Car: VW Bora
System: Sinfoni Amps, ID Horns, ID Midbass
Power to sub: Sinfoni 150.2, bridged into 2ohms = 900rms

Music taste - old fart stuff

SQ/SPL = Pure SQ

Well lads, the subs the IDMAX12v3d4. A 12in, sealed in a 1.3cuft sealed box, wired to show 2ohms.

The box is nothing special, no prizes for carpentry certainly, 18mm mdf & gripfill.

The subs are rated 1krms that's cont' over a 4 hr test. They can be run either sealed, ported or free-air, although for this exercise the sub is sealed, and is to stay in it's enclosure.

Yesterday gary picked the sub up, we stuffed it in the sealed box, and it's off :)

Can't wait to hear what everyone thinks :)

system
ID CD1 pro HLCD
ID CX62's
JL12w6v1
Phase linear modular system
Clarion DRX9375r+DPH9300
audio control epicenter
sub power 600wrms

music taste everything expect Dance!!!

picked the sub up from a nearly crying TB3 Saturday had a very quick listen and phase check round Matt's

then off

first disk in was pink Floyd darkside of the moon and wow the thumping bass was just so controlled and blended with the front.
then in when Madonna ray of light album and OMFG how much low end does the sub have knocked 4db off at 30hz to try and tame it a bit just so
low end i was amazed ****** I'm now 10 miles past my exit on the motorway:S so i fine a car park park up and go through a small collection of CD's 2.5 hours later my mind was made I'm getting an IDMax i haven't heard any sub that impressive ever!!!!!
i can honestly say i was more impressed than i thought i was going to be:D
it drops low its fast and controlled if i had to pick a weakness it would be the punch i felt it was a little lacking but I'm 99% sure thats eq able:D

the next day the epic came out of my system no sub sonic at 24hz any more :twisted: and it really does drop in a sealed enclosure

more to come later

MAP (http://www.geocities.com/bladeuk2001/Stage9.txt)

This is the location map of all involved in the TA IDMAX Tour... The black line, starting with Matt in Portsmouth, signifies the progress of the sub so far, and its current position :)

Theres also a lil picture there of the IDMAX, showing who's got it at the current time... just follow the black line and you'll find it

right, so rough dates...

Sat 06th Dec - Gezzza, Portsmouth
Wed 10th Dec - S3, Winchester
Sun 14th Dec - Puggie, Winchester
Thur 18th Dec - Baz W, Ashford, kent
Mon 22th Dec - Tej, East-London
Fri 26nd Dec - Rambino, Dagenham
Tue 30th Dec - Gan/Cappy, hertfordshire
Sat 03rd Jan - Bayvannan, Luton
Wed 07rd Jan - Stuthemong, Cambridge
Sun 11th Jan - EddyP, Coventry
Thur 15th Jan - Baz, Leicester
Mon 19th Jan - HB, Nottingham
Fri 23rd Jan - Alistair, Nottingham
Tue 27th Jan - Blade, Wolverhampton
Sun 31st Jan - Mulletboy, Birmingham
Wed 04th Feb - Mallets Mallet, Bristol
Sun 08th Feb - Efmax, Reading
Thur 12th Feb - Matt, Portsmouth


everyone happy with these?
As said, obviously these are not set in stone, just a rough guide...

Car: BMW E46 Coupe
System: PG amps, Morel and Dynaudio 3 way front end
Power to sub: PG ZX600ti Bridged mono into the 2 ohm enlosure - around 600 Watts

Music taste - varied, though nothing too dancy or heavy.

SQ/SPL = Pure SQ

Thursday 11th - Collected sub / enclosure from Matt at around 20:30, and headed home to connect the beauty up.
Initial impressions... Matt's carpentry skills are able, but could be improved. Simply hooked driver up and ran a couple of phase sweeps for level matching ... went to bed to dream about what the next day might hold in store

