Single 10 setup, FIQ or SSA Icon

[bigbirney420 0]

I am doing single 10 setup, want some really nice SQ without doing sealed box. 1.25 net tuned to 29. Subs are similarly priced. I have owned FI Q 12 before and liked it but am intrigued by the Icon. Anyone owned both in any size?

[JimJ 11]

What do you have particularly against sealed enclosures?

[///M5 2,833]

What didn't you like about the Q?

[bigbirney420 0]

I am just not a fan of sealed. I have had a pair of Fi Q's 12's sealed, SI Mag 15 sealed, RLP 15 sealed which I did like. I just dont like the lack of oomph in the above 60 hz ranges. I liked my single Q 12 ported better than most setups, which is why I was leaning towards Q 10. I like to try different stuff, and have read a lot of good things on SSA Icons, and was hoping to run into people on here with experience with both.

[JimJ 11]

Sealed boxes aren't attenuating 60Hz at all, an enclosure tuned to 29Hz probably isn't going to have that much of an artificial peak there as well.

[///M5 2,833]

Sealed boxes aren't attenuating 60Hz at all, an enclosure tuned to 29Hz probably isn't going to have that much of an artificial peak there as well.

Agreed. On top of that 60hz isn't a sub frequency but a midbass one.

[Aaron Clinton 2,372]

I am just not a fan of sealed. I have had a pair of Fi Q's 12's sealed, SI Mag 15 sealed, RLP 15 sealed which I did like. I just dont like the lack of oomph in the above 60 hz ranges. I liked my single Q 12 ported better than most setups, which is why I was leaning towards Q 10. I like to try different stuff, and have read a lot of good things on SSA Icons, and was hoping to run into people on here with experience with both.

I agree with Sean and Jim, what do you have for mid-bass' at the moment?

[bigbirney420 0]

Morel Hu 621 mids. Seas tweets. My mids definitely dont lack at all, I am just not good at technically explaining myself. My brother is good at this and I just spend money. I just know that all the sealed setups I had I did not like, with exception of RLP 15, and they have gotten way too pricey

[Aaron Clinton 2,372]

Can I ask, what is was about the sealed set up's that you did not like?

[david in germany 2]

I am debating something similar but with "sealed" looking at about .7f3^

any opinions? 10" SSA, 10" SSD, or 10" Q. I have a Sundown SAE-1000 for power. I only want sub bass as my Cooper has a nice flat sound with stock gear but the roll off is around 45-50 hz

http://www.northamericanmotoring.com/forum...light=frequency

[bigbirney420 0]

Can I ask, what is was about the sealed set up's that you did not like?

Its just the sound that I dont like. I love them for rock and metal that I listen too, but not for Reggae. They just seemed choked off to me. I know ported boxes can be peaky, but I have owned and heard a few that werent too bad. I dont want a completely flat response. Maybe what I want doesnt even exist.

Possibly I just never had the right sub for sealed. I hated the Q sealed, it seemed to bottom out and really lacked something, but I liked my RLP 15 sealed. I have about 1000 watts to play with in the trunk of a grand prix.

Edited September 2, 2008 by bigbirney420

[Aaron Clinton 2,372]

Can I ask, what is was about the sealed set up's that you did not like?

Its just the sound that I dont like. I love them for rock and metal that I listen too, but not for Reggae. They just seemed choked off to me. I know ported boxes can be peaky, but I have owned and heard a few that werent too bad. I dont want a completely flat response. Maybe what I want doesnt even exist.

As I have more experience with the Icon, I know using some polyfill will help to get to where people want in a sealed box. I usually suggest going sealed first and playing with the size (or if the size cannot be changed, play with polyfill to give the sub a synthetic sense of a larger box, or internal slugs to reduce the internal size of the box) regardless of the sub before going ported. Personally I have our Icon proto 12 in a 1.1 sealed box with a little bit of polyfill. As a larger sealed box will up the efficiency a little and give a little livelier bottom end of the range, but too big and many drivers can get sloppy. Honestly, the choice here is a win win.

Edit: The one thing I wonder about is your needs in output, because if you are coming from larger cone drivers which have been ported to a smaller cone driver sealed, you may love the sound but not the output.

[///M5 2,833]

Can I ask, what is was about the sealed set up's that you did not like?

Its just the sound that I dont like. I love them for rock and metal that I listen too, but not for Reggae. They just seemed choked off to me. I know ported boxes can be peaky, but I have owned and heard a few that werent too bad. I dont want a completely flat response. Maybe what I want doesnt even exist.

Possibly I just never had the right sub for sealed. I hated the Q sealed, it seemed to bottom out and really lacked something, but I liked my RLP 15 sealed. I have about 1000 watts to play with in the trunk of a grand prix.

Sounds like a box problem, not an alignment problem. I find it very, very amusing that you don't like sealed but you do like ported. The major difference between the two is that the ported box will exaggerate or peak some frequencies, of course IMO this peak is never beneficial for the sound. Considering you have had issues with sealed I would guess that you had some errors in your boxes. In particular since you like the Rlp sealed considering the RLp definitely favors a ported enclosure.

[bigbirney420 0]

This thread is getting me nowhere, I asked some opinions on two subs and get everyone telling me my likes and dislikes are wrong. My Q 12 were in 1.25 each in a box Built by Brian Owens, I am not sure where the error could be there. Each getting 750 watts from SD 1500. The RLP 12 TS parameters favor a ported box, but the 15 was better suited to sealed or the argumanent was 3 years ago when I owned it. Output is not the issue. I have 2 AA chaos 10's in a BJ Fisher box right now and its too peaky and boomy, too much output for me. Thats why I was looking at a single 10 sub that was more suited to SQ and just tune a little lower and have less port area. Plus I dont want to spend 500+ on two SQ subs and do sealed. The car is setup for speed, thats why I keep going to smaller subs.

Edited September 2, 2008 by bigbirney420

[///M5 2,833]

Nobody can help you without understanding where you are coming from. Either the Q or the Icon in a 10 or 12 sealed will do what you want it to from your descriptions so far. Your description of what you didn't like about your sealed 12" Q surely hasn't helped us understand what it is that bothered you. We really need to start there.

[bigbirney420 0]

After thinking about it, my Q 12 setup was without any fiberfill at all, which a pound or two could have added a little warmth against the hollow sound