"Cult
of the Infinitely Baffled"
IB Subwoofer (aka IB subs)
Notable
"Quotables"; aka users impressions
of their IB subs
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From Ed W.
I have 4x 15" drivers and the
output is stonking. You can play the explosion in Hitch Hikers Guide to the
Galaxy (which is all around 8Hz) with some serious wallop. Windows move and the
ground shakes... You need to factor in some active EQ to get the best out of an
IB, but these things often go flat to 20Hz and you can tune them flat down to
10Hz... Run them up to 80Hz or so easily and you will be stunned by the increase
in quality on the main drivers now that they are unloaded (my main speakers
barely move now, so linear distortion would have dropped correspondingly, stereo
imaging is much improved as a result)
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From Bob S., he has a 2 Tumult IB
"Well I have been infinitely baffled !!! Tis a sweet thing ! It will take you places you have never been......It will also turn your attic (or crawl space) into a speaker cabinet, this is all fine except from the wife's point of view. (I am not sure what happens if you live in town !!)"
"I forgot to mention one other unexpected
bonus. The sound stage gets gigantic with the IB, It is hard to believe how much
it changes the sound across the whole audible frequency range. Vocals,
cymbals...everything ! I guess most instruments and vocals have fundamental or
harmonics way down there......anyway got that all for free as I was only
expecting more bass !!"
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From Mike K., he has a 4 Avalanche 18" IB
"In conclusion, I am convinced that this is the way to go for bass, sounds much better and far less muddy and confused then I’ve ever heard in any system before. The fact that the IB is so much faster (so to speak) and the attack decays so quickly is what caused the perceived treble and mid brightness, in retrospect most of what I was hearing, or should I say, not hearing, was this built up lingering bass energy that I had with the Sonosubs. Now I had to re-train my ear-brain to understand the phenomena that I was hearing, the more I listened, the more I liked. It’s so amazing just how much good clean low bass will effect the entire spectrum, I had no idea what I was missing until I lost all the slop."
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From Javier H., he has a 4 Cerwin-Vega 15" IB
Really. I don't think anyone can tell you how an IB sounds. You really have to experience it to become a convert (yes, a member of the Cult, indeed). I can't even begin to describe it, other than saying this is truly the most perfect bass reproduction system I've ever had the pleasure of listening to. It's simply transparent.
One thing I always thought was that bass would be "weak", and lack the extra punch a vented design has over a sealed one. I was truly incorrect. I have a 2 12" vented sub, ported at 20 Hz, and it sounds like a weakling compared to the IB. Not to mention the fact that bass quality is a lot lower.
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From Ed B., he has a 4 AE-IB15" IB
Thomas and Cult Members, I have finally completed my AE IB15 IB Sub (minus some trim work) and all I can say is WOW!! This is the most articulate bass I have ever heard. It sounds great with music and still pounds your chest when the movie calls for it. Thomas (and Noid), thank you for emphasizing the need for 4 of the AE IB15s for my setup, I may have gotten by with less, but the bass I am getting with this setup is incredible and I am very happy I went this direction. Previously I was going to utilize a couple of Outlaw M200s to power the IB15s, but I went ahead and picked up a EP2500 instead, nice amp. I also picked up a used DSP1100 Pro. _________________________________________________________________________________________
From Derek., he has a 4 AE-IB15" IB
Like so many others, just wanted to
say thanks to Thomas & friends for spreading the word. Finished my IB almost
a month ago. No questions. Straight forward. Great bass. Actually I
"temped" one up in a doorway, circa 1990 but never got around to
building the real thing. Recently I was building a new room with a storage area
behind it, when I found this site. Would have built the room then built a couple
of boxes if I didn't find this site. Total Homer moment..
