Image Dynamics IDQ Series

Overall Rating
 2 of 5

Value Rating
 2 of 5

Used product for
1 to 3 months

Visitors rate this review
1.00 of 5, 3.00 votes

Price Paid:  $125.00 from eBay

Year / Model Reviewed:
2006 IDQ V2 Dual 4

Summary:
sI have an Alpine CDA-9835 so My headunit is not crap. I have all Sony ES amps. The older models not the Explod crap. I had 2 10inch IDQ V2 subs in a sealed .5ft3 box each. I tried 2 different amps on these subs. First I tried the Xm 2100G an old school High end Sony amp that has about 250x2 into 2ohm stereo. The ID subs played horrible. All I got was bottoming and weak bass. I then spent 200$ on professional made ported boxes that the manual said to use. A little better but still bottoming and a serious lack of bass. Then I tried my Sony XES M3. This amp is 1000$ of High End amplification. it pushed the 10's with 200 watts each. The subs sound allot better. BUT they still sounded weak and muted. In order to get these subs to sound good you need a dam good amp. A dam good headunit and the right box. But you WILL NOT GET SPL. I found them to be accurate for certain bassnotes like snares and higher bass frequencies. But the low end is weak. They do drop low. Really low. But the bass is sounds like 6db lower than any 10 I have heard. That is like taking away 150 watts on each speaker! I have certain songs I listen to and compare subwoofers with. I test Transients and clarity and low end. The Transients are REALLY good. The claity is REALLY good only at certain frequncies and the Low end is ok but weak. Keep in mind I always say REALLY good when the amp is turned down cause if its up the speakers shyt and fart. I can play the same song on a pair of SoundStream El Cheapo subs and get better results. Its a weird Subwoofer. It cant handle wattage. it cant handle deep bass and it cant handle trash amps. Yea its for heavy metal and Jazz cause the type of bass in these songs stays within the subwoofers range of accuracy. Rap? Hell No! Anything with alot of bass like Rap and Techno you can forget it. These subs will pop and shyt and fart and burp.
I am NOT some idiot who dont know what he is talking about. I was a professional installer and have heard ALLoT of gear. There is ALWAYS trade offs in ANY equipment. I have YET to find an SPL sub with SQ quality. But I wouldnt call this SQ or SPL. Its more like a High End Jensen!

Strengths:
Accurate with high bass frequencies like snares and kick drums. They are excellent for midbass!

Weaknesses:
Bass is muted and lacks any real loudness. Adding more watts just makes the speaker shyt and fart. The real weakness is the fact that you need a high end amp to make it sound decent. Just look at the speaker. It looks cheap cause it is! The surround and cone is paper thin. The speaker terminals are el cheapo 1970's That break off if you not careful. The magnet is small. They are just like the Orion XTR Circa 1980's and 90's except the cone and surround is different and it doesnt have ferro fluid in the magnet gap for extra power handling. LOL Buy something better! All these people who say they sound good are just lying to themselves cause they feel stupid they wasted there money!

Similar Products Used:
Something simular to these would be the subwoofers you find in WalMart and AutoZone...no joke....

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
1 to 3 months

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 1.00 votes

Price Paid:  $210.00 from Auto Sound Specialis

Year / Model Reviewed:
2004 Image Dynamics IDQ10v2 D4

Summary:
Absolutely the best subs I've heard. Not for the SPL crowd, but if you like SQL, these are the best, especially at their super-low price. I have two of these in a tiny enclosure in my Golf running on an Arc Audio KAR 900.1D series amp and they produce some of the cleanest, tightest, and loud bass you've ever heard. I was really impressed. I agree with some of the reviewers. I have also tried JL W7s, etc. and they are too boomy and uncontrolled. These things are as precise as a surgeons scalpal.

Strengths:
- Clean, tight bass - Not distortion (when properly amplified) - Can fit tiny enclosures saving your trunk

Weaknesses:
- No supplied grill to protect the cone

Similar Products Used:
Bazooka, JL Audio,

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Price Paid:  $120.00 from EBAY

Year / Model Reviewed:
2003 Image Dynamics IDQ10v2 D4

Summary:
What they say about these is true. Great sound quality at a good price. And don't believe what some say about not playing loud. I have two in a sealed box in my Truck and they pound. Giving them 500 watts which is the max recommended RMS for two but I've heard they'll handle a lot more.