Friday 12th - The 40 minute or so drive to work led to a variety of material being loaded into the deck.... started off with a bit of Yello, the usual Race, and then a couple of other tracks from their drive disk, pace was superb as was the extension, couldn't believe how low this thing went with out any sign of distress or loss of timing. Onto some Dire Straits, plenty of kick drum to run through with, again, I could swear there was a whole ensemble of foot stomping drummers up on the dashboard, by now I was grinning lots and had already run about 8 full length tracks through the beast. ... now late for work due to taking the Guildford one way system in twice whilst fiddling with track search buttons.
Out of work and into the car, had a drive up to Croydon and back, so the next 3 hours or so were a great chance to become better acquainted. Now I'm no bass head, in fact quite the opposite normally, but I found the level being increasingly raised for the sub amp, the depth and control never ceasing to impress. It stretches effortlessly to depths that I've not heard a driver ahcieve so easily before now. It can move signifcant volumes of air (by my standards) and is starting to make me think this SPL thing could be highly addictive if this sort of performance can be maintained at siully volume levels.

Saturday 13th and Sunday 14th led to some more critical listening, using some of the IASCA ref material, Chesky and a few better quality recordings from the CD collection. Only the fastest of snaps could cause it to falter ever so slightly, with a very slight overhang being present on one or two note changes - but this is as I say critical listening and battery power was faulterting a little at this point and I believe this to be more the reason than the driver itself.
A qucik RTA session confirmed my suspicion - output in car was rising all the way down to around 28Hz, with a flattening below this point down to 15Hz, where I believe the limits of my mic are anyway. Strangely, the in car response didn't seem to excite the normal area around 50 or so Hz, even with the LP filter to the amp set at a high 100Hz just for some testing and comparison.
The latest J Lo album has track one (title escapes me)which starts off with a slowish bass line and then turns with a snap to a thump - made kidneys move yet teeth rattle also with such precision it was scary - by now I can't get enough so have to take a drive to recharge the battery and subject myself to even more of this insanity....

After 4 days of listening, I've no hesitation in saying this is the best sub I've ever heard, both in car and home terms. I run an M&K THX enclosure at home and this simple sealed offering from Matt has made me totally re-evaluate what I consider tight, extended and accurate bass. No easy task as I have tried many driver and enclosure designs over the years yet none have impressed me as much as this one !

In summary, the driver delivers fast paced, ultra clean, well extended reproduction without any of the "boom" I often associate with smaller enclosures of this nature. I truly cannot offer enough praise to reflect my view of this offering !

I have to admit to already scouring some of the online US dealers for pricing and availability, even the drive back from dropping it off to Puggie seemed lonely, without the warmth and atmosphere that the Max bought to the performance.

The ID driver is a superb heavywieght offering, requiring only moderate enclosure volumes, able to play well with modest power input and capable I'm confident of taking as much as you could throw at it without any signs of stress or distortion.

A firm 5 stars from me with an unreserved recommendation !

I'd also like to thank Matt for being a trusting and generous chap, whos supportive and enthusiastic nature has allowed this whole project - superb idea and much appreciated.

Paul

Car: 1996 ford mondeo 2.0 zetec
System: phase linear comps run active from 5 channel ppi amp
Power to sub: 500w rms approx from ppi amps sub channel

Music taste: rock, metal. Hip hop, trance are favourites but will listen to just about anything.


I am a bit of a basshead and my systems in the past have shown this. 4x8’s, 1x15, 2x15’s, 1x 18 etc. all in huge ported boxes. This test gave me an opportunity to try a 12 and a sealed box. Sealed is a new thing to me as I like loooooooow bass.

Picked the sub up from puggie on Tuesday evening, wired it up and has a nice hour drive home with some tunes on low to mid volume. Sounding good so far. First song played was blackout by hed (pe). Its got a nice slow bass line running thru it and sounded very nice and dropped pretty low.(just how I like it), next to play was a few rage against the machine tracks, again bass nice and tight. up next was prodigy, my favourite song diesel power was truly amazing. Dropped really low in all the right places, I was shocked how low this sealed sub went. Lastly that night was some good old thrash metal from slayer featuring some extremely fast paced kick drums. The bass sounded very confused, instead of the drum beats coming one after the other they seemed to merge into a long drawn out boom that im used to hearing from my old ported 15’s. not at all what id imagine a £400+ SQ sub to sound like.

I attacked this sub with all music I have. Every cd I own was listened to, lots of songs, lots of hours put in. rock, metal, dance, trance, techno, drum n bass, classical. New stuff, old stuff. (you get the idea).

