Blown Amp on Velodyne MiniVee...what now?

[cmarsh45]

Hi folks,

I'm new to Audioholics and I have a question for you. I own a 2005 Velodyne MiniVee. This little thing has been more then enough thump for my small dorm rooms, apartments, and condos through college. Out of nowhere, it stopped working.

Velodyne says it's a shot amp, and they'll replace it (and add a 1 year warranty) for $230.

I'm tempted to just grab an external amp of CL and rig it all together, but I think the best move is to just have Velodyne fix it for me.

My main question is this: should I put $200+ into this 2005 sub? Should I be considering replacing my 10 year old sub with a new one at this point, or do you think this $200 kickstart will keep it up and running for the distant future? Sure it'll have a new amp, but should I be concerned about any other components going out soon?

 

[afterlife2]

Hi and welcome! Sorry to hear about your sub. What is the size of your room and budget?

 

[cmarsh45]

Hi and welcome! Sorry to hear about your sub. What is the size of your room and budget?

Well, I'm getting married soon and I'll have a small budget for...everything. If I buy something new, I'll be looking at $400 tops but I'll have to wait. Something self-powered so I don't stress my Onkyo AVR. We'll be in a one bedroom apartment for a while. Small living room for the HT setup.

Should I not be putting 200 into this little guy?

 

[Jeff R.]

Don't put your money into it! Wait till you can afford a good replacement.


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[shadyJ]

You might have liked your minivee, but it is pretty sad in performance as far as subs go. Take that money and get something better. It's not worth fixing. Reaction is getting rid of their BPS 212s without grill for $330, I would go check that out.

 

[cmarsh45]

I've just been putting stuff together for my system as a college student. I have my dad's old Polk towers, a pretty decent Yamaha center (got it for &15, worth $200 new), and some other sets to make a 5.1 or 7.1. My minivee seems awesome, but the BPS looks like a great upgrade for $100 more than repairs on the vee. Thanks for the input! How long do you think I have before Reaction stops their little sale?

 

[cmarsh45]

I haven't heard anything about Reaction Audio. How long have they been around? (Again, thanks for all the responses from all you experts out there!)

 

[shadyJ]

Reaction is a brand new company formed by a sub enthusiast from the avsforums. The owner, Jeremy, has been pretty responsive and open in the Reaction thread over there, so I think it's a company worth taking a chance on. While the Minivee likely has a long excursion driver for its 8", the Reaction sub has 4.5 times the woofer surface area of the minivee sub, so it really wouldn't take much for it to outperform the Minivee. It's all about air displacement. I think I read that Jeremy had ten of those $330 non-grill subs left? Not sure though. Anyway I wouldn't wait too long to buy one of those. The regular price is $430, but those come with grills.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I think you should replace it with a passive subwoofer so that you won't have to worry about yet another dead sub amp.

 

[slipperybidness]

Reaction is a brand new company formed by a sub enthusiast from the avsforums. The owner, Jeremy, has been pretty responsive and open in the Reaction thread over there, so I think it's a company worth taking a chance on. While the Minivee likely has a long excursion driver for its 8", the Reaction sub has 4.5 times the woofer surface area of the minivee sub, so it really wouldn't take much for it to outperform the Minivee. It's all about air displacement. I think I read that Jeremy had ten of those $330 non-grill subs left? Not sure though. Anyway I wouldn't wait too long to buy one of those. The regular price is $430, but those come with grills.

If I were in the situation of the OP, I would probably jump on this.

Then, come back here and let everyone know my thoughts on it

 

[cmarsh45]

Haha alrighty. My two options are:
1) Take a "not too horrible" handmedown Sony passive sub from a friend or
2) Spend some money and get Reaction's BPS and let you all know what I think

I'll mull it over for a bit, but thanks for keeping me from pouring more money into the minivee!

 

[TLS Guy]

Haha alrighty. My two options are:
1) Take a "not too horrible" handmedown Sony passive sub from a friend or
2) Spend some money and get Reaction's BPS and let you all know what I think

I'll mull it over for a bit, but thanks for keeping me from pouring more money into the minivee!

Do you have an amp to power the passive sub? You can't power a passive sub from a receiver.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Do you have an amp to power the passive sub? You can't power a passive sub from a receiver.

This is not the passive sub you are thinking of TLS, this one is designed to be powered by speaker outputs from receiver and speakers connect to sub, not receiver...

I am willing to bet that free sony passive sub is exactly this kind.

I would strongly recommend to OP to jump to the reaction sub deal. It's A LOT of sub for this crazy money

 

[lsiberian]

I can only say what I'd do assuming I wasn't capable of producing my own sub or repairing the amp. I'd do none of the options you listed. I'd set up a savings plan for the sub maybe 100 a month for 10 months and then buy a high quality sub around 1k. I have a good relationship with my wife and enough financial restraint that I could bankroll a wedding in addition to buying a nice sub. The old adage you get what you pay for still applies. I think if you let your future spouse know you a passionate about audio she'll let you have your toys just like you'll let her have toys for her passions. I'd not put any money in fixing the old sub.

 

[afterlife2]

If you can't afford it right now you can always get this budget sub. Most people like it: Dayton Audio SUB-1200 12" 120 Watt Powered Subwoofer | 300-629

 

[cmarsh45]

I can only say what I'd do assuming I wasn't capable of producing my own sub or repairing the amp. I'd do none of the options you listed. I'd set up a savings plan for the sub maybe 100 a month for 10 months and then buy a high quality sub around 1k. I have a good relationship with my wife and enough financial restraint that I could bankroll a wedding in addition to buying a nice sub. The old adage you get what you pay for still applies. I think if you let your future spouse know you a passionate about audio she'll let you have your toys just like you'll let her have toys for her passions. I'd not put any money in fixing the old sub.

You know what's awesome? She likes my audio endeavors! She says someday she wants a nice little home theater basement. I've found a keeper. We both value the idea of saving up for something that'll last a long time, including a sub.

 

[cmarsh45]

Well folks, my buddy's sub is actually an active one. It's a dinky little Sony, but at least it's not drawing any power from my AVR. This'll do until I can afford a new sub setup (the dual 15's from Reaction Audio look amazing for the price!). Thanks for all the help; I'm glad I'm not going to try to revive the Velodyne.