Official Simply Sound Audio Owners Thread - Page 2

Nick

Now that is funny! The magic black box magically keeps air from blowing past the magic adjustment pots. Believe me some days it takes some magic to get a sealed sub sealed!

Murrel

Hope no one minds, but the dual 8" looks nice.

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Thanks for a great read Jim! I'm in the market for a sealed (due to space constraints) sub around this price range so the Rumba is definitely on the list along with the SVS SB12, epik legend, and DT supercube i (when it's on sale ).
If i do get the Rumba, i'll need to do something about the grill as I prefer the 'finish look' as well.

I PMed you back. You can come listen to mine. It should also be at the So Cal get together on May 12.
Steve

^^
Steve, how do you like your Rumba12? Do/did you have something else to compare to? Wish I can be close enough to the CA to attend the gtg. There are lots of great subs there and being able to listen to all of them in the same room with folks here is heaven. Thanks.

Wish you we're a tad closer, but thanks for the feedback and invite!

I love my Rumba 12. Before it, I had/have Adire Audio Dharman, an Energy 8", MFW15, Onix X-sub, AV123 UFW12. Here's what I posted on AVS back in August of 2011:

"If you've been to Murrel's website (simplysoundaudio.com) looking at the version 3 amp, you may have noticed the Rumba 12 sub he now has. Murrel is a humble guy who doesn't toot his own horn so I haven't seen him post anywhere about it. I'd like to tell you a little bit about this sub. A while back I needed a version 3 amp so of course I went to Murrel. I'm a huge fan of the version 3 amp as it simply works exactly as it should. It's the amp the MFW should have started with.

Anyway, I didn't just order the amp. I got to talking to Murrel and found out he was making a new sub that sounded real interesting to me. A sealed 12" design with a 500 watt amp that has parametric EQ. All made in the U.S. with quality parts. I knew I trusted Murrel as he came up with the version 2 amp fix and didn't try to sell it-he just told everyone about it as well as walking many people step by step over the phone how to do it and diagnose their amp problems-and he was helping people get the version 3 amp and not really making enough money to cover the time of doing it.

I asked him if I could buy one even though he was not quite ready and set up to go to the market with them and no one had one so there was zero user feedback. He agreed since he wanted to test out his shipping packaging to make sure the sub would arrive to customers undamaged. I'm extremely impressed with what arrived. It's a fairly small enclosure, 16x16x16, but with that sized enclosure it's still 75 pounds. Everything about this sub is solid, dense, and heavy duty.

I wanted the sub for a 2.1 channel music setup paired with a pair of Swan D2.1SE speakers. The Swans have a lot of bass, but they are in a very large, living room open to a dining room and the rest of the house so a sub was needed. I've tried an MFW15 there as well as a sealed ULW10. I really like the MFW for HT, but not so much for music. The ULW just didn't offer enough sub for the giant area it was in.

The Rumba 12 is a fantastic sub for music. I had plans to also try it out in my HT (where triple MFW15s are) just to see how it sounds for HT, but I have been unwilling to let it leave my music setup for a weekend of playing with it in my HT. I have no doubt it would be great for HT as well. The Rumba 12 offers very tight, fast, articulate bass. It's always under complete control. The MFW15 for music always had enough power, but it just didn't feel as connected to the music as I knew a sub could be. For music, the MFW15 acts like a big old 70's Cadillac with a large engine but a soft suspension. It has gobs of power but just isn't connected to the road. The Rumba 12" acts more like a finely tuned sports car. It's simply totally connected to the music. I love this sub. I'm not a charts and graph guy so I can't provide the charts I know some people love. Murrel has some on his site.

I just wanted to say a few words about this sub because I didn't think anyone really knew about it and it's a wonderful sub. I couldn't be happier. Pics and info can be found at simplysoundaudio.com/Rumba_12.html. For full disclosure I did get a coupe bucks knocked off the price listed on the web page because I bought his pre production unit that has no finish on the wood and the driver is not setback flush with the enclosure. That did not influence my feelings about the sub though. In fact, I think the full production unit with a black finish is actually a better deal because I have to apply a finish the wood : ) I did not want to wait for the production units though. I'm glad I didn't wait as I've enjoyed it so much.

I think anyone looking for an awesome sub from a guy you know you can trust should talk to Murrel about the Rumba 12. You won't be sorry."