This sub I like. Its damn good at 90% of the music I listen to. It provides good musical bass, handled it without fault. What I found it didn’t like was serious fast paced bass. I tested this on quite a few of my thrash metal cds and the same sound was produced.

I would love to try this sub in a big fat ported box with a kW up its arse. Now I think that would be fun. :clown:


Baz

(p.s im ***** are writing reviews)

Car: Mitsubishi Shogun
System: (at the time of the audition) Pioneer P77 source unit, DLS R4 comps, RF 200.4
Power to sub: rear channels of 200.4 bridged to 2ohms- estimated power 100w rms - 200w rms

Music taste - bass tracks :p, r n b, hip hop, garage, drum n bass, anything with a nice low bass line :p

SQ/SPL = Streetbass, with a touch of SQ at the front

when i got this sub, i thought i'd try and stay away from an SQ audition, firstly because, most other people will be doing this, and secondly because my setup it blatantly more geared towards streetbass :cool: and not SQ http://smiley.onegreatguy.net/thumbdown.gif

the only problem with this is that i only had an RF200.4 to run it from(only picked up the fusion last night, and havent had time to install it :( ) :lol: so after un-bridging the front end(less power to the comps = less midbass), and bridging the sub on the rear outputs (down to 2ohms :err: :eek: )i was probably only feeding the sub with about 150w rms(gains on min - the amp would crackle if you pushed it too hard)!!! :chunks: the lowest amount of power i've ever fed to a sub!!

first impressions of the sub, like everyone else was that the sub drops LOW, very low... impressive for a sealed sub imo.. and not only that, it had considerable volume!!! this thing is mighty efficient, i would have loved to hear it with the full 1kw in a streetbass application :wow:

from a streetbass point of view, this thing is FAST, and will play pretty complex basslines without breaking a sweat. it sounded pretty even along the whole frequency range, with a slight emphasis on the lower range (around 40hz) which was to my liking..

imagine a ported sub, that was a quick as a sealed driver, and thats pretty much what this sub sounds like.. it drops quite nicely, almost enough to convince me to go sealed! maybe it was a little lagged on fast beats, but imo, its worth the compromise.. however im not sure if it even was lagged after hearing it in GAN's car after i handed it over... the lack of midbass in my car makes most subs sound very slow..

if i was to compare it to the ported SE as a point of reference, then it JUST missed the absolute low end, like in the track by jodeci- freak n you, theres is an underlying LOW tone which the IDMAX failed to hit the way the SE does, but imo, it just needed a bit more power. If i was to some them up, the SE would be a busty porn star, whereas the IDMAX would be a well layed out supermodel.. the IDMAX hit the low notes with a certain finesse that i've not heard in many subs(except a few IHE setups)

i think streetbassers will like this sub just as much as the SQ boys ;)

Car: VW Golf Mk 4
System: As per the signature below
Power to sub: 1000rms (@2ohms)
Music taste: Everything from Sarah McLachlan to Usher
SQ/SPL: Pure SQ

My first impressions on this sub are very very good. Firstly, apologies Matt but I have to compare this to the W7 as this is my reference. Please forgive. :cheese: The thing to bear in mind is my whole system has been tuned to the nth degree such that all the various components suit a purpose in the recreation of the various frequency ranges. As such, dropping a different sub, in potentially a larger box than would be suited to a pure SQ install, is not the perfect situation. As such the IDMAX carries itself off admirably.

I did not tune the system - Bob Hobson did and I can safely say he did a fantastic job. Using dCS, Wilson Benesch and Chord Electronics at home, I have nothing but the highest standards when it comes to home hi-fi. I have sort the same in in car entertainment.

The W7 in my system serves a purpose and it serves it well. In a pure SQ application, the gains on my sub are turned down very low indeed to the point where one might even think a sub is not present. Where the strengths of a sub built like the W7 really come into play, are when the gains are cranked up. I'm a basshead at heart what can I say. ;)

The differences I noted when the gains were at a minimum were fairly obvious in that the IDMAX could not keep track of the changes in bass guitars for example, as quickly as the W7 could. The IDMAX is a fantastic sub without a shadow of a doubt. In the enclosure that it is in at present, it drops lower than my W7 but as a result sacrifices pace by a tad. I have a feeling though that in a smaller box, it would as quick as the W7 but with more low end. A guess - nothing more. Be aware of one thing - The differences between the two subs are minuscule indeed. At higher volumes the same differences were still apparent. Where the W7 was more punchy in its ability to follow each pluck of a guitar, the IDMAX got muddy at times.

