Thursday, July 12, 2007

Focal Polyglass 27V2 subwoofer: Review

There are rare instances where you stumble upon a subwoofer that’s different among the rest. Something that’s not made for everyone, and requires a lot of thought before you purchase one. Some people won’t give it a second look because it’s different, and it serves a purpose for only a select few. And the Focal 27V2 is one of those subs.

The 27V2, a part of Focal’s Polyglass lineup, is one sub where it could not please everybody, but pleases those who seek for a different purpose. Yes, it’s a sub not made for ground pounding, but it’s a sub the promises accurate bass reproduction. In other words, it’s an SQ sub.

Being a part of the Polyglass subwoofer lineup, it uses an 11’ Polyglass cone, basically a paper cone coated with glass microballs for improved stiffness. This material promises rigidity, lightness and internal damping, all desirable properties in a speaker cone, while keeping costs very low. Plus, paper has been credited as a material that can produce the most neutral sound since it compromises all of the three traits of a speaker cone. The cone is housed on an alloy basket, which Focal calls Zamak. The material promises rigidity while being non-magnetic and non-resonant. Bonding the cone directly on the basket is a huge rubber surround mainly for long life compared to foam surrounds.

The motor assembly is also impressive, with double stacked ferrites sandwiched between chrome top and bottom plates. People who wish to install their subs facing the passenger cabin need not worry about aesthetics, as the sub looks great from behind. The voice coil, with a diameter of 65mm, features an aluminium former wrapped in 4 layers of copper wire. The aluminium would help in resistance against deformation in extreme heat. And to top it all up, it’s a 4 ohm dual voice coil, which means it can be wired in either 2 or 8 ohms.

The cooling system for the motor looks like it’s been overdone, with a huge pole piece on the bottom of the sub and air vents located on the bottom of the basket, with most subs incorporating only either a pole piece or air vents for cooling. But then again, there’s no such thing as an overdone cooling system as cooling the motor system is of vital importance for subwoofers.


Power handling is rated at around 300 Watts RMS, so almost any 300-Watt or higher mono or two-channel amp can power these subs.

THE AUDITION

I was able to acquire a 27V2 from a friend who decided to replace it for a smaller sub. The sub was second hand but in pristine condition, and since it was used, it was already fully broken in. The sub was installed in a 1.0 cu.ft sealed box, as recommended by Focal, and placed in the trunk of my car, a 2005 Honda Civic. It was matched to an Audiosystem F2 190 amp and wired in 2 ohms, giving out at least 500 watts of power. Crossover settings were set at 80Hz, with a slope of -12 dB/octave, phase is set at 0 degrees or normal, and sub level is set at +8. Finally, we’re ready for some serious listening.

Grandma’s Hands (Livingston Taylor)

This track is approximately a little under 2 minutes long, with Livingston and his back-up vocals singing soulfully all throughout. It’s purely a vocal track, with its only instrument being the finger snaps heard all throughout the track. This is mainly a test for midrange purity, but it can be used to test low-frequency extensions as well.

In most good systems, faint but heavy foot stomps can be heard all throughout the track, and the 27V2 definitely shined on this track. The foot stomps can be heard very clearly, and once Livingston pauses to catch his breath, the foot stomps can be heard much more clearly. I was impressed on this, with the sub exhibiting great bass reproduction.

Magnificent Seven (Elmer Bernstein)

For you non-smokers, this is also known as the Marlboro track, as this is a rendition of the Marlboro soundtrack (think of the Marlboro TV ads a few years back). This track is a complete orchestra, with woodwinds, brass, cymbals, strings and bass drums. Let’s focus on the bass drum.

At the beginning of the track, once the tempo starts to rise, the bass drum will start to hit a couple of times or more until the tempo starts to slow down. The bass must be clean and fast as a slight delay would destroy this beautiful rendition.

The 27V2 shined on this one as well, with the bass being deep and clean. The drum was accurately reproduced and at the same time, fast. The bass was exactly at the same time it was supposed to be there, with absolutely no delays, largely due to the light Polyglass cone. Plus, once the tempo has slowed down, I’ve heard the bass drum being hit again, but very faint. That kind of reproduction from the sub is very impressive for me, as I don't think some subs can still be able to show that.

This track was also a test to the sub’s enclosure size, as it exhibited balance between deep, clean and fast bass. Although the sub was already well-balanced to begin with, the enclosure improved it further, and a sloppy enclosure would surely throw off the accurate reproduction. It just goes to show how much Focal did its homework in providing the correct enclosure sizes for it’s customers.

Superman (Cincinnati Pops Orchestra)

Now we move to another orchestra track, this time with the rendition of the Superman soundtrack. Towards the end of the track, there should be a big rumble for at least a few seconds, and in some cases, small rumbles can be heard, or rather felt, before the big one.

Unfortunately, the sub did not do much here, as the huge rumble was particularly not that powerful, and the small rumbles are just intermittent faint rumbles. So faint, it’s hardly noticeable along with the engine vibrations. I’m guessing it’s already due to the small size of the sub.

Further Tests on SPL (Various R&B Tracks)

Surprised by the lack of rumble, I popped in a couple of R&B CD’s (particularly Anthony Hamilton and Mario Winans) and tested the sub for SPL. The results are the same. Rumble was there, but not that strong or powerful. Even cranking the sub level up to maximum won’t improve rumble significantly. But on the plus side, even with the R&B music, the sub still exhibited clean and deep bass, something that I appreciated.

CONCLUSION

Like what I’ve said above, the 27V2 is a sub made for a different kind of duty. It was an almost perfect sub, exhibiting clean, deep and fast bass, and bass reproduction was superb. The only thing that’s keeping it from becoming a perfect sub was its lack of rumble. Even if it’s purely an SQ sub, a little bit more rumble could’ve made it much better.

With plenty of subs available in the market, and with a price of around Php 16,000, people might look for a cheaper sub that will fill their needs and budget. But for those who would install a sub purely for SQ and is looking for accurate bass reproduction, the 27V2 is for them
.

3 comments:

  1. Try pairing this sub with a Focal amp. Focal prides its new amps on being built specifically for their speakers. They have a 1.800 that would more than power this sub and possibly provide that extra "rumble" you are looking for without damaging it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Try the Morel Ultimo 12 sub. Extremely transparent and the best SQ sub I have ever heard.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The missing rumble is there.

    Even Focal recommend this sub be installed in a larger, ported enclosure for better bottom end.

    Looking st the subs technical specs you’ll see that a sealed enclosure is far from ideal.

    ReplyDelete