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EF-8
Subwoofer test review
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By:
Ross Aiken
Audiophile Canada |
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For
the first time today, I
had the chance to hook my
EF-8 to some real power.
Yesterday, I finished one
of my custom door panel
(with integrated 0.25cf
sealed enclosure) and received
component that were missing
for my HD-52, so today,
I decided to take a break
from fiberglassing, and
hook up everything the way
it shouldm be for the next
few weeks. HD's are driven
by a 3540 alpine amp, pushing
them with 30w rms per side.
The EF-8 is hooked up to
by RF bd1000a, and I re-set
the gain so it receive 300w
rms instead of amp's full
power, wich is twice as
much at 4ohm. Crossover
is set at 125hz between
mids and sub.
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Before
many things in my setup decided
to screw up, my setup consisted
of HD-62 driven by 75w rms
on each side, and 16kv.2 driven
by 600w rms. Comparatively
to that, my current setup
is about 8db less loud overally,
but the bass/midrange balance
is about the same. The main
thing about this sub is that
it sound natural. in a Qtc=0.7
alignement, the resonant frequency
is supposed to be around 95hz,
shooting for a very flat in-car
response under 90hz. This
is not likely to happen with
others, largers sub. While
they can sound transparent,
most of them have a flat response
under 50hz only. This is desirable
when you want your bass to
be much louder than the midrange
so it's not too intrusive
or overbearing, but for pure
SQ, you're most likely to
have an octave or so that
will lack definition. The
EF-8 take care of that, and
shine were most other driver's
dont. It bring upperbass and
lower midbass back to life.
Regular guitars larger's strings
and bass guitar
presence is incredible, such
as drums impact, specially
with dry-souding bass drums
commonly found in metal recordings.
Everything sound tight and
punchy, adding very little
coloration (and what I feel
like coloration might really
be enclosure resonance".
It barely thump, unlike most
larger subwoofer, and the
impact sound "toneless".
Listening to AC/DC and RATM,
I found the attack to be very
quick and precise. Off course,
it can take double-kick all
day long without missing a
beat.
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IMO,
EF-8 could make really nice
underseat subs. A pair of
these on 500w rms with a small
sealed enclosure under each
front seats would really do
great, and would need just
subtile EQing to take care
of midbass and subbass, complementing
really well smaller frontstage
such 5¼ driven by 50-100w
rms per side. Off course,
if someone intend to use them
for midbass, a class A/B amplifier
is mandatory. Class D just
won't cut it for anything
much higher than 100hz. I
had them LP at 120hz, and
I feel like it was borderline;
the midrange sounded much
cleaner in my living room
with a full-range amp. Can't
wait to get my hand on the
stuff I need to complete my
setup, but with one EF-8 in
each front door, I won't be
hearthbreaking to take out
my 15" sub for a while,
taking the time to built it
a nice enclosure."
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