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From Joe, he has a 2 PE-IB15" IB
I just can't help it & must
admit I need more. I have had my IB in now for about a month or so & it is
perfect, but Damn it if the IB Gods wont quit calling me. I have made up my mind
to build number two ASAP. Don't get me wrong what I have is really plenty,
though there have been a few times I've pushed it pretty close to the drivers
limits. Given that most of the time I don't or can't (kids sleeping or
neighbors) listing at the levels that get me near the drivers edge. I just can't
resist the temptation for more, & the comfort of not running the drivers so
hard for the same levels with more of them. I thought at first just two drivers
would be enough though I did wont to use four in a single manifold, but couldn't
do so because of being against an exterior block wall on one side of the
manifold. So now I'm will be putting in another manifold on the opposite side of
the room to match.
Anyhow I just wonted to rant some, & say my thanks again to everyone here
for turning me into an IB junkie. I'm off for another fix, & will be
stepping up the dosage very soon ;)
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From JLowe, he has a 2 Avalanche 18" IB
The preliminary results are insane.
I moved from dual SVS 16-46 PC+'s, wow, who knew they were falling on their
faces so much! If the SVS pair could be called impressive, then the IB is simply
scary. Where I was scared to pump the SVS up for fear of it bottoming, I'm now
scared turning the IB up for fear of bringing my home down on top of me! Thanks
for all the help
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From Silent Woods, he has a 2 Avalanche
18" IB
The output of the IB is REALLY impressive! The bass is far clearer than I could have imagined at the volume that it can play. I don't hear any distortion at all from the drivers, even when I come close to clipping the amp. It's just extremely clean and loud.
Any misgivings that I had about the
IB not being musical are totally gone. The bass is so clear and tight and pure
sounding that all the music that I've tried tonight sounds better than anything
I have heard in any home theater system yet.
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From Denver Doc, he has a 2 Avalanche 18" IB
Hello all! Happy to announce I have my IB install with the 2 avalanche 18's up and running in my crawl space. Man talk about tuneful. This has both slam and rapid decay--its quite unlike anything i have heard in home audio--no bloat or "lumpiness" at all. Even the pair of sealed and P-EQ'ed Infinity subs using 1.5kW a side sounded mushy and slow by comparison. Been a discussion over at Madison bout the ideal q and f3--lead thread extolling the virtues of Q=1 and Fc of 40 Hz. Man what nonsense IMHO. This rocks, rolls and simply flabbergasts. My only misgiving is lack of body slam versus a big horn aimed at your chest as the bass is vertically directed. At the mouth of the IB opening, the transients could snuff out a road hazard flare.
IB rules!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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From Zedguy, 4 Tempest IB he built for his uncle
Over the past few years I have built subs including Tempests (ported and sealed), the passive radiator Stryke HE 15, ported AV 15 and most recently a sealed JBL SUB1500. All have performed admirably in their various applications but nothing comes close to the Tempest IB. It is the deepest, cleanest bass I have ever heard.
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From Prototrax, he has a 4 DB Drive PL15D4 IB
I will never go back to a ported subwoofer if I
can help it. The bass is smooth and well defined. You can actually hear
different notes being played on a bass guitar. Compared to the sound of my old
subwoofers, these new ones lack the "muddiness" of the ported boxes.
This was a move in the right direction.
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From JonFo, he has a 4 Stryke AV-15" IB
OK, I've had it for less than a week, but the thing just blows me away.
We just watched Terminator 3, and it about shook the house down. And this house (and the HT) is glued and screwed together; every joint in the place has expanding foam in it. The drywall in the HT has screws every 6 inches, and it still made the place shake (and a few rattles I'll have to chase down).
A good IB beats $8K worth of Velodynes any day.
It made my MartinLogans really rock. I now have bass that can keep up in terms of clarity, speed and volume.
It is the *best* damn investment I've ever made in Audio. Thanks for all the support on this site.
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From Phillip H., he has a 2 Dayton IB15" IB
I'm a bass guitarist and have been for a long time. One thing I have never liked about home theater subs is that they tend to "mush' the bass. With this setup I could hear every little subtlety in the bass playing. It was like I had my Eden cab in the corner and was jamming along.
Then I decided to try a home theater soundtrack.....
