Subwoofer Choice – Advice Needed

Next thing is if all the speakers are active (powered or self amplified) you will want to ‘daisy chain’ the sub into the existing speaker system. Just run a lead from the line out connector on the back of one of your ‘top’ speakers on one channel to your line in on your sub. Most powered speakers either sub or mid/top have an balanced line output available (Sometimes called ‘Thru’)
(You could also run to your sub then to tops- doesn’t matter which way it goes).

Subs don’t really need a stereo ‘friend’ as bass is generally omni directional and most likely from your description of what you are adding one for, will add enough bottom end from a single stereo channel.
Aesthetically, a sub under each of the tops looks way more awesome tho!

Just as an FYI….If one was running a passive system, you would run an active crossover to separate amps for subs and tops. Note you don’t need a special amp to run the speakers or subwoofers (an amp will just faithfully amplify the frequency/frequencies that is/are driven into it) but they need to be separate.

For $1000 pretty much any brand you get will do a fine job.

From what I understand any HPF or LPF in most powered speakers should not effect what frequencies are in the signal flow path from one speaker to another and nor should they. If you have crossover frequency controls then yes, you need to set them to be as close to exact points as you can. eg if you HP on the tops at 100Hz then LP on the sub at 100Hz. I know its almost impossible to do it to an 100% exactness, but the closer you get the better!

A trick to avoid needing exactness is to create a 10-20 Hz ‘frequency shelf’ that both sets of speakers share, eg make the speakers 110 and sub 120.

I had been playing with my two 12″ speakers (Mackie HD1221) and wanted a boost in the low end. I did want to stay with Mackie, since (I’ll spare the technological details) there is a lot of thought that goes into radiation patters, driver emission points and stuff. Any sub will work, but a matched set is better tuned and should normally do better, with proper placement that is.

Because of the looks (I did want Awesome 🙂 and my budget I went out for two 15″ subs (powered). I was able to hear both the 15″ and the 18″ in action at the store. And I dropped my wishlist and went with one 18″ (couldn’t afford a 2nd one then) with the intention of getting a 2nd one later. I have been playing with this configuration for a while now and I definitely don’t need a 2nd one! The thing is so powerful I ususally run it on a -3dB setting to keep things in check.

I run a pair of XLR balanced cables to my sub input (which has one of the top ends sitting on a pipe on top of it). Then I have two sets of outputs, one is full pass through, so what goes into the sub goes out the same (handy if you need to link several subs). The other set of outputs is high pass (or low filter = same thing) and gives me a 100Hz crossover frequency. Anything under stays in the sub, anything higher comes in with a 24dB/octave slope. Those outputs go to my top ends.

So the workflow in my case (1 sub, 2 top end) is pretty much like this:

• Main Out mixer/controller (I have a MC6000 as well)
• Input Subs (both Left and Right)
• HiPass Outputs Subs (one XLR to Top end sitting on pole on sub, one longer xlr to the other top on stand)
• Input Top Ends

Presto!
Greetinx,
C.

Yes. IMO, Better to go for an 18+. My reasoning, bigger surface area= lower frequencies can be reproduced.

It is not only the size of the membranes.
Mackies are very conventional built speakers, hence to move enough air they rely solely on the membrane of the speaker while the reflex porting inside the case is pretty standard. (Which is not a bad thing, the mackies sound awesome.)

While the Yamaha DXS has only a 15” speaker the inside tubing is actually pretty sophisticated and coupled with the extreme way the kevlar membrane can travel (132dba..) it actually fires a lot of air through its case and off the through the porting. You can think of its makeup inside like a jet engine for moving air. I think this baby is excellent built and can outperform several 18” woofers, so I would consider it and give it a listen as it perfectly matches your setup.

In the end your ears have to consider all of that, but Yamaha has gone a huge way with their woofers as shown in their VXS series that stops at 10”.
Usually I am a friend of “size matters” as you will read also in the next part of my guide there are no miracles, but especially with subwoofers there is a lot you can do with sound “pathing”.

Chuck van Eekelen, post: 39826, member: 2756 wrote: I like to call it a wobble.

It’s depend on the amp. Don’t know how it’s called now but looooong time ago was call LOUDNESS (my first amp which i still own have this) For some reason is opposite, when is on you get a nice tight bass, when is off is louder but with that rumble.

I have 4 – 12” caps 500 rms each and 2 18” subs 1200 rms each and no rumble, usually I only need 2 caps and 1 sub.