Subjective
The final round of the long excursion, 12" subwoofer test is literally the battle of the heavy weights. The "lightest" of these four subs weighs in at nearly 30 pounds. Hauling the woofers and enclosures in and out of my Toyota Tacoma ExtraCab nearly required a small forklift.
While the second round featured subs in the $300-500 range, the latest woofers will set you back as much as $800 each! Power handling took a jump too, with the highest peak rating of 3500 watts. That's some serious power. To make sure I could shock every coil in this test, I stepped up my amplifier.
To the top of the food chain. Rockford Fosgate's hot new Power BD1500.1 was the power source for this test. To make sure the amp had enough current to hit the more than 1700 watts its birth certificate showed it was capable of, I also added a second battery and mounted it within 18 inches of the amplifier. Just like the last test, there were no problems with the Rockford amp and I'm certain it pushed these subs for all they're worth.
Keeping in mind you buyers, I used the same music selections for consistency as in round two with the exception of substituting Outkast's "Stankonia" for Ludicris' "Back For The First Time." This was just a little change in pace. Like last time, I weighted it more than any of the others because this is likely the most popular type music for someone purchasing these subs.
For Techno or Dance I used Yello's "Baby." While many of you may not recognize them, you may remember their track, "Oh Yeah" from "Ferris Bueller's Day Off." All the music is synthesized but very complex and very well arranged. I used track 3, "Rubberband Man" because it has a synth bass line that moves like a staccato march through different frequencies.
For rock I used Nirvana's "Nevermind," track 5 "Lithium." The recording on this album is much better than anyone ever gave it credit for and the song starts with a high impact kick drum matched by bass guitar. It was basically a sound quality and impact check.
Radio is back, too. While you can't compare the same song with every woofer, KISS FM here in Phoenix as well as Los Angeles and Las Vegas, plays popular music and heavily boosts the bass for the average Joe who's only got a factory system. Listening to a track on the radio and then the same track on CD will give dramatically different results. Turns out people listen to the radio quite a bit so, like the Outkast track, it gets extra weighting.
Last, I got a recommendation from someone who used to make a living with his ears: a pair of tracks completely unknown to me previously AND in a different language. With that combination, you're forced to listen to music. You don't know the rhythm or the lyrics so your mind can only concentrate on the tone and pitch.
First was Cheb Mami's "Meli Meli." Turkish Pop sung in Arabic is about as good as I can describe it. Again this is synthesized music, but Cheb has an excellent voice and track 4, "Parisien du Nord," is like listening to rap in another language. Second was Salif Keita's "Folon." Track 2, "Mandjou," has a very smooth bass drum and bass guitar about a half beat apart. I used this track as a sound quality check.
That does it for the music selections. When it came time to build the enclosure, not a lot of effort was put forth. You see, each of the boxes built are simply manufacturer recommended enclosures for each subwoofer. The box volumes were calculated and built as to what is printed in the manual, online, or recommended by the tech departments. This seemed appropriate -- so that I can convey my opinions based on the box that someone purchasing one of these subs would likely build. Each of these enclosures were then placed into the vehicle, one at a time, with the woofer facing the right side of the rear compartment. Each was placed the same distance from the right side wall.
In testing these heavyweights, only minor adjustments were made to match the woofer to the rest of the system. The adjustments I am speaking of are the crossover and input gain control on the Rockford Fosgate BD1500.1. No other processing was placed into the system, nor was the bass or loudness adjusted from the neutral or off positions.
A final note about the ratings. The ratings were given in a way to indicate that one of the four subs did it better than the rest, not to some esoteric standard only known to me. That's why there is a perfect score in every category. Another sub not in the test may do better, but since I don't have my hands on them, it doesn't count.
Eclipse 88120TiDVC
This was the most expensive and probably the most incredible looking woofer of the four. It's made from a real titanium cone and has a skyscraper tall motor structure. The voice coil is so overhung that you can see the coil windings extend past the top of the magnet stack. The 88120TiDVC was the only sealed box sub in this test. The box was big by comparison to the second round of tests, but plenty reasonable for a true SPL woofer. At 1.75 cubic feet it wasn't too much to handle.
After listening to the 88120TiDVC it was pretty easy to see that this is a purpose built sub. A titanium cone, gigantic surround and a motor built to take pubescent abuse add up to a sub that belts out SPL and bumpin' tunes to be heard for blocks. The flip side is that it doesn't do well at anything approaching sound quality. But Lamborghini's aren't known for their plush ride and luggage space. Same rules apply here.
On Yello's "Rubberband Man," there was lots of output, but the 88120TiDVC never really got the cascading bass notes to come through clearly. The same on Salif's album. The bass drum had good impact, but there was too much overhang.
Switch it then to the racetrack and things change. On the radio, this sub was at home. Tons of boosted output, 60-80 Hz bass. Same for Outkast's track #8, "Spaghetti Junction." Bump, bump, bump. The synthesized notes of Cheb Mami came through with the impact needed to beat up a bit. The Eclipse 88120TiDVC is a monster. It's meant to be used for long excursion, super high power SPL systems where the owner is not looking for a compromise between sound quality and output. It's also expensive, but these kinds of materials don't come cheap.
Massive Audio DMx12
The Massive Audio DMx12 was wedged into a 2.67 cubic ft. vented enclosure. That's closing in on the box size for sealed 15-inch sub, but like Vance explained, when these subs get warmed up, their parameters change and, at least for high SPL, they'll work better in larger boxes.
Once it was inserted and the front seat put back in place, I cranked up the DMx12. I wasn't disappointed. First try was the Outkast track and it immediately loosened some fillings in my teeth. Better, it was even fairly clear and fast. Some overhang was apparent on certain notes, but this thing is obviously purpose built for extremely high output.
Yello's "Rubberband Man" put plenty of output in the cabin, though it didn't quite get every step on the cascading bass march. What it did though was hit the low notes. I was pleasantly surprised with the box tuned in the mid thirties how well the low bass extended.
Same thing for the radio. Not only was it getting the low bass, but it was fairly tight from note to note. This is pretty hard to do because the radio stations add a bump to the airwaves to help cheap OEM speakers.
Switching to rock and Nirvana's "Lithium," the bass drum hit right on even at make-sure-you-have-headphones levels. There was a bit of trouble when the bass guitar was playing a half note off the kick drum, but all around it was good.
On Cheb Mami, the synth bass was thumping along but higher frequencies were shallow. Adjusting the BD1500.1's crossover didn't help things. The bass line on Salif's "Folon" is the psydo sound quality check; and while better than the Eclipse or the Kove, sound quality may not be this woofer's calling.
The basket of the Massive Audio DMx12 was unique, though its back plate was just plain black for heat reasons. On SPL tests, the Massive Audio DMx12 was hitting big, running the Rockford Fosgate amp for all it was worth. Take a look here for an SPL hitter.