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Wicked One Reviews and Opinions (Read 2819 times)
J_Rock
Ex Member



Wicked One Reviews and Opinions
08/19/05 at 00:17:44
 
Would anybody and everybody that has built the original Wicked one please give everybody else their thoughts on its performance?  I think this would be very helpful to new people surfing the forums, and a valuable tool to convince others to build and mod the WO.

SO, please everyone! Post your Wicked One experiences here making sure to tell us what drivers, what size WO you built/heard, and if it was modded at all.
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J_Rock
Ex Member



Re: Wicked One Reviews and Opinions
Reply #1 - 08/19/05 at 00:23:09
 
Well, I'll post first!  

I have built 4 WOs, on its own that is a testament to how well this design works, but I will share my experiences on the two 24 x 36 ten inch version I built exactly to spec.  I loaded both of these WOs with 10 inch Infinity Reference Series 1032w, 250 wrms a piece.  All I could say was WOW!

The WO was fast, loud, and hard hitting.  It was like a ported box with all the SQ and cone control of a sealed box.  I have yet to meter the WO, but I would bet that the box puts out 120 or more decibels, with 2 10s!  The WO helped create the cleanest, loudest, hardest 500wrms I have ever heard!
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DirtDawg
Ex Member



Re: Wicked One Reviews and Opinions
Reply #2 - 08/19/05 at 04:23:03
 
My first time to see the Wicked One I was working a prom as a photographer and noticed these funky looking little boxes the DJ was using sounded horrible! The boxes were out of phase, and he didn't even know it. When I mentioned it to him he told me these are The Wild Ones from Chicago and they are the best. OK! A couple of weeks later, different prom same DJ. He had fixed it. He was using a sub-harmonic effect of some kind and it still sounded horrible, but they were filling up a pretty big room full of people. So, I googled for the Wild One. Whatever you do - don't do that! Once you get past the movie stuff it gets pretty rank! I finally found the site and 3 months later I started building mine.

I've built 3 now; 2 that match 36"x36" for use on my deck and I can easily hit 110dB 60' away. I'm using 2 (cheap) JBL GT1041d 10" 275W drivers, McIntosh MC2500 500W/channel and a Crown VFX2a crossover set for 50HZ other pro audio stuff above 50Hz. BTW 110dB was showing 50W peaks on the meters of the Mac. I should be able to get close to 120dB if I push and that's outdoors 60' away! But the way I use them mostly is whispering at nite, relaxing 20' or 30' away in my garden with a drink, and candles going and they sound great like that, too. Yes, I'm old.

The 3rd one was with a friend who has a small hatchback and it barely fits. He's got old 12" Kickers (model# ?) and 200w/channel (Brand?) crossed over at 80Hz. My dB meter only goes to 128dB and he gets that in his car with the volume half way up. I know volume half way means nothing, but he can get much louder after my meter peters out and it's still very clean and LOW. We built his 36"x28"x14" and angled the baffle slightly.To be perfectly honest he did most of the work and I was there for moral support. He's a teenager with only a circular saw, and this was his 4th attempt at woodworking of any kind and he made some bad cuts, etc. But we got it together and sealed up, red (!!!) carpet on the outside, and it looks and works great.


How's that J_Rock?
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RandyP
Ex Member



Re: Wicked One Reviews and Opinions
Reply #3 - 08/19/05 at 04:46:30
 
My review is forthcoming. I made a mistake and used 3/4" particle board instead of 3/4" MDF. I thought it was MDF, but it had been lying around for a few years. It still is VERY HEAVY! I hope this does not screw up the sound. I am building an 8" driver version 36" X 36" X 11.5" to the T! Will let everyone know how it turns out!
Cheers,
Randy
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Wrayza
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Re: Wicked One Reviews and Opinions
Reply #4 - 08/19/05 at 05:04:57
 
My ears and my dads (~30 years audio engineer) dont think it's anything to write home about. Tongue
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gexter
Ex Member



Re: Wicked One Reviews and Opinions
Reply #5 - 08/19/05 at 05:32:01
 
Hmm at least your honest Wrayza
I wonder why it was not up to par for you. It does not take much to screw up a good design. not refering to your build but possible materials or the drivers used.
If everything was good then maybe the sound is not what you wanted, having  experience to judge it with.

