# SS Icon 12D2



## npdang (Jul 29, 2005)

Thank you to ANT for purchasing and donating the driver for test!


























My first impression upon receiving this sub was that finally, someone came out with a reasonably sized design. Unremarkable in appearance compared to the latest drivers, nonetheless all the hallmarks of a high end driver are present. Large progressive roll spider, large 4 layer voice coil, aluminum former, cast aluminum basket, venting under the spider, and a massive pole vent in the rear. A nice added touch is the tinsel leads appear to be covered in a non-conductive braiding. May I also add, this driver smells like fiberglass resin? Also note: Moving the driver's cone by hand is not recommended. The dual spider suspension is extremely stiff, which should bode well for small box applications. My only concern construction wise would be that it's very easy for the large pole vent to suck in debris or box stuffing. Otherwise, a very solidly built driver at an attractive price.

T/S parameters. Maybe something with my woofer tester, but I double checked the calibration and retested about a dozen times, and these are the results. I would think they are fairly accurate, because if I import the published lower BL spec it would give the driver an xmax of about 8mm 1 way. Also they seem to jive pretty well with the measured frequency response, AND this driver was measured HOT. So there you have it.










A distortion vs. nearfield frequency response plot. An inductive hump centered at 50hz is noticeable. Ignore anything below 20hz, or above 400hz.










And lastly the Klippel results. (Sorry Jeff, last one I promise!)


































Looks like 1-way xmag of ~19mm, close enough to rated specs. Very nicely centered curve, with good symmetry. Not as extended of a plateau as you might see with the best designs, but a terrific example of a textbook overhung motor. Typical Le curve for a motor without a faraday ring/sleeve, with inductance increasing in the rearward stroke. Appears as if suspension was perfectly mated to the capabilities of the motor. All in all, good results. I didn't observe any excess mechanical noise either during the test, which is a good sign.

Overall, a good driver that I believe is comparable to earlier versions of the TC-9, as measured and construction wise. Appears to be quite solid and able to handle a good amount of power, and small signal parameters suggest a small sealex box driver with a good amount of kick without too thick or bloated of a low end.


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## OgreDave (Jul 13, 2005)

Pretty much matches those other reviews of it against a TC9? (soundwise, not the xmax wise, lol)


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## Aaron Clinton (Oct 17, 2006)

*Thank you very much for doing the review, hopefully this will expose it more to the DIYma crowd. The Kippel results are awesome to see. Would be very interested to see Kippel results after break in. The driver comes alive once broken in, most noticeable on the bottom end.*


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## Oliver (Jun 25, 2007)

Great review !!

Thanx Anthony for contributing to the database  !!

Thank You NP for making the time to test this one !! 

and last but not least, Thank You Werewolf  !!!


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## unpredictableacts (Aug 16, 2006)

Damn I can not believe that I missed this review. Here I was begging for a testing and I missed it.

Glad to see the ICON on DIYMA....So is ant going to auction it off or use it for personal use?

I say we start something to where new divers are bought and then actioned off to pay for it self to allow a DIYMA to use the said drivers.


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## newtitan (Mar 7, 2005)

I sooo appreciate these reviews

ive never even see one of these (guess im not following the subwoofer market well enough lol), nice detail and quantitative analysis


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## Daishi (Apr 18, 2006)

YAY!!!! Reviews from npdang are finally back and with a great first item return. Great review and on an item I've been thinking about for some while now


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## dejo (Jan 3, 2006)

was there any subjective listening tests done? would like to hear your impressions on it, NPDang


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## ANT (Oct 15, 2005)

a$$hole said:


> Great review !!
> 
> Thanx Anthony for contributing to the database  !!
> 
> ...



It is a lot to ask npdang to do these tests considering everything that goes in to them but as long as he is willing, I am happy to purchase and donate the drivers..

Looks like we have an ICON to give away in the DIYMA OT

ANT


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## unpredictableacts (Aug 16, 2006)

Please dont tell me that I missed the give away....I have been wanting to give one of these a try for months now and out of all days my computers ****s out on me.


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## KnightWhoSaysNI (Jul 23, 2007)

So just out of curiosity how would this driver compair to a DIYMA 12? In terms of SQ and SPL? I relize that they are differnt animals, just curious


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## kappa546 (Apr 11, 2005)

DIYMA said:


> It is a lot to ask npdang to do thiese tests considering everything that goes in to them but as long as he is willing, I am happy to purchase and donate the drivers..
> 
> Looks like we have an ICON to give away in the DIYMA OT
> 
> ANT


in that case i can't think of a better driver to test than CSS's new SXD10 at the preorder price. http://www.creativesound.ca/

thanks ant for being a great host!


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## SSaudio (Jan 22, 2008)

here's a summary of the new driver pics

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtnTmZ4GSs4

Brand spanking new ICON website to go along with it
http://www.soundsolutionsaudio.com/products/icon


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## unpredictableacts (Aug 16, 2006)

SHiva X
http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/showthread.php?t=33019


???


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## DS-21 (Apr 16, 2005)

KnightWhoSaysNI said:


> So just out of curiosity how would this driver compair to a DIYMA 12? In terms of SQ and SPL? I relize that they are differnt animals, just curious


Doesn't the DIYMA have something like an 8th the inductance per ohm? Just based on that it should be a considerably better-sounding driver. SPL? In a car either one should be more than adequate....


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## dBassHz (Nov 2, 2005)

Thanks for keeping up the reviews. Hopefully, you can get your hands on the SI Mag prototype.


