josh99ta

Hello everyone. Just checking in. Guess I'll be popping in over here every once in a while. Had a Magnum 12 in my Trans Am for quite a while. Have met Nick and he's a great guy with a great product and I hope to one day have his stuff in my car again. Maybe a set of 307s with a SI selected 6.5" midbass along with the sub I wish they'd build, but more on that later. Can check out info about me at http://hometown.aol.com/sqtransam and the links therein. Not alot past that, 2002 MECA TN State SQ Champion and World Finals 2nd place, SQ guy really, but its nice to throw down every once in a while. Anyways, thats about it. I'll end with a letter to one of only two company owners that I have respect for in the industry, and who I think run a great company with a great product.... Dear Nick, BUILD A DAMN 10" MAGNUM #@*&$ Love, Josh

I'm in on my vacation in shock as well. Nick, I only know a little of what you've devoted to make SI what it is. I can only imagine how much hard work has gone on behind the scenes. I am truly sorry to hear this and I hope the bastards who did this get caught and punished. You're one of the good guys and in no way deserve this. I'll keep you in my thoughts and hope for the best man. You know how to get in contact with me if you need anything. I'm right here man.

Really? Seems to lack in patience and thats something I have little patience for. Maybe some prozac or ridilin is in need here? Congrats on the purchase Twisted. If you're going from a "little" 12 with low power to a Magnum with alot of power, I think you're going to be in for a pleasant surprise. Be sure to let us know how you like it when you get it in and have some time to listen to it.

The man has a strong point. I change my vote. Remove one from the four 8s and put it on the two 8s/one 12 vote. The Magnum is the flagship and is the history of the company. It should be in the car, and it's performance most certainly earns it a spot.

Four 8s, without question.

I've heard a handful of 8s and the SI8s are IMO the best value there is out there. Hopefully I can get my hands on one to hear in my own install to really pick it apart, but from what I've heard so far (which was about 10-15 minutes of listening on a few different types of very demanding material) the SI8 is tonally amazing. There is only one other 8 I've heard that I prefer over this thing, and that 8 isn't very practical so I'm not really considering it in this comparison. The SI8 wont be the loudest 8 out there I dont believe (few more 8s with a bit more displacement), but it gets more than loud enough to hold its own and tonally its beats out just about every other 8" I've heard. Hopefully when they hit production I can get ahold of one and do a full review on it. Money is tight right now so it might be a while, but there will be a review coming, because I will get my hands on one.

8W7 still gets it by a large margin IMO. No 8" sub I've ever heard can compare to the 8W7, and the other subs that do compare are highly revered as amazing sounding subs (Brahma 12, Magnum 12). The ED 8s are no doubt nice, much nicer than most everything on the market, and are also no doubt the better value. The only subs I think that beat the ED8s in value and tonality are the new SI8s (just a better sounding sub for less money, although ED might have the SI in output). Not taking anything away from ED like I said earlier though. The 8W7 is just so far ahead of any other 8 out there that I've dealt with it's ridiculous. It's certainly not practical though (price, box size), but with value and practicality aside, and only performance in mind, the 8W7 is unmatched by any other 8 I've ever dealt with. Output-wise though, the Big8 can handle more power, so in a ported application I think the Big8 might get the 8W7 by a little, but if both were sealed the 8W7 would probably edge it out (not a very fair comparison though since as I understand it, the Big8 needs to be ported).

That 137.2 was with a single RE8 sealed with 200w on the old Linear X (still one of the tightest mics out there, but that particular one was still about 1.5 dB high on the sensor), so on the TermLab I maybe would have gotten a 135 or so. With the 8W7 I dont think 135 on the sensor would be bad, and I think 136-137 is possible.

Supposedly the sensor is about 1.5 dB down from the very tight Linear X I used to get metered on, and I turned a 137.2 with a single RE8 sealed with 200w on it on the X, and the 8W7 is a great deal louder than that RE8 was (might have gotten close to 140 dB on the X). I think I could bust 135 dB on the sensor with the 8W7 (sealed 0.90 cubes, 300w) in the Trans Am, maybe even a 136 or 137 with MECA style metering (mic in passenger's kick).

I know how it goes. I'm a bit biased to after hearing the 8W7. Can't think of another sub I'd rather own that this little monster. Not taking anything away from the ED units or any other 8s or other subs for that matter that I've played with. The 8W7 didn't just get my praise though, it earned it. Hell of a sub.

Dont be discouraged Damian. Nothing a little plasma cutter and some welding equipment cant take care of. B)

[in my best Shaft voice] Ya daaaaamn right [/in my best Shaft voice]

I know you're a guy who likes your 8s, and that you've metered against an 8W7 before, but if you've never tried one in your install, I'd try to pick one up if you could just to play with. I've played with alot of 8s (RE8, TB8, E8A, and a few other less notable ones) and I thought the 8W7 might be around E8A level, but it far exceeded my expectations. There is definantly a reason why I love this little sucker so much.

I bow to your superb game. Please, tell us your secret?

