Post by geebo on Dec 13, 2010 21:59:44 GMT -5
I will preface this review by saying all my previous subwoofers have been Polk ported subs. A PSW250, a PSW12, a PSW505, and currently a DSW Pro 500. Each one was an improvement over the one before it and I was generally satisfied with the DSW and wasn't really in the market for a new one. Those are my only frame of reference as they are the only ones I've ever had in my house and connected to my system.
Enter 100 Emobucks that I'd been holding onto until I could figure out what to use them on. I waited too long to get an XDA-1 and I really didn't want to use them on $100 worth of cables that I really didn't need. Then the closeout on the Ultra Sub 12 came along and got me thinking. I liked the 10's I'd heard at Emofest so figured why not. $269 (after the Emobucks) for an Ultra 12 was too good a deal to pass up. I had heard that sealed subs were "tighter" and more musical but also less efficient. At any rate, I ordered one and have been testing it out and listening for a few days now and wanted to share my thoughts.
This first thing I did was to run a 10 to 200Hz sweep of my old sub using REW and a Radio Shack SPL. I used a Behringer 1124P to EQ the the subwoofer. Then I bypassed the Behringer and set all EQ controls on my UMC-1 to zero and ran another sweep. Then I hooked up the Ultra and set the sub levels to the same as the DSW using the gain control on the back of the Ultra. Final setting wound up being just under half way to maximum. I ran another sweep then proceeded to EQ the 12 with REW and the Behringer. When finished, I ran a fourth sweep. The two graphs shown below are for the subs without any EQ and then with EQ. In each case, The Ultra is the red trace. It can easily be seen that the Ultra does indeed get deeper than the Polk. And I think I can get even better results but will have to spend more time fiddling with it. Its also obvious to me now that the dip at 45Hz is room related as its pretty much identical for both subs.
So what about how it sounds? Well, the fist CD I put in my ERC-1 was Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd and chose Welcome to the Machine. The opening bass passage was simply awesome and rattled things in my room that hadn't rattled before. I could feel the lowest frequencies like never before. Yet it didn't seem to be bass bloated. Next up was an HDCD by Dire Straits and Money for Nothing. The opening drum beats were obviously tighter to the point that I felt I was getting punched in the chest as opposed to being pushed in the chest when the Polk was in the system. I then listened to a few cuts from the Eagles DVD Farewell Tour 1, and then some Blu-Ray discs including David Gilmore - Remember that Night, Roy Orbison - A Black and White Night, and The 25th Anniversary Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Concerts. In every case, the Ultra was tighter , lower, and cleaner than my previous sub. And the hints of muddiness in the mid-bass that was present with the Polk was gone as well. How much of these improvements were due to the fact that the Ultra is a sealed sub as opposed to a ported sub, I can't say, but I can say that the Emo is easily a more "musical" sub.
I have not tried it out with any movies yet but that is much less important to me. I'm confident it will do just fine.
So in the end, I'm very happy with the Ultra and even happier about the price I got it for. I would have had no problem with my
decision even if I had paid the full price for it.
Ultra Sub 12 (red) and Polk DSW Pro 500. No EQ.
Ultra Sub 12 (red) and Polk DSW Pro 500. EQ'd with Behringer 1124P
Enter 100 Emobucks that I'd been holding onto until I could figure out what to use them on. I waited too long to get an XDA-1 and I really didn't want to use them on $100 worth of cables that I really didn't need. Then the closeout on the Ultra Sub 12 came along and got me thinking. I liked the 10's I'd heard at Emofest so figured why not. $269 (after the Emobucks) for an Ultra 12 was too good a deal to pass up. I had heard that sealed subs were "tighter" and more musical but also less efficient. At any rate, I ordered one and have been testing it out and listening for a few days now and wanted to share my thoughts.
This first thing I did was to run a 10 to 200Hz sweep of my old sub using REW and a Radio Shack SPL. I used a Behringer 1124P to EQ the the subwoofer. Then I bypassed the Behringer and set all EQ controls on my UMC-1 to zero and ran another sweep. Then I hooked up the Ultra and set the sub levels to the same as the DSW using the gain control on the back of the Ultra. Final setting wound up being just under half way to maximum. I ran another sweep then proceeded to EQ the 12 with REW and the Behringer. When finished, I ran a fourth sweep. The two graphs shown below are for the subs without any EQ and then with EQ. In each case, The Ultra is the red trace. It can easily be seen that the Ultra does indeed get deeper than the Polk. And I think I can get even better results but will have to spend more time fiddling with it. Its also obvious to me now that the dip at 45Hz is room related as its pretty much identical for both subs.
So what about how it sounds? Well, the fist CD I put in my ERC-1 was Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd and chose Welcome to the Machine. The opening bass passage was simply awesome and rattled things in my room that hadn't rattled before. I could feel the lowest frequencies like never before. Yet it didn't seem to be bass bloated. Next up was an HDCD by Dire Straits and Money for Nothing. The opening drum beats were obviously tighter to the point that I felt I was getting punched in the chest as opposed to being pushed in the chest when the Polk was in the system. I then listened to a few cuts from the Eagles DVD Farewell Tour 1, and then some Blu-Ray discs including David Gilmore - Remember that Night, Roy Orbison - A Black and White Night, and The 25th Anniversary Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Concerts. In every case, the Ultra was tighter , lower, and cleaner than my previous sub. And the hints of muddiness in the mid-bass that was present with the Polk was gone as well. How much of these improvements were due to the fact that the Ultra is a sealed sub as opposed to a ported sub, I can't say, but I can say that the Emo is easily a more "musical" sub.
I have not tried it out with any movies yet but that is much less important to me. I'm confident it will do just fine.
So in the end, I'm very happy with the Ultra and even happier about the price I got it for. I would have had no problem with my
decision even if I had paid the full price for it.
Ultra Sub 12 (red) and Polk DSW Pro 500. No EQ.
Ultra Sub 12 (red) and Polk DSW Pro 500. EQ'd with Behringer 1124P
