I want to add some 18" sub-woofers to my pa system and a "pro audio" guy said I need many subs, as in 8 of them.
First a bit about my system, I live on a farm and have my system set up in my garage with my mains by the garage doors pointing out. I have 4 Peavey PR-15, 2 Seismic Audio dual 15 speakers, 2 Euro power EP2000 amps with a Behringer XENYX1002FX 10 channel mixer. The system sounds great for when we have parties or just want to get loud while doing yard work.
This audio guy told me that with my setup I need 8 18" subs to hear any difference. I was thinking about just getting one or two 18" powered subs to add some thump to the system.
What do you think? Will 1 or 2 powered subs make a good difference or not?
First a bit about my system, I live on a farm and have my system set up in my garage with my mains by the garage doors pointing out. I have 4 Peavey PR-15, 2 Seismic Audio dual 15 speakers, 2 Euro power EP2000 amps with a Behringer XENYX1002FX 10 channel mixer. The system sounds great for when we have parties or just want to get loud while doing yard work.
This audio guy told me that with my setup I need 8 18" subs to hear any difference. I was thinking about just getting one or two 18" powered subs to add some thump to the system.
What do you think? Will 1 or 2 powered subs make a good difference or not?
How low does your current setup go?
How deep are you looking to go? 30Hz for EDM? 20Hz or lower for outdoor projector movie night?
How much space do you have spare? Do the units need to move or can they be put in place and left there all the time?
How far does the sound need to project? 20 feet? 50 feet? Further?
What budget do you have? Are you happy to cut wood and make the boxes yourself? Do they need to be waterproof?
What sort of power supply do you have available? Are you happy to have a separate amplifier unit?
How well built is your garage? lol
I'm no expert in these things but I think answers to the above will help the knowledgable chaps on here know what to recommend 🙂
How deep are you looking to go? 30Hz for EDM? 20Hz or lower for outdoor projector movie night?
How much space do you have spare? Do the units need to move or can they be put in place and left there all the time?
How far does the sound need to project? 20 feet? 50 feet? Further?
What budget do you have? Are you happy to cut wood and make the boxes yourself? Do they need to be waterproof?
What sort of power supply do you have available? Are you happy to have a separate amplifier unit?
How well built is your garage? lol
I'm no expert in these things but I think answers to the above will help the knowledgable chaps on here know what to recommend 🙂
I will play music sometimes for 3/4 hours.
Deep? I have no idea, just want some more bass or punch to it.
I have all kind of space in the garage for them.
If I need to move them I can always put some castors on the bottom of them.
I can buy another power amp if need be and a crossover also. I was told with powered subs I really don't need to buy a crossover or another amp.
My garage is built well and they won't be out in the weather at all.
Deep? I have no idea, just want some more bass or punch to it.
I have all kind of space in the garage for them.
If I need to move them I can always put some castors on the bottom of them.
I can buy another power amp if need be and a crossover also. I was told with powered subs I really don't need to buy a crossover or another amp.
My garage is built well and they won't be out in the weather at all.
The only problem with 'powered subs' is that what is likely in your budget will be underpowered and won't keep up with your current cabs. You would need 8 of them. 2 to perhaps 4 high performance cabs might do - and if you don't have several thousand to spend DIY may be the way to go. $300 a pop will get you some nice 18" drivers and $500 each will get some killer units. Much better than what you'll find in a typical powered sub. But you will have to build boxes and buy a iNuke or something.
Save money on drivers and amplification by horn loading some suitable 18"s. Look at XOC's TH18 and Weltersy's Keystone sub for some proven designs/driver combo's. I doubt you would need more than 2 drivers and an amp if you went down this route. Given the speakers you listed that you already had- i'd be tempted just to use the seismic audio dual 15s for the highs and mids and the new subs for 35-100hz. By using so many HF units you will have issues with comb filtering and a really smeary stereo image.
