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Reviews

Fusion Encounter FEW-12 12" Subwoofer

Fusion Audio has landed, and from the sounds of it; this will be one heck of an Encounter!

Well, maybe that's a little over the top, but considering Fusion Audio's trademark alien and UFO logo's, one has got to wonder what they are up to.

Right from the beginning, Fusion was impressive! There was a multitude of packaging material to make sure that everything stays put, and in one piece. Unpacking the 2 Fusion FEW-12 test woofers, I am immediately faced with a glowing green cone staring out from its packaging. Talk about a subtle way of getting your attention!

Attention isn't all; Fusion Audio is clearly into the details, while keeping things simple. Featuring a stamped steel basket with a bumped back Back Plate, these subs are capable of 22.5mm of excursion. Very impressive for a driver in the under $100 range.

The Few-12 sports a single 4 layer black aluminum 2" Kapton Voice Coil, Competition style terminals, rubber surround, and 80oz magnet. This woofer is very well produced; even the tinsel leads are wrapped in heat shrink material for added strength and protection.

Thiele-Small Parameters

VAS (ft^3)	3.48
QTS	.343
QMS	4.155
QES	.374
RMS Power	200 Watts
Peak Power	400 Watts
Sens (1W/1M)	91dB
Xmax (Pk to Pk)	22.5mm
Xmax (1 way)	11mm
Freq. Response	23Hz - 3KHz
Fs	27Hz
Voice Coil	2" Kapton SVC
Impedence	4 ohms

Testing

With all the buzz floating around about this new company, and the inspiration of the impressive build, I couldn't wait for this part.

Testing was done using a pair of FEW-12's wired in parallel at 2 ohms, which received the full abuse of my JBL BP1200.1. Each woofer was placed in a sealed 1.0ft^3 enclosure and into the trunk of my 95 T-Bird. After several adjustments were made, I determined that these woofers would be limited to a crossover point at 80Hz.

Complimenting these woofers were a 2 sets of Infinity Reference 6.5's. One set up front, one handling rear fill. Now that you know the layout, I'm sure you would like to know what happened with all of this stuff in one car.

I tried to choose a broad selection of test tracks to see what these subs were really capable of. I finally decided on these:

Test Tracks
1. Stevie Ray Vaughan - Pipeline
2. Dave Mathews Band - Ants Marching
3. Allison Krause and Union Station - We Hide and Seek

Track 1: Pipeline, Stevie Ray Vaughan
Album: The Real Deal. Greatest Hits 2

Stevie Ray Vaughan's re-make of Dick Dales classic, Pipeline. Not only do we have stellar guitar work on this track, but a solid, quick, and intense bass and drum line. The Fusions were all over this song, keeping pace and maintaining accuracy like I have never heard before from any woofer. Not only impressive accuracy, but extremely hard hitting. These woofers exceeded my expectations thoroughly and maintained a strong bottom end without becoming overbearing. Track 1 - The Fusions Succeeded Flawlessly.

Track 2: Ants Marching, Dave Mathews Band
Album: Under the Table and Dreaming

Once again, you have found another who religiously uses this group for system testing. Rightfully so too! Ants Marching has some of the most melodic bass lines that I have heard. The quality of the music is exquisite and the recording is in my opinion nearly perfect. The talent of the musicians in this band leads to a natural complexity in their music, which is demanding upon any system. Naturally why I chose it. The Fusions again were rock solid and right with every beat of the song. Accuracy was overall, impeccable. Only twice through this lengthy song did I detect a slight slip into a "muddy" sound; and usually this took place right at a high point in the song. Otherwise, the clarity and most certainly the punch were very much there. Track 2 - The Fusions passed.

Track 3: We hide and Seek, Allison Krauss and Union Station
Album: Allison Krauss and Union Station Live

Nothing like a hint of good ole' down home bluegrass to detect how well the overall response of the Fusions would be. This track immediately begins with traditional guitar and banjo picking with the natural bottom end being handled by an upright string bass. A few months back, I had the privilege to attend this concert, and when listening to this track with the Fusions, I felt like I was there all over again. These subs handled the rolling BOOM, boom, bluegrass bass with ease. Every detail shined through flawlessly with sheer precision. The Fusions clarity once again amazed me completely. I will also thoroughly recommend this CD to everyone for a change of pace, and an insight into a lot of talent. The concert, by the way, is also 100% worth it. Track 3 - The Fusions Succeeded Flawlessly.

The Rest of the Story

Clearly, as impressed as I was with the Fusions, I would not let this be the end of my testing. You should know that I would have to slip in some serious bass drops and sweeps here or there. That is exactly what I did with a little help from a few IASCA competition discs I had laying around and from THX.

I wanted to get right to the down and dirty with these subs, so what better way to go than the Ultimate THX Woofer Excursion Test. Hey, they say 22.5mm Xmax, so I had to see! Now, for those few who are not familiar with this track, get it! It basically contains sweeps and burps at a vast multitude of frequencies, and is designed to make your woofers work hard. That is just what happened as well. Immediately as the track began, the whole car began to rumble with the extraordinary pleasure that is bass. Not a simple "whoopty-doo" bass either, but rather they type of bass that makes your teeth rattle. As the THX test progressed, it was evident that the Fusions were quite happy with all of its twists and turns. They belted out the bass in a most hammering way, and certainly live up to their rated excursion capabilities. An incredible low end, that some would say is more powerful than thunder! The Fusions Successfully passed the THX Woofer Excursion Test.

Next up, various sweeps of different frequencies from the IASCA test disc. Each sweep was limited to 15 seconds, and replayed 3 times to ensure consistency. Weather I threw 60 Hz at them, or even way up at 225Hz; these woofers played it effortlessly. It was only when I was performing the sweeps from 50Hz-20Hz that I ran into a few snags. Right about 35 Hz; I detected some slight, but apparent mechanical noise coming from the subs. Backing off the volume control slightly seemed to remedy most of this, and I would speculate that the frequency combined with the "extra power" the subs were seeing contributed to the noise. After all, 35Hz is pretty low, and these subs are rated at a peak power of 400 watts each, they were receiving 1200 watts together from my JBL. All in all, considering the power ratings of the woofers were exceeded by nearly 400 watts, the Fusions handled most of the sweeps well.

I did also notice a few sharp spots again in the 70 Hz area that had a brief rattle to their sound, most annoying all together. Likely a little experimenting further with an EQ could easily tame these.

In conclusion, the Fusion FEW-12 Encounter woofers performed exceptionally well; not just for woofers in their price range, but rather, overall. I honestly expected to find a lot more subtle irritations and issues going into this evaluation, however, only a small handful made themselves known. With a clean build, impressive response, and a general defiance of the spec sheet power ratings, I would completely recommend this woofer to anyone that is looking for stellar quality, without breaking the bank. Considering that the average price of these woofers falls in at under $100 each, Fusion Audio has a winner, and a strong future ahead of them.

» www.FusionCarAudio.com

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