stratusrt01

Sorry for the delay on responses, I've been tied up lately with some business. I would agree that this sub has more potential than my numbers show. It wasn't designed to be an end-all, be all for the SPL testing, I just wanted a fair comparison to other subwoofers. I may actually continue on with my quest for max SPL out of this thing after testing is over. In a true SPL setup, I'm quite sure on the power I have at my disposal, a 150 is completely achievable. To answer the questions on how it sound musically, I was very surprised. It actually sounds decent, and that's hard to get out of an SPL based sub with a fairly high Fs and 2500rms rating. In the box tuned to 40hz, it really didn't have many problems hitting whatever I threw at it, although my subsonic filter was set around 32ish hz. Round 2 begins this week, since I have some time off finally, and we'll give it another go.

I think a SAZ 3000d @ 17.7v is about as real as it's going to get, 5k on a 12" sub is Gorilla Pimpin A real spl environment doesnt mean tons of power, it means in an spl built box, in an spl car. 146db-148db off 5000 watts isnt a real spl environment. Its loud yes but it should be WAYYYYYYYYYY louder. Its impressive that the sub took it, id just like to see what its FULL potential is in a burp mobile specifically built for this sub. It shouldn't be WAYYYYYYYYY louder, given the circumstances. This was done in a trunk car, seats up, sealed on the dash. This happens to be the rules in the class I compete in NSPL. For the car and situation, the scores are most impressive. For example, the loudest that's been done in my class is a 153.0, which was a pair of 15's on 4 Stetsom 2K6's..... Kind of puts it in a different light, huh? If you would like, I will put it in my truck, where the frequency is 68hz, and let it rip a few times. The numbers will be up, yes, but my car is more of a stable platform, the freq stays the same, and it reliably puts up good numbers out of the trunk. no it doesnt put it in a different light, and im not saying he's not a real spl competitor. Im also a competitor, with a trunk car. But what do i know right? I didnt goto db drag finals and compete in street A in 07. No i know absolutly nothing lol. Come guys, theres no insults here i just wanna see what this subwoofer is capable of in an install thats completly built and proven. Next time im testing ill try it with the seats up and see what number i can do, mind you have half the power he's running. But we'll see, any chance you can do some tests with the seats down, you know db drag style? How do you have half the power with an Atomic 5k?

The SPL 12 took 5k burps with no problem at all. I can do burps with the seats down, but it would probably change my tuning frequency, I'd have to check that out. I just never really meter with the seats down, since it's not allowed in my class, you know you do what you get used to. I have done it in the past a couple times, and was 1.4db louder with no testing to see if my frequency changed, so I would expect similar results. That's sealed up, on the dash also. I know some people around here want to compare Outlaw style numbers to mine, but it's not possible, these were all sealed up on the dash, DB Drag and NSPL legal. This test wasn't setup to get the SPL 12 the loudest it could, it was supposed to be a fair comparison to some known SPL subwoofers. I'm sure I could get it louder with testing, but I've got a new project working, and don't really have the interest in making the Stratus loud as possible again, I'm loving listening to anything I want without changing the EQ or subwoofer level settings.

I think a SAZ 3000d @ 17.7v is about as real as it's going to get, 5k on a 12" sub is Gorilla Pimpin A real spl environment doesnt mean tons of power, it means in an spl built box, in an spl car. 146db-148db off 5000 watts isnt a real spl environment. Its loud yes but it should be WAYYYYYYYYYY louder. Its impressive that the sub took it, id just like to see what its FULL potential is in a burp mobile specifically built for this sub. It shouldn't be WAYYYYYYYYY louder, given the circumstances. This was done in a trunk car, seats up, sealed on the dash. This happens to be the rules in the class I compete in NSPL. For the car and situation, the scores are most impressive. For example, the loudest that's been done in my class is a 153.0, which was a pair of 15's on 4 Stetsom 2K6's..... Kind of puts it in a different light, huh? If you would like, I will put it in my truck, where the frequency is 68hz, and let it rip a few times. The numbers will be up, yes, but my car is more of a stable platform, the freq stays the same, and it reliably puts up good numbers out of the trunk.

It was done for this one as well, I'm just still compiling data into a spreadsheet with all the information.

If you don't have a dealer close to you, DD will sell them to you direct. www.ddaudio.com

www.mach5audio.com I could use 2 amps on 17.7v, however, I think all of the subs will suffer from power compression badly on 10k watts, which will make the results all over the place.

