# 12" SSA ICON d2



## tyroneshoes (Mar 21, 2006)

As some of you guys know I won this sub in the raffle ANT hosted here with the ICON Npdang tested in this thread.

http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/showthread.php?t=33953

It arrived today and the build quality was very impressive. Beefy motor and visible copper as seen in npdangs pictures. Nice overhung design, as stated better than I can in npdangs review. 

I tossed it in one of these 1.25 cuft sealed goldwood boxes from PE after recaulking and adding some bracing. I had some PE credit and in reality, theyre not bad boxes. I will be probably doing a fiberglass job later on when I have time.

I just got it today and the suspension is very stiff indeed. Now Im just going to give you my initial impressions as I have about an hour of listening time. I will update the post with pics and impressions as it breaks in some.

I will compare it to the previous subs in my current truck in order to take car specific acoustics out of the picture. 

Previous subs in my Escape: Critical Mass LS122 and Soundstream Exact 12

Powered by a Kenwood x1r giving 600 watts.

First thing I will say is the ICON is a lowend monster. Not to the point where its all low end like my previous JBL power series which was very peaky. But it plays low effortlessly and smoothly. Fast and deep transient attack. Nice impact. 

As far as blending with midbass, the Critical mass has a slight upper hand here but did not have the impact on the low end I like for hiphop and stuff. The CM is very much a SQ based shallow, lightweight sub that gets loud in really small enclosures. Its also uh, $950 retail. The Exact played lower than the CM but didnt blend as well. The ICON is a jack of all trades playing lower than the exact and blending pretty well.

Output on 600 watts in a small suv is more than enough for all of us. Unless youre going for spl. 

First impressions, great overall sub. 

I have to say, the sub sounds very similar to my Audiomobile MASS which is my fav sub of all time and Ive had quite a bunch, many costing more. Only thing is it needs a smaller box and is readily available. 

Even on 1 hour of listening, I feel I could recommend this sub to anyone just looking for a good sub that can pound when you get on it. It will also sound great in a balanced SQ system. 

I will update with pics although my install is not finished.

Once broken in, say a few weeks of listening (I drive a lot) Ill give you my final evaluation. Frankly, even as a new sub, it sounds great, I heard it gets better. Ill be sure to let you know.

First and foremost, thanks to ANT, SSA, and Npdang for coming through and hooking me up with what will with 99% probability be my final sub for this car. 

Great sub, very reasonable price. More to come.


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## ZoNtO (Sep 20, 2005)

Thanks for the review and giving back to the community when it gave to you! Congrats on the win too btw!


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## dejo (Jan 3, 2006)

very nice review, now send it to me. lol


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## tyroneshoes (Mar 21, 2006)

Little update. I must have put a good 10 hours of listening in now driving cross state and commuting daily. Remember, this is purely subjective, for objective, see npdangs post.

30 to 60hz: 9.5/10

I am very impressed with this sub. It plays from 60hz and lower impeccably. Powerful impact as stated before but also smooth and effortless. Really, I am extremely content with the lowend. It really is great and my favorite to date sealed sub for hiphop or bassheavy music. I use a old Beatnuts track (hiphop) since highschool to test new subs on their lowend extension and there is a 808 40-45hz drop followed by 20-30 hz drop. Many sq-based subs like the alumapro do not produce much audible output in this 20-30 hz drop. With the icon, it was powerful and full. More so than any previous sub in a sealed box that I have run before. If you like bass heavy music, this is the perfect sub. It was clean and not boomy, I just coudnt give it a perfect score because I have heard subs that sound better and provide more impact, theyre much more expensive though. I would say in this area, it resembles physically and in perfomrance an old tc9 franken woofer I had. The lowend output is pretty up to par with my older w7. 

There was indeed more lowend output as it broke in, plays lower than my old MASS with more umph. Its up there. This is the area where subs like the dayton HO could not keep up. 


60-100hz: 8.5/10

This isnt the finest in comparison to a SQ sub like the Peerless xxls or Alumapro rx/mx or my previous critical mass ls but for most here who crossover their sub real low, its a winner.

The sound sounds like a true subwoofer while many of these Alumapro/Rainbow type of lightweight woofers sound like really big woofers to me. Great upper bass response and very fast transients. But they dont take a pounding like the icon. However, I am an occasional basshead so these subs didnt do it for me.

By no means am I saying its a poor performer because it not. It just produces a somewhat "thick sounding" upper bass at times in comparison to some of the other mentioned subs. But in reality, its not bad at all. 

My conclusion at this point is that I am very happy with this sub. Im definitely keeping it. It sounds smooth and effortless when I run it flat in "sq" mode but when I used my bass cube thing to really get on it, man did it hit. My friend made me lower it cus he was getting uncomfortable. So in general, in you want an overall great sub that hits hard and low in a small sealed box that can take some abuse, yet will sound good when going for a balanced sound, the ICON should be high in your list.

