Break in / sound quality questions.

[04CE]

My box is 3/4" MDF, 1 cubic foot exactly.

And I accidentally my electrical system with 1812 overture.

Overall, I'm surprised at the weight and quality of the sub. Unfortunately I can't stealth install as planned because the basket tapers too slowly.

quick gain adjustment, set to 63hz, adjust sub volume... blends perfectly. I've never had such an easy time blending a sub.

Now the question... 1812 overture cannons! They have a very crisp rumble to them when they fire. The SI MAG just sounds... a little ambiguous with the cannons. Now, it's significantly better than my old ARC 8 subs, they just went BLAH.

I swapped my IDMAX into the box, and it sounds very similar, however a good bit cleaner than the MAG. To be fair, the IDMAX has years of playing on it, the MAG about 15 minutes. So I'm wondering, if this just something that will begin to sound natural with break in?

Overall, I'm very happy with my purchase. I'm very pleased with the output on only 350w. I can't wait to get my permanent box in...

[soydeedo]

Well let's hope some break-in puts this right. Please keep us posted. =)

[Electrodynamic]

Sounding natural and blending in should be similar atributes, so I'm not sure I understand how the driver doesn't sound natural but it blended in well.

The suspension will loosen up a little bit, but not a ton. I think you might just have to give it more time (and yourself more time to get used to how it performs). Give it a few weeks and report back!

[04CE]

Thanks, it does sound pretty great. It's just a few things like that where there's high speed rumbling that sounds a bit off. Solid drum hits and the like sound fantastic.

We'll see how it does when it loosens up a bit...

[sundownz]

An interesting factor with the Mag is that with the motor linearity comes a totally different "type" of sound. A non-linear BL design experiences an increasing Q with excursion which is often mistaken for "punch" in the sound, when its actually distortion in the form of an increased frequency response hump.

I owned a Brahma years ago and noticed the different "type" of sound right off.

May be what you are hearing

[04CE]

So it should sound more or less, more similar to headphones but with cabin gain?

[Neutered Sputniks]

I think they're saying you should feel it more than hear it. What you've been hearing in your other subs is the distortion at the top of the excursion.

I've definitely noticed that the feel is more prominent than the sound is from the Mag (which is why I had to turn the gain down - stuffy sinus + Mag pressure = bad bad headache). The bass sound from the music is there, just not the distortion from your previous subwoofers, so it seems less punchy (because, well, it is).

[04CE]

Well, maybe. It was more of a floppy muffled sound, rather than a crisp rumble. We'll see what happens once its in its final box and has a few hours through it.

[splxtreme]

Originally Posted by Neutered Sputniks

I think they're saying you should feel it more than hear it. What you've been hearing in your other subs is the distortion at the top of the excursion.

I've definitely noticed that the feel is more prominent than the sound is from the Mag (which is why I had to turn the gain down - stuffy sinus + Mag pressure = bad bad headache). The bass sound from the music is there, just not the distortion from your previous subwoofers, so it seems less punchy (because, well, it is).

As far as less punchy. How will the Mag sound with say, metal? This has a very fast and sharp kick drum. Will it still reproduce that punch from this type of music. I know I'll get the response that, the fronts take care of this, but there are some fundamental roles in the subwoofer that do contribute to this punch also. Most of the higher end drivers that I have bought and tried, were not able to reproduce everything it should have. Especially the ED av.2. I'm sure it was mostly the inductance of the drivers.

As soon as I get some money, I will take a look at buying a Mag, and answering my own questions, but until then. I would like to get some feedback.

I realize that the lower xmax will require me to use more drivers to reproduce the level of sound I normally would to show off. But, at the same time I've been in the recording industry for a while and love the true sound of music, and the way it was intended to sound.

[Electrodynamic]

He's probably going to kick my butt for doing this, but here's a little bit of an email I received from Joe in Australia about his Mag:

Right off the bat on first listen, the smooth response of the sub was apparent and it was doing a great job of blending with the front stage and concealing its location, but the boys at the shop werent entirely blown away. However, as the week has progressed, every day weve jumped in the car to listen to the system its been getting better and better. It just sounds like the 6.5s in the doors are playing down to 30Hz, and doing it effortlessly. If the track has tight bass, its got it. If the song has deep bass, weve got it. The sound is natural, full and satisfyingly deep. The guy who owns the car is a DJ so the majority of the sounds hes playing in the car are house and electronica related (nice clean synthesised bass ) and hes really enjoying the system and how complimentary the Mag has been to his Dyns.

He said he's going to post up a full review soon. I asked him to post it here and on ca.com as well. I'll send him another email asking for an eta.