Mark
Mark
Bass is called low frequency
Mid is called mid frequency
Treble is called high frequency
20hz is the lowest bass humans can hear
20000hz (20khz) is the highest Treble human can hear
There is no punch feeling at 50Hz or below just floating sound. Do you mean 80hz to 125hz if so just get 2 more passive 18inch Subwoofer with power amplifier
Just saying it better to have all amplifier, input units, mixer near you to control in one place and Speaker/Subwoofer away from you.
Mid is called mid frequency
Treble is called high frequency
20hz is the lowest bass humans can hear
20000hz (20khz) is the highest Treble human can hear
There is no punch feeling at 50Hz or below just floating sound. Do you mean 80hz to 125hz if so just get 2 more passive 18inch Subwoofer with power amplifier
Just saying it better to have all amplifier, input units, mixer near you to control in one place and Speaker/Subwoofer away from you.
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A decent pair of dual 18 subs with sufficient amplification behind them and a proper electronic crossover will do what you want, have a look for used gear in your local market.. I just picked up an old set of Yorkville dual 18s for $650 and even these things with their relatively low performance drivers by todays standards can produce substantial lowend thump and rumble.
What kind of budget are we talking about? Given it sounds like you have plenty of space, I think what I'd do for a DIY solution is build a ton of single reflex boxes loaded with this
Dayton Audio PA460-8 18" Pro Woofer
And an NU3000DSP or NU6000DSP to power them depending on how many you decide to build.
Single 18" boxes give you a lot more stacking, storage, transport, and selling options. Also gives you more opportunity to do beamforming if you ever want to make directional subwoofer arrays. Double 18" boxes save you on weight, plywood, and potentially cabinet hardware.
4 drivers and an NU3000DSP would be $700 + cost of plywood and cabinet hardware. That would be a good starting point and will deliver respectable results that definitely wouldn't go unnoticed. Double down on that to 8 drivers and an NU6000DSP at a cost of $1200 + plywood and hardware and you'll be starting to enter real small event PA system performance territory. If you aren't playing electronic music, that's a pretty serious amount of low end and will be more than enough to put some authority into the kickdrum.
Now double down again on that with 2 NU6000DSPs and 16 18" drivers for 2400$ + plywood and hardware and you're ready for bass heavy EDM events for about 1000+ people.
Shouldn't really take more than a 4x8 sheet of 3/4" decent birch/poplar plywood per driver for singles. Less than that for doubles. You should be able to get that for $30-40 a sheet.
Of course if you have some locally available second hand boxes you MAY be able to beat that performance/dollar. Really depends on your market.
Dayton Audio PA460-8 18" Pro Woofer
And an NU3000DSP or NU6000DSP to power them depending on how many you decide to build.
Single 18" boxes give you a lot more stacking, storage, transport, and selling options. Also gives you more opportunity to do beamforming if you ever want to make directional subwoofer arrays. Double 18" boxes save you on weight, plywood, and potentially cabinet hardware.
4 drivers and an NU3000DSP would be $700 + cost of plywood and cabinet hardware. That would be a good starting point and will deliver respectable results that definitely wouldn't go unnoticed. Double down on that to 8 drivers and an NU6000DSP at a cost of $1200 + plywood and hardware and you'll be starting to enter real small event PA system performance territory. If you aren't playing electronic music, that's a pretty serious amount of low end and will be more than enough to put some authority into the kickdrum.
Now double down again on that with 2 NU6000DSPs and 16 18" drivers for 2400$ + plywood and hardware and you're ready for bass heavy EDM events for about 1000+ people.
Shouldn't really take more than a 4x8 sheet of 3/4" decent birch/poplar plywood per driver for singles. Less than that for doubles. You should be able to get that for $30-40 a sheet.
Of course if you have some locally available second hand boxes you MAY be able to beat that performance/dollar. Really depends on your market.
Not to go offtopic, but people who hang around forums like this will tell you otherwise. Granted the distinction between hearing and feeling is blurry sub-20hz.
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