Maxxbass

[02BlackOnBlackSS 1]

Heres a review of the unit. They also have a group buy at caraudio.com going for it. I read the whole thread and I seem impressed. I downloaded the plugin for windows media player and I like the way it sounds on my headphones. I don't know if I would buy the unit, but maybe in the future if more people have good results. However, it looks very promising. I am gonna copy the text here because it is hard to read at ECA.

http://forum.elitecaraudio.com/showthread....threadid=109732

Okay so here it is. I feel i've tested the unit for long enough to get a good feel of what its capable of.

First off i just want to say i have no connection to Waves (the maker of maxxbass) and i DID NOT get this unit for free, i had to pay for it. I recieved absolutely nothing for reviewing this unit. This is a 100% honest review of the unit.

i Do want to thank Nir for EXCELLENT customer service, Brian (got wake? here on eca) lent me his unit and the outputs had some problems so Nir sent me out another unit overnight because i was so upset after being so excited about trying the maxxbass out. He has been great, as well as the rest of waves

customer service.

Also waves has made a PC version of this technology with a free 7 day demo including some other technologies. Here is the link if you want to give it a try. I found it was a very cool program but in the car the results are MUCH better still. My PC speakers already have a very balanced sound midbass and bass wise but they are limited to their low bass

to around 45hz but the maxxbass helped them pump out 30hz.

http://www.maxxplayer.com

Also for some info for those that don't know what this unit is: http://www.maxx.com/objects/MaxxBass_Subwoofer_Design.pdf

http://www.12volt.com/archives/2004/us072104.html

Anyway okay to the review.

The unit is very compact, about the size of a lareger calculator. on the top it has 2 switches. 1 for a selection of door/sub and another for Low pass filter on/off which is set at 100hz 24db/oct. Obviously you would only use this on your subwoofer. It has an intensity knob on it all the way from "bypass" to maximum. It has an input gain knob and an output gain knob. Max output voltage is 9v i believe so it can be used as a line driver as well to low voltage head units. Its small enough to mount up front near the head unit to take better advantage of it too. On the side it has a plug exactly teh same as phoenix gold's plugs on their processors. Ground, remote, and power. the 4th plug doesn't seem to be for anything? I wondered if perhaps it was a remote wire output to go on to processors or amps further up the line but i was not willing to try it out in case i fried my unit. It has 1 pair of analog rca inputs and 1 pair of analog rca outputs. And finally it has an output jack for the remote control (exactly the same size and shape as a gain knob for amps) that you can mount up front somewhere. Minumum is bypass so you can totally turn it off. turn it up just a tiny bit and it turns the processor on and it starts its thing. and then of course you can turn it from minimum up to maximum effect. This controller defeats the intensity knob on the unit itself when plugged in.

I hooked it up and it has a nice delay startup in it so that any noises from the deck are muted at startup and don't reach your speakers. But i did notice a weird 1/10 second weird noise when the unit turned on as music started to play. I mean its hard to even notice but i was paying attention so i did hear it. It does this every time i turn it on. No biggie.

Well first i threw in my stock speakers which are clarion poly coned coaxial speakers in a 6" so i could see what this thing could do for normal speakers. Started up with the "door" setting. i found it was nice when you turn it on just a bit, it did add some nice midbass. but turning it up to 1/2 way didn't sound all that great.

Selected the "sub" setting on the unit and WOW i was just AMAZED. My 6's were hitting 40hz bass lines and LOUD it was overpowering though, so i turned my crossover up from 70hz to 100hz at 24db/oct and that was perfect. Not only was it nice and clean but i could turn the music up EVEN LOUDER with the unit on than with it off ALOT louder. The other thing i noticed was i was getting all this bass but without all the little tiny resonances you get from using an actual subwoofer. you COULD feel it too which is very weird. There is no giveaway that the bass wasn't real, its VERY real and very clean. With these speakers i prefered the effect turned up all the way, made my music sound VERY warm and thick. It was very very nice. Lots of midbass and bass. So i bypassed the unit and all of a sudden i got a thin tappy sounding mid that bottomed out any time i tried to add

any eq to bass or midbass regions. I was amazed again soon as i turned the unit back on.

