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Equipment: Clarion DRZ-9255, IXOS Rca’s and wires, Alpine PXA-H701, and an ARC AUDIO 4150 XXK.

First impression: When you first look at the little guy the first word that comes to mind is stocky. Each piece of the subwoofer contributes to that tough exterior. It has a relatively flat cone, beefy rubber surround, compact basket, push type terminals, and a nice magnet (with rubber cover). Overall it looks like it costs more than it actually does.

Tuning and Installation: I wired the dual 2-ohm version to get a 4-ohm load. I am running the power from two channels bridged on my 4150 for 320 watts output to the sub woofer. The speaker is enclosed in a 0.35 cubic foot, sealed MDF enclosure. The test box is sitting in my front passenger floor board. The box was damped on the subwoofer mounting surface with B-Quiet Ultimate. The crossover on the H701 was set at 50 Hz. My mid-bass is very capable all the way down to 50 Hz, so why not let them do their job. The subwoofer level control was then blended to my usual reference level.

Listening: For listening material I went to my SQ disc wallet. In my SQ disc wallet I have 30 or so reference level recordings. I have SQ compilations like the Focal discs, original Alpine discs, Denon recordings, Telarc recordings, Sheffield Labs recordings, IASCA competition discs, and EMMA competition discs. I also keep single artist discs that are of the highest sound quality; to include XRCD, HDCD, and SACD recordings. There are multiple instances of well-recorded bass drum, string bass, synthesized bass, and other bass creating instruments. I listened to passages where the bass was; punchy, thick, distorted, fat, fast, slow, loud, and soft. Leading up to the Evaluation the sub was played for 25 hours for additonal break-in. Per eD the 9KV.3 is broken-in prior to delivery to the consumer. I spent over 4 hours of listening to form my opinion.

After listening I have come to the following conclusion; the 9KV.3 is a great sub. It creates music. It is not boomy or bloated. It is accurate. There is no coloration. It plays the musical information that is needed. Now, I need a sub that plays down to 20 Hz with authority, does it do that, NO? Could I live with that, maybe if I have a sub in the back playing 30 Hz and below that blends well enough with the front sub?

So did I find the sub for my front stage? I don’t know. The only way for a sub to better this one is to have an increase in output at sub 30 Hz while keeping the same HIGH LEVEL of sound quality. Overall high marks for the 9kv.3.