Hmmmm... Finding Nemo has some pretty fantastic bass....
Put in the chapter with the girl tapping on the glass.
--- insert sound of Phil's jaw hitting the floor ---
Holy freaking crap - unbelievable. (but what's that rattling - oh, I have to move that DVD shelf).
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From need4speed, he has a 2 Atlas 15" IB
Its surpassed all my expectations...it sounds just awesome....my previous 220L sub couldn't come close to how this sounds. I'd recommend that any DIYer that has the space try this.
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From Brady A., he has a 4 AE IB-15" IB
When I first fired it up it sounded ok but something was missing. I kept running downstairs and turning it up a little each time. I was playing the same song the whole time and decided to toss in rough boys 38 special. When the song started it scared the crap out of me. It felt like mike tyson (young version) was punching my stomach. Then I smiled and played it again and again and again. The reason I thought something was missing in the first tune was because there was. What was missing was all the bloated crap coming from my old sub,and I was used to that sound. As many have said before you have to sort of relearn how to listen to the new sound,kinda like breaking your ears in. Also you guys were right about the amount of detail a bad sub can cover up,what I can hear now is simply amazing.
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From Rick, he has a 4 AE IB-15" IB
But back to the IB - FANTASTIC!!!! I hung on to my Seismic 12 because of a healthy dose of scepticism need less to say - it's toast - buh bye - I'm selling it.
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From Kdd, after installing 3 of his 6 TC-Sounds 15"s
Holy crap! This IB may force me to rebuild my room; the bass is phenominal but shakes the crap out of the structure. At 10Hz to 16Hz, the floor feels like an earthquake; no need for a buttkicker any more.
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From Maurice, after installing 4 AE IB-15" IB
I Got the subs, and spent some hours
late last night installing them, I have amp issues, but even so all i can say is
WOOOOOOOOOOOW!!!
But i have only spend like 600dollars, the bass is incredibly clean and it hits
hard fast and deeper than i imagined. "eagles hotel California" dts cd
is amazing, a few scenes from "event horizon" made me queasy, and
"matrix reloaded" is just ridiculous!!!!
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From Chrisbee, 4-AE IB15"s
The IB now produces effortless bass as low as one could wish for
[<10Hz]and as loud as one can physically endure [120dB+]. The original
clarity has increased further and the interplay between deep organ notes has
become markedly more complex. Beating between the large pipes is suddenly very
noticeable with the frequency of the beating woven into constantly changing
patterns as the pipes chuff or gently breathe themselves into life, change or
hold pitch then die away again. The true timbre of the great pipes is now
revealed with effortless clarity.
On the briefest of notes one can hear the attack, sustain and decay completely
without conscious effort. On certain organ CDs the whole house shakes to
incredibly loud and very deep bass. One senses that the audible organ is
superimposed on a heaving sea of infrasonics. The inaudible tones of which
manipulate the voices of the great pipes to an unwritten score. The IB manages
all this with nothing more than a few small millimetres of cone motion. Usually
cone movement is invisible and only touching the surround gives any sense of
vibration.
Drums have become much more realistic with great depth and occasionally, real
shock value. Electronic, electric and acoustic bass now have enough muscle to
satisfy a hardened fairground ride operator or habitual head banger. From
nowhere the IB thunders with massive authority, almost malevolent weight, to
disappear into inky silence just as suddenly.
The sense of incredble weight is the hardest thing to describe about the sound
quality of an IB. A small fraction of a second is enough for single deep note to
convey a huge mass rising and falling instantaneously but with stupendous
gravity. The IB does this regularly on pipe organ and electronic synthesised
bass. Not only does the IB manage this in a fraction of a second but it speaks
to you with great clarity how the note began and how it swelled and was
sustained. Whether the sustain was level, or dipped and rose again. Before dying
back to decay into nothingness. Nonsense! (You say to yourself) How can such a
short note produce this strange effect of immense weight? I'm afraid the only
way you will hear it for yourself is from a True Infinite Baffle Subwoofer.
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