Then i installed my Vifa PL18w0 7" mids, these had ALOT more output and low bass response was EVEN LOUDER with maxxbass i was getting impact like a subwoofer. I had to keep going back to my trunk to make sure my subwoofer was disconnected lol. My music was MUCH cleaner with these speakers just incredible, you could easily go subless if are are not a basshead with PL's and a maxxbass 103. I turned the maxxbass off and sure enough they had decent midbass but no impact and nothing super loud. These speakers already have a warm smooth sound so turning the maxxbass up to 1/3-1/2 was all they needed.

Some other things i noticed is that midbass was linear all the way down to 1/36 in my head unit. See our ears get less sensitive to bass as volume goes down, so even though we can get balanced sound at normal levels and high volumes, when the music is really low all we hear is our tweeters playing lol (this is what the "loud" button on most head units is for, when you are listening at low levels and need a bump in lower midrange, midbass, and bass). but since the maxxbass is not playing true low frequencies the sound of the music sounds the same at high volume and VERY low volume. Also the bass sounded CLEARER than with subs, because like i said its not resonating the chit out of my car to get to high volume levels. SOunded alot like home audio bass. There was also ALOT of detail in the bass and midbass i have never heard in alot of songs, just an extremely controlled sound.

So then it was time to plug in the subwoofer by itself. I threw in my mtx black gold 10's. I put them in a dual sealed enclosure for the test because these subs have so-so

low end in sealed, below 45hz they have hardly any output sealed. Soon as i turned the maxxbass unit on WOW they sounded the same except now it was playing low bass 30hz-40hz like they were ported, just amazing low end. and made the output of the subs sound MUCH MUCH louder even though they weren't moving anymore than they would without the maxxbass. This had to be the most amazing part about the maxxbass. You could use subs with no low end, in a VERY small sealed enclosure and get the output and low end of a larger sub in a large ported enclosure. The bass sounded much cleaner and much more detailed then these subs sounded even in my ported enclosure (which is 3.5 cubes net tuned to 28hz) and thats saying ALOT because they sound wonderful in my ported enclosure. So then i threw my subs into my ported enclosure and in this enclosure these hig LOW and loud and clean. yet when i put the maxxbass on the subs were hitting EVEN LOWER and louder down low then before. Just incredible. sounded like i had a pair of ported 12's in the back with an EXTREMELY low Vb. Made the music sound very warm and full and rich. Just wonderful.

So then i hooked up the maxxbass back to my midbass's and turned the sub on. Right away i noticed that the front stage blended better than it had every blended in this car, i honestly couldn't tell what was coming from the subs and from the midbass's. It sounded like i had front mounted ported 12's lol. So tight, so much natural midbass. I found myself listening to alot of cd's i loved but didn't like playing in my car due to lack of warmth and midbass and

EVERY single one sounded SO SO nice. It felt good to pick any cd that i liked and pop it in. I always found myself tuning between cd's due to less/more midbass and bass and overall sound before but now they all sounded good. And DAMN

i could turn my stereo up MUCH MUCH louder now than before and my speakers sounded so unstressed, didn't sound like they were any more stressed than they did at low volumes. Extremely clear and controlled up to full volume. it have my speakers the sound of what i used to think tube amps would would produce (but didn't) a very smooth and rich sound.

So now i was anxious to hear both the subs and mids hooked up to the unit so i pluged it into my main rca lines going into my EQ/crossover. This was just incredible, LOTS of midbass and LOTS of low end output. But VERY nice blend. It sounded so natural and so rich i just sat in my car for hours playing all my cds. Thank god i had taken most of my cds out the week before because i probably would have sat in my car till morning lol.

Now for the distortion skeptics. There is ABSOLUTELY no audible distortion added to the music. Yes technically what this unit does is adding distortion but what really matters is what our ears hear. And considering how much distortion is added to bass and midbass by the car itself it seems overall distortion is lowered due to less ACTUAL bass being producted so it actually sounds cleaner and clearer and more detailed.

Sorry if the review is choppy but i'm tired, its Sunday, and i had a long night lol. But i knew i wouldn't feel like doing it tomorrow and i think you all have waited long enough.

Anyway questions just let me know. I'll be posting this on other forums as well.

Rob