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## Aaron Clinton (Oct 17, 2006)

*I hope you can do broken in Kippel tests.*


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## its_bacon12 (Aug 16, 2007)

Run the sub free air off like 5w for a few hours at a low sine wave see if that would loosen up the suspension. Then do some measurements after  When these subs break in, man they are a completely different driver. I'm curious to see how my TCON stacks up against these! (ICON soft parts in a dual 1 inch slug TC9 motor)


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## low (Jun 2, 2005)

nice. thanks for testing npd. you da man, always will be.


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## soydeedo (Dec 4, 2006)

its_bacon12 said:


> When these subs break in, man they are a completely different driver.


Yeah every subjective review I've read about these seem to echo that statement.

+1 for retesting after break-in.


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## VaVroom1 (Dec 2, 2005)

+2 

so that for once we may know whether break in affects T/S parameters and how if at all.


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## WRX/Z28 (Feb 21, 2008)

dejo said:


> was there any subjective listening tests done? would like to hear your impressions on it, NPDang


+1 for a real world listening test.


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## BEAVER (May 26, 2007)

> +1 for a real world listening test.


Hopefully, the winner of the giveaway will provide us with a good review. I'm actually hoping someone who has owned a lot of subs wins, for the basis of comparison... That is, unless I win.


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## Dougie085 (May 2, 2006)

How do you register for the giveaway?


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## khail19 (Oct 27, 2006)

Dougie085 said:


> How do you register for the giveaway?


There was a thread you needed to post your name in. I think you need 100+ posts to qualify though.


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## Dougie085 (May 2, 2006)

Oh ok was just curious. For some reason I've gotten like 3 emails about it today so figured I should find out lol.


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## khail19 (Oct 27, 2006)

Dougie085 said:


> Oh ok was just curious. For some reason I've gotten like 3 emails about it today so figured I should find out lol.


I see where the problem is, I just got 2 of the same e-mails. The link to the giveaway thread is wrong and it brings you to this thread. Here's the right one...

http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/showthread.php?t=35942&highlight=icon+khail19


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## ANT (Oct 15, 2005)

khail19 said:


> There was a thread you needed to post your name in. I think you need 100+ posts to qualify though.


All red star members can enter regardless of post count.

ANT


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## khail19 (Oct 27, 2006)

DIYMA said:


> All red star members can enter regardless of post count.
> 
> ANT


Yes, now that you edited the rules.


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## Thewiz666 (Jul 9, 2007)

What's a red star member consist of?


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## khanhfat (Feb 4, 2008)

what do i have to do to give away.


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## Fran82 (Jul 30, 2007)

Thewiz666 said:


> What's a red star member consist of?


Paid membership. There's a link up at the top next to "User CP".


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## Alan Ang (Dec 10, 2007)

Great review! 
Now how do I get my hands on one of these?


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## SSaudio (Jan 22, 2008)

Am I eligible??



J/K, one lucky member is getting a great sub. The suspense is killing me, lol


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## brmcm15 (Dec 23, 2007)

nice review......thanx for shedding some light on some brands i never heard! lol


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## MadMaxSE-L (Oct 19, 2006)

Sub looks like my TC2000 12D4 from the back  I'm in for the giveaway - we'll see how they compare when I win

-Matt


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## dragnix (Aug 1, 2006)

so...I guess i'm not qualified


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## Megalomaniac (Feb 12, 2007)

dragnix said:


> so...I guess i'm not qualified


sure you are  Just donate $20 to the site


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## mr_scary (Mar 26, 2008)

are there actual audio quality reviews of this speaker or just a bench review?


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## Neil (Dec 9, 2005)

mr_scary said:


> are there actual audio quality reviews of this speaker or just a bench review?


Are you wanting to hear a bunch of fancy nondescript adjectives that loosely explain how one person interpreted this driver?

Read through some of the threads on how to interpret the data and I'm sure you will appreciate said data a bit more.


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## mr_scary (Mar 26, 2008)

DevilDriver said:


> Are you wanting to hear a bunch of fancy nondescript adjectives that loosely explain how one person interpreted this driver?
> 
> Read through some of the threads on how to interpret the data and I'm sure you will appreciate said data a bit more.


and where did i say i didn't appreciate it or wanted one over the other? oh, that's right, i didn't. i wouldn't mind a review of both. i know perfectly well that those types of reviews are totally subjective, especially in a automobile environment, but i like reading it just the same.


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## snaimpally (Mar 5, 2008)

Please count me in on the giveaway!! (snaimpally)


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## khail19 (Oct 27, 2006)

snaimpally said:


> Please count me in on the giveaway!! (snaimpally)


You need to post in the giveaway thread, not this one.


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## Aaron Clinton (Oct 17, 2006)

mr_scary said:


> and where did i say i didn't appreciate it or wanted one over the other? oh, that's right, i didn't. i wouldn't mind a review of both. i know perfectly well that those types of reviews are totally subjective, especially in a automobile environment, but i like reading it just the same.


*http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/showthread.php?t=16972*


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## khanhfat (Feb 4, 2008)

This aint' coolll.. I have to get 100 posts?


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## Aaron Clinton (Oct 17, 2006)

khanhfat said:


> This aint' coolll.. I have to get 100 posts?


*The drawing was already done and tyroneshoes is the winner.*


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## captainobvious (Mar 11, 2006)

Thanks to npdang and DIYMA for getting this review done!


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