Perfect Timing, Outlaws!

I bought a 1050 receiver way back around 2001. I went on to own a 950 pre/pro (which I just retired recently) and a bunch of m200 monoblock amps. Have always had excellent results with outlaw products, and I've also received a lot of help over the years from Scott, Gonk, and others who post on these forums.

I recently moved into an apartment, so I sold my big SVS last August. I am running Maggie 3.6s up front and have been running them full range. They've actually done a fantastic job with HT, even though I'm asking a lot of them, but I've been thinking about finding a small subwoofer of good quality to handle some of the low end duties. Today I got the promotional email for the M8, and after speaking with Scott and Jennifer today, I think this will be exactly what the doctor ordered. I'm sure my Maggies will be happy to have a little less burden on them, and chances are the neighbors will be cool with it, too.

I'll probably order one later in the week, so I'll post impressions once I get it set up. It's nice to be an outlaw customer again!

AJZepp,


Thanks for your post. As we wrote in the announcement, the M8 is a real overachiever. I think you will be pleasantly surprised with what this modest sized package can deliver. We look forward to your evaluation.

Peter

Thanks, Peter! Scott assured me that this little sub will be great at modest levels, but will also bring the noise if I were to ever open things up. Since my downstairs neighbor seems to have no problem cranking things up down there every so often, I'm sure there will be times when I put this thing through its paces.

PS: What would you guys suggest for settings with regard to bass management? I have separate 2-channel gear with an HT bypass, so for music the sub won't be in play at all. I was thinking that for HT use, I'd keep my mains sent to large, keep surrounds and center set to small, and then sub on/yes. Then I'd bypass the crossover on the M8 and let the bluray player's bass mgmt send the LFE .1 and the <80hz signals from the center and surrounds to the sub. Does that sound right to you guys? Do any of you think I should run the mains as small? My only hesitation is that Maggies don't often play nice with subwoofers, so I figured this might ensure I don't have any blending issues. I'm open to suggestions, though!

Thank you for the kind words AJZepp!

Under the circumstances I would encourage you to try both settings and see which you prefer. By setting your mains to "large", but enabling the sub/LFE output, you'll be relieving your 3.6's of the difficult duty of handling the ".1" track. This, in and of itself, should make a pretty big difference in your system. However, if your current processor provides flexible crossover points for each channel group, I would also consider setting the left and right channels to "small" with a 40-60Hz crossover point. By reducing the 3.6's workload by an octave to an octave and a half you will likely discover that the Maggie's open up even more. In the end it's up to you, your ears and how much you can get by that downstairs neighbor of yours!

Hi Scott...thanks for the feedback!

Right now I'm relying on my bluray player for bass mgmt, and unfortunately it only has a fixed 80hz crossover for "small" settings. I have an analog multi-channel preamp that I picked up about two years ago when my 950 was ready to retire (after many years of excellent performance, I might add). There is a new Oppo player coming out soon that will have more flexible bass mgmt settings, so I will definitely go with what you described since I'm guessing that will be the best setting. The 3.6s will play respectably low in this room, but I'm sure I'd be gaining a little more on the low end by crossing them over at either of the crossover points you mentioned.

Going to place my order online as soon as I finish up working for the day...looking forward to adding it to the mix!

$48 for shipping - in MA?
Any chance I could, er, pick it up locally or something?

I'd suggest calling their sales line just to see what options exist.

*Mine is due to arrive Tuesday the 25th and is coming from California. I'm a very impatient person!

**Wow, been about 7 or 8 years since I've posted here.

Spoonman, same here lol. Been a while for me too, and I'm expecting mine to arrive on Tuesday from Cali, as well. Hopefully we'll both have positive things to report back this week!

Only thing I'm not thrilled about is having to sign for it. I'll have to go into work late, thankfully Fedex is in my area around 9:30'ish and not in the middle of the day. It's gonna kill me to leave it boxed up and have to head to work and wait all day to play with my new toy! I'll give an update later in the week! Enjoy your M8!

