DD Audio 512-D4 Subwoofers Hit 153.7dB!!

When it comes to SPL (Sound Pressure Level) results, anything over the 150dB mark is a phenomenal result no matter how you look at it and getting a result above 150dB requires a lot of time, testing and in some cases money. In most cases people go out and buy high-end Sub-Woofers designed for SPL that usually net good results but come at a high cost to your pocket! We at ABTEC set a little challenge to ourselves, this challenge was to prove that you can get results over the 150dB mark with Entry-Level Sub-Woofers!

It took a lot of testing with different box designs but once we found one that worked we decided to run with it, we could of carried on testing more designs but in the end of the day that would of just been a waste of time money and resources and as the saying goes “Keep it simple stupid”. As we found out the simpler designs seemed to net the better results and at minimal cost too!

Ok, so with the same box design we have tested three different Entry Level Sub-Woofers. First was the Sony Entry Level 10″ Sub-Woofers, second was the JBL Entry Level 12″ Sub-Woofers and this time round we tested the DD Audio Entry Level DD-512-D4 12″ Sub-Woofers!

I started the test by going around ABTEC3 making sure I do my usual check-list and setting up the seat/visor placements and removing all the unnecessary things from the cabin that would interfere with the airflow or damage the little Toyota Vitz!

Next was to set-up the two DD Audio M4a’s and head-unit as I drive ABTEC3 on a daily basis now and it has different set-up for daily use.  It usually has a DD Audio 9518sc 18″ in it for daily duties running off one of the M4a’s and as much as I could easily go on about the DD-9518-D2 I will leave that for another write up!

Now that ABTEC3 was fully set-up and ready it was time to do a low volume sweep, check the peak Fq (Frequency) and double check just in case we can net a better result (At low volume of course) at a higher or lower Fq. Doing so showed us that 58Hz was getting the the best result for us and now it was time to ‘Burp’ it at high volume!

So I reset & restarted the Term-Lab and grabbed the remote control steadying myself for the outcome in anticipation and to my surprise got an astonishing 153.7dB! I already knew this set-up would do 150dB+ all day everyday but to do a 153.7dB on testing with only half of the batteries that I would usually use was mind blowing. Yet alone doing a 153.7dB on four DD-512-D4’s which tells me these Entry Level Sub-Woofers have an amazing build quality to put out these kind of numbers and handle the power of two M4a’s per pair!

Not only can this set-up get these phenomenal numbers but I also drove around for the next week playing music on them too and in my honest opinion they sounded pretty mint too, keeping in mind I am kind of spoilt when it comes to Sub-Woofers since I usually get to run 9500 or Z Series on a daily basis!

I’d like to end this by saying there are still a few bugs in this system that Ashley ‘MAD BASS’ Burrell and I are working on and hopefully will have sorted by the end of the year as I feel it has the potential for bigger and better results! I am not going to throw out any numbers but will say to keep an eye on this as I feel these little Sub-Woofers might surprise a few people in the near future!

I’d also like to thank everyone at ABTEC for allowing me the time to set-up and test our little Toyota Vitz that is ABTEC3, Ashley for all the time spent talking about the set-up and giving me tips and advise along the way. Last but not least, everyone at DD Audio for making such a superior product that not only gets results but sounds so beautiful when set-up for SQ (Sound Quality)!