RE Audio XXX12D2 Subwoofer Review

Near Perfect Bass?

Speaker reviewer Eric Holdaway (who happens to be busy auditioning some components this week, as a matter of fact), put RE Audio's gargantuan woofer through its paces a few years ago. While significant time may have passed, the XXX's specs appear to be the same. And why not, at the time Eric said this product produced "near perfect bass". You don't want to mess too much with near perfection. So then the real question is if you can bear the weight and price—Ben Oh

Sitting in my doorway to my office was a box, a really heavy box. The shipping label on it pronounced it to be from RE Audio and that it carried a weight of 78 pounds. "Seventy-eight pounds!" I thought. "Man, how many subwoofers did they send me?" The shipping carton was a custom double-walled corrugated cardboard box with these cool built-in plastic handles and reinforced corners. Inside the box was another custom enclosure that was made out of a 1/2" high-density paper tube covered in a black felt-like material. Its job was to confine the single, massively heavy RE Audio XXX12D2 subwoofer. The sub itself weighs in at a ridiculous 72 pounds and is seriously tall. As a matter of fact, it's the first subwoofer that I recall testing where its depth (14") was greater than its overall diameter (13")!



Some of you may be asking the question, "So who the heck is RE Audio anyway?" The company was originally named FRC and was started in 1997 as a garage operation in Diamond Bar, CA, by Scott Atwell. Over the next couple of years FRC grew up and out of the garage and into large facilities in the nearby area. As opportunities increased to grow the company, FRC moved to their new digs in Las Vegas, where the company's innovative thinking and design drew quite a bit of attention. In 2002, FRC became RE Audio when new partners and suppliers came on board. Earlier in 2007 Atwell moved on from RE Audio, while his partners, Mark Chao and David Moore, carried on. Since then the name has only grown. There are far fewer audio enthusiasts today asking the aforementioned question today then a few years ago, for sure.

Build
The subject of this review, the XXX12D2 subwoofer, is a culmination of RE Audio's years of cutting edge design. This sub is a unique-looking piece with several distinct features. One of the more notable elements is the frame. It's an extremely tall, cast aluminum piece that's powdercoated with a textured, satin black finish. The frame is very open at the rear with all its mechanicals exposed between the eight large legs. It anchors to the motor assembly with each of the legs bolting directly to the topplate.

The motor is also very distinguished. While woofers of this magnitude usually use motors comprised of magnets several layers tall, the XXX12D2 uses four pie-shaped wedges 1.3" thick with small gaps between them. With the wedges in place, the motor diameter measures approximately 11 1/2" - just small enough to fit through the mounting hole in a sub enclosure! The gaps between the magnets allow the seriously long voice coil to breathe. Magnetic flux is carried from the magnets up to the voice coil gap through a large steel topplate that has an interesting shape. The plate has a tapered edge that plateaus at a thickness of approximately 15mm, only to rise up in the center like a volcano another 65mm, forming a huge magnetic gap. Six half-round notches drilled through the top of the gap add additional cooling for the voice coil. The backplate, to the rear of the magnets, offers a return for the magnetic energy that flows up through the pole piece. Unlike most conventional subs, it has no vent hole at the rear. In place of that is a large aluminum dome adorned with an RE Audio logo that covers the rear of the driver, finished in the same black texture powdercoat as the basket.



Moving the cone on the XXX12D2 is a beautiful flat wound 3", 4-layer, split aluminum voice coil that's one of the keys to the massive excursion and power handling on the product. To control the moving parts, RE Audio employed two large diameter progressive spiders, mounted inversely of one another, to the top and bottom of a spider spacer. This spacer is adhered to an aluminum ring that is mounted to a step in the frame. This ring also acts as a mount for the "Tork Tite" terminals that accept 10-gauge wire through a setscrew connection. Power is then transmitted to the voice coil through thick-gauge tinsel leads that run through the spider riser and between the spiders.



Up front, a 1-1/2" NBR (rubber) surround handles additional compliance for the driver. Yes, by going with the oversized surround, the XXX has a smaller cone surface area than other 12" subwoofers, but since the frame is oversized, it's not by much. The cone itself is a 2-piece affair using a stiff conically shaped primary cone made of composite paper at the rear, and a solid, inverted polymica cone up front with he XXX series logo in the center. The sub also has integrated gaskets at both the front and rear of the mounting flange.

What all this craziness yields is a subwoofer with a mind-bending 54mm of linear Xmax for some serious stroke, and a thermal power handling of 2,000 watts! Pretty impressive so far, but the real test will be the listening of course.

Installation
RE's manual offered two enclosure recommendations: a compact size of 0.85ft3 and an optimum size of 1.1ft3. Because of the sheer bulk of this subwoofer, I was surprised by just how small these two recommended enclosures were. As is my custom, I gave the manufacturer a call to get their absolute best enclosure recommendation for sound quality. When Larry Ratcliff of RE Audio gave me the specs, I was taken aback, shocked even, when the answer came back almost three times larger then the recommended size at 2.843ft3! That's one big box, but it is more in line with what I would expect.

