sundownz

You called? My phone must be messed up or something as I haven't had any missed calls that are displaying to me.

How is that working out for you, sound quality wise? The 20.1 is a beast so I'm sure it doesn't mind thermally, just curious about fidelity at 0.5 ohms.

Have you tried it sealed yet? I would suggest giving it a listen sealed in that box you have laying around before going through all the trouble of building a vented enclosure. I find sealed to be more than adequate, but of course you sound like a guy who loves loud bass! Either way, I suggest at least a listen sealed beforehand.

Sounds like your sub amplifier gain is too high or your mid/high amplifier gain is too low. I don't know of many front stage setups outside of the high end realm that will keep up with a Mag if they are level matched. Chances are you are simply pushing the sub too hard mechanically. You set your gain at 50 Hz, if you drop down to 25 Hz and you require 4x the excursion for the same SPL output. The song you are listening too probably has some very low information that pushes the sub to a point where you get a slapping sound... which is probably the tinsel leads as the Mags really won't bottom out unless you tear the spider. It can *possibly* have a lead slapping sound in the right set of circumstances; eg: mechanical overdrive, as the leads will not slap in normal operation. Thermally you are okay with 1000 watts but you can exceed the linear x-max capabilities of the subwoofer at a low enough frequency. Does your amplifier have a subsonic filter? If so, have you tried playing with this a bit to see if perhaps it helps? Chances are the notes that are causing the slapping sound are nearly inaudible anyway, so filtering them out won't effect your listening noticeably other than reliving the mechanical slap.

Anything is pretty loud in a hatch. In my old Firebird I had everything from a pair of VIFA 8s with 5mm x-max (vented) to 3x 12" Magnums (sealed) with a 36" long amp... every setup in there was more than loud enough for quality listening. I say go with a single 12 to save a bit of room, besides, it's plenty of SPL if you just listen to music. Heck... a single sealed 12" Mag is plenty in the trunk of my BMW (bass trap).

Fibutron also cures impotence... side effects may include increased x-max.

Nick pretty much summed it up. The BM is a mean little speaker that certainly deserves the SI name printed on the front. It held it's own in a way very uncommon for drivers in it's price category -- holding composure at very low frequencies with high output with no crying for mercy. I may consider swapping my Mag for a BM to save some weight when they are released since I'm getting old and don't listen so loud anymore Of course the Mag will end up in the house... don't think it's getting away from me any time soon!

Nick's e-mail server gives alot of trouble for some reason. My SI address is doesn't work so well either so I know first hand Best thing to do is to call him and leave a message since more than likely if he hasn't e-mailed you back there was an error somewhere in the pipeline and he didn't get the e-mail.

I know who is doing my next fiberglass job... I spent forever making my tire well box!

Shippers quite literally throws the boxes around, it's frightening. Personally I have had much better like with FedEx, I generally receive boxes that look nearly pristine from them. I guess it all depends on what hubs your box went through and who handled them.

I'd like to pick up a pair as well after I can see some more pics and whatnot... hopefully the site gets ready soon so I can get in my pre-order.

Honestly I think 0.5 ohms daily is pushing it. I have heard of people burping it at 0.5 ohms, but I have not heard any reports of people running it daily like that -- although I may have just missed them.

I'll add a little something... I thought Nick may have got his hands on some beer laced with crack when he called me and told me he had this amazing new wire. So I go and listen to it... and I'll be damned, it does sound different. A big difference too, way more than I could be imagining. I also came into the test blind, Nick had it hooked up before I got there and switched Left to Right on me. Excellent wire. The only thing keeping it out of my car is the fact that it would take 10 years off my life from stress to get three runs of that through the rubber fittings in my doors *laughs*

Was it in a trunk? I do know that I'm not the only one to hear the woosh. It's not something you'll hear from the cabin if it's in a trunk, and maybe not ever rear firing in a hatch. But it's something I heard in several show cars with the cone firing at the listener. Of course, maybe it doesn't happen on all W7s or it was an unrelated coincidence. I do know I didn't much care for the W7, although that is not to say it's not a very nice sub -- it's very well built for one thing, and has a ton of useful throw. Also has a very low THD and whatnot... just a funny sound to it that I can best describe as 'tubby.' Maybe due to the structural poly cone used on the driver. Maybe due to people using the wrong box creating a hump too, I haven't owned one just heard them on several occasions.