It actually doesn't look bad in person. The black ring is barely noticable, and like you said it does make it pop a little, while blending in too. I kinda like it as well. But I couldn't cover them both. The way it mounts is weird. The cup drops in from the front, and a metal bracket that holds the cup in tight mounts from the back, and there is a screw under the tweeter than screws them together, so you have to have the tweeter out to mount the cup securely so I couldn't wrap them both at the same time. If I wrapped them seperately, there wouldn't be enough room to get the tweeters in the mounting cups, so the only option to match it is paint it the color of the factory stuff, and I'd rather just leave it black. Call me lazy I suppose.

I'm a lurker overe here. I'll read the board from time to time but never really post. Alot of familiar names around here though. Figured I'd post this over here as well to get some feedback. http://community.webshots.com/album/24687221wpDWUOwhuS All comments are welcome; good, bad, or otherwise. I finally got most of the install done in preparation for the SI.Net Midsouth Meet. Only thing left now is to build a stealth cover for the 8W7, build some underdash padding, and get a dashmat. Most of this stuff was in the car before (front stage, amps), but I swapped the amps around giving my front components 125wpc and knocking the sub down to 300w since the 8W7 didn't need the full 500w and my front stage could use a little headroom. The breakdown: tweeters play down to 6.5kHz, midrange 6.5k-200Hz, midbass 200-50Hz, and sub from 50Hz down at 24 dB/octave. As an overall package, I've never been as pleased with any of my systems as I am with this one. Every single piece does exactly what I need it to. I've never been happier. Can't wait to see what type of improvements I can get with tuning. Haven't even touched the EQX yet. Not a single frequency has been boosted or cut yet. The most impressive part to me was the 8W7 since most of the other equipment I've already played with. I've heard a 12W7 in car, and a 10W7 in a sound room. Neither impressed me. Not the case here. I bought the 8W7 on blind faith with high hopes and it met and exceeded all my expectations by a mile. This thing is a jackhammer. It packs a hell of a punch and it tonally infallible, and I've threw alot of stuff at it. Never misses a beat. I was worried about the low end, but it's a monster down deep too. I'm in awe of this sub. I think it has gained the spot as my favorite sub by just a hair over the Magnum, just because I wasn't expecting this much out of it. Wow. Just wow. So fun watching it move too. Drew quite a crowd at the SI.Net MidSouth Meet when I was playing some tracks to really get it jumping. I'll end the review with a little porn for you bass junkies No mechanical noise, no distortion. The little sucker loved every minute of it. Thanks for any comments and/or suggestions on the car. 8W7 Outward Stroke:

Not even voting on the poll. Another vote for "The Audiophile's Choice" since you guys are more than subs and car audio for that matter. To me Stereo Integrity is about sonic excellence, class, and quality (in both product and service). I think whatever phrase is chosen should cover the bases on most of that stuff, not just bass. So my vote goes to.... Stereo Integrity The Audiophile's Choice or........ Stereo Integrity Sonic Excellence For Those Serious About Their Music

I beg to differ.

RFIRE, I thought of that too. When you throw a y-splitter on RCAs you effectively cut signal voltage in half (or I've always heard, never backed up with a DMM to be sure). If you splice into the rear wires, you're already taking a weak signal and further weakening it. Dont know if that would be the best solution.

The tweeter and the mounting cup are seperate units. I wish they were integrated though. Then I could pull the cup and hot glue to the backside of it. The tweeters blend now but there is a black mounting ring around them. I have to say that they do look very nice now. I let a guy take a good listen today at the local Cruise In, and it took him about 5 minutes in the car listening before he realized there were tweeters in my a-pillars.

True, you could just splice into the wiring. I just usually cut it since I'm not an advocate of rear fill anyways. That would work though. Same thing as putting a y-adapter on a single set of RCAs basically, just splitting the signal.

Nice install and nice car too Truly a work of art.

I thought the 302s were no more? Regardless, sounds like a nice setup. GREAT amps. Not the most expensive or flashiest things out there, but solid as tanks and they put out good clean power. I've got a T500.2 on my three ways up front and a T300.2 on my sub and I've never had a problem with either amp. Definantly know how you feel about the "what do I want today" game. Pretty much why I made some final decisions and got the stuff I wanted, and now have two systems that I couldn't be happier with. The Neon might get an update sometime, but the Trans Am is done for a long while. Nice to not have to worry about the "next big thing" coming out and how you're going to get the money together to get it. If you live like that, you'll end up in out of a good bit of money and possibly in alot of debt (ask me how I know). Just buy what you feel is quality and be satisfied with it. "Can't keep up with the Jones. I'm on my own chit."

You're going to have to either (1) get an aftermarket CD player or (2) lose your rear speakers. The CD player is self explanitory, but if you want to keep your stock unit, you have to get a signal to your amp somehow. You can do this by either high level inputs which some amps offer, or by using a line output converter, which takes your speaker wires and turns them into RCA outputs. You have to get signal so thats why you have to lose a set of speakers, to take their signal and send it to the amplifier.