[Chrisbee]

I can offer a subjective opinion based on a couple of years of listening to a relatively large reflex enclosure (16-46 cylinder SVS) and my 4 x 15" IB over several months.

No matter how short a sound is reproduced the IB has the unique ability to tell you everything about the sound envelope. It does this completely effortlessly. Leading edge, form of sustain, weight, timbre and decay are all clearly heard in the briefest of sounds.

The cylinder doesn't even come close and sounds very coloured, soft, muffled, ponderous, distant and dull in comparison. However the cylinder does offer effortless infrasonics for film watching. As long as the sounds are not too short it still adds enormously to the enjoyment of films.

For gunfights like "Open Range" you really want the IB to capture the shocking violence and sharp impact of gunfire at all accurately. On "Private Ryan" you want the very low distortion and remarkable transient response of the IB to capture the tank movements and explosions properly. The IB gives you no warning of something coming! Its leading edge is so steep the mind has no time to adjust to what is suddenly there in full force.

The slower cylinder is better at rolling massive boulders about. You know what's coming and can prepare yourself for the coming imact. If you want tactile menace in the air on LOTR then the slower but effortless infrasonics of the cylinder redeem it relative to the IB.

I would humbly suggest that the IB's transient and distortion superioirity would be clearly displayed on test equipment.