ID12 overstock review.

[Tirefryr 1,742]

Well, I picked one of the $100 ones up for a cheap alternative for some subbass.

First impressions:

The build quality is extraodrinary. Everything is aligned perfectly. There is not a hint of excessive glue used which is commonplace on a lot of subs today available from certain buildhouses. The finish on the driver is superb. The basket seems to be a little weak for the motor structure, but hey, it was a lot of "leftover parts" assembled very well into a quite impressive looking driver. IT came with a four-piece, self-adhesive foam surround for rear sealing, with a very attractive front rubber piece that just seems to flow into, or out from the surround. I wish other manufacturers would incorporate this into their drivers versus the removable rubber gaskets commonly used from other places. The terminals are a standard affair spring-loaded type. Not exactly something I like, but they get the job done. Overall from a buildquality and asthetic standpoint, the driver is the best I have ever handled next to the W7. There are a lot of things on this $100 driver I would like to see incorporated into some of the common "supersubs" of the inernet variety. MY only gripe is the ID logo on the front appears as if it was hastily molded. It looks like something someone cut out with a pair of scissors and glued on the dustcap.

Enclosure:

I have a standard 1 cubic foot sealed enclosure I use for break-in and testing purposes. I have yet to have a driver under 12 inches not perform decently in this sized enclosure for a simple pop-in solution to a quick test. It's also damn near right in the middle of ID's recommended enclosure for sealed use. The final enclosure will be a 2 cubic foot vented alignment tuned to 32Hz.

For amplification, I used a US AMPS USA50 bridged mono at 2 ohms, yielding a specified 160 watts. I have no doubt it is pushing a little more than this, but not much. I am a big fan of low power and I usually never use more than 500 watts on any one driver, so this was a perfect platform for my personal tastes. On to the goods. . . .

Listening:

I tested this on a variety of material from The Eagles to Tupac to MegaDeath to Beethoven to Techmaster. You get the point. No country though, I hate Bareback Cowboys.

IMPACT, IMPACT, IMPACT!!! This thing is a gut kicker. Even with the little power, the kickdrum is very PRONOUNCED and tight. Very good for "spare parts." I did have a small problem with s "tinny" type of resonance. I could not do anything about this. I tried clamping the walls of the enclosure, stuffing it, bolting it to the car; nothing helped. This then reminded me about the not-so-stout basket. Could it be the smaller guage stamped steel basket is a little to flimsy??? Not just yet.

Low, lows. . . Pretty much non-existant here. COuldn't get much audible output below 29Hz according to my ear and test tones. I could attribute this to anything from cancellation, to too little power, to undersized enclosure. I didn't yet have my vented enclosure ready, so I did what I could with the other two possibilities. Spending an hor playing around with firing arrangements and enclosure position did little for me. I decided the next best thing was adding some power. Unfrotunately, the only other amplifier I have with more power is the BPX2200.1. Clearly this will not be good. I might as well throw $100 in the trash right? ? ? Oh well, lets try it anyways. It's rated at 2400+ into 4 ohms, so if I wire it at 8 and leave the gains LOW, I should be fine huh? NOPE. Any hint of the volume knob on this puppy resulted in instant mechanical noise. Mr. Spider, meet Mr. Basket. No thanks, back to the little guy.

I powered it up again, but this time, set the enclosure in the passenger compartment on the passengers side floorboard firing straight up. MUCH BETTER! Low bass improved dramatically to the point where vibration pretty much took over everything else. I'm liking this, but that damn resonance is killing me. I got crafty here and removed the driver and got out the clay and proceeded to coat the basket with this stuff anywhere it would stick. Reinstalling the driver and going back to listening provided me with a pleasing grin. The resonance was gone. Personally, I don't feel the basket is structurally sound enough to support tyhe motor structure and moving assembly once powered up, but we go back to the "spare parts" factor here and the value and realize, this is a compromise. It's easily taken care of with a trip to the dollar store for some clay, or perhaps some deadening scraps you have lying around to add some mass.

Overall Impressions:

For the $100 pricetag, I can't complain. Aside from the basket, the driver is overbuilt and it's impressive to look at. Quality is A+. Shipping was free and I got it in 1 week. It was packaged well and cheap. No extra bling or advertising on the box to alert the package hackers that this could be a nice thing to play baseball with. Weighing in at 27lbs, it's quite hefty for it's size. Nothing out of the norm here though. Large motor structures and weight sell drivers amongst the uneducated consumers. Had this not been a temporary solution to cure my no bass blues, I probably would have spent some more and bought a purpose-builty, higher quality driver. I think this driver will please most budget-minded consumers, but for anyone who's been in the hobby for a while, it will leave them yearning for more. The think to keep in mind here though is this is only a $100 driver built with spare parts, and nothing more.

Stay tuned for updates on the vented enclosure and double the power.

[Chevy350TPI 12]

Awesome review - thanks for the reflections.

Looking forward to the vented results and impressions.

[Beat_Dominator 2]

Where the pics at holms?!

[dennisp 0]

Not too bad for a driver that was just thrown together with spare parts.

[Tirefryr 1,742]

No pics. Are they even necessary?

[Aaron Clinton 2,372]

great review

[///M5 2,833]

excellent writeup, curious to see how you feel about the vented alignment.

[vladd 26]

what did you do with the clay? am i understanding right that you just stuck it on the basket, and it actually stayed?

[Eldorado 0]

Yes, it sticks right on

tried that with my friends mids

[Tirefryr 1,742]

Yes, it sticks right on

tried that with my friends mids

Works like a charm!

[JimJ 11]

I've heard of people doing that to full range drivers with epoxy to kill basket resonances...

[iagrdshaka 0]

Nice review

So the basket was the only disappointing part of it?

[afarfsin 0]

Very nice. Are those the subs I saw on eBay a few days ago? If I were in the market for new subs I would've bought a couple. Nice tip with the clay too. I've never heard of that before.

[Tirefryr 1,742]

SO far the basket is my only complaint. The sub didn't exactly go to low, but it was in 1 cube sealed with little power. I expect the lowend to increase dramatically once vented and fed a bit more power.

[CBFryman 2]

its a shame when a basket/suspension is what is holding a driver back....

[Tirefryr 1,742]

It is just thrown together with spare parts though. With that being the sole factor to focus on. Indeed a great value though.

[CBFryman 2]

i can drop a chevy 350 bored and stroked to a 383 with a high performance cam, and total valve train redo, high CR, etc etc... into an uber weak unibody and never be able to get on it hardbecause the torque will snap the uni in half.... makes the car worthless for anything but light driving.