Hmm, Fed-ex tracking hasn't updated, it's not showing it's even in Ohio yet but the delivery date still shows today. Hope it arrives earlier this morning as usual, I can't sit here all day and wait for it

FedEx's tracking info can be a bit quirky. I've heard it's because they don't do "phantom" scanning (which UPS does do), so until the package is physically scanned the information doesn't change even if the package has arrived somewhere.

I get a few packages every month and I think this has only happened maybe once before. It's sad that I know what Fedex hub it should go to depending on what area of the country it's coming from. This 1 coming from Cali should have been scanned at Columbus and headed to Middleburgh Hts and Out for Delivery from there. Again, this has only happened 1 time before where it didn't update at all until actually delivered so I won't lose sleep over it, I might not be able to say the same about $$ cuz I'm sitting here instead of work lol.

I'd rather have no update from Fedex than actual shipping from UPS. I was thrilled when I saw the Outlaws used Fedex, cannot stand the brown truck delivery company!

*sigh*

Fedex finally updated @ 6pm, delivery got delayed to tomorrow. I hope you had better luck than me!

It sounds like we've had the opposite experience lol. I've had nothing but problems with FedEx over the past year or so. My shipment got delayed until tomorrow, too, but they have been screwing up almost every delivery I've had since I moved into my apartment last August. On top of that, the moron driver can't even figure out that the folks in the office can let him through the security gate. Somehow the UPS guy can always figure this out, but it's just too complicated for the FedEx guy, apparently.

That being said, I used to work with UPS, and while I rarely have a problem with their delivery, I have had past problems with damaged packages and I understand exactly why. I used to see first hand how the packages were handled, and it's very cavalier. FedEx seems to be the more reliable in terms of damage, but wow, the actual delivery service has taken a strong turn for the worse in my area.

Hopefully tomorrow we'll both have our M8 subs in house! I have Inception waiting right here ready to go on Thursday night. Hopefully FedEx won't screw with those plans any further!

Wow I don't feel so bad now that both of us got shafted yesterday lol. I'm almost 40 and nothing but troubles in the past 20 years with UPS(damages, lost packages, you name it) and Fedex has always been consistent, no matter what area I've lived in(moved 4 times in the past 15 years) but enough about our shipping woes! Can't wait for the M8! I don't know which blu-ray/hd-dvd's to fire up, decisions decisions! Hmm, just tracked it and it's coming from a city hub that isn't very close to me, might not be arriving till early evening. I don't care, as long as it shows up today... all is well!

Still at work, but just checked my tracking and it looks as if FedEx found a driver who can actually figure out how to get through my security gate. The M8 is sitting at home for me, so I'm gonna leave here about 730, stop off to pick up a new rat shack meter since I lost my trusty 9 y.o. one in the move, and get this thing fired up tonight! I'll report back either late tonight or tomorrow.

Hope you have the same good news, Spoonman!

Here are some pics just in case anyone wants to take a gander....sorry they are a bit washed out....just got home from long day at work and don't feel like screwing with it lol.

Sorry for the streaking booger in the first pic...sneezed when I clicked the button. (okay, not really)

M8, meet Maggie

Safe packing = safe travels

M8 in good company - Amos Lee and Maggie

What Maggie's are those? I love planars.

Played with it for a few hours yesterday and from a performance standpoint it's a great little sub. I will say I haven't had a ported sub in 8 or 9 years and it definitely has a different sound and feel compared to the sealed ones. It hit's lower than the DefTech Prosub 800 I have in the smaller room and for now it's going to stay in there. After 2 hours of moving it around and calibrating and finding the 2nd sweet spot in the room, the duo pack quite a punch indeed for LFE duties. The bass pressure is now actually very noticable. It was 30% cheaper than the DefTech so kudos to the Outlaws!

The only drawback of the one I received(and not one that distracts me from enjoying it) is I pick up a local oldies channel no matter where it is in the room but only when the phase is set to 180. Thankfully it's set to 0. I brought in my Supercube and tested it in there as well and neither of my Deftech subs pick up any interference.

It also hums regardless of which wall socket/line conditioner/voltage regulator it's plugged into, also tried it in my main room with varying conditioners/regulators and still humming. Again, my other subs are dead quiet everywhere in the house. I made sure no other wires/cables were touching the interconnect or power cable, the hum only stops when unplugged entirely.

