# IDMAX 12d4v4 Ported Review



## Luminol (Jan 19, 2016)

Ok so here is my initial assessment of Image Dynamics Idmax 12d4v4. 

The technical stuff.
The sub is being powered by a Zapco ST-1650XM II mono amp in 2 0hm. The driver is in a 2.64 cu/ft ported box crossed over at 125hz inside of a Nissan Frontier 4dr. The box is in the back seat and is port loaded.

The sound.
The first thing I threw at it was some classic rock. ACDC hits along with some Metallica, Type O negative, and Dire straights. 
For about the first 45 min. The sub was so quiet at about half clip level on the amp I thought I had wired it wrong or screwed up something. This was due to break in of the sub which got a lot better after the 45 min. mark. After that It was like any other sub undergoing a break in. For classic rock this sub is great. Very well defined kick drums and bass guitars. I could hear the clap of the kick drums mallet in addiction to the drum it's self as well as a bass guitarists fingers sliding across the strings. The sub was pretty musical but not as much as I thought it would be. It hit all the notes just fine but something was missing. I can't put my finger on what that was but this might also be due to break in somewhat. After about another 45 min. of rock I listened to some various Hip Hop. The sub does well for Hip Hop in a ported box. Low notes were easy to come by and the driver can produce quite a bit of bass if you want it to. Again the only real issue I had was that it had a bit of trouble keeping up with some of the faster baseline oscillations. In this box the sub didn't really play well above 100hz but most people crossover before that. I got the feeling in a different enclosure it would have done better in this regard. Something I was rather annoyed about was the chuffing type sound the surround on the speaker sometimes makes. Image Dynamics had warned me about this so I didn't freak out if it happened. It was the surround and not the box. IMO no speaker should do this, especially not one in the $400 price range. All in all it did Hip Hop pretty well. For a speaker to be as accurate as this was around 70-90 bpm and push the amount of air this thing moves was impressive.
After the Hip Hop I moved on to my bread and butter, Trance. This the speaker could just barely handle. At 120-130 bpm seems to be where the sub started to have trouble keeping up with the music. Especially on sharp bass kicks that hit deep and fast. It also seemed to have trouble distinguishing between bass line and bass kick at faster bpm's. I know as the sub breaks in more this will improve but I am very skeptical that it will be enough of a change to keep up with 140 bpm Psytrance or 160 bpm Drum & Bass. The sub takes about 1/3 of a beat to get back to it's starting point. This is in part the ported enclosure and part break in period. I'm sure the large excursion potential of the sub has something to do with this as well. For me this is a deal breaker. If this doesn't improve after break in I will try out a sealed enclosure and if that doesn't work It's off to the Classifieds. I am very, very picky about the accuracy of a subs response time because of what I primarily listen to. I went with this enclosure and driver trying to please my wife's desire for sound and mine. She's a bass head. I'm an Audiophile. For anything less than about 120 bpm all in all the sub sounds good. Hit's low notes with ease, It's reasonably musical for it's price point and has very good detail. For most listeners I think this sub would please. It seems to excel at better than average sound quality spl type setups. If your looking for a mix of both spl and sq this speaker would be a good choice as long as you don't need it to play faster that 120 bpm. 
Aside from the sound review I would like to point out that Image Dynamics has great customer service. They were very helpful. My only issue with them is that the sub came to me with a bit of surround glue on the actual surround. Whoever made the sub just got a little careless when gluing the cone to surround. It doesn't seem to be affecting the suspension of the driver. Just a minor cosmetic flaw. As for the ordering process I was very happy with that as well. I purchased the sub from Majik on this site. He gave me a fair price. packaged the speaker well and shipped it very fast. I got it in 2 days. Hope this helps anyone who might be considering getting this sub. All in all it's a good driver and I would recommend it. Take the accuracy at fast speed part with a grain of salt unless you also listen to a lot of electronic music as that is where I am most critical of a sub and most people will never listen to Trance or anything else at 140bpm.


