# A Comparison of 2 TC9 based drivers.



## Octopus Jonny (Oct 30, 2007)

I'm going to just start this thread as a brief summary for right now and will add to it over the next couple days as I get a little more ear time with the hybrid.

So, let's get into this. I drive a 99 Honda Accord sedan that, since ~Christmas 07 has had an Eclipse 8053 in the dash, 2 Alpine PDX's in the trunk (2.150 and 1.1000), CDT HD-62 comps in the front doors with Alpine Type X crossovers, and up until Saturday evening, an eD e12A was in the trunk in a 1.25 cu ft sealed box.

I am a very big fan of the e12A's sound. This is the second install I've used one in, the first being in my 99 Mazda Protege 4ish years ago now. My favorite aspect of the woofer is the force it brings to the lower end of the sound. It is a pretty in-your-face type of woofer that reproduces the notes very cleanly, but that little extra emphasis on the low lows is what influenced my decision on getting a 2nd one for this install.

I bought the TC9/Fi hybrid woofer from dB Dom over on caraudio.com about 2 weeks after I purchased the e12A. I was caught up in the "what do I _really_ want in my car?!" phase of putting together an audio setup and didn't really stop to think that I had just bought another TC9 based woofer and that they would most likely sound almost the same. This iteration of the TC9 has 3/4" magnets compared with the 1" magnets found on the 12A. I never really bothered to look into why that is or if there should be any huge difference between the motors, so if anyone has any input on that feel free to drop it. I was told by Dom (who did the recone himself) that the Fi softparts consist of one stiff and one soft spider and that it was geared towards SQL type installs and had power handling of ~1200w RMS (I'm feeding it ~1100 from the PDX and I'd say it could easily take a little bit more just fine). I was stuck inside Saturday due to some nasty storms rolling through and decided I may as well just swap woofers and see if there was any audible difference between them.

The first thing I noticed about the hybrid was that it blended very well with my front stage. The notes produced are a little bit more refined than the aggressive behavior on the low lows that the 12A exhibits. I played through a variety of material that I listen to frequently to get an idea of how the woofer handled different types of bass. Clean, smooth, crisp. If I wasn't so attached to the aggressiveness of the 12A this woofer would be staying in my trunk. No doubt, it blends in seamlessly with the fronts. I can't tell that there's a sub behind me, but I prefer the impacting pound that the 12A dishes out over this. As far as volume...there is no difference at all, and I would hope not since I'm comparing 2 very similar 12" woofers with equal power in the same box. I don't have a meter, so maybe there is a slight difference on a meter? But by ear, no difference at all.

I've been trying to sell the hybrid for awhile now and nobody really seems that interested in owning this curious little creation, so I hope this little summary may generate a bit more interest in it. I'm asking way less than what I paid for it. This woofer sounds too good to just sit on the floor in my room any longer.


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