My Mag V.4 Review

[ku40]

Copied and pasted from SSA.

I have the new Mag in an enclosure that's about 1.15 cubes before displacement, so maybe 1.05 after. It's powered by a Crossfire BMF1000D, giving a rated 1000 watts to it at 1 ohm.

I must admit that when I first put power to the sub I was a little disappointed. It seemed pretty lifeless. However, you must give it time to break in. After about 3 hours of listening time I was much happier. It sounds excellent, tonality is superb, and it does blend with the mids very well. I must say that it definitely sounds different than any other sub you've probably tried (though I haven't listened to any other XBL^2 enabled subs), and you probably wouldn't believe me unless you actually heard it. At least I didn't realize just how different a sub could sound.

The Mag gets about as loud as I thought it would. It's not blow-your-doors-off loud, but it can give things a good rattle and blur your vision a tad. However, as others have said, it definitely cannot soak the power like previous versions. The sub I replaced this with was a 15" v.2 Mag in a ported enclosure, and that sub could take everything my Crossfire could throw at it. But I'm a little timid to say that I did bottom out the new Mag. Let me tell you this- IT GIVES YOU NO WARNING. This sub sounds perfectly linear until you literally push that volume knob one notch too far, and then it will bottom. It is outstanding that it stays linear throughout its entire excursion range, but that's also a cause for apprehension for me. Other subs will let you know that it's getting a little too far by giving audible distortion signals. The Mag does not. It's volume 22: "Damn this sub sounds awesome, it's really getting into a groove," to volume 23: BRAAAP "AAAUUUGGGHH!!!! turn it down turn it down." It scared me a little.

This sub sounds like pure sex when I played Def Leppard's "Let it Rock." It will handle The Crystal Method's most crazy basslines with ease and detail you've never heard. It'll play all four bass notes in Young Jeezy's "Put On" in perfect form and without exaggerating any of them. This sub has absolutely 0% distortion. What you are hearing is what the artist put onto the track. There is no overhang from previous notes or boominess.

But there are things that will take some getting used to for me. One is the loss of the crazy low end that my 15" Mag had. I loved that thing. It didn't quite had the tonality that this sub has, but it was pure brute force and I loved it. The new Mag is not an aggressive sub. It's punchy, but not as punchy as I would have thought. Don't get me wrong, it's not sloppy either. It's just something in the middle that I can't quite figure out. It's punchy with a laid back theme. If you're used to concerts where the kick bass from their loudspeakers snaps you in the chest, this does not sound like that. I dunno. It also has some.......interesting......quirks. It seems to have a natural attenuation above 70 hz or so, and this may be why it blends with the mids so well. You can still hear the sub, but you don't feel it. Which is another weird thing about this sub, is that you can feel the pressure on your ears but it seems transparent. You can't feel it or tell where it's coming from in medium volume ranges. Which is great, I mean the other day I was driving down the road and turned my head to look for oncoming traffic and was like whoa.......I actually could not tell where the sub was located. It seemed to be emanating from all directions. When you crank it up that goes away, though, but that is likely mainly because it was overpowering my mids and highs. Speaking of cranking it up, I mentioned how you can hear it but not feel it so much at medium volume levels. This sub is different than others I've tried in that regard. Others steadily increase in both feel and hear, but this one really only gets felt in the upper 20% or so of it's output. It will give you a nice massage at about 90% full volume.

This is an outstanding sound quality sub, and it will get the job done for any true audiophile. It also has a fairly small mounting depth. However, for me and my Explorer that wasn't really a concern. If I had any suggestions for my own tastes, it would be to deepen the mounting depth to a more conventional design so that it could have more usable throw. A slightly more aggressive sub may suit me better as well, and I kinda miss the lowend monster that the 15" was. But these are my own fault for picking a subwoofer that was not entirely in line with my tastes. I do have a bit of basshead in me. I did want a smaller box (my gf was also pushing for that pretty hard), and this obviously has that advantage, along with weight saving. I forgot to mention build quality, but come on, it's SI. Build quality is never an issue.

[Electrodynamic]

Going from a ported 15" to a sealed 12" is a HUGE difference. That, and you mentioned not being able to "hear" certain things - that's the lack of distortion. It takes some getting used to.

Nice review though, very thorough...especially comparing it to a 15" v2 Mag.

[ku40]

I really didn't mean to make it sound negative. I just realized how much longer my parts are on the things it doesn't do than the parts on what it does do. It's just a hard sub for me to explain, so I guess it's easier for me to think of things that makes it different.

[Electrodynamic]

Originally Posted by ku40

I really didn't mean to make it sound negative. I just realized how much longer my parts are on the things it doesn't do than the parts on what it does do. It's just a hard sub for me to explain, so I guess it's easier for me to think of things that makes it different.

Sorry, I should have specified: I was referring to your reference of the amount of bass. A ported 15 compared to a sealed 12 is a big difference. That's all I was trying to say in my previous post. Thanks again for the review though.

PS: I totally agree about the break-in period. They sound pretty good when you first them, but they REALLY start to shine after about a week of playing. That's when I really started to enjoy mine when I had it in the Civic.

[sundownz]

I can attest to having no audible distortion until it bottoms out, right Nick ?

[Electrodynamic]

Originally Posted by sundownz

I can attest to having no audible distortion until it bottoms out, right Nick ?

Haha, you little bastard! Yeah, within 10 seconds Jake starts turning up the volume with me going "ok, I think that's enough" and him going "nah, lets turn it up more." Haha. Well we were both wrong - the Mag had a lot more left in it and then all of a sudden, BRAAAAAAP! No warning, just bottomed out. It's good and it's bad. It's good because it means that the Mag is very linear and distortion-free (relatively speaking). It's bad because there's no warning.

[CrazyKenKid]

Originally Posted by Electrodynamic

Haha, you little bastard! Yeah, within 10 seconds Jake starts turning up the volume with me going "ok, I think that's enough" and him going "nah, lets turn it up more." Haha. Well we were both wrong - the Mag had a lot more left in it and then all of a sudden, BRAAAAAAP! No warning, just bottomed out. It's good and it's bad. It's good because it means that the Mag is very linear and distortion-free (relatively speaking). It's bad because there's no warning.

wiat i don't understand something the sub goes braaaap without warning? by braaap do you mean sounds bad?

see i haven't instlled my subs (2 of them yet) b/c i need to fix up my box's and i need to go home lol!

[jdc753]

Originally Posted by CrazyKenKid

wiat i don't understand something the sub goes braaaap without warning? by braaap do you mean sounds bad?

see i haven't instlled my subs (2 of them yet) b/c i need to fix up my box's and i need to go home lol!

I believe what Nick is refering to with the "braaap" sound is the sub bottoming out. Usually too much power on too big of a box can cause this.

Get that box fixed up and get em installed, you will be very happy They get better over time too maybe a couple of days of easy listening.

[Electrodynamic]

Yep, I mean bottoming out. The sub just gets louder and louder and louder and then ... well, you'll know. It's a loud enough warning.

[ku40]

Pic of it installed:



Sorry, I didn't use the rubber cover around the edges. I only had about 8 hours to do the whole creation, so it's not perfect. The whole thing will get draped over with a black cloth shroud of some kind soon, so nobody will see it anyways. That's also why I figured I could get away with the white sealant around the sub . For comparison, the box for my 15D2 took up the entire rest of the cargo area. I had them both back there on my way home.

Here's my amp rack:



The wires for the top amp aren't really sitting on the bottom amp, as this pic may lead you to believe. I still have a bit of wiring clean-up to do, but it was dark and about 30 degrees when I hooked everything up that night so I was just in get-it-done-for-now mode.