The one point where the IDMAX separates itself from the W7 is the tonal quality of the bassnotes. When I say tonal note - The IDMAX has a completely different sonic signature to the W7. One I have to say is rather addictive. Again there are different factors at play here, the system has been EQ'd using the H700 to suit the strengths of the W7. The IDMAX has been dropped straight into the system without any changes in the EQ'ing. As such, it does a fantastic job of distinguishing itself. No doubt, the slight overhang that is present on a number of the test tracks used could be taken out. Doing this without a machine however would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

As such the jury is out on the verdict. The IDMAX is as good as the W7 no doubt if the same enclosures were to be used and with some EQ'ing. And on first impressions, the tonal quality of the bass makes it more appealing than the W7...On first impressions. ;)

Stay tuned for a follow up review.

Ben

Car: 1996 Ford Fiesta
System: Pioneer DEXP1R to mcintosh mc440m, actively running mss470 mcintosh comp. set, and powering sub.
SQ chappie, with a wanton love for bass. pi55 off, im not RTAing my car, i want bass :p

Due to horrific amounts of work due in the week i had it, i didnt really get to listen to it that much at all :( - i managed a good hour or so in eddy Ps car at L5 though, which forms much of the basis of this report IIRC DLS ultimae 3-ways, lots of Gennys, and optical into a H700.

Right then.

The first thing i noticed when i picked the box up was jeez. Matt cant build boxes. Severe lack of bracing on the back wall produced a cacophony of resonance when gently tapped. tut tut TB3. :P Being a ponce myself, i think the sub looked unpretty, but could seriously get over that for the SQ of thing (see later). Perhaps arse out would be more inspiring.

Plugged the bad boy in, and whoa, efficient! I wasnt able to get any real form of power to this sub in 2 ohm load, i was literally giving it 100W. Really made windows shake, definitely louder than my ported 10" mcintosh sub - which gets loud enough for me, the IDMax got fun loud :twisted:

The IDMAx was fast, but not gay fast. It still had slight warmth to it, that some drivers i have heard have lost. I like a warm sound, lots, though it may not be to everyones taste. (surprised its to TB3's TBH, i thought he liked an empty boring sound. ho hum ;)) Box resonance was there, and annoying, making it really easy to locate the sub, but i tried to get that out my mind, its not the subs fault.

It dropped mightily impressively for a sealed 12, very nice indeed, and did so with very little power. It did seem to hit a wall at low freqs somehow, just missing the very bottom "broooooooooooooom" on some notes. This annoyed me slightly, as it took some fun out of bass, the bottom notes are the best, and thats not up for discussion.

In hindsight, this sub is awesome. Definitely the best SQ sub i have heard straight in a box no faffing. 99.9% of the time, when i use a sub i am not messing around with bass CD's, so the ID's slight lack of bottom end playfulness becomes somewhat irrelevent to me if i am honest with myself. I wonder how the ID would sound with a passive radiator, i daresay it would sould slightly warmer (my preference), and drop like a 14 year old boys balls. Also, given the fact that 100W was *more* than enough for me across most the spectrum, if i could get a fair sized amp (600W or so) on it, then i could EQ 20Hz up 10dB and that would see the bitch move ;))

All in all, very impressed, like it a lot, defo *seriously* considered if i was buying a sub.

anyone want my Mcintosh sub for roughly the cost of the IDMax?????? ;)

Stu

Car 1998 Astra MK4
System:
Alpine 7998- Alpine H700 - Genesis Monoblock - ID MAX
Genesis Dual Mono - DLS Ultimates
Genesis Compat 4 - DLS Ultimates
Music - anything and everything

The monoblock was giving the sub approx 700w rms.

