This won't be so much of a review as it will just be my thoughts about the sub after owning it for a couple months. Spoiler alert, i love it more and more everyday. Can a subwoofer actually break in and sound better?
So after going thru some subwoofer selection paralysis, like should i get another AF GB10, or the GB12, or should i compromise and get the AF GS series because i just don't think you need to spend $1000 on subs, i ended up reading some positive reviews about the RM-12. A few emails back and forth with Nick (the other Nick)...i ordered a single RM-12 D4. Nick said he would build it and let me know when it shipped. I am a bit of a pessimist so i figured great, it will be 2-3 weeks to build and a week to ship.:mean:
WRONG...it was less than a week to build and 2 days to ship, i don't recall the exact number of days, but i think i had it in 7 or 8 days from when i ordered it. Not amazon prime...but much faster than i expected.
it arrived in possibly the BEST shipping box i have ever received, and i buy a lot of things. I am picky and critical, and there was not a single thing i would change in how it was packed. If anything it was overpacked. Doubled boxed using super heavy cardboard and custom expanding foam inserts to hold what is a very heavy subwoofer in place. I WISH i did an unboxing video, but if anyone want pictures of the box send me a pm.
So while i waited for delivery i modified a box i had to the ported specs Nick gave me so when it arrived it was ready to drop in and play awesome music.
Que the disappointment music, it sounded bad out of the box....i was honestly disappointed, and thought i made a huge mistake. Can i get my AF sub back?
Ok...no worries...Nick said it was a sealed box woofer and a small sealed box woofer, so i had some BB laying around and i fabricated a 1.4 cuft gross box, meaning with bracing and the driver it was about 1.2 cuft net.
I fired that one up and was much happier with the sound
But still to be honest i was not super in love with it, but i was happy. I could tell from a few songs i was playing that there was something special in the driver. Certain notes sounded better than anything i had ever heard in a car. So i thought ok, this is something i can work with.
As the weeks went by i just listened to it, and started loving it a little more each day. I'm not saying it was breaking in, because i do NOT believe that subs can do that, but it was, it was breaking in. Or something...i can't explain it.
This weekend i did a little tuning because it is finally warming up in Vermont, and i changed a couple of things in the Helix software...and today driving home i was finally blown away enough to write something about this sub in this forum. I can't produce charts or graphs of measurements, i can only say that today i decided this was in fact the best subwoofer i have ever owned, and i can't wait for even warmer weather to maybe go out and put a mic on my system and do some actual tuning.
So if you are considering a new sub, please give this one some thought. You wont be disappointed, and if you are...give it some time, it gets better after a couple months.
So after going thru some subwoofer selection paralysis, like should i get another AF GB10, or the GB12, or should i compromise and get the AF GS series because i just don't think you need to spend $1000 on subs, i ended up reading some positive reviews about the RM-12. A few emails back and forth with Nick (the other Nick)...i ordered a single RM-12 D4. Nick said he would build it and let me know when it shipped. I am a bit of a pessimist so i figured great, it will be 2-3 weeks to build and a week to ship.:mean:
WRONG...it was less than a week to build and 2 days to ship, i don't recall the exact number of days, but i think i had it in 7 or 8 days from when i ordered it. Not amazon prime...but much faster than i expected.
it arrived in possibly the BEST shipping box i have ever received, and i buy a lot of things. I am picky and critical, and there was not a single thing i would change in how it was packed. If anything it was overpacked. Doubled boxed using super heavy cardboard and custom expanding foam inserts to hold what is a very heavy subwoofer in place. I WISH i did an unboxing video, but if anyone want pictures of the box send me a pm.
So while i waited for delivery i modified a box i had to the ported specs Nick gave me so when it arrived it was ready to drop in and play awesome music.
Que the disappointment music, it sounded bad out of the box....i was honestly disappointed, and thought i made a huge mistake. Can i get my AF sub back?
Ok...no worries...Nick said it was a sealed box woofer and a small sealed box woofer, so i had some BB laying around and i fabricated a 1.4 cuft gross box, meaning with bracing and the driver it was about 1.2 cuft net.
I fired that one up and was much happier with the sound
But still to be honest i was not super in love with it, but i was happy. I could tell from a few songs i was playing that there was something special in the driver. Certain notes sounded better than anything i had ever heard in a car. So i thought ok, this is something i can work with.
As the weeks went by i just listened to it, and started loving it a little more each day. I'm not saying it was breaking in, because i do NOT believe that subs can do that, but it was, it was breaking in. Or something...i can't explain it.
This weekend i did a little tuning because it is finally warming up in Vermont, and i changed a couple of things in the Helix software...and today driving home i was finally blown away enough to write something about this sub in this forum. I can't produce charts or graphs of measurements, i can only say that today i decided this was in fact the best subwoofer i have ever owned, and i can't wait for even warmer weather to maybe go out and put a mic on my system and do some actual tuning.
So if you are considering a new sub, please give this one some thought. You wont be disappointed, and if you are...give it some time, it gets better after a couple months.
