DIY Subwoofer help/advice

[Natrix]

I currently have an SVS PB-12DSP unit that I purchased in December. I'm using it in my living room setup (21 x 11.5 x 8ft) that has a door sized opening that goes to my kitchen. I want to get at least one more sub in this setup to even out the bass response in my room. I'm not unhappy with the way my SVS performs and my initial intention was to get another one and call it good.

But, after some research I figure I can build two subs with similar performance for less than a new SVS and for just a little bit more I can build four and either sell my SVS or find another room for it.

I have two Infinity Kappa 10.1's that were previously in my car that I can build ported boxes for and get either two Kappa 120.9's to accompany them or just get four Kappa's 120.9's and skip using the 10.1's. I would use the Simple 12" Infinity Kappa VQ MidQ Plans that are stickied in this section for the 120.9's and I found some other plans for a box for my 10.1's that is very similar in build and output as the Simple 12" Infinity Kappa VQ MidQ Plans.

I would get a Behringer EP4000 to power all of these subs and a Behringer DCX2496 to control them.

So would four subs be overkill for my room? If so, would you just use the 10.1's or would you go with the 120.9's? If not would you use both the 10.1's and get two 120.9's or would you just get for four 120.9's? Any and all advice is much appreciated.

 

[jinjuku]

No I don't think four subs is over kill.

The Behringer EP2500 (AKA the EP4000) and DCX 2496 have seen their day and the sun is setting on this combination for home use.

What you should/could be looking at is the Behringer iNuke DSP models or the Peavy IPR models with DSP for amplification. This is a much reduced setup in terms of cabling with an easier to learn and implement DSP than the DCX 2496.

 

[Natrix]

Thanks for the advice Jinjuku. The Behringer NU3000DSP iNUKE looks appealing for my application. I'm leaning towards 4 - 120.9's and because they have a selectable impedence between 2 and 4 ohms I can either wire them in parallel or series to get the output from iNUKE that I need. Has anyone bench tested the iNuke amps?

 

[jinjuku]

You don't wire the 120.9w's. They have an impedance selection switch. You use a hex key (included) to make the wire connection.

The iNukes appear to be hitting their RMS spec. But you only need 300-400 watts for the Kappa to work it's magic and even the iNuke 1000DSP at two ohms has 380 WPC. Even discounting it by 10 or 15% it has more than enough juice.

All for $299.

 

[Natrix]

I just realized that what I stated before did not factor in the DSP portion of the equation. I could configure them a multitude of ways depending on what impedence I select on each sub and how I wire them to each channel but I will lose the ability to control each sub with DSP if I do it this way and only have two channels of amplification. So basically I need two iNUKEs and the 3000 has way more power than I require. For some reason I was thinking I could get away with one amp.

 

[jinjuku]

I just realized that what I stated before did not factor in the DSP portion of the equation. I could configure them a multitude of ways depending on what impedence I select on each sub and how I wire them to each channel but I will lose the ability to control each sub with DSP if I do it this way and only have two channels of amplification. So basically I need two iNUKEs and the 3000 has way more power than I require. For some reason I was thinking I could get away with one amp.

You could wire the subs internally for 4 ohms and then externally for 2 ohms and then run two subs on each channel. Spend another $100 and get the iNuke 3000DSP.

Be easiest to use a dual terminal cup on two of the subs to make the parallel run really easy.

 

[Natrix]

That was my initial thought, but then I lose the ability to DSP each sub individually because there are two subs for each channel. Am I somehow incorrect in my thinking?

I recently downloaded REW and that's why I was leaning towards the DCX2496 at first, because REW can automatically set the DCX's filters from my measurements. Not that it can't be done manually on the iNUKE's.

 

[jinjuku]

The DSP setup is so easy that I wouldn't worry about the auto-load of filters.

The Behringer DCX/FBD products are tricky for the newcomer and understandable that you would want the programmatic control. The GUI on the DSP are monkey stupid simple.

Either way you are looking at four channels of amplification if you don't want a sub array on each channel.