First impressions:
Looks of the sub were a bit dissapointing, wasnt really to my taste, although it does seem to be a style that grows on you, towards the end of the 4 days i quite liked its looks. But what do looks matter its all about how it sounds, and how does it sound?
Well IMO it truly was superb, you wouldnt beleive its a 12 in a sealed box, it drops which such authority you would think its a ported 12 or 15. It sounds sooo tight, seems to be very very punchy.
Many different sorts of music were tried.
One of the first tracks was Dido - Life for rent, it seemed in this track that the sub was lacking behind slightly, adding some time aligment to the sub improved this, so it may just have been a phase issue. Next was soom classic old sting, the max performed very well with this, hit every note and wasnt at all boomy.
Many many more tracks were played with the max and i cant think of one particular track that stood out as sounding bad.
On one of the night i had the max i met up with baz and panch, both were also very impressed with the maxs performance, especially panch, for those that dont know panch also runs maxs, but he has 2 10s in AP enclousers.
Panch tried quite a few tracks that he knows well and was also impressed with the max's performance, the low end the sub had was incredible, it didnt drop all the way down but it sure did try. I think the max in this setup would be a superb SQ with a dashing of L sub, it seemed to do everything i could throw at it, which did include a run on the meter at the Leicester meet, IIRC it hit 135db on the new mics, which i thought was pretty impressive bearing in mind its sealed, not getting as much power as it could take, was being played with bass music rather than tones, and the fact the cabin area of the car is actualyl qutie large.

All in all, it is a very very impressive sub, one which im sure will be very popular over here, it sure does have a good reputation in the states, and it is a well founded one.

Who knows one day when i want a big system again i might buy one :D

Eddy

Car: nope, it's a house!
System: Pioneer DEX-P9R, DLS A5, KEF Cresta 2
Power: 10-50RMS
Musical Taste: pretty much anything :)

In contrast to some of the other systems the MAX is visiting, mine is very low power, I doubt it saw more than 50RMS in the week I had it; I certainly didn't see more than 2-3mm excursion. I'm also running it in a house of course, so we get room gain instead of cabin gain.

The first thing that struck me was the efficiency. At the same gain as my Morel SWR-12, it was noticeably louder. After compensating for that, I set the XOs. I ended up running a 40Hz 12dB/oct LPF with no HPF on the fronts (they roll off around this point). This filled the bass in very nicely :)

In terms of response, the MAX drops. It picks up the all but the lowest notes with authority and maintains a flat response up from there. Admittedly, I ended up using only a 40Hz crossover but I did try higher settings (with a HPF on the fronts) to see what difference it made. I didn't notice any peaks in the response, just lots of bass. As Stu noted, the box does resonate a little. It didn't cause me much trouble though.

Perhaps the best aspect was the accuracy. The IDMAX really excels here, hitting each and every note with ease. At all times, you never get the feeling that it's struggling to keep up; I threw pretty much everything I could at it over the past week and it just took it. My friend Jon (who supplied masses of D&B to test it with) observed that it's just "effortless". I think that sums the MAX up really... it's just not fussed :)

Unlike some others, I didn't feel the MAX was slow in the slightest. I had the advantage of it being no further away than my speakers (unlike in a car) and it was apparent that it keeps up very well. I remember a bit of time correction worked wonders in EddyP's car, which is reasonable considering the sub is several feet behind you in a car.

All in all, the MAX has got to be one of the best subs I've heard. Now I've just got to find some cash :D

HB

Great review Harry!

"Effortless" is certainly a word I'd use to describe the MAX's performance. I'm impressed at how timely it is, even in the vented enclosure I have mine in. :)

Car: 1966 Buick LeSabre
System: Alpine HU, Lightning Strike, DLS fronts, 80Hz LPF, 12 db/octave
Music: electronic, industrial, other stuff (mostly Inertia and Fischerspooner)

Dodgy test here I'm afraid. I'm limited to what music sounds OK in the car at the moment as I am really lacking midbass and getting too much trebble off the DLS's such that music with "real instruments" is unlistenable. Over-produced electronic stuff still sounds OK so thats mostly what CDs are in that car!

I also discovered that a nasty resonance I was getting with the car's usual sub was down to the car not the sub/enclosure as I still got it with the Max. Which is good because it means my enclosure isn't cack as I had suspected, but bad because it means work to do in the car...

