Joined the passive subwoofer club

[CajunLB]

I just burned another $600 Dayton Audio plate amp. Thanks to @AcuDefTechGuy and his steady pushing on the pro’s of using separate subwoofer amplification I have decided to join the club and just purchased a Crown xls1502. I couldn’t justify getting the behringer because of the extra parts that need to be bought for the fan mods and cable adapters.The only thing I am worried about is a highpass for protection.. Oh I made a pretty good deal too 350 plus 6 year warranty.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Yeah I’ve been using passive subs with external amps for almost 30 years. I’ve never used high-pass filter either.

I think only people who have blown woofers are the same people who had blown tweeters and midrange also.

But for many of us who listen to good volume (loud, but not too dangerous), I don’t think we need to worry.

30 years without any blown woofers or tweeters.

The Crown and Yamaha amps have HP.

 

[lovinthehd]

The Crown amps high pass filter doesn't go low enough to be useful for protection below tuning for a ported sub. From the manual for the gen 2 XLS amps :

The PureBand Crossover System provides a variable state Linkwitz-Riley 24dB/octave filter allowing you to choose a point between 30Hz and 3kHz on standard 1/12th octave centers. Three filter types are available: Low Pass, High Pass and Band Pass.

You'd need to add sufficient dsp like in the form of a minidsp or similar. This is the one advantage of the Behringer amps that included such dsp....

Otherwise I've enjoyed my several XLS amps for use for subs or mains....

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

The Crown amps high pass filter doesn't go low enough to be useful for protection below tuning for a ported sub.

HP of 30Hz with 24dB slope is not low enough for protection? Or not preferred?

Maybe 30Hz HP is not "preferred".

But cutting off the bass below 30Hz like a rock off a cliff at 24dB or 36dB slope seems very protective to me.

The Yamaha PX series pro amps have HP down to 20Hz (12dB, 24B, 36dB slopes).

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I just burned another $600 Dayton Audio plate amp. Thanks to @AcuDefTechGuy and his steady pushing on the pro’s of using separate subwoofer amplification I have decided to join the club and just purchased a Crown xls1502. I couldn’t justify getting the behringer because of the extra parts that need to be bought for the fan mods and cable adapters.The only thing I am worried about is a highpass for protection.. Oh I made a pretty good deal too 350 plus 6 year warranty.

Welcome to the Passive Sub Club.

On the sad news, did you hear what happened to @Gmoney (Mike)?

 

[Verdinut]

I just burned another $600 Dayton Audio plate amp. Thanks to @AcuDefTechGuy and his steady pushing on the pro’s of using separate subwoofer amplification I have decided to join the club and just purchased a Crown xls1502. I couldn’t justify getting the behringer because of the extra parts that need to be bought for the fan mods and cable adapters.The only thing I am worried about is a highpass for protection.. Oh I made a pretty good deal too 350 plus 6 year warranty.

I would assume that this driver was being used in a sealed cabinet, so you don't need any high pass filter then.

Will you be keeping the same enclosure?

 

[panteragstk]

Welcome to the Passive Sub Club.

On the sad news, did you hear what happened to @Gmoney (Mike)?

Aw crap. What?

 

[highfigh]

HP of 30Hz with 24dB slope is not low enough for protection? Or not preferred?

Maybe 30Hz HP is not "preferred".

But cutting off the bass below 30Hz like a rock off a cliff at 24dB or 36dB slope seems very protective to me.

The Yamaha PX series pro amps have HP down to 20Hz (12dB, 24B, 36dB slopes).

I think it's "not low enough" for the ones who think they need the system to pound at <10Hz.

 

[CajunLB]

Welcome to the Passive Sub Club.

On the sad news, did you hear what happened to @Gmoney (Mike)?

No, I didn’t hear anything about Mike. I just know I haven’t heard from him in a good while. What happened to him ? Feel free to pm if it’s to personal.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Aw crap. What?

No, I didn’t hear anything about Mike. I just know I haven’t heard from him in a good while. What happened to him ? Feel free to pm if it’s to personal.

Well, I was going to post this in the General Section since I am sure there are other members who will miss Mike.

I got a text from a client yesterday who said he got my phone number from "the son of a friend who passed away last month".

I said, "What? Who passed away? Mike from Louisiana? Is the son's name Matthew?"

The client said, "Yes, Mike is the father and Matthew is the son. Mike passed away in his home last month".

The last time I spoke to Mike was about a month ago. He was very depressed and said that he was leaving Audioholics. So I thought he was just burned out. He had taken a long break from Audioholics before, but has always returned to Audioholics.

I tried calling his phone yesterday and it wouldn't ring. So I think this confirms the sad news about Mike's passing.

 

[CajunLB]

I would assume that this driver was being used in a sealed cabinet, so you don't need any high pass filter then.

Will you be keeping the same enclosure?

