IYHO - What commercial subs would compare to 125L sealed Maelstrom-X ?

**Drizt** · **11-03-09, 07:25 AM**

I know this probably can't be answered definitively but subjectively what commercial subs would you say compare to a sealed Maelstrom-X in a 125L internal enclosure powered by Quest 3004 (just happens to be my future subs :P )?

Lets take another sealed 18" for example... Velodyne DD18. Aside from the fact that DD comes with built in EQ functionality, how would it compare to the sub mentioned above? For the EQ side of things assume they both use it or the they both don't (apples vs. apples) etc.

Feel free to add any comparisons and please do

Add what ever positives and negatives of each etc.

**Kevin Haskins** · **11-03-09, 12:03 PM**

I won't say anything about subjectivity, outside of what I think is important but sealed subs are pretty simple. It comes down to swept volume and the enclosure size & power into the device.

Subwoofers are simple. If you know the rules, you can play them to your advantage. That is one of the big benefits of DIY. Commercial companies have to design something that has a defined size, price, etc... etc.... They have to ship them and there is a relationship of size & sales volume. For subs, size is a big factor in the design tradeoff choices so if you can build it bigger, you often gain a lot compared to a smaller sub.

For the size you have chosen, it comes down to which device will take the most power, and will sweep the most volume of air. Velodyne makes a pretty good sub. Their drivers are well engineered and they don't suck like many companies who sell commercial subs. The price delta is huge though compared to DIY and I would expect no matter how that comparison shook-out, it wouldn't be a huge difference in either direction with your pre-defined box size. Change the box size though, and you gain a lot of benefit. Bigger boxes dig deeper and require less power to do so.

Kevin Haskins
Exodus Audio

**Drizt** · **11-03-09, 03:38 PM**

Cheers. Good reply

**sub_crazy** · **11-03-09, 05:55 PM**

I never compared my HGS-18 directly to the Mal-X I have right now but did compare others which I had when I got rid of the Velodyne. I know the HGS lacks the EQ like the DD but I had a SMS-1 already so no need to double up.

I will say that the JL Audio F113 was a superior sub to the HGS-18 even though I did not have them at the same time. The Mal-X driven by a QSC PLX-3402 and EQ'ed by the SMS-1 was close musically to the F113 and blew it away for movies.

The Velodyne HGS and DD series subs are good subs but for the price they can easily be surpassed with DIY IMO.

**sub_junkie** · **11-03-09, 06:16 PM**

I wonder what commercial subs could compare to the M-21??? lol.
Anyways, has someone taken in-room measurements of the Mal-X yet? I haven't seen any.

**Kevin Haskins** · **11-03-09, 06:41 PM**

Quote:

sub_junkie wrote:

I wonder what commercial subs could compare to the M-21??? lol.
Anyways, has someone taken in-room measurements of the Mal-X yet? I haven't seen any.

In terms of single drivers (not multiples), I'd say the you would have to look at a the RE XXX 18", which is >$2K per driver or the LM5400 which is not far from that figure either and not currently available.

The M-21" is going to generally trend towards large boxes, and it has the advantage of not needing as much stroke for a given amount of air movement (it has more Sd). In general, less stroke for a given SPL means you have less distortion for a given SPL. I think all three are good examples in their own right.

Of course the M-21" cost <$600 which is a big bonus. ;-) If you had specific box requirements, you would have to balance those goals against which driver did best in a given application. So there is no such thing as "best" unless you tightly define all the system goals.

Kevin Haskins
Exodus Audio

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