I am now a member of the White Glove Club! I received my rosewood UFW12 at 11:15am today. As it is the photo sample used in the AV123 webpage, I knew what it looked like. But what does it sound like? ITS SOUNDS EVEN MORE FREAKIN AWESOME THAN THE DEAL I GOT ON IT, THAT'S WHAT IT SOUNDS LIKE!!! But I'm getting ahead of myself.
I had no sooner wired my Behringer CX2300 electronic crossover into the system when the doorbell rang summoning me to my bundle of joy. After helping the delivery guy up 3 flights of stairs, deboxing it, and wrestling it into position, I had to pause to wipe my brow and consult the Elders of Bassage on the setup thread, on the AV123 forums, to dial in the initial settings. Into the CD drawer went the Stereophile Test CD to play the bass decade track to blend the Omega A8s and the UFW12. As the CX2300 is a fixed 24db per octave slope each way, THAT variable was taken out of the equation. As the lowest setting on the freq. dial is 90hz., THAT was taken out as well. All that remained was the setting of levels to match 70-80hz to 100-110hz. Hmmmm the sub output sounds real low. Is this broken? Have I received a defective unit? No, you dope, your using a passive preamp with no gain in a 1822.5 cube room. You need to give it some serious juice to match levels! So up the sub gain goes! Okay that's better. Now for some music.
The first cut I always play to test bass is En Vogue's 'Giving Him Something He can Feel' as it starts with a kick drum and then electric bass giving a good indication of punch and smoothness. Hmmmm. That sounds........lumpy. A little dial turning( bandwidth and Q) a little better. Ok time to take the gloves off(no, not the white gloves, they came off 20 min. ago). Into the tray goes Abbey Road, my favorite album of all time. The next 45 min. consisted of listening and running back and forth between the sweet spot and the dials. Now we're getting somewhere. As good as that sounded, it was time for some serious bass aerobics. Into the tray goes Ziggy Marley's 'Joy and Blues'. GOOD GAWD!!! Spontaneous dancing ensues. THE WEIGHT! THE SLAM! THE SPEED! ALL THERE! All without nary a whimper. Finesse in spades. The UFW12 looks at me and says "What else you got?" I got Michael Murray 'Bach Organ Blaster' on Telarc, THAT'S WHAT I GOT! At the end of Toccata and Fugue in D minor my spine is tingling and the hair on the back of my neck is standing up.
To say that I'm pleased with this sub is an understatement. It serves up the same speed, articulation, and finesse as the Aperiodic 8s which is saying something. The fact that it will even get better with R-DES is just mind blowing. Mark has outdone himself with this product. As is appropriate when an artist gives a virtuoso performance, a standing ovation and bravos are in order.
WELL DONE MARK!!
