Hey everybody'

Im interested in the buying the focal 33kx but just wanted to get some feed back from u guys that have listened to them or know abit about them, and what u guys think of them. Also i wanna know what sorta power i should give them and what amp/s, I know they r rated 400rms... I wanna run two subs
I have a Alpine MRD M1005 would that run both ok???


My system at the moment is
H/U: Alpine iva d310
F/S: Focal 165K2P (Want to get bass extension kit)
R/S: Focal 3ways
AMP: Alpine MRV F545
Alpine MRD M1005
SUB: ????



Thanks

Beautiful subs!!
Most musical sub i've heard in a car!!

*Insert drool here*

MRD1005 would be plenty for 2, these subs are very efficient.

As above, Extremely musical subwoofers,

Very fast, tight and accurate, but also very linear.

not like normal subwoofers, they don't sound like a "subwoofer" in terms of they don't put that
usual subwoofer like signature sound on the music. They tend to sound more like a very tight accurate midbass that plays subwoofer freqencys, in that they follow the transient movement of the bass extremely accurately, quickly and precisely.

it's very difficult to explain, you have to hear a properly setup focal sub to understand.

Alot of people do not like them, because they don't go loud enough, and I agree they only have average to good output. Nothing spectacular in that sense, however a single 33kx is still enough for ANY SQ system trying to get a flat high volume response.

And people looking to play hugely bass driven music really should look to regular sounding subwoofers,
that have higher outputs.

in terms of power output, the more you have the better they will sound, I suggest 1000W RMS per sub, No you won't be able to use all that power, but the subs are so sensitive that a fraction of intolerance in the signal and you'll notice it. At the very least 800W, my 27kx's I had really didn't start to totally come to life till I had a 800W Amp behind them, yet really only used about 200-300W of the available power. Regardless they still sounded so much better on the same style of amp at 800W instead of 500W.

the K series subs are almost twice as effecient as the polyglass subs I found.
I think this is due to the magnet system, which is phenominally powerful. (and heavy!)

Driven to the stops My 8" Polyglass subs use more power than my 27kx's ever did with the same abuse.

Juls

33kx are fine.

^^

I've heard the focals are very nice, but I was always under the impression that they weren't particularly sensitive at all - Focal lists them at 84.24dB which is well below average for a 12" sub.



Isn't that expected, given it's a 12" vs 8"?

How did you guys find the bottom end performance, as I was told this was one of the weaknesses of the KX subs.

I ment both speakers driven as hard as they can go, (meaning one is still louder)

my 8" subs seem to use excessive amounts of power (just wastes it) compared to the 27kx's I had.

That being said, I bought a Eclipse 10" sub, that used to waste more power than both my 8" subs put together.. My 27kx's driven hard would draw about 40-50amps from my amplifiers, I put the eclipse 8000 series sub on the same amp, to achieve the same volume I was drawing in excess of 180amps.. talk about inefficent!!

Juls

its simple,

light kevlar cone, strong magnetic field, light voice coil assembly = well designed effiecent sub

i reckon these are the best subs ive ever heard, very fast, tight, and they have a softer sound which i like...

Can't comment on the 33kx exactly but am currently running a 33v2. Wouldnt change it for anything else in that price range. The sound is amazing. If you want SQ and like softer subs this is the way to go. Running mine at 2 ohm getting around 700rms. Next sub will be a 27kx. Output isnt that great, that said it will still play as loud as any daily driver system would ever need.

Have only seen this done to 100 and 130KP's. Lets us know how u go with it.

i thinkt the reason the focals sound soft, or dont sound loud, is cos there so clean, that the distortion you would normallly call bass from most subs isnt there, so it sounds softer...

Thanx for the replies guys, its hard to now what they sound like because i have never heard them ive only heard the polyglass series in the astra at Farfield car audio.

Foosballer86, ill let u guys know how i go with the bass extension kit...

I've seen the bass extension used with the 165k2p and the 100kp, it's definatly better with the 100kp, but certainly helps clean up the K2P also.

Juls

Went and saw Fhrx Marty today and he was alot of help. He cleared up alot of things and answered a lot of questions that i had. At the moment trying to arrange an audition of the 33kx so then i can know defenitely if there the subs i want.

Cant wait to hear these things and see how they go...

I also am looking at getting new amps maybe the new Audison Lrx range, the focal amps or maybe the jl slash series amps.... What are your thoughts on these amps or any experince with these amps.

my experience is the JL slash amps are quite good, very detailed sound but perhaps a little too clean. excellent for the price and size they don't seem to get hot at all. the new LRx amps are very nice sounding, but a little on the big side and they do get quite hot.

Muzzy, the biggest problem with the Focal subwoofers (among others) is many people don't make the right enclosures for them. This is why you tend to hear a lot rolling of high and not extending down deep. We just did this 33KX two weeks ago and I'm trying to con him into coming to the competitions next year! Wait until you hear how this sounds.



Even my Be 8" required a 30 litre enclosure!

OK old Thread i know,

But i put this sub and the 33wx2 and the 27kx into a box program and found out it does not play evey low.
Has anyone else found this at all if this is so do then still sound good for SQ.


What is the go with this sub.

The go is, both are excellent SQ subs which are very musical and will go low with the right enclosure. Marty would be far better to explain it they myself, but I've heard both the 33KX he previously had in his car, which was an excellent sub and went low enough for my ears. The 33WX is the best SQ sub I've ever heard by far, moreso than the Morel Ultimo 12" and other high end SQ subs I've heard. The 33WX goes even lower than the 33KX and has brilliant control.

What size enclosure are you running these in?

my 33KX goes plenty low, well below 20Hz, and I'm crossing at 140Hz to the midbass - very nice indeed.

mind you, the 1kW makes the cone jump around too

I got mine in about 1.3 cu.ft.

simon your 33KX kicks ass i love it

The 33Kx has an Fs of ~40Hz. IMO thats just too high for a real subwoofer. Put it in a sealed box, and it will rise again. I am truly not surprised that these sound good and fast, as above ~50Hz they perform exceptionally well, but below that, well, lets just say I'm still searching. Its not a non-linear distortion thing at all, its having all the harmonics replayed cleanly too.

A true honest-to-god subwoofer should have its Fs sitting low 20's to high 10's. A REAL bottom-end hungry woofer will chew 20Hz and spit it out for lunch. Given the limitations that are presented with using a small design (like 12 and 10 inch subs), extension is the key, and the enemy. Too much extension is too much distortion. Too little extension, and you cant go low, loud enough (especially with weak suspension designs).

matt, that's the same problem I came across when modelling various subs, the focals just wouldn't play low. After how hot and sticky everyone gets over them, I was surprised, almost disbelief.

definitely one of the very very very few subs that still sound good up to 150hz.

due to the focals charactieristics maybe thats why i feel pulse-r's sub sounds so clean and effortless due its low end roll off. Just remember that in most cars cabin gain occurs around sub 35hz no matter of the position of the sub so you might be surprised how flat a frequency response you get when the subs roll off quite early.

I'd go the cadence 10" any day over these....put them in a 150L ported box and they go nutz! ay Datamine....

Not 150L, about half that.

And until I hear something better, that's the way it's gonna stay.

this may be off-topic, but I've increase the crossover of the 33kx to 180Hz... blends better with the midbass, and it's all up-front.

still shakes the crap outta the car below 30Hz (1kW will do that).