But, with that said, it's a kick ass sub for a room that's got 8ft ceilings and is about 12x14. The packing for transit is superb, very impressed. The finish is nice and the controls on back are solid. This is my 1st Outlaw sub so I can't compare to any others but am impressed with it's performance.

*Update: Just messed with 2 y cables I have, 1 is a cheap Radio shack and the other a 10 year old Acoustic Research cable and regardless of which female side I use for the M8, it hums, BUT... with the Radio Shack adapter it is quieter. Can anyone recommend a decent yet affordable Y adapter that has 1 Male turning into 2 females? I see the Outlaw cable is Out of Stock, damn.

You might try Monoprice or Parts Express.

I just found a y-adapter I had from Monoprice, its garbage honestly. I have HDMI cables and other various items from them and for the prices, can't complain. I connected it to the LFE out on receiver, connected both subs and the M8 hums the loudest when using the adapter from Mono*sigh* Oh well....

Go to Bluejeans cable and look for what you need.

Does the M8 hum when no input is plugged in to it?

Those are the Maggie 3.6Rs. I bought them about two years ago new and love 'em. I was really tempted to consider moving them and moving into their successor - the 3.7s - but just not time yet. I love my Maggies

I may not be able to finally get the little guy fired up until tomorrow Had some extra work responsibilities to take care of. HOpefully soon, though....glad to hear from the spoonster that the subs are kicking butt! I'll see if I notice any hum issues when I fire mine up.

There Inception sits...on the coffee table...all by itself...

Mine got delivered but no time to set it up.

Will be hooked up to RR2150 and a pair of Orb Audio speakers which is the audio rig I have for my PC.

Another update: I've moved twice in the past couple years so cables I've been hording over the years are all in different boxes, I'm sure some of you have done this lol. Anyways, went out to the garage and tore into a few and found another Y adapter. This one doesn't have a name on it but it looks like a Bettercable or Cobalt cable, those 2 along with Outlaws interconnects are the 3 brands I was messing with 7 or 8 years ago when I bought the M200's and 950.

Ok on to my point, the hum is a thing of the past! The only variable I did NOT remove from all previous tests was the Y adapters. I was so busy with trying different outlets and conditioners that I never removed the adapters entirely.

When it's just the M8 connected to LFE out, no hum. Using the y adapter I found in garage(and of considerable build quality), no hum. Using the Acoustic Research and Monoprice adapters, the hum returns. I won't question why or how but I'm thrilled. I may buy another M8 or a bigger model for the bigger room. The Supercube 1 is nice, actually excellent for 30hz, but something that can go lower with more authority might be needed to help really pressurize the room.

*Thanks to Scott for emailing me and wanting to help. I've been away from the Hideout for a few years but plan on sticking around for a while.

AJ and Durask, enjoy!

*Oh and the sub still picks up the oldies station when phase is switched but again, it's set to 0.

OK, hooked it up to RR2150. There is hum but really, I have to put my ear next to the sub to hear it, as such doesn't bother me (although any tips would be appreciated).

Hooked up to RR2150 sub output, bass management on RR2150 set to bypass, sub crossover set at about 200 (those orb speakers don't go down much).

The hum is caused by a differnec in your ground refernec between all of the various pieces of equipment in your system. Make sure they all share the same ground. All of my stuff is plugged into my power conditioners ss they all share its ground condition. If that does not fix it, make sure all of your signal cables are separated by a few inches from your power cables and verify the integrity of the cables.

It's all plugged into the UPS that my PC is plugged into (however only the PC and the monitor are plugged into actual UPS sockets, the receiver and the sub are plugged into the simple "circuit breaker" sockets on the UPS, meaning if the power goes out, the UPS will not power these sockets.



Ugh, this will be hard - there is a lot of cables back there and the goal was to make the cabling as unnoticeable as possible.

Does the sub hum when it's signal cable is unplugged? That low level hum may be that the signal and power cable are too close. Try separating them and see if that cures the problem.