My thoughs on the ID-Max are:

1) Cosmetics - looks very nice, I'd be more than happy to see that smiling back at me every time I opened my boot. Simple and understated with a neat classy logo.

2) Sound - the Max goes low. It also keeps itself together very nicely when it gets down there. A lot of the time it was very well integrated with the fronts, and I have a serious disconnect problem in that car usually. (its 18' long saloon which doesn't help) so that pleased me a lot. It was significantly tighter and offered more detail than my own sub although differences in boxes may account for some of this bearing in mind the fact I normally run a dual chamber bass-reflex box with a single 12"

The bass on faster passages was distinctly percussive, making my own kit seem quite feeble in comparison. I have some reservations about some muddiness on some tracks, but as I get the same effect with my own sub I wonder if its the car causing that probelm rather than the sub itself.

One thing that strikes me is efficiency. I find it interesting that there have been a lot of comments about the efficiency of the IDMAX but this is not something I noticed. In fact I was a little surprised that going from a 4 ohm load to a 2 ohm load on an unregulated amp I did not have a noticably louder bass in the car. I was expecting that it would be, although there was significantly more attack on the harder basslines.

In short - I like it. I'd have liked to have tried it out properly (in an install I actually like listening to!) but sadly that was not the case. Even with the serious deficiencies of the listening environment it gave a creditable performance.

I look forward to hearing one in a decent setup.

Thx Alistair, as for the efficiency, remember that a dual chamber band pass enclosure is going to be very efficient in the band, so compared to that a sealed does quite well to keep up, remeber a doubling of power (assuming linearity on behalf of the amp playing into a lower ohmage) is only a 3db increase :)

Who else is left on the MAX Tour now then Matt? :)

HB

Well, we are awaiting Baz to write his review.

Rich has it atm, it was then going to go to Mark, but he's dropped out, so it's straight onto Tim, then Erskine after, then Callum, then home to me :)

I'll speak to Rich about putting the courrier costs on my account :)

Yep, i've just got back from picking the MAX up from Al's, following a tour of his Garage, and an interesting, yet blury evening at Harry's...

First impressions are good, although the box does seem a little resonant... Quite heavy though, which I always seeing as being a good indicator of things to come :)

well well well.... im here now!!!

Apologies to all esp Matt for taking my time to write a review on the IDMAX.

Car: Seat ibiza GTi 1994
System: Boston 6.5 Pro Comps, Genesis 5 channel. Sub output channel 330RMS @ 2ohm

Got this sub from Eddy late one night so didnt really get the cvhance to listen to it straight away. But what I did hear on the 10 min drive home I liked.

Over the time i had it installed in my car, i listened to various styles on music, and wel.. what can I say!! Its a truly beautiful sounding sub - mainly listened to r&b, hip hop. I was amazed at the low end extension for a sealed enclosure - very very impressed. Im not sending it as much power as most people on the tour but it certainly proved that even with as little as 330rms it packed a punch. Drums in rock sounded powerful and accurate as they should sound. It sounded pretty much to my M6 but tighter!! Surprise surprise!!!! hehehe.... I did at the time of having the IDMAX plan to run my Diamond M6 up in a similar enclosure and compare but not had time to do this even.. will try and get to doing that soon. Yeah right!!

Buffalo Soldier (Bob Marley) sounded awesome on the IDMAX - if u get it, listen to that track on it, hits low and hard. Maxwells live mtv version of Whereever Whenever Whatever is a awesome tune, the bass was low and accurate and at the same time powerful. The overall sound integrated very well with the Boston comps - its one hell of an awesome sub... .

Should I get one??? HHmmmmmm.........

Baz

ps.. sorry Matt again!!

I think we could do with a review from Rich as well ;)

HB

Well, I was all but finished on a full review of the MAX, when I clicked one of Bibby's prank links from another thread, which crashed IE... :mad: Ah well, back to the start then...

Well, I was all but finished on a full review of the MAX, when I clicked one of Bibby's prank links from another thread, which crashed IE... :mad: Ah well, back to the start then...

It does say don't click.....fool. besides, you should be working, not spamming. ;)