Well, first off let me say, this review is my personal subjective evaluation.
It is a direct swap comparison of the Fi Q 12 and the SI Mag 12. My car is a 4 door midsize sedan. The subs were powered by my Incriminator 20.1, Mag wired in parallel to 1.3 DCR, Q wired parallel to .7 DCR. Both drivers were in a snail shell(horn/tl) facing the rear.
Various test material used, ranging from some new ludacris, yung joc, outkast, lil jon, snoop dogg, do or die, a tribe called quest, three 6 mafia, ying yang twins all the way to metallica, eagles, the doors, johhny cash, euphoric midnite bass and bass mekanik and some jazz.
Now let me start off by saying that the obvious power difference of several hundred potential watts is something to consider. However, I found the mag to be more efficient and wouldnt neccessarily benefit from much more power than it was getting. The Q on the other hand loves the extra power, while not as loud as the Mag on low volume the sub came alive at higher volume.
Eagles - Hotel California live, the first bass drum the Q scared the shit out of me, while the mag sounded a bit "hollow" the Q was more full and natural sounding. The Q was also much louder, shook my car pretty good.
Some metallica and it was obvious what everyone likes about the mag, very very quick response, the Q slouched a little bit on the "quickness" but defenitely made up for it with volume.
Smooth Jazz is where I really liked the sound of the Q again, the instruments sounded very natural and full, the bass produced by the mag seemed like it had less presence.
Hip Hop like A Tribe Called Quest, the mag kinda took over. Upper bass is really impressive with the Mag (55-80hz), this is really the boundary of where mids should take over, and the Mag blends beautifully with the front stage. Now I tend to cross my sub a little lower like 60-65 hz, so the Q was a little better for what I need it to do in this deparment. But if you like the upper bass more than the Mag would suit your needs.
With stuff that has alot of kicks and quicker bass like linkin park the mag would take the cake, don't get me wrong the Q is very "quick" but the Mag is simply the "fastest" sub I have heard yet. The mag never skipped a beat, and every beat was very easily distinguished from the next. Something I would expect with lower power levels.
Movng onto the fun stuff, rap and bass music.
First thing I popped in was EMNB, and I was amazed with the loudness of the Q compared to the mag. The mag once again, sounded a little hollow, and a little dissapointing on the sub 25 hz stuff. The Q on the other hand, was simply amazing. Rich full bass, like pure resonance. Dropped lower than the mag, the first track where they do the 10-80 hz steps 20 hz is rediculous with the Q. The other tracks showed off the low end even more.
Next I popped in a new cd with some Rap, and once again the Q proved the victor in this category. It seems like every track was a song I never heard before. It even revelaed some hidden low bass the mag seemed to miss. Lil jon - throw it up was sick, the bass made my scalp tickle, with the mag, it was rather dissapointing. The Q had much better transient response. I could defenitely feel it more than I could hear it like with the mag.
Overall, in my application the Q was the clear winner. I was able to get more power out of my amp and the low end that I was missing quite a bit.
The Q - Much better 20-50 hz, with awesome low end and great transient response. It benefits from more power, but you need good midbass to keep up.
The Mag - Rules over the 40-80 hz region. It is very efficient and does not neccassarily need gobs of power. Great response and it blends very well. I dont have an RTA but the mag seemed a bit flatter than the Q.
I really have to say that both are terrific drivers, as far a build quality and everything else.
Now the price point is a big difference with these subs. The mag was originally 350 shipped direct and the Q is 260 shipped direct. With this price point it would be a hard decision, but I would go with the Q everytime(it just fits my tastes for bass better).
Now that the price on the Mag skyrocketed, you can almost get 2 Qs for the price of one mag. I think the choice is obvious with these prices.
I would say the Q is better for rap and music with heavy bass where you really want to feel the low bass.
The Mag on the other hand, is better for a SQ system where you listen to alot of Rock, and defenitely dont mind sacrificing output for sound quality.
If you have any questions feel free to ask.
