HHB Circle 1
A 100-watt powered subwoofer with onboard five-channel filtering - the anchor of HHB's short-lived bid for the project-studio monitor market.
Overview
The Circle 1 is the bass unit of HHB's Circle range of studio monitors. It is a powered subwoofer built to fit into either a stereo rig or a full surround setup without a separate amplifier. HHB's own advertising for the range said it fit "into any stereo or surround sound system without the need for additional amplification." That claim rests on two things: an onboard 100-watt amp module and built-in five-channel active filtering for the satellite speakers. The filtering is the detail that matters most to anyone running one. The sub handles the bass-management crossover for a whole 5.1 array, not just the low end under a stereo pair.
The Circle 1 was sold as a standalone component and as the low end of a turnkey surround package. HHB's promotional material of the period described a complete 5.1 system built around five active Circle 5 monitors and a single Circle 1. The sub was also offered separately for use with other monitor systems. That dual role shows who HHB was chasing: the project studio putting together a surround rig on a budget, and the stereo owner who wanted low-end extension for an existing pair of nearfields without buying another power amp.
The Circle 1 is a subwoofer, not a full-range monitor. It belongs to a family that included the Circle 3 nearfield and the Circle 5 midfield, each available in active and passive versions. HHB advertised the Circle range as accurate, revealing, detailed and untiring monitors offering best-value monitoring solutions (Studio-Sound, February 2000, p.87). The advertising leaned hard on value - "accurate monitoring is a right, not a privilege" ran one line - and the range was pitched explicitly at buyers for whom a big monitoring budget wasn't on the table.
HHB's marketing was unusually aggressive for a monitor range, and the Circle 1 rode along with it. The company ran a campaign saying Mick Fleetwood had standardized on Circle monitors across his studios in London, Los Angeles and Hawaii after a single session. It also reprinted praise from Pro Audio Review and Audio Media about the Circle 5s and Circle 3s. Those testimonials are about the satellites, not the sub, so the Circle 1's reputation is mostly inherited from the range rather than earned on its own press. The sub's own case rests on the 100-watt module and the built-in five-channel filtering, which made it a convenient hub for a surround setup of the era.
The Circle 1 doesn't have a deep paper trail. Published specifications beyond the amp rating and the filtering are thin in the surviving material, so owners chasing hard numbers on crossover points, driver size, or cabinet dimensions will come up short. It is a functional, well-integrated sub from a respected British pro-audio brand's monitor experiment. It suits someone completing a Circle system, and less so a collector hunting a standalone subwoofer on its own merits.
eBay Listings
As an eBay Partner, we earn from qualifying purchases. This helps support our independent vintage technology research.