to be fun additions if not universally effective or noticeable. In short, if they worked consistently, I would adore these little things for what they are. I almost didn’t post this. Then I turned on the firestick to a black screen. After I fixed that, the remote wouldn’t adjust the volume on the echo studios and I’m so fed up I decided to let others know. I gave up a hardwired theater system for these and it was a complete mistake. Having friends over for a game or a movie and stressing about whether or not your system will work or you’ll have to trouble shoot is unacceptable.

***Update 02OCT2019*** The bugs have long been sorted out and the sub works as advertised. Firmwaree updates have fixed the issues. I have had no issues with it for a while and it adds the appropriate base to the smaller echos devices. I am satisfied that I bought it. I will probably get the new Studio after it comes out. ***Update 18OCT2018*** A Customer Service Rep tried to call me and then sent an email. The instructions were to create a new multiroom music group and the Sub Pair and other speakers could be added. I changed the name of my Everywhere group to something else and then created a new group. I was able to add all of my speakers once one of my speakers received an update (I think that it was too far from my router to update, so I brought it to the router, it updated, then the group adding procedure worked). I saved the group and then renamed that group to Everywhere and resaved it and it worked. I did not add a star back because I have had a few events today where the paired Echo will stop playing in the middle of a song while the sub plays on. Reported by others as well and rather annoying. Hopefully, they will fix that, too. Also, why does this have to be so difficult? Original text: I have a half dozen Echo devices of different types and generations. They are all tied together in an Everywhere group to play around my house simultaneously. When I attempted to pair with one of my current generation Echo's, the app reported that the they all had "incompatible software." I called Customer Service, who had me remove the Echo from the Everywhere group, and then unplug it. When it restarted, I could pair it. The bass is good, not great, but a significant improvement from before. The issue is that the new paired group cannot be readded to the Everywhere group. According to Customer Service and my brief experience thus far, it cannot be part of group...which was why I bought it: to add bass to my group. It can only be in its own stand alone group. And, as others have noted, it only plays when music is being streamed. Initial setup required a restart and manual interaction to get the sub into setup mode. A buggy start to the device roll out. The good news is that all it takes to fix this is some lines of code. Get to it, Amazon. For now, I would wait to buy this until they make some fixes. It was the same with the other devices. It seems that we are all part of the testing and development of the code.

This is a review of the Echo Studio and Sub. I wanted the ability to use the speaker for my TV (my gym TV has terrible speakers and it doesn’t get very loud) and also wanted to connected the Peloton to a speaker. I have been using my Sonos Gen2 + Airplay2 in my home gym for around a year. The Sonos has full sound without a sub, gets decently loud, has excellent Alexa response, and Airplay2 which makes streaming from you iPhone amazingly simple. What it doesn’t have for some reason is Firetv sound integration or the ability to function as a Bluetooth speaker. So I “upgraded”to the Echo Studio and sub. The echo studio alone, with its giant form factor, can’t compete for music quality with the Sonos One. The Studio wants to push vocals forward and leaves a hollow sound in the mids. Great for TV but not so great for music listening. With the sub, when it’s all working, the Studio+sub has a fuller more immersive and traditional stereo sound than the SONOS. Still- I have to imagine a SONOS+Sub is probably the best option overall for music. The echo subwoofer works via Wi-Fi. It appears that both the sub and studio independently stream the same song or data and attempt to equalize them independently. The entire process is incredibly overly complex. The end result (vs just using Bluetooth or RF between the devices) is limited functionality and sync issues. You can only use the sub for streaming through the Alexa app (or Amazon music) and possibly your Firetv. There’s no Airplay2 and even Bluetooth via phone or peloton excludes the bass. Connecting: The echo sub was recognized quickly and prepared. It wouldn’t let me add the sub to an existing group (echo studio and Firetv) so I had to delete everything and recreate it. I recommend deleting the speaker group you want to add the sub to before powering it on to make the process smoother. It would only let me choose between making a home theater group or speaker group so I still have not managed to connect the Firetv, sub, and studio together. I gave up as my workout time yesterday was slipping away trying to fight getting it to work. I’ll go back at it today. Sync: There were times, especially after initial setup, where the sub and echo where slightly out of sync. You get that “am I going crazy?” feeling as everything feels a bit off. It did correct itself over time but the over 2 hours I probably has 4-5 times where either the echo or sub would buffer and cut out leaving it’s counterpart alone. ALEXA: It’s fast and responsive and has an edge over the Sonos (which was very good in its own right) but the Echo Studio is more responsive for home automation and has not failed to hear me once over 2 loud fans and a 220v ceiling heater. AMAZON MUSIC APP: It’s awful. I admit I have been using Apple Music for several years. Airplay2 works 95% of the time and that up-time carried over to my SONOS. I never used the SONOS app. The Amazon Music App is slow, poorly laid out, and just feels clunky. There is a 5 second +/- delay between pausing and the music actual pausing (when it works) so you find yourself pressing the button multiple times and getting into that annoying pause/play loop. Sometimes you would skip ahead a song but the app would still show the older song as still playing. In 2 hours it completely dropped the sub one time and I had to reconnect to make it work, constant buffering issues, and just slow slow slow response times. If you use your voice to control the music, you’ll be fine but I like to hen peck each song and the app isn’t built for that. Basically if you just want music + Alexa, Sonos is the hands down winner. Sound, form factor, and features are superior for music. If you want something for your tv or you use voice-activated Alexa for music, the echo studio+sub is a nice upgrade with good sound.