Strengths:
Extremely tight, accurate bass. Cheap price for the SQ. Not boomy.

Weaknesses:
Old style metal frame and cheapy connections. Color. But looks don't really matter now do they?

Similar Products Used:
Infinity Perfect 10. MTX.

Price Paid:  $320.00 from Sounddomain.com

Year / Model Reviewed:
2003 2 IDQv2 D4's

Summary:
All I have to say is WOW! I've been on a journey for the best pair of SQ SQL woofers for a long time now and have bought high dollar subs such as JL's 10w7's and Elemental Designs E12As, and a ton of others. All of them were either too soft, were not controlled enough, were real peaky, not responsive enough, were not musical, distorted at high volumes etc. But all along all I had to spend was $300 for a pair of IDQ's. THe least I've ever spent on subs. I would have bought some Oz Audio Matrix 300L's cause they are about the same if not better, but Oz quit making them and no one has them anymore. If anyone has a pair you can email me at stangme01@yahoo.com but anyway they are so musical, if you listen to alot of heavy metal and rock music this IS YOUR SUB! Those tight low notes that you don't want to sound mooshy, the IDQ has it covered, it will play any note whether it be a tap, or an explosion. It can keep up with the fastest speed metal you can find, the fastest kick drum lines in the world could not outdo these subs. A suggestion to anyone that buys these, Image Dynamics and everyone I know suggested that I seal these subs, but then I saw a professional using them in an SQ competition ported. ANd I was like what? And then I listened to them and oh my god! Not only are they 10 times louder, but contrary to popular belief porting actually made the SQ on these better than sealed. They sounded very mechanical sealed, but ported these things are so transparent sounding, and MY GOD DO THEY GET LOUD! Before when they were sealed on some songs you couldn't even tell I had a sub they were so quiet, but now I can creat mini earthquakes!!!! They honestly get way louder than I will ever listen to them hehe..... I'm running them off an Orion XTR 9002 which is rated at 900 x 1 at 4 ohms at 12.5v but at 14.4v which my alternator runs at its rated at 1200x1 and the IDQ's handle every single cent of it with no distortion unlike most subs I know of. I've heard that after an hour of that kind of power they can burn up, but who the hell would ever play them that loud for that long?

Strengths:
Incredible SQ Very high power handling (about 600w RMS not the 350 they are rated at) great build quality cheap to buy!!! THey are worth twice the price!!

Weaknesses:
ugly AS HELL!! THE basket looks like a Jensen low end sub hehe, but the front looks cool and thats all you see in the box anyway. Nothing else!!!

Similar Products Used:
JL, Orion, Elemental Designs, Oz Audio, Aura, Focal, Pioneer, Rockford Fosgate, MTX, Diamond Audio, Dynaudio, Alumapro, Velodyne and a ton more, I've been looking for this sub for a long time!

Price Paid:  $55.00 from online forum

Year / Model Reviewed:
 2002

Summary:
i just bought an IDQ D2 10 tonight along with a 2002 model Rockford Fosbreak 120.2. i got both of them for 100 bucks! but yeah the sub hits nice and hard wired to 4 ohm mono with the 120 watt amp and a .45cu ft. box, but its just screaming for more power.. im planning on running a memphis 16-PR1KD (reference series 1000d) at 4 ohm mono to this sub and it should sound just right for SQ. i love Image Dynamics.

Strengths:
hits pretty hard for one 10" sub thats WAY underpowered. the bass is nice and tight, very SQ geared sub. not cheaply made at all.

Weaknesses:
kinda ugly but thats the only bad thing i can say about it

Similar Products Used:
Alpine Type-R 1241D 12's MTX Thunder 5000 12's JL Audio 8w1's JL Audio 10w0's Rockford Fosbreak 10" HE's Kicker Comp VR 12