Try unplugging one component at a time from your UPS and see if the problem clears or try plugging all of your equipment into a single power strip (just for testing). Does your UPS include your phone and internet connections? If so you may need a filter on those. They are generally buried outside and have their own grounding system separate from the one in your house.

Moved it around the house (to finish the workout started by shoveling some snow). No matter where I plug it, there is always low frequency hum, sounds like an old transformer. Obviously this was always with signal cable unplugged.

My UPS does not include phone or internet, the only things hooked up to it are the PC and the monitor. In any case, the hum is there without the signal cable.

Okay guys, I finally had my Inception movie night tonight.

While I was watching the pro bowl, I got things set up, wired up the sub, broke out my brand new trusty rat shack spl meter, and calibrated things. For tonight, I put the M8 toward the back of the room since that was the most convenient location for today. As I ran the test tones, the sub made a nice, warm rumble/hum, and I was ready for movie time.

About five minutes into the movie, this sub was kicking so much you know what in my apartment that I had to start turning down the gain (I started with the gain at the 1/2 way point). We watched another ten mins until this one scene came on where the LFE was constant and pretty intense for several minutes. It was at that point when I aborted the mission for tonight since it's a Sunday around 11pm, and I didn't want to take the chance with the neighbors lol. Scott told me that this little guy was powerful, but I honestly didn't expect this much kick from an 8" driver in a <$300 subwoofer.

I decided this would be a good time to order an Auralex subdude, cause I know others who have used them with their subs and it really helped to reduce vibrations. The M8 was pretty tight and not bloated and boomy at all, but there's no way that the folks downstairs escaped that one scene without wondering wtf was going on lol. I'm also going to move the sub near an outside wall, and that combined with the isolation platform should allow me to run the LFE channel again.

Just so you guys don't think I'm a sub newbie who doesn't know what real subs can do, my last sub was widely considered one of the best on the market - an SVS PB13 Ultra. My apartment is a fairly decent size, and one of these guys was more than enough bass for me. The main living area of my apt is like a 30'x16' rectangle, with a half wall/entertainment wall extending across the room and sort of splits it in half. The side of that rectangle where I have my HT is about 18x15 with 9' ceilings.

This sub is a winner, especially for the price.

Hi All,

Just looking to restart the thread and see if there's more from the maggie crowd? I've been looking to add a sub to my 1.6's and was thinking along the lines of the M8 (vs. LF-1 compact). How is the integration?

My current 2-channel rig has a pre-amp (Rotel 1070) with no sub out running into an RB-1080 amp. I'm a bit concerned about running through the high levels with spring clips... Any thoughts on using the line level output, similar to ACI, where a speaker wire-to-line level converter is used??? Could that setup also be used with the OAW3?

Thanks!

bmrr,I can't be of much help to ya since I run my Maggies full range for music...but just wanted to chime in again with my thoughts on the Auralex SubDude HD.

Tonight I fired up the Russell Crowe version of Robin Hood with the M8 on the subdude and the results were very impressive. This is one really good sub! The bass is very clean, and the sub can play subtly or it can provide plenty of impact for certain effects. Any scene where there were horses galloping were very intense, along with the part where several English soldiers were ramming a large door with a tree, lol. The impact was very effective, and there was no bloated rumble at all. I don't know what driver this is in the M8, but I like it.

I have my 1.6s paired with my Aperion S-12 sub and to tell the truth it is way overkill in my music room. The maggies are fully capable of producing all the bass of any music I listen to. I primarily use the sub to reduce the power required to run the planars since they draw only about half the power if relieved of the <100 hz duties.

I'm going to blow sunshine up this sub's butt one more time, and then that will be it for now...

Last night I got the urge to finish up the last half of Robin Hood (I had to turn it off with about a half hour left the other night when I got sleepy). It was around 3am on a weeknight, so I wasn't sure about having an action film playing at that hour. Anyway, I turned down the master volume a bit and gave it a shot. What I found was that this sub does exactly what I hoped it would. Not only does it pack a nice punch for when I have a movie cranked up, but at 3am when I need a bit more subtlety it gave me exactly that. I still heard all the low end effects, perfectly in balance with the other channels, and I was able to watch the rest of the film in a manner that was nearly as satisfying as when I have the volume up.

