Blaupunkt Blue Magic XLb 300 A Active Subwoofer

Product Details
Manufacturer:  Blaupunkt
Distributor: Autosound
Website: link
Typical Selling price: £319.99
Description
A handsomely made active subwoofer with surprisingly powerful Class D amplifier inside. This is a half kilowatt capable two Ohm driver upon a half kilowatt amp. You get a panel on one end of this well finished item, with a connection for the supplied high level – or speaker wires – input, as well as a pair of RCA sockets to connect a subwoofer output, as I used for the test.

The unit also features a simple gain control remote on a wire that you affix under your dash to adjust the level of the bass. A phase switch is provided on the unit to allow either for mistakes in connection or else the effects of the cabin.

A quick-release connection plug accepts the power, ground and switching wire and be unplugged in one, along with the signal plugs (either the RCAs or the Molex speaker level plug supplied) and you have an easily removable bass system that can give way to holiday suitcases for the airport run.
This is from the Blue Magic XL line that is proud of being high power, high output and high quality, even bragging about the use of pukka engineering hex headed (we call them Allen-headed) engineering screws to hold the driver in place. As well as the sexy materials, this is not just a carpeted box with a cheap driver but rather a carefully fettled item I suspect. Let’s go find out&;.
Specifications
Closed subwoofer enclosure with integrated Class-D amplifier
Amp RMS power: 500 watts/Max. Power: 1,000 watts
Frequency range: 25Hz to 200Hz
Signal to Noise Ratio: greater than 91dB
Adjustable input gain: 200mV to 5V
Variable Low Pass filter: 50Hz to 200Hz
Bass Boost: 0° to 12 dB
Phase Switch: 0° or 180°
Inputs: Stereo RCA, Stereo High level
Automatic power On/Off function
Special connector for 12V/Ground/ Remote signal (Allen-Head screws)
Power-on indicator: 2-colour LED (blue/red)
Driver
Subwoofer Diameter: 12in/300mm
Black SPC (Spun Paper Cone)
Rated power handling: 500 watts
Peak power handling: 1,000 watts
Impedance: 2 Ohms
Frequency response: 25Hz – 200Hz
Sound pressure level 2.0V/m: >91dB
Material/Colour speaker cover: ABS/silver
Material/Colour grille: metallic/black
Enclosure
System: closed housing (not ported)
Volume: 32 Litre
Material: MDF
Coating/Colour Front/Back/Base: special foil with ribbed surface/Antrazith
Coating/Colour side panels: foil/silver
Dimensions W x H x D: 397 x 480 x 250 mm
Included
Special connector for 12V/Ground/Remote signal (Allen-headed screws)
Allen key (a.k.a. Hex Wrench)
Cable remote control for gain adjustment,
Adapter for High-Level input
Fuse: 30A
User manual in 23 languages! (wisely, they have separate English and American sections)
Editor Review : Blaupunkt Blue Magic XLb 300 A Active Subwoofer System
OK, we’ll start with the gripes. First is simply that as a massive nation-state, with global importance economically, the Germans are just like the British and Americans in being a bit poor at others’ languages. But only on paper and in detail, as young Germans are often much better at spoken English than any Brit was ever at German. Thus, the manual has some delicious mistranslates in it. But then I’m not fluent in Magyar so I had better shut up. No, the Blue Magic XLb 300 A is so simple to fettle that the manual’s shortcomings are irrelevant. What is relevant, though is that this is a heavy box and bar a one liner about securing it properly in your boot, there is no hint how to do this. No hardware, no picture how they imagine it might be done. It could do with a set of four mouldings and self tappers supplying – or a sticky-backed sheet of serious carpet-gripping toothy-things instead. And the polystyrene foam packing needs an upgrade to a denser sort. Mine had no signs of wear on the carton but was filled with smashed polystyrene packing and a thousand tiny loose balls all clinging to the cardboard!
Thing is, this may be the prettiest and best finished, most domestically acceptable car subwoofer I have ever seen. It is sumptuously appointed and comes across as dead smart and cool. From the neatly sculpted grille with the surround and Allen headed bolts holding it in and the cone in sight underneath, to the beautifully coated end caps and the control panel that looks sexy. I especially like the quasi-hidealike covering around the carcass of the trapezoidal enclosure with its embroidered Blaupunkt logo. It all adds up to desirable, potent and posh.
You get a real choice of how to wake this baby up. You can simply wire the blue ‘Oi you, yer wanted!’ 12V trigger up to the central pole of the three pin power pluggy system you get. Or you can allow the unit to sense the signal’s appearance at either the high level – speaker wire – inputs, or else at the RCAs. You simply flick a switch to tell it what to do. It can save a lot of effort.
I used the RCA feed from the Kenwood deck I have been playing as reference rather than use the supplied Molex plug-with-wires. The knob-in-a-box wired remote control has authority over the gain of the unit and once plugged in, it seems to know where the knob is and overrides the on-panel gain control. I was wondering why I couldn’t hear it yet as I plugged it in and fiddled. It wasn’t till I cranked the remote knob around that I knew it was running.

As speakers to satellite to the bass, I used the Hybrid Audio Technologies set I recently tested and the sound was bloody lovely. The HATs are a slice of audiophile lunacy yet the bass the sealed Blaupunkt XLb 300 A enclosure made was of commensurate quality . It was taut and finished moving fast when the bass did without a big old American Silicone-breasted false wobble-over that you get with so many of those subwoofers from the land of Mom’s Apple Pie.
I messed around with a couple of bass CD type things from days of yore and found that the unit would eat and digest the material but it was starting to need more current than I had I think, as the funkadelical blue ON LED was flickering a bit and I could hear it power compressing. I think I need a new battery perhaps. That said, the sound remained composed and was really tidy. You could get it to sound ill by setting the crossover stupidly high and cranking it and they do offer a maximum of 12dB of ‘Bass Boost’ although Blau do not state anywhere in their material, what frequency this is at. I played with it and I reckon it is at the standard 45Hz as it offered that fatter warmer hump feel to the sound.
I ended up with the settings on the subwoofer quite sane and then ran the whole system at a decent level.

However, don’t go reading the 1,000 watts emblazoned across the carton and expecting it to break your windscreen, as the amp is 500W RMS and that kilowatt is a peak. Also, there are half kilowatt rigs and woofers that maybe louder, yet this is about quality, not boom.
It IS still a half kilowatt Blaupunkt ready made bass maker though. Just secure it safely in the boot in your car.

In a Nutshell
A very tastefully made subwoofer for people who like finished, tidy products that will last and look good for ever as well as having a true slice of accurate performance. Lovely control, clean taut sound with a decent low  end extension due to the sealed enclosure and although not massive in output, this will astonish and delight all normal people.
Overall 8.6
Sound Quality 9
Build Quality 10
Power Handling 8
Efficiency 8
Value For Money 8