Front Firing, Ported, SLAPS?...Whoaaa

[Rolyasm]

I have a friend looking at he Earthquake subs. He was confused as to all the different types, and now I am confused, so here I am. He, lets call him Tom, is looking at the MKIV-12 and the Kompressor s-12, both by Earthquake. He thinks the MKV series is too much money. The MKIV is is a passive radiator system. Earthquake calls it SLAPS technology. The Kompressor is a front firing sub. MKIV has a low pass filter of 24dB/Octave, while the Kompressor is 12dB/Octave. Both are 400 watts. MKIV frequency is listed as 23-180Hz, while the Kompressor drops down to 18-160Hz. Just from that I would think the would want the Kompressor. It appears to go deeper. Any thoughts?

[Rolyasm]

Also, would he be better off buying one 12 inch model, or two 10 inch models? It seems like you would get lower bass with the larger size, but may get better sound from two different subs.
Roly

[PewterTA]

Well I take it he's looking for a subwoofer for mainly movie viewing, or is this mainly for music? The sealed design of the earthquake definitely makes it more suited to music than to movie view (it won't do bad for movies though)

I'm going to assume that it's more for movies in this case, if that's a correct assumption, I would go with the Kompressor because the frequency response is better. There's a lot of information in movies that go 25Hz and down...so cutting it off around 23 (yes it's not an instant cut off but slope cut-off) is really starting to limit what's being played at a decent DB.

As far as the two 10s vs. a single 12...the answer is this. Two 10s will allow you to play the subwoofer louder, more SPL. However, the two 10s will not go as low in the frequency response as the 12 can. So you loose response for SPL and vice versa.

To be honest, unless he's dead set on Earthquake (and is in the US), I think he'd be better off looking at SVS. For roughly the same price as the Kompressor you can get the PB12-Plus which will perform better than the compressor. I've demoed both side by side and we decided the SVS was the winner over all (mainly movie, but some music listening)... So that's something to think about. Or even the 20-39PC+ at 525watts could keep up and went lower it seemed than the Kompressor.

But if he's a pure music listening person, the Earthquake would be the way to go. Or even something like the Rel Strata would work very nicely!

[Shane Martin]

What Pewtar TA said

[Armbender]

I tried the Earthquake MKIV 12 and hated it. Returned it within 4 days. Problems with the subs amp.

[Rolyasm]

Thanks all. Along the same lines, Tom is also looking at getting some seperates. He has a friend in California who is some kind of a wholesaler or something, and so is limited to what he can sell. Anyway... he is looking at the Earthquake 7 channel amplifier due out in January, and the Adcom GFA 7807. No direct links to the Earthquake, since it isn't out yet, but he says the stats will be the same as the five channel Earthquake, only now 7 channels. here is Earthquakes site.

http://www.earthquakesound.com/cinenova%20grande.htm

and the Adcom site.

http://www.adcom.com/newproducts/gfa7807.htm

Both are very close in price, but I think he can get the Earthquake for several hundred cheaper. I checked the Adcom site and there are not specs. Anyone had any dealings with either of these companies? Sorry to mix questions.
Roly

[ABlakeG]

I used to own 3 of the 3-channel Earthquakes. I loved them. Effortless power, sounded great to my ears (used Monitor Audio Silver 5i, and then Dynaudio Special 25s). I sold them because I needed (my wife needed) to get a single chassis. I replaced them with an ATI 3007, and never looked back. Despite the single chassis, fewer channels being used, etc, I have not experienced any drawbacks, and I drove more demanding speakers with the ATI (Dynaudio Confidence 2s)

My brother in law uses the Equakes on his VMPS RM-40s and loves them.

Hope this helps,

Blake

[Snap]

earthquake makes an awesome sub. The kompressor is still in production and the Mark IV is NOT. They have the MKV so if you want the best sub go with the MKV. I have tested and used all 3. The MKV is the way to go for sure. And Earthquake Amps are the heat. far better than most that is for sure. If the choice is between the Kompressor and the MIV then the Compressor. But if you can check out the MK V it is really awesome.

[Rolyasm]

Blake, is your brother Jim?