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## Lycancatt (Apr 11, 2010)

I am having trouble believing that id said the surround is supposed to make a bit of noise? that's..thats just wrong. not saying your wrong but that the idea that this is ok is completely not ok.

I think a lot of what you are hearing with the speed issue is down to tuning, and perhaps letting the sub overpower the other speakers. give your wife a bass knob lol.


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## Luminol (Jan 19, 2016)

I realize it seems weird that they would say that but it's true. I stuck my head next to the speaker and did about a 360 around the edge to see if it was happening only in 1 spot like maybe the glue mishap but it wasn't localized to any particular area. It wasn't the port or reflection off the wall of the truck. The guy at I.D. said sometimes under large excursion the surround would invert and then flop back and that it's an issue they are working to fix. It's possible I misunderstood him but I don't think so. He said they get calls about it from people worried the broke their subs. The space between the inside edge of the outer basket ring and outside edge of the surround is only about 1/8" or less. I suspect it may be that as the surround get's pressed down during a kick it's taking enough of that 1/8" away so that as air rushes back in to fill the void as the speaker returns to rest it makes a sound like when you blow air across the lid of a bottle. It really freaked me out when it happened. I thought maybe the speaker was resonating or I screwed up the box or something but no. I double checked. Plus after the install I went to my friends to o scope the amps because they are all new. I had to set everything back to zero for that and other than the crossovers everything is still like that. eq time alignment phase etc. 
Tuning has never fixed the accuracy anywhere close to enough for me. I'm really anal about that so for most people it would not be an issue. How would you tune to fix that? Maybe I haven't been doing something right or as good as I could have?


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## Hoptologist (Sep 14, 2012)

The surround "chuffing" that you experienced is not a rare occurrence for the IDMAX. Google IDMAX+Wrinkle or IDMAX+Dimple or IDMAX+Crinkle and you will see it being discussed in a number of places. 

You will see responses like "They're made to wrinkle at full excursion" and "When you start feeding it the juice you'll see the surround start to dimple in about 8 places - this is normal and nothing to be concerned about."

It mainly seems to happen when you approach its limits. Whether or not it's indeed "normal," I don't know.


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## Luminol (Jan 19, 2016)

OK thanks glad I'm not going mental. Seems a relatively serious problem to let slip by through 3-4 versions of a product. Not a good way to start a relationship with a brand.


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## strong*I*bumpin (Oct 3, 2005)

Dang 125hz x/o point


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## Luminol (Jan 19, 2016)

strong*I*bumpin said:


> Dang 125hz x/o point


It's because of what I listen to. The constant rolling baselines of trance tend to be in the 60-150hz range and you tend to get a better blend from the sub to your components with the higher cross. That said I typically have 2 saved master settings 1 for me and one for rock hip hop or whatever else.


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## $ilver~tC (Nov 27, 2010)

Well if the IDMAX doesnt do it for ya, i would try out an IDQ. I listen to the same music, as well as hardstyle and jumpstyle, which reaches into the 150-180 bpm range (no joke), and the IDQ keeps up perfectly in my mind. Then again its crossed at 80hz and is in a sealed box. Half the time i feel like the IDQ is just laughing at me waiting for me to give it something hard to handle.. The one downside i find with the IDQ is the lack of output from HipHop, but that was expected as it is not meant to be an SPL sub. 

It is an IDQ12v3d4, bought it second hand, so it was already broken in, and ive been nothing but happy with it. This sub is so musical and transparent i dont want to switch to anything else, but in my search for more output i decided to get an IDMAX lol. i have yet to install that, so i have no comparison really. I plan on putting it in a sealed box, either a 1.3 or 1.5, still havent made up my mind and have been on these forums for some info on which would be better. After reading this im pretty set that i will put it in a sealed box. I love image dynamics though, great products at a reasonable price. 

sorry if im all over the place, ive been known to ramble and get off topic easily HA


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## audiorailroad (Mar 6, 2007)

I always tune ported boxes around 25 hz just to minimize group delay cause i listen to metal with lots of doubles goin on. I currently use an ed 13ovwhich is very similar to the ID stuff.


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