Steve

Steve,
Thanks for a long detail about Rumba 12. You said you posted this back in 8/11, have you used it for HT since then? I need a sub similar size to this for 100% HT. With what you said and Jim's review with his recent measurements he posted about the Rumba (impressive numbers for a small seal sub by the way), I am getting closer to pull my trigger on it. Now if I can sell my old sub then we will be talking again. Thanks.

Steve,
I am trying to decide between Rumba 12 and the SVS SB12. If you make it to the SCal gtg, can you let me know how the two compare? I believe there will be the SVS SB12 there. If i go with the Rumba, I need to talk to Murrel about having a grill for it as I have kids and baby. Thanks.

I live about 20 mi. down the road from Murrel, so I drove up there yesterday to take a listen. I didn't leave empty-handed (the wallet got emptied, though) and was very glad to do business with him. So far, the Rumba 12 is very nice and I'm finding some of what I've been missing. The review seems to be about right-on. I'll post more later. All I've done is run the Yamaha YPAO and then tweaked that to my liking. It was funny that it told me that I had the sub level set a little low. I heard that it might not fill my space (~2650 CF) being a sealed sub. That doesn't mean that I won't get another one somewhere down the road. I still have to dial-in the parametric EQ.

I did get the Comcast ground loop hum and will be ordering the $15 cable TV ground loop isolator.

Oh yeah, I really like the finish on it. It doesn't look like a parkerized AR-15 barrel and it doesn't look like a black piece of glass, either.

I may just end up buying a second one myself. Mine is unfinished (being a prototype) and the finished ones look real nice

I'd love to know what Murrel could do with a 15" design to give us an option to compete with the giant HT subs out there.

Which yamaha do u have? My local dealer is offering an A1010 for a decent discount, but I read that the A1010 doesn't do sub eq, only the A2010 and higher, so i am kinda holding out for the new denon...

I have the A710. I got a good price on it and like it.

ETA: Clarification - I was talking about the sub's EQ in my previous post.

I recently received my Rumba 12 to replace my ported Paradigm PW2200. I'm re-watching all my movies with bottom octave bass now because my Paradigm, which I thought was no slouch, missed all those lower frequencies. The Rumba with its massive motor [200 ounce magnet, 3" aluminum voice coil] has complete control at all times. I've discovered a few new rattles in my 80 year old house. Having a sealed system such as the Rumba has cleaned up the ported bloat sound that I used to have with my Paradigm. I haven't been able to overdrive my Rumba, and I haven't even tried because there is no need. Maybe the amp also has something to do with it, having an actual torodial [500va] transformer. Can't say I like these new switching power supplies found on so many other subs. Bass can be pretty sustained sometimes, and the torodial is up to the task. This sub comes with my highest recommendation.

Just wandering around and stumbled on your review. Only a matter of time before this sub gets really noticed. I recently acquired an OPPO BDP95 and have been buying 5.1 SACDs like crazy. This sub does music really well. More and more of the older classic rock albums have been remixed and sound fabulous. Moody Blues, Elton John, Genesis, even King Crimson all being re issued...Wow! And the list goes on. Gotta get them now because some of the prices are getting out of line.

how is it for movies?
if i buy it will be used 100% movies
my room is 18x25x8' ceiling

sealed
will one work or will i need 2?

The Rumba 12 looks like very good value for the money. From the pics it appears to use high quality components, the driver especially looks good (better than the X-Ref 12). The USA made amp and cabinet are also a plus. The FR graph looks like it is +/- 3dB from 18-110Hz. Murrel, was that taken at 1m outdoors?

And all for $549... very good price.

That's not a small room you got there. Do you play your movies loud?

The concern is whether the Rumba 12 has sufficient output in your room to meet your expectations. In this respect a ported sub will generally have more output.

Sign me up to be a beta tester!

What do those numbers represent? Is it the max output of the Rumba 12 at the respective frequencies?

jchong,

The graphs on the web site were sent to me by the design engineer. When I first received them I truly thought that they were measurements.

But to be honest with you I think they are simulations. I have asked and asked to have a pro review done so that I could have a third party publish the numbers and graphs. One place even told me that they don't do testing on DIY subs I had almost given up and was tired of asking when Jim came along.


In the next two weeks and when I have a spare sub available I will haul one out back and do a ground plane measurement.

Thank you for your kind words.
Murrel