My car has a huge peak at 44hz, no matter what the enclosure or subwoofer is. With the pair of SD-1 10's, 44hz. With the Magnum, 44hz, with the DD 9510's, 44hz. It never changes, no matter what I put in there, it's just the nature of my vehicle, I assume. I'm sure each of the subs could have seen a few more tenths, if I had the time to test and tune each one, and build 3 or 4 boxes for each one, there's no question about that. This test was just to show the potential of the Mach 5 SPL 12 as compared to the other "big boy" SPL subs on the market. Honestly, I expected there to be a larger gap between all the subs, but it just didn't happen that way, for whatever reason. The reason I began with a simple 2.5 cubic ft box, tuned to 40hz, is because 90% of the time, 2.5 works well for all 12" subs, maybe not optimal, but works well. I figured that 2.5 cubic ft at 40hz would be a good base, just to show the capabilities. This doesn't mean with proper testing, you couldn't get much better numbers with any of the subs, and that one sub might be better in certain situations than the others. I tried to remove those variables as much as possible. Personally, I believe that any of these subs are winners. Pick the one you want to work with and go with it. However, now I see the Mach 5 as an equal to the MT and 9500, where before I saw it as a budget SPL sub, good for someone who couldn't afford an MT or 9500. Now I would buy the SPL 12 in the same regards, after seeing it perform.

You're talking about music though, this is burps only, a totally different animal.

The place I work at is a DD dealer, and I'll tell you they only work in that small of a box well if the burp frequency is high, which mine isn't. I could try them out in a smaller box though, but the numbers would more than likely go down for all subs.

The only upgrades would be composite cone and carbon fiber cap. The composite doesn't even really make a difference on the 12's SPL numbers until you get well over the power we were testing at, and at higher frequencies. It also had an advantage, being dual 1, when the other subs were dual 2 ohm.

No, they were not in order at all, we were mixing and matching all day. And the batteries were recharged fully and rested in between each run. Remember, this is 2 full day's work to post the numbers listed here.

You crack me up sometimes man. There's no pole vent on one of the other subwoofers also.......lol

1st round was done in my Stratus, in a 2.5 cubic ft. box, tuned to 40hz. Burp freq was 44hz for all subs, they all peaked at the same freq in my car, just like every other subwoofer that's been in there. Here's the average numbers for each sub. I'm compiling a spreadsheet with every test individually tonight, when I finish testing. 1st test on a single SAZ-3000d, 300 amp alternator, Stinger 2150 battery, all run at 1 ohm, except for the DD 9512, which was done at .5 ohms, due to coil configuration on the only one I could get for this weekend. 5 burps were done on each sub, given appropriate cooldown in between burps. RE MT - 146.4 SPL 12 - 146.4 DD 9512 - 146.3 IA DP - 145.9 2nd test was on a single SAZ-3000d, starting voltage at 17.7v, dropping to an average of 14.3v. Same enclosure, same freq, same vehicle. 4 8V batteries were used to provide power. Clamped at 4998 watts for this test, so we'll call it a 5k watt test. RE MT - 148.3 DD 9512 - 148.2 SPL 12 - 148.2 IA DP - Test did not finish due to sub reaching it's mechanical limits. Testing remaining is to try a 3.5 cubic ft box, which I've heard the SPL 12 likes a lot. We'll get that accomplished tonight hopefully. If I don't feel it can be completed tonight, I'll hold all testing until Tuesday on all subs, so that conditions are exactly the same, and accurate results can be posted. Now for my opinions on the testing that the numbers don't show. On 3k watts, all subs handled the power with no problems. During the listening tests on 3k, some major differences appeared however. The MT and SPL 12 played just fine, both sounded good, and would hit any note thrown at it, even tuned at 40 hz. Both had minimal to no mechanical noise, and sounded as good as I can expect an SPL sub to sound. However, the DD's were very mechanical sounding, and while still loud, they really sounded the same on every note, no major tonal differences. The DP on 3k on music was pushing it, however it didn't get dangerously hot until after about 14 minutes of play time. However, on low notes, it just wasn't happy tuned to 40hz compared to the rest for music. On 5k watt burp testing, the MT and DD were at their wits end at 44hz. I wouldn't have wanted to go up too much more on these subs, considering they are not mine. The SPL 12 seemed to handle this power level the easiest at my burp frequency, which is impressive, given the range of subwoofers. The DP upon the 3rd burp at this power level started making some nasty mechanical noise, so testing was halted on it, and it will not be included in the 65hz testing tonight or Tuesday. I don't know if I just took it past it's limits, or it's possible that it was a freak accident, which isn't normal from the sub's behavior. When I had my DP, I never took it above 3k watts, so I just don't know, we'll see what happened when I cut the sub apart later this evening or tomorrow.

I love the 100.2, we hit 138.0 with one with a pair of 8's on the meter. May not be the biggest, but it's the most bang for the buck amp out there.