picture this. you are in the market for a new system and there are 2 setups that really stick in your mind. either way it would be a great outcome. would you want either..
2 12" iDMax's
or
1 15" LMS 5400
same power (potentially more in the future for the lms). custom enclosure to boot. explain.
that's what i keep hearing. it's hard to find a bad review on them. biggest problem i've seen them have is their tight tolerances cause coil rubbing, but that's not often. i've never personally experienced either sub, so it'd be nice if somebody on here has and they could shed some light on them.
can comment on the 12" idmax as i do own 1 but dont own a 15" lms
a single ported 12" idmax tuned high 20s is almost unbearable , 2 wud definitely be very hard to sit in ur vehicle to listen to at full tilt
i prefer it sealed but thats just me & it can still get fairly loud sealed , have had mine metered to do 139dbs on the TL off 1000wrms , sealed wouldnt do for a basshead though ...
It's all response vs. box space, use this calculator because the 15" might be louder @ 40 hz and the 12's be +12dB @ 30 hz over the 15".
http://www.carstereo.com/help/Articles.cfm?id=30
LMS motors are known for having low efficiency but when put in a sealed box the frequency response is so much lower/louder than what non-LMS subs in the same space will do, essentially it makes up for it. Some subs have similiar specs but obviously don't be as clean as a low-distortion oriented sub. They don't suffer from a lacking efficiency, so I think Eclipse made a good move with the new non-LMS SW8010/8210 series (non LMS w/ similiar specs). Same goes for the RE XXX.
Audiopulse, Eclipse, TC, Soundsplinter are all great for LMS, with the LMS Ultras obviously being the "best" choice because of the 5k 4HP coil. They also don't need a huge box, quite small actually.
that's actually a contributing factor to my decision haha. it's fun having 1 driver that out performs multiple sub setups. i had that effect with my 18" Q, but the LMS would take it to a new level.
however, cone area is king. don't get me wrong, i would love to have that monster sitting in my trunk, but when it comes down to the 20hz range (which i love feeling), air displacement is a necessity.
i modeled in winisd for 2000w at 1 ohm for both applications and basically sub 45hz, the LMS wins, over that the IDMAX takes over. Both could use more power, not sure what you have on tap. If you get more power the LMS starts to gain on the IDMAX at all frequencies and has a linear output curve (obviously lol)
boxes were 4 cu ft for the id max at 30hz 3.5 cu ft fo the lms at 30hz