So the guys at Speaker Works made some sawdust to create our test enclosure. Master installer Eddie Ellington loves the fact that the XXX fit into a standard 12" subwoofer cutout, even though it features a massive cast frame. Because of the weight and depth of this monster, you'll need to build a custom enclosure. We recommend marine-grade birch plywood.

To power the RE Audio sub, I installed a Zapco C2K9.0 amplifier. The dual 2-ohm coils of the XXX12D2 were wired in parallel for a 1-ohm load at the amp, which produces 2,000 watts of RMS power at this impedance. The built-in crossovers and subsonic filters were bypassed. The Alpine PXA-H701 processor was used to set levels and to actively divide the frequency range to all of the speakers.

Listening
Jazz
Diana Krall - "All or Nothing at All"
Listening revealed that the XXX12D2 has a split personality, kind of like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Dr. Jekyll loves accurately reproduced music that is well-balanced and pure, while Mr. Hyde wants to pound and party down. I started with Diana Krall and was impressed with the note shifts up and all the way down the scale of the string bass. The XXX allowed me to hear the very lowest notes with great control and clarity. The bass reproduction was neither obtrusive nor abusive in terms of sound quality or linearity. The bass line fit right into the musical playback fantastically. Although the XXX didn't energize the air in the cab and shake my clothes like so many other subs, the tonality, speed and control of the sound thrilled me. This was not what I expected when I received and unpacked the XXX12D2.
Score: 8.5/10

Rock
Switchfoot - "This Is Your Life"
I kicked in Switchfoot's 5.1 Dolby Digital mix of this song and KA-BOOM! So much for the subtleties of the Diana Krall album! This track opens with a loud drop bass note and the XXX nailed it, sucking the air out of my lungs! I thought, "Is this the same subwoofer I was just listening to?" The party-hearty Mr. Hyde came out and kicked my tail as the XXX displaced the air with violent, tight, Rocky Balboa punches! Not only did it go low, but it also played really, really loud!
Score: 9/10

R&B
Usher - Confessions
Maybe this was a trick of the 5.1 disc, so I went back to the world of stereo, with Usher's 2-channel disc. On the acoustically recorded "Intro" track, the XXX sounded very much like the Dr. Jekyll from the Krall music. As soon as "YEAH!" started up, Mr. Hyde was back to kick the doors off their hinges.

The RE Audio sub appeared to excel in multiple disciplines. Even on this pop-slop, drum track, over-mixed recording, the XXX12D2 stayed true and tight - very impressive! It even sounds louder than the 132.7dB that I measured. It reminded me of a much larger diameter subwoofer, like a 13- or 15-incher.
Score: 8.5/10

Classical
Schubert - "Symphony No.9"
So, just to try and catch this subwoofer out, I switched over to classical music with Telarc's 20-bit recording of Schubert's "Symphony No.9." Dr. Jekyll was back. The bow strokes on the basses were deliberate and correctly loud. How can this sub go from squeezing the air out of me to one of the most unobtrusive, smooth and natural sounding subs available? I didn't make any adjustments either, just changed discs—beautiful. The bass imaging was absolutely fantastic, too. The bass notes were all up front and I never heard any kind of low frequency coming from the rear where the XXX12D2 was installed.
Score: 8/10

Pop
Steely Dan - Everything Must Go
Finishing up I listened to Steely Dan's DTS 5.1 mix of this album. The loping bass line was rich, thick and wonderful sounding. The note shifts were detailed and articulate. The overall sound quality more than justified the high score I've given the RE subwoofer here.
Score: 9/10

Conclusion
I had a great time listening to the RE Audio XXX12D2. It makes all the sounds I want to hear out of a subwoofer. It was tight, fast, clean and imaged perfectly. The downside of the XXX is that it is a big, heavy, expensive brute of a subwoofer. RE has gone for the gold with their XXX line of subwoofers, and I have to say that they've earned it. This subwoofer did a great job on every type of music I threw at it. It was supple and faithful on classical, jazz and other acoustic recordings, and it was completely off-the-hook loud and pounding with any type of rap, R&B and dance music. It's almost sad that this subwoofer is so prohibitively expensive (even at a discount price it's in the high three figures). The price will limit how many people will get to experience this super sub and that's unfortunate. Hopefully the technology that RE Audio has used to create the XXX line will trickle down over the next year or two, making this sound available to all enthusiasts.

SPL
80Hz 98.5dB
40Hz 97.1dB
20Hz 93.5dB
Max SPL 132.7dB
SPL in car measurement at 2.83 volts,
1 meter - with Bruel & Kjaer Type 2231 Level Meter set to:
Un-weighted, SPL, and Fast.

SUBJECTIVE SCORE CHART
	POINTS POSSIBLE	RE AUDIO XXX12D2
Overall sound quality	50	47
Tonal balance	10	09
Low-frequency extension	10	09
Clarity at low volume	10	09
Clarity at high volume	10	09
Impact	10	08
Total subjective score	100	91
Ratings: Average performance is equal to 1/2 total points possible.