I havent compared it to its close competitors like the FI Q nor have I tried it ported but i have tried many subs that are popular on here. If you have any questions you dont think I covered, feel free to ask. 

Now I know its nothing flashy and not done, but here it is in its new home after its many travels. Ill take a better pic when I finish my install.


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## Aaron Clinton (Oct 17, 2006)

*Wow. Thank you for going into such depth in your review. Your findings seem to resemble many others in reference to the low end. Maybe Mark can get a chunk of your review to put up on the SSA Icon page. We are fine with giving up a little on the upper end since many of whom go after the Icon, run mid-bass' down below 100hz. Glad you like it so much.

Side note, I can't wait to get my bass cube working again, a guy is building a few remotes from scratch since PG no longer has them in stock.*


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## tyroneshoes (Mar 21, 2006)

denim said:


> *Wow. Thank you for going into such depth in your review. Your findings seem to resemble many others in reference to the low end. Maybe Mark can get a chunk of your review to put up on the SSA Icon page. We are fine with giving up a little on the upper end since many of whom go after the Icon, run mid-bass' down below 100hz. Glad you like it so much.
> 
> Side note, I can't wait to get my bass cube working again, a guy is building a few remotes from scratch since PG no longer has them in stock.*


Sure, you can use the review in any way you want. It continues to sound smoother almost every day now. I definitely agree that these subs have a different sound after broken in. 

Yeah, I also had the same problem getting a replacement knob from PG. The Kenwood x1r actually has a a digital processor that works just like a basscube built in. Also wanted to give an update that these Kenwood amps are also staying as they're just great amps aside from the name. This is the knob, and works just like the basscube, not an attenuator. 










But with the icon, I can use it less carefully.


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## Nathan P (Jun 9, 2007)

Great review! How would you say it compares to the Dayton Reference 12 HO?


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## sick6ness (Apr 15, 2008)

Nice review, it making me want one more and more!


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## mr_scary (Mar 26, 2008)

nice review and follow-up man, thank you!


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## dejo (Jan 3, 2006)

very nice review.


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## remedy (Jul 20, 2006)

Thanks for the review!


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## tyroneshoes (Mar 21, 2006)

Nathan P said:


> Great review! How would you say it compares to the Dayton Reference 12 HO?


I like the Dayton HO a lot. It does nothing really poorly but the Icon just has a more powerful low end. The dayton may have the upper hand as far as blending and may be more accurate, especially in the upper bass region (60+hzish) but its just less, uh, ballsy.

I also have a HF 10" ported as my home sub and I think the sub sounds great so Id give them an equally good review except the icon has more of an emphasis on the low end where the dayton aims to be a low distortion, accurate sub and a modern design with faraday rings. Its a bargain for most, but it wasnt happy with my bass cube thing if you know what I mean. 

For the dayton Id say its more like

30-60hz = 8
60-100 hz = 9

I wanted a nice low end and was going to go back to my w7 before I got the icon and I dont feel the need to anymore. Purists may think the icon is too low end heavy but its nothing some eq cant help if thats the sound youre looking for.

But for 90% of the subwoofer buying people, the icon does what most people want a subwoofer to do well. Its hits low and hard and sounds smooth doing it. Crossed over at 62hz second order, it sounds great. Not bad at 80 hz either.

I have decided to make home audio my pursuit of audio perfection, audiophile car audio is tuning, tuning and more tuning. With this car, I wanted to just make the car sound great witha simple active setup, but more fun to listen to. The Icon is a fun sub to listen to. 

Also keep in mind Im giving it less that the recommended power. 600 watts or so. The basscube like dsp of the amp worked out well as adding up to 10 db at a certain frequency can overexert a sub easily. So depending on the level of boost, it asking too much for most subs, especially for sub designs where youre providing enough power to exceed xmax easily. It has easily bottomed out with most of my previous subs. The gains are low and it allows me to add significant boost without overexerting the icon even once. I used to have to adjust the boost gingerly but now, the Icon works out perfect for my current setup.

Giving it a flat 800-1000 watts Im sure would be the preferred method here. My needs are maybe a little different that you as I like to shake my mirrors up here and there. I am not flat signal guy in the car. Its all fun for me.

Side note: I watched a DVD movie on lunch break with trubass using the srs surround sound dsp in my deck and the icon sounded real nice and played the low, low notes in movies nicely. It doesnt break a sweat. 

600 watts works great for me.


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## Aaron Clinton (Oct 17, 2006)

*I am really happy to see another in depth, very positive unbiased review.  *


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