I can't say too much because I have not built one that is not modded or does not have drivers in it that I would consider very good at all. but in my experiments the drivers I have used put out more in this design than a typical ported or sealed box. Getting the right sound has been the challenge but thats my material and mods fault not the design.
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J_Rock
Ex Member



Re: Wicked One Reviews and Opinions
Reply #6 - 08/19/05 at 15:17:51
 
Excellent guys! Keep em coming!  We could also use a few reviews like yours Wrayza, maybe give other an insight into what doesn't work?
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DirtDawg
Ex Member



Re: Wicked One Reviews and Opinions
Reply #7 - 08/29/05 at 04:59:48
 
I've been playing around again with my 2 WOs. I uprooted my garden subs and brought them into the house. I wasn't actually doing this to test the WO's performance, but rather than miss an oppurtunity I left them inside for a couple of weeks. I have tried placing them all over the place in my listening room and adjusting XO and EQ. I got some good sounds, but I'm not as happy as I am with my other sub. The fact that I'm comparing 4 - 10" in 2 WOs to 4 - 15" BR should give you some idea of the power of this type of cabinet.

The second best sounding placement in my room was both stacked in a corner, turned 90 degrees apart so that they each fired down adjacent walls from a corner. Not bad, but still a lot of roomboom that I couldn't fix with my 2/3 octave EQ.

Finally, I have something that really sounds nice. I have them standing up in the corner, but facing down to the floor. Right in the corner I placed a solid concrete building block and the corners of both WOs rest on the 8" block, with the other corner resting on the floor. They are sitting along the walls with the horn mouths slamming into the floor at the corner and the sound pressure escaping between the 2 boxes. It looks BUTTUGLY, but it sounds good! I have my XO at 45Hz and now the EQ is able to smooth out the response, pretty well. They sound flatter and drier than I've heard since I brought them inside and I believe I picked up a few Hz on the very bottom. I could live with this for a while, at least until my wife notices it.
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RandyP
Ex Member



Re: Wicked One Reviews and Opinions
Reply #8 - 08/29/05 at 05:51:22
 
Ok everyone,


    After playing with placement, I have concluded that I like the 8" WO I built and am going to build another one! Setup: 8" WO (followed plans for downscaling PRECISELY by building 10" tall panels) 36" X 36" X 11.5" in corner. Adcom GFA 555 bridged mono and wired VIFA 8's in parallel.
    I realize that this is not going to "shake the earth" or rattle my teeth, which is what I initially expected. I wonder if the 36" X 24" version would have louder output for the 8's? ANYWAY, it is very clean, very articulate, dry, and A WHOLE lot a' fun with pipe organ music! I am debating on springing for Steve's DHM108 drivers or just using the second pair of VIFA 8's I have already and scaling down the panels to 10" again? I would also like to run them in stereo. OR should I try a scaled-down WO32? OR a HW? I might be able to move more air with a HW cabinet for movies? Any suggestions?

Cheers,
Randy
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Sean_UK
Ex Member



Re: Wicked One Reviews and Opinions
Reply #9 - 09/01/05 at 09:10:13
 
Just finished a 24X36 WO with 2 10" Tornado car subwoofers (£15 each) and no specs listed anywhere for them.
All I can say is WOW, I used it to replace a 10" DB in my Audi and it is so much louder and clearer, I just can't get enough of it. Smiley Smiley
My only trouble is that there is no room left in my boot (trunk)  >:( and with a baby on the way and no space for the pushchair I think I will try running it from my HT, I will post again and let you know what it sounds like.

Sean.
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richard03
Ex Member



Re: Wicked One Reviews and Opinions
Reply #10 - 09/01/05 at 12:34:04
 
ive build 3 of these things now, one a standard 10" 3x3, and 2 scaled up for 12"'s (height only) .
my observations on this box....put good drivers in it, the difference in sound quality is amazing...
the delay on this box is also nuts. ive got a behringer dcx2496 digital crossover, last night i linked up a mic so i could use the auto delay feature to align the wicked one and my mid tops, strangely although the mid tops are only 20 cm from the mouth of the sub, the crossover assigned them a delay of 5.9 meters !!!

worryingly it sounds very good like this , my only thoughts are that this box might somehow have a virtual horn length of 5.9 meters, bizzaro ....

that said put 700w 97db efficiency pa drivers in it and power it with a decent amp , pretty ludicrous, i want 4, as in stacks of 2 they sound fecking briliant
i really want to measure the response of one, i think large spls will be acheivable
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DirtDawg
Ex Member