I also want to give props again to this subdude thing...it is a great piece of isolation for apartment dwellers. Combined with the M8, I've got my bass needs covered. I may even consider using this for music with my Maggies. It's very hard to integrate a sub with the Maggies for that purpose, BUT, the sound quality of this M8 is much better than I expected.

Hope you all enjoy your M8s

M8 + SubDude HD

Hi Folks,

I'm about to pull the trigger on this M8 sub...I've been itching to get it and try it out. I'm wanting to know how important is it to spend big bucks on the sub cable to connect it to my receiver (RR 2150)? I've seen them range in price from $2.50 on up to over $100 bucks. I found some on Ebay and here is the link to one. It is a cheaper one...

http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Vampire-Wire-Mul...=item45f89e133d

Will this one work or should I go for a different one? I hate spending money on cables...I know...sometimes it is necessary, but dang it! hahaha!

Any help would be great...

Thanks!

"This Vampire Wire Multi-Use RCA Cable is separated from a A/V Kit to create a cable that can be used for multiple Audio and Video applications. By doing this, we create a cable that can be used as a subwoofer, digital coax audio, or composite video cable."
?
I'm speechless...

You don't need to spend a ton of money on cabling.

I use Monoprice. Some people here use Bluejeanscable. And some use the Outlaw cables. I would think that between those three you could find something that suits your needs and budget.

Personally I would stay away from a company that advertises that they've created a cable that carries electricity, electricity, or (you guessed it) electricity. Just out of principle if nothing else

I would lean toward the lower priced options, taking care to spend enough to get something that is actually reliable. A sub cable's got to run a ways, so you want something that is actually at least a little shielded in case it gets too close to a power cord along the way somewhere. The price is good on the Vampire cable, but I don't know much about them. As a general rule, I would second EEman's suggestions for cable sources.

Hey, thanks for the help, it is much appreciated. I'll check out monoprice and bluejeans and see what I can find. = )

Douggie, I picked up a 25' Belkin cable off of Amazon.com for like ten bucks. Works great!

Let us know what you think of the sub...I'm quite certain you'll be very pleased. I can't imagine a better sub for the money.

Hey Guys,

Thanks for the info! Sorry for the late response, been bogged down at the J.O.B.... Still sittin' on the fence, but when that trigger gets pulled, you'll be the first to know! Happy listening and keep those maggie + M8 comments a comin'...

bmrr

Ok...so I went with this...

http://www.monoprice.com/products/produc...=1&format=2

Hopefully this does the trick...

M8 came in today...I'm really diggin this sub...been playing the new Radiohead album and it makes an insane difference!!! Thanks for all your help!

Douggie: Glad you got it fired up! I just downloaded the new Radiohead album too, but haven't listened to it yet. I did watch SALT on Sat night, though, and the M8 continues to impress. I was really bummed when I felt I needed to get rid of my massive SVS when I moved into this apartment, but this little M8 has allowed me to completely forget about the SVS. It's so nice to have the LFE channel again, and to think this sort of quality is available at this price point is really very satisfying. It's playing very nicely with the Maggies, and both the SubDude isolation platform and my handful of GIK bass traps really helps this sub to shine.

i went with this same exact set-up with the monoprice cables, although those connections are tight! i just hooked up my new M8 to my RR2150 with Monitor Silver RS-6 speakers. I am pretty happy with the new bass, but wanted to ask a question about my bass management. i am using the bass management through the 2150 at 60 Mz and have the M8 set at bypass. i also normally have the bass volume about halfway up (set at noon) and in the 180 phase.

this seems to give the best sound in my room, but wanted get thoughts from others on this set-up. is anyone bypassing at the 2150 and using the bass management in the M8? has anyone found the 0 phase to work better for them? i love the sound of a basketball dribbling through the subwoofer!

I would recommend staying with the RR2150's bass management and bypassing the crossover in the M8. If I had a sub on my RR2150, that's what I would do. As for the phase setting, that is completely dependent on the room and the placement of speakers (both the sub and the left/right speakers).