Was sealed. Now I’m going to try a ported box. The driver is a 15” Ultimax. I couldn’t find anyone here that would help me choose the optimum port length for the box/driver combination so asked parts express and was told it would be fine with the port it has now they said it’s tuned at about 25hz. Wish it was a little lower but I’ll see how it works out. If not I’ll go back sealed.

 

[CajunLB]

Well, I was going to post this in the General Section since I am sure there are other members who will miss Mike.

I got a text from a client yesterday who said he got my phone number from "the son of a friend who passed away last month".

I said, "What? Who passed away? Mike from Louisiana? Is the son's name Matthew?"

The client said, "Yes, Mike is the father and Matthew is the son. Mike passed away in his home last month".

The last time I spoke to Mike was about a month ago. He was very depressed and said that he was leaving Audioholics. So I thought he was just burned out. He had taken a long break from Audioholics before, but has always returned to Audioholics.

I tried calling his phone yesterday and it wouldn't ring. So I think this confirms the sad news about Mike's passing.

Oh no so sad. He was fun to talk to on the phone.

 

[Verdinut]

Was sealed. Now I’m going to try a ported box. The driver is a 15” Ultimax. I couldn’t find anyone here that would help me choose the optimum port length for the box/driver combination so asked parts express and was told it would be fine with the port it has now they said it’s tuned at about 25hz. Wish it was a little lower but I’ll see how it works out. If not I’ll go back sealed.

You will without any doubt get a better performance and more dynamics with the ported box. Keep us posted on the progress with your new venture. Don't put too much damping material in the cabinet. As a matter of fact, subwoofers don't need much dampening stuff, as compared to a full range driver.

What will be the net internal volume of the box with the sub installed, without taking account of the port dimensions? With that info, I will be able to verify with BassBox6 Pro what they suggest for the Ultimax. Parts-Express and Dayton are owned by the same people. They use the same software to calculate port dimensions.

 

[lovinthehd]

HP of 30Hz with 24dB slope is not low enough for protection? Or not preferred?

Maybe 30Hz HP is not "preferred".

But cutting off the bass below 30Hz like a rock off a cliff at 24dB or 36dB slope seems very protective to me.

The Yamaha PX series pro amps have HP down to 20Hz (12dB, 24B, 36dB slopes).

Okay, good for some ported subs with a high tuning Seems not many bother building those, tho....

 

[Verdinut]

Was sealed. Now I’m going to try a ported box. The driver is a 15” Ultimax. I couldn’t find anyone here that would help me choose the optimum port length for the box/driver combination so asked parts express and was told it would be fine with the port it has now they said it’s tuned at about 25hz. Wish it was a little lower but I’ll see how it works out. If not I’ll go back sealed.

I'm assuming that your driver is the Ultimax DVC 15-22. If you use a bigger box, you can tune lower and get a lower F3. Confirm the net volume and we'll see what is possible. If you have the space and can build a 11 cf cabinet, you could get an F3 at 17 Hz. That would be a killer.

 

[CajunLB]

The box that I have is 23”x23”x23” and has a 6” round port that is about 22” long. You are correct about the driver it’s the Ultimax 15-22. I would really appreciate your thoughts and would enjoy if you could share the frequency response charts for the tuning it has now and if I could get close to a .20hz f3 or a little lower I would be happy but I understand that I’m limited with how low it can go due to box size. Thanks so much for offering to help. If I left any information out just ask.

 

[CajunLB]

You will without any doubt get a better performance and more dynamics with the ported box. Keep us posted on the progress with your new venture. Don't put too much damping material in the cabinet. As a matter of fact, subwoofers don't need much dampening stuff, as compared to a full range driver.

What will be the net internal volume of the box with the sub installed, without taking account of the port dimensions? With that info, I will be able to verify with BassBox6 Pro what they suggest for the Ultimax. Parts-Express and Dayton are owned by the same people. They use the same software to calculate port dimensions.

I’m just reusing the polyfil from the sealed box. It’s very loosely filled. If you recommend removing it I will.

 

[lovinthehd]

An article about material for lining/filling subs https://data-bass.com/#/articles/5cace1c48c663e0004cd9ce2?_k=tkrymv

 

[CajunLB]

Ty. Very informative article.

 

[ryanosaur]

Well, I was going to post this in the General Section since I am sure there are other members who will miss Mike.

I got a text from a client yesterday who said he got my phone number from "the son of a friend who passed away last month".

I said, "What? Who passed away? Mike from Louisiana? Is the son's name Matthew?"

The client said, "Yes, Mike is the father and Matthew is the son. Mike passed away in his home last month".

The last time I spoke to Mike was about a month ago. He was very depressed and said that he was leaving Audioholics. So I thought he was just burned out. He had taken a long break from Audioholics before, but has always returned to Audioholics.

I tried calling his phone yesterday and it wouldn't ring. So I think this confirms the sad news about Mike's passing.

Wow. Bummer. Thank you for sharing.

Pour a little out for our Homey, @Gmoney .