# Peerless Auto XXLS12 sub.



## monkeybutt (Oct 1, 2005)

Got this about about 4 days ago from Madisound. It was ordered on a Monday and came by Friday. Packing was excellent as it came in encased in a form fitted styroform block that allows zero shift of the sub inside. But even the cardboard outer box was unmarred and in good condition. The sub itself looks to be well made. It weighs in at about 16 lbs. One set of push connectors at 4 ohm.
This sub was transplanted into my Acura Cl-S's system consisting of Old school Eclipse Hu, Focal Polykevlars passive w/ midbass in doors and tweeters in kicks, doors are deadened, power is via RF 4 channel amp w/ 24db/octave x-overs and about 300 watts bridged going to the sub. The sub being replaced is an IDQ12v2 d2 wired in 4 ohm. It was in a .95 cu ft. net sealed box in the trunk firing through the back seat.
The XXLS was placed in a sealed box made of baltic birch w/ raamat on the inner walls and stuffed w/ poly/dacron for a net of 1.2 cu ft. Again the box fires through the back seat.
New in the box the sound was awful w/ slow upper bass thud, no impact and no deep bass. At two hours play time I was pretty decided that I was going to yank this and put back the IDQ. But then at about three hours things began to improve...this sub apparently needs a fair amount of break-in.
Now after about 13 hours it is obvious that his sub has good transient response about on par w/ the IDQ, but w/ considerably more thump and goes deeper. It has been a bit more work to blend this sub and the x-over has been moved down to 80hz from 100hz w/ the IDQ, the bass control set to +1 and the non-fader to the sub set to +2. Oddly, the treble control is now dropped to -2 compared to the flat w/ the IDQs. Not sure where the brightness came from. Not really difficult to blend, but not seamless and truly non-localizeable like the Mag v4 recently added to another car.
I am very pleased w/ this sub. During break-in and audition I put in some EZ-e, Luniz and Doveshack tracks that I haven't played in years and the deep, full, yet articulate bass had my foot tapping and my head nodding. I was in between getting this Peerless or just calling it a day and getting another Mag v4 that I am also very happy with. The Mag is an amazing low distortion sub that has disappeared into my other system. In a site like DIYMA I figure we all end up being kinda techie-like, ie. really fixated w/ the technical aspects our our systems. The Mag really makes me forget about 'having a sub in the trunk in a sealed system of so much volume for a given Qtc etc.' Its just music. As my wife returned from an errand this morning I told her that I could hear her coming from down the street. She replied that, "the 'radio' sounds so nice that I had to blast it."
Since the XXLS and the Mag have not been compared in the same car I really can't say which I prefer -yet, but I can say that the XXLS plays w/ more authority, goes deeper and is just as quick as the IDQs in this system. This sub makes my CL just more fun to listen to.


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## kappa546 (Apr 11, 2005)

great review


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## OldSkool_08 (Jun 6, 2008)

Thanks for the great review


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## monkeybutt (Oct 1, 2005)

kappa546 said:


> great review


Thanks Kappa. You know I searched and posted queries regarding the Auto XXLS sub and it is either that no one has used, heard it, or have just not bothered posting on it. I find that odd as it has been out for awhile and I am quite sure that Npdang has at least looked at (tested?) one and has stated that it should be a good performer. And it only costs $149 + shipping on sale at Madisound. It is a shame that it is such an under represented piece as to my ears it is good enuff to easily displace the ubiquitous value SQ sub, the IDQ -at least v2 as I have not heard the v3. And I have enjoyed IDQs a lot and have three in the garage as I write this.


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## mvw2 (Oct 2, 2005)

The XXLS has been tested and reviewed and used by a number of folks. Realize there are a half dozen different variants of that woofer and another half dozen of the 10" size. I don't think the Auto version has been used a whole lot, but the option depends upon the enclosure you intend to use. There are a lot of variant for a lot of setups. Type XXLS in search and you get about 300 threads. 34 of these have XXLS in the title. You may not find much specific to the Autosound version, but the XXLS woofer has been discussed.