Re: Wicked One Reviews and Opinions
Reply #11 - 09/01/05 at 13:07:23
 
5.9 meters is a fairly large horn. I guess there is something measurable to this "Rubber Mouth" effect. What I think is that you are witnessing a numbers only instead of graphic display of group delay. This is a 4th order cab and the driver does not actually drive the horn mouth it drives a resonant chamber. After the chamber is loaded the port feeds the horn throat. A lot of movement occurs from your other speakers at the speed of sound during all that's going on inside the WO. Fine!
I'll bet it sounds great with the correction dialed in just right. I think I need one of those.
I would also like to hear a small PA setup with (I'm thinking 8) WO subs. That's sort of what I use in my garden (2 WOs), but I'd expect the drivers to be the best on a pro unit and mine aren't. It still sounds very good. With your alignment thingy - awesome!
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buggers
Ex Member



Re: Wicked One Reviews and Opinions
Reply #12 - 09/01/05 at 20:50:04
 
 I am in the process of building My first WO for use in the home with the Decware 10'' modified drivers, 24x36x12, and the 250 watt plate amp from Parts Express, the one with a remote control so I can kick back in my easy chair and make adjustments without having to get up!
 They are being built without modifications, and if they sound half as good as people are saying, I'm going to strip it down and build the WO32 since it is designed for the home.
 I am planning on finishing the project on this 3 day weekend so by next week I should be rocking!
 I should mention that my wood working skills and tools are severely lacking as evidenced by the serious ugliness of the box. Not one single angle I cut was correct so there is alot of eurothane glue used to fill the massive spaces. Oh well 10 coats of black paint should help.
 I will post when it's finished and let you know how it sounds.
PS pray for me that the box doesn't blow apart!  :)
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richard03
Ex Member



Re: Wicked One Reviews and Opinions
Reply #13 - 09/02/05 at 13:23:47
 
regarding the wicked one for pa use, they rock, 2 boxes stacked together sound amazing, one box by itself happily fills a small/medium room with bass but its a little low down for most people, floor bass, obviously stacking 2 as a center mono bass stack of having the boxes on their sides for stereo solves this problem. as a small pa a wicked one and a pair of 12" and comp driver mid tops will sound pretty impressive, or alternatively have 2 wicked ones as a centre stack and then cover them with a banner or something else to disguise them as subs and have people staring at the 2 pecker mid tops, wondering who makes them and where they can get some from Smiley (confused looks are ammusing)
4 of these boxes would be adequate for most rooms you would have cause to do, they go very very loud with a proper amp powering them , mine are currently 1400w rms cabinets ,4 wicked ones is therefore 6k of bass which is a reasonable ammount....

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DirtDawg
Ex Member



Re: Wicked One Reviews and Opinions
Reply #14 - 09/02/05 at 14:24:36
 
Most of my interest is outdoor fun, true half space. You will lose as much as 6dB usually. I just want try to get back 3 of them.
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richard03
Ex Member



Re: Wicked One Reviews and Opinions
Reply #15 - 09/03/05 at 12:01:13
 
2 wicked ones (12" pa driver variant) outside got noise complaints from 3.5 miles away ! they werent turned up that much either Smiley
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Learner_UK
Ex Member



Re: Wicked One Reviews and Opinions
Reply #16 - 09/05/05 at 14:44:20
 
I have built one WO 36"x36". Im using Two SEAS L26RFX/P aluminium cone Bass. To be honest, i am very happy with it, it does sound great, especially once you find that perfect possition. Its great fun to build. It provides great sounding bass, even at the low power of my drivers. Im only 19, but i have been around audio equipment my whole life. Both me and my dad agree, its well worth the build if you've got the time and space. However, for the true audiophile, there are better enclosures out there that are maybe less fiddly to build, and more easy to accomodate.
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J_Rock
Ex Member



Re: Wicked One Reviews and Opinions
Reply #17 - 09/07/05 at 01:53:29
 
I just turned my WO around, so it now faces the back of the trunk.  What can I say excpet OMG IT BURNS.  I htinkt he speakers or my ears are BLEADING.  Its that Awesome.  I gotta get this thing metered, and fast!
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richard03
Ex Member