I personally think W7's sound like crap. They do have a weird sound to them... I suspect "wooshing" through all the cross drilling and maybe some kind of resonance with the cone structure. Sounds "tubby and wooshy" *laughs*

I'm gonna have to come check that out this weekend!

What sort of vehicle is this in? All I can tell you is that I've heard a pair of the older SI Mag 15s vented in a large box in an Explorer with less power than you are talking about... and it was crazy. Could make your breath skip a little bit and was quite painful to the ears, IMHO. And on that note, the new Mags are even louder than those models. Unfortunatly I cannot directly compare for you... but suffice to say a pair of 15" Mags vented is stupid loud, goes way low, and still sounds great.

They are decent for the cost, although all in all the small MTX is a better sounding amp (hence it's application on the midrange drivers). Of course the MTX has next to nothing as far as crossover functionality (full, and 85 Hz selectrable HP or LP). If I had it to do over... I'd probably purchase something else. This is definatly not up to par with the likes of old school Soundstream and the current upper lines of Soundstream. have you thought about a ZED 4 channel with burr brown? Zed doesn't make anything small enough to fit where I need it to. I thought about alot of stuff but it comes down to what fit in there and wasn't going to cost me a fortune. The HiFonics ZX6000 I wanted to use at 14.88" x 2.63" x 10.39" didn't even come close to fitting. The Zed 4-Channel is 17.48" x 2.91" x 11.9" so it's definatly out of the question. For comparison the Soundstream amps are 9.5" x 2.5" x 6" in size, and the MTX 4122 is even smaller than they are, but I only had one of them and it's an old model. For now it's going to work out fine. I stuck the MTX on the midrange drivers which cover most of the important stuff (350 - 7,000 Hz I believe) and that made things work out nicely. If I want to change the setup I'd have to ditch the ZX1000, which I don't want to do, and use a small footprint Class-D amp to free up some room.

They are decent for the cost, although all in all the small MTX is a better sounding amp (hence it's application on the midrange drivers). Of course the MTX has next to nothing as far as crossover functionality (full, and 85 Hz selectrable HP or LP). If I had it to do over... I'd probably purchase something else. This is definatly not up to par with the likes of old school Soundstream and the current upper lines of Soundstream.

*laughs* 95% of the wires are tied up in bundles with zip ties, thats about as neat as it gets in my trunk and the moment. This isn't an issue since I'm building a raised false floor to cover the whole deal. I'll have some slats cut-out to pass the bass through (might even use 4-6 end-pieces from aeroports), but it'll otherwise be solid. Even the slats or port holes will be covered with the factory rubberized carpet piece. I just need to get the install nailed down before I build this floor... the mess of wires and crap you see on the left is the bundle of resistors and barrier strips I used to make 4 seperate L-Pads for my mids and tweeters to even out their output relative to the midbass drivers (which were equalized with the L-R balance). Still only 90% certain that is totally correct, so suffice to say it's not ready to roll

Um, we REQUIRE pics you tease. I attached a pic of the mess I have right now in the trunk... it isn't of the proto (thats a Mag installed), but hey, it's all I got

We plopped the protos in my install in the BMW. As Nick said our real-deal prototype sounds damn near identical to a full fledged D2 except with less output potential. I was very impressed... the proto mid-line actually had plenty of output for what I'm looking for out of a subwoofer.

I'd still love to have that wire in my car... but after examining how the wire runs through my car, well, lets just say that I think I'd rather saw my own arm off than try to install it all. I'm having seizures just thinking about getting 3 runs of it into my front doors! I'm no install wuss either... I took a die grinder to my doors to install my midbass and tweeters and a jigsaw to the door skin for the midranges!

By all accounts the new D2s are amazing speakers. All user reviews that I have encountered that mention your previous drivers would place the D2 above them. Oh yes, hello and welcome to the forum.

Looking forward to seeing what you guys do with the new D2s