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## monkeybutt (Oct 1, 2005)

mvw2 said:


> The XXLS has been tested and reviewed and used by a number of folks. Realize there are a half dozen different variants of that woofer and another half dozen of the 10" size. I don't think the Auto version has been used a whole lot, but the option depends upon the enclosure you intend to use. There are a lot of variant for a lot of setups. Type XXLS in search and you get about 300 threads. 34 of these have XXLS in the title. You may not find much specific to the Autosound version, but the XXLS woofer has been discussed.


Yeah when I did a title search I went through those 34 threads and discounted the 9 'for sale' ones off the bat. Upon perusing the others it seems that there were actually very few first hand experiances of the XXLS sound as a category, variants and all, and zip for the Auto XXLS in question. Regardless, it would be folly to bank on a line of drivers, be they subs, midbasses or tweeters to have technically or subjective performance eg., IDQ v1,2,3 are variants yet differ significantly in parameters and performance to warrant careful selection between the models. So yes an XXLS may have been 'discussed' , but commonly used or reviewed, heard? - nah. Some bit of speculation over this line as a whole, but not a bunch of folks threw down. Anyway, my queries were to ask for first hand experiance of the Peerless 830877 XXLS Autosound 12" sub and coming up w/ wind, I decided to answer the question for myself. I hope my review may help someone else perhaps try this sub 'cause it this baby performs. My next foray will be in comparing the XXLS to the Magv4 in the same car(s).


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## monkeybutt (Oct 1, 2005)

Okay I had some time to hear both the XXLS and Mag12v4 in the same set ups back to back. To recap I have an Acura CL w/ the XXLS and a TL w/ the MAG. So upon transplanting the XXLS to the TLs trunk it was obvious that the XXLS was more efficient so gains were backed down a bit. Sound?
The bass lines were not as defined as the Mag. It was also harder to blend and the LP was reduced to 80 from 100hz and still a bit more sense that I could sometimes localize the sub rearward. Also a some midbass articulation and punch was lost going to the XXLS. I switched back and forth between the two a couple times playing the same tracks and my impressions were consistant. All tone controls/boost were left '0'.
Then I moved to the CL where the Mag was introduced to the system at 80hz LP, but oddly the gains sounded okay as they were. The Mag blended well w/ no localization to the rear. Again the bass seemed more defined than the XXLS so I switched back and forth a few times to make sure and it was apparent that the Mag just sounded tighter and more articulate. Also the Mag has that ability to make the midbass sound punchier and the overall sound more coherent throughout the range. I suspect the Mag's ability to play higher and cleaner into the midbass makes the transition more seemless.
At this point I walked away for a few hours to rest my ears. 
Coming back to the CL, the XXLS sounded quite good, and only in a switch to the Mag points to a bit of upper bass/low midbass bloat. So after a bit of bitchin' and moaning to myself, I opened up the box and added some more stuffing. This helped noticeably so I did it again until the stuffing was just touching the basket but not firm. When I modeled the box, I targeted a Qtc is of about .76. It seems that perhaps Madisound is right in recommending a bigger box for a Qtc of .7 or so. 
Anyway the more stuffed (effectively larger) box made the bass lines of the XXLS more defined and easy to follow. Also the midass bass bloat was reduced and punchiness/attack improved. 
In summary, the XXLS in a sealed box of 1.25 to 1.4 cuft net. is a very enjoyable and articulate sub that goes deep. I find it to be at least as well defined as the IDQv2, but plays w/ more authority. It is a satisfying choice for me... except in direct comparison to the Magv4 which has an amazing ability to disappear in both my systems and make me forget about 'listening' to a sub. If I had to do it again, I would get the Mag v4 over the XXLS even for the $80 difference and still consider a bargain 'cause while the XXLS is satisfying , the Mag is magic. So the SI gets the nod, at least until the DIYMA12 arrives.


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