Re: Wicked One Reviews and Opinions
Reply #18 - 09/07/05 at 10:25:47
 
we managed to get a wo in a car facing the boot witha 12" and 1 comp driver mid top, all running off macrotechs on stage as we didnt have a car amp, got the guy from uk iasca to sit in the front, the look on his face was priceless Wink
shame the stage was too far away from their stand for us to get it metered....
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DirtDawg
Ex Member



Re: Wicked One Reviews and Opinions
Reply #19 - 09/07/05 at 14:43:40
 
You just need longer cables! Really long if you're going for a pint.
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buggers
Ex Member



Re: Wicked One Reviews and Opinions
Reply #20 - 09/09/05 at 17:12:04
 
[color=Brown][/color]
I Finally finished My first WO and I have to say it definitly creates some sound pressure! I am quite pleased with the results. I am going to build the WO32 next.
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bnew63
Ex Member



Re: Wicked One Reviews and Opinions
Reply #21 - 09/12/05 at 05:28:44
 
I have built two set of WO's.Both scaled down one for 8" and the other 5".Both of these drivers came from other cabinets.The increase in volume and accuracy was amazing.I moved the 5" TB's from a DIY bass refex where they would bottom out  quite easily and the sound was very muddy.The scaled down WO has Made these cheap speaker sound amazing.
All in all a fairly easy project to built with great results
                      Brian
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thewizard
Ex Member



Re: Wicked One Reviews and Opinions
Reply #22 - 11/07/05 at 07:09:23
 
I was highly impressed at the sound of the wicked one enclosure.  I first built the 2x3 enclosure and being a carpenter by trade I built a almost perfect enclosure.  The plans where perfect.  With the buy one get one $80.00 rockford fosgate deal I loaded the enclosure.  After pulling my subs from my montero i installed the wicked one.  I hooked it to my JL AUDIO 500/1 Amp. and did some tweaking.  After about 20 min it was amazing at the amount of sound that pumped from this enclosure.  After 2 weeks I replaced them with sound spliner 10" subs and the bass is overwhelming for the amount spent.
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lunarlab
Ex Member



Re: Wicked One Reviews and Opinions
Reply #23 - 11/13/05 at 19:24:38
 
Hello...I have just completed my 4th modified WO with 10 inch drivers for my PA rig with some homebrew 15 inch JBL rear horns and nice titanium tweeters on top.  I am very pleased with the results and will build 4 more.  Two per side really does make up the 3db loss outside...clean punchy bass.  I had my new digital camera stolen at a gig on halloween so I cannot post pics yet.  I will have the rest built for Shambhala music fest at the latest as I am sound tech and recording engineer for Beachstage again this coming year.  I you like big sound and can make it to Nelson B.C next summer chek this festival out !!! http://shambhalamusicfestival.com/mambo
Check out the Village stage...they ran 16 lab horns this year and the bass was intense....DJ lorin rocked that system hard.... I want to put 16 wicked ones up against 16 of the lab horns. Undecided
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morpheous85
Ex Member



Re: Wicked One Reviews and Opinions
Reply #24 - 12/11/05 at 05:12:22
 
I built a 24x36 WO. I originally put a pair of Radio Shack 10" in it (50w ea). The sound was ok. I realized later that the bolts holding the speakers were loose and the speaker basket was slamming into the wood whenever it got very loud. I never fixed it because the next time I had it open was to put in a pair of DHM-108s. Quite different! I tightened the bolts and took it to my church, where it was used weekly for a few years. It was used in conjunction with a pair of Peavey Black Widow 18"s with about equal volume. Over that time, the bolts worked loose again and it once again sounded bad.

The last time I opened it, I completely repainted it and added nylon nuts (metal nuts with nylon that keep them from working loose). I also redid the gasket seal. Now, it's in a Dodge Caravan with 300wrms x1. I was actually going to say I was dissapointed with it's sound, but then I discovered that only one of the 10"s were running! The wire connecting the two had fallen out! At lower volumes, it sounded ok, but at higher volumes, it had bad compression. No punch. The difference was night and day!

People have asked me how big the speakers are and how much power I run. Saying 2 10" or 300w is enough to get their jaw dropping. This is all with a bad ground connection, stock alt, and a weak battery. I probably only have 100-150w!

I once used it in a small/medium venue (200 ppl) by itself for bass and it could be felt at the back of the room with 250w total power! It easily kept up with a pair of 15" mains.
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