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Review 1 of 1
Price Paid:
$800.00
from German mail order de Year / Model Reviewed:
2002 Utopia 38-WX Summary:
High quality and high price 15 inch car subwoofer designed for a ported enclosure. The manual proposed three sizes of enclosures. I built the largest of the three, a 100 liter enclosure with two ports according to the manual.
I listen to all kinds of electronic music, some of which is very deep.
This woofer is designed for ported enclosures. It's a matter of taste whether you like the ported enclosure sound or you prefer the dryer sound of a closed enclosure.
Be sure to use a high quality analog amplifier. I use an old but sweet Harman/Kardon CA-260. If you use a digital amlifier, you may experience a very evident lack of control. Strengths:
- High efficiency. The membrane doesn't need a lot of excursion to produce high volume. It just seems that the woofer plays with ease, and loud if desired. I'm pretty sure that's because of low distortion and because of the lack of compression.
- Deep bass response is excellent. It's a matter of aesthetics but I like it when the bass comes "from the bottom up".
- So, overall I would describe the sound as deep, round, driving and enjoyable.
- It is very loud for listening - don't worry - but the woofer has no specific SPL ambitions.
- The coil's impedance is 3.6 Ohms. Good for high end sound but not good if you want to squeeze out the maximum of power from the amplifier. Weaknesses:
I'm not aware of any. It's designed for ported enclosures which some people dislike. Similar Products Used:
I've owned am older Focal 33 size subwoofer in closed enclosure. I've also listened to a few other subwoofers with my own CDs at a local car audio show. I liked some of them and some of them were clearly good, but I wouldn't have preferred any of them over the Utopia 38-WX.
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