Make: Rainbow
Model: Vanadium 12
Information: http://car.rainbow-audio.de/products/detai...&art=231597
Distributer: Mobile Fidelity http://www.mobilefidelity.com.au/


Outline
A bit back a friend of mine bought himself a sub, but never got around to isntalling it and ended up abandoning his project. Being exactly what I was looking for, I did him (and myself) a favour and took it off his hands.

Having only recently getting one of my amps back repaired, I was finally able to build up a rough enclosure and fire her up.

First thing I'd like to note is that this sub is a dual 3.6ohm unit. I've wired it for in series for a 7.2ohm load. The ARC 2100-XXK only outputs 2x100 into 4ohm, so bridged into 7ohm I'd expect that it has not much more then around 200w available.

The sub is currently in a slightly oversized 34L test enclosure. I've build up several blocks of wood, each taking up 2L of volume, which will allow me to vary the enclosure volume from 34 down to around 22L depending on the number of blocks inserted. All initial testing was done in the original 34L, whcih is a bit bigger then Rainbow recommends for this sub.

My front stage is not yet in so i'm stuck with nothing but a pair of Jaycar 6x9's running off the head unit to run the sub with. Hardly ideal, but it does the job.

There is no denying that the 6x9's sound poor (although good for the money) but the sub has been a big surprise to me.

History
This is the third sub I have owned, with the first being an IDMAX12 and the second being a Boston Pro 10.5LF. Both of these were impressive subs, and both had their up and down sides.

The IDMAX I found was extremely detailed, played extremely low, and had serious balls. It was capable of serious output even off very moderate power levels, with very good control at ultra low frequencies. Low frequencies were defiantely this sub's talent, and in complex bass patters this sub brought out every subtle change in tone. It was less impressive with upper bass though. Was a pretty fast sub also considering the depth and output it was capable of. This thing could make some serious noise, and even at half gains off my 1500-XXK it was more then my friends could handle (they are all bassheads). Was my overall benchmark or years.

The Boston Pro came in the pursuit for boot space, and the realisation that I never needed THAT much output. The first thing I noticed in it's favour was that the Boston was definately tighter and faster to respond then the IDMAX by a noticable margin. It was also seemed to handle the upper bass a tad better, not running out of breath as fast in the higher regions. A fairly smooth and tight sub, it had an overall refined sound. On the down side, the IDMAX's strengths were the Boston's biggest weaknesses. Sensitivity was very average, seemingly needing more then double the power to achieve the same output levels as the IDMAX. This was compounded by the fact that the power handling didn't seem to be the Bostons strong suit, and above 1/3 gains bridged the Boston didn't want to take anymore. I don't need loud, but in this case I had to actually lower the gains on my front stage to zero in order to allow the Boston to keep up adequately. I also required the sub in stereo (240w) to make sure I didn't over power it. Sadly, power handling wasn't the only think I didn't like. It sounded tight, smooth and clean but I also found it seemed to lack detail. Subtly complex bass lines seemed to come out as a flat mono-tone, and the overall style of sound came across and clean and tight, but vague. While the IDMAX loved to play the deep stuff, the Boston had an annoying lack of depth, and those deep low tones that came trough with the 'max seemed to dissapear with the Boston. The output I could handle, but the lack of depth and detail dissapointed me in the end, and so off the Boston went.

Review
I fired up the Vanadium for the first time, and the first thing I worked on was getting come acceptable settings going. I ended up settling on a 63hz, 12dB/oct crossover slope. This seemed to do the best job of blending with the significantly flawed 6x9's. I leveled the sub in with the speakers, which ended up with gains on the lowest setting, and the speakers set to around -6 on the head unit. I then added in a tad of time alignment get the rear's punching more in time with the sub. The results weren't the best overall, but as good as i could get with these speakers. The 6x9's are mounted on axis, with the tweeters swivelled with a tad of toe out because on axis they were simply too harsh and overpowering. They also sit in boxes, which adds some midbass punch and reduces midrange capabilities, but may have contributed to a midbass resonance aroud 250hz-300hz.

But it's not speakers i'm judging here, so I'll get back to the task at hand. I have heard a Vanadium before in a couple of other cars, and expected good things, but it's always so different to hear it in your own car. The familiarity with how speakers sound in your environment just gives you so much more appreciation (or depreciation) for a product. To this day the IDMAX is the best sounding sub I have owned, and I only just narrowly chose the Vanadium over it - and boy am I glad I did. As great as the ID was, it is simply no match for the Rainbow in terms of pure sound quality.

Despite being a 12 with significantly higher xmax and far bigger cone area, this sub is tighter, faster, and more responsive then the Boston Pro 10 ever was. This was somewhat of a surprise, given the Boston at the time was in a slightly too-small 14L enclosure, and the Vanadium is in a larger then optiamal 34L enclosure. Sensitivity is impressive, and even significantly underpowered off minimum gains, the Vanadium has surprising impact. Overall accuracy and linearity are increadible. The sub just sounds perfectly ballanced, and handled absolutely anything I've thrown at it without breaking a sweat. The lowest lows come out heavy and solid, filling the car. Kickbass gives a satisfying thump, and nothing ever sounds louder or weaker then it should be - it's all just right. It is so increadibly transparent, and it really sounds like it's adding nothing of it's own to the music.

Detail is more then a match for the IDMAX, with the Rainbow clearly reproducing even the most complicated bass patters with absolutely accuracy, yet it does it with a velvety smoothness that the IDMAX could never dream of. Never in my life had i heard subbass reproduced with such a perfect combination of authority, smoothness, detail, and accuracy.

I even threw at it some harsh and difficult to produce artificial music. "Ciara - 1,2 Step" is a track which features bassline that is rough, boomy, and completely un-refined. No sub I've heard has ever been good enough to take such a naturally bad bassline and make it sound decent. That Vanadium did just take, and actually made one of the worst sounding basslines I know of sound pretty reasonable, and entirely bearable.

On "Dire Strait's - Money for Nothing", the introductory kickbass is extremely well imaged. Even though the speakers and sub both lived in the back, the bass was un-directional and un-locatable. It sounded like it was directly underneath the floor of the car rather then the boot, and it's ability to produce the stereo effect of the kickbass was accurate and imo flawless.

"Private Investigations" features a nice, smooth deep bass, as well as a solid kick in several places, and an accurate stereo bass imaging. The bass guitar came across smooth, with satisfying solidity and perfectly integrated with the dodgy 6x9's. Kickbass came through well imaged with powerful impact, and outstanding control over speed and decay.

With this sub, a bassline never lingers any more then they are intended to. When it kick finishes it finishes instantly. Increadible.

I can only imagine how amazing this sub could sound given suitable power, and a proper front stage. I can say without a doubt in my mind that this is easilly the best subwoofer I have ever heard.

I'd love the chance to hear an Oz Me 12, DLS IR12, and Focal 33KX - these all have a fantastic reputation, and I'd love to see how they compare against the Rainbow.

Hope this review has been informative and / or useful to someone.

-Pete

Nice write up muzzy, I enjoyed the read, however is this set up in your car at all?

That's a big call for best sub ever, but I take it you are very happy with it. That's all that matters

whats the rrp on these??

Mazda626: The RRP for the Profi Vanadium 12 should be around the 800 to 900 mark
Contact Mobile Fidelity for an exact price


Poi.znr: The sizes for the Profi Vanadium subs come in 7, 8, 10 and 12 inches
Rainbow Profi Vanadium Subs