Steve81's Theater

[Steve81]

Packed up the Outlaw tonight. The hum was a minor annoyance I could live with, but now it got some serious hiss on the left channel; granted I'm only using 5 of the 7 channels, so I was able to bypass it, but this thing needs some service.

 

[fuzz092888]

Packed up the Outlaw tonight. The hum was a minor annoyance I could live with, but now it got some serious hiss on the left channel; granted I'm only using 5 of the 7 channels, so I was able to bypass it, but this thing needs some service.

Yea that definitely sounds like something is amiss.

 

[Adam]

Looks like someone is back in the market for a seven-channel amp. Remember...lentil.

 

[Adam]

Jokes aside, sorry that you're going through that with the amp. It always sucks to buy something and then have some extra hassle with it.

 

[Steve81]

Jokes aside, sorry that you're going through that with the amp. It always sucks to buy something and then have some extra hassle with it.

Fortunately the Onkyo is able to fill in pretty seamlessly, and Outlaw's support has been fairly responsive in my experience (in contrast to dealing with Emotiva and the XDA-2), so I'm hopeful at this point.

 

[fuzz092888]

Fortunately the Onkyo is able to fill in pretty seamlessly, and Outlaw's support has been fairly responsive in my experience (in contrast to dealing with Emotiva and the XDA-2), so I'm hopeful at this point.

Well, hopefully you have a better experience than I did with them. I believe another member here (Rich?) who had problems with his Outlaw amp either had issues with Outlaw or bypassed them altogether since he ended up sending his amp into ATI for servicing.

 

[Adam]

I'll spare you my mental trip down the rabbit hole that led me to this, but...I'm half inspired to take apart one of my receivers to check out the amp portion in a lot more detail than I've done in those Amazon videos.

Well, how about that. I lost most of my inspiration by the time that I got to the end of that sentence...

 

[fuzz092888]

I'll spare you my mental trip down the rabbit hole that led me to this, but...I'm half inspired to take apart one of my receivers to check out the amp portion in a lot more detail than I've done in those Amazon videos.

Well, how about that. I lost most of my inspiration by the time that I got to the end of that sentence...

I've opened my Crown XLS 2500 and the Onkyo 3009. From what I'm seeing, unless the components have to be spaced like they are in the Crown you could definitely squeeze 2 of them into the space that the amp section in the Onkyo takes up. I don't know squat about amplifiers, but if you divided the theoretical power that 2 XLS2500's could deliver into 8ohms (4 channels) and divided that power to the 9 channels that the Onkyo is capable of running, that would be 195 WPC of real power in an AVR.

I wonder if there would ever be a market for that.

 

[afterlife2]

Well at least you guys know how to lighten the mood.

 

[fuzz092888]

Well at least you guys know how to lighten the mood.

Exactly. We should talk more about stuffing pro amp guts into AVR's. If I knew anything about electricity and circuits it would be happening right now. I just happen to have my soldering iron out.........

 

[Alex2507]

I wonder if there would ever be a market for that.

Yeah ... it's called a flame thrower.

 

[fuzz092888]

Ok so there's definitely a market

 

[Steve81]

I should be able to pick up the KEF-harmonics this weekend. Yay

Of course, as I mentioned on the boring thread, the hunt is now on for a pair of capable sealed subs to replace the PB13U. Fortunately, I might have myself an idea for a custom sub: a side-firing enclosure about 16"W x 22"H x 22"D and either the Dayton HO or Stereo Integrity 18" driver. As they don't need a lot of juice, I'd probably just stick with a ~500W plate amp for each. Reckon a Q of 0.8 or lower should be achievable with those dimensions. Just have to wait...and lose weight

 

[fuzz092888]

Stereo Integrity 18", side firing, 1.5" driver baffle, .75 walls, heavy fill, external dimensions as specified.

 

[Steve81]

Stereo Integrity 18", side firing, 1.5" driver baffle, .75 walls, heavy fill, external dimensions as specified.

Not too shabby looking. Should actually work pretty well in my room. PS: Any thoughts on the Hypex amps over at Madisound? The 400W ought to do the trick pretty well, though they're not cheap.

 

[fuzz092888]

Not too shabby looking. Should actually work pretty well in my room. PS: Any thoughts on the Hypex amps over at Madisound? The 400W ought to do the trick pretty well, though they're not cheap.

Are these going to have a bookshelf sitting on top so that they are kind of like towers? Or are these going to have separate placement around the room?

 

[Steve81]

Just separate subs; only reason for the form factor is to shoehorn in a couple of 18" drivers into my room.

 

[fuzz092888]

So you're going to need some EQ in order to get these things flat any lower than they are, even with room gain. If this is the amp you're talking about, and getting two of them, I think that's too expensive if you're then going to need EQ as well. At least when you could do one of these and have a good EQ built in along with the fact customized REW filters could be sent to it as well. However, if you're going to power them both from a single plate amp, then it would probably make more sense to build a small separate enclosure and just run the neutrik cord to each sub, but at that point a plate amp no longer makes much sense and a pro amp would probably make more sense, since you can get a Crown XLS for pretty cheap to power both and a miniDSP 2X4 for the EQ.

If you're dead set on having a plate amp for each and powering separately, I would think that a BASH500 would probably make the most sense and save money as well with a miniDSP added on.

 

[Steve81]

If you're dead set on having a plate amp for each and powering separately, I would think that a BASH500 would probably make the most sense and save money as well with a miniDSP added on.

I'd prefer a plate amp for each (not much room for a pro-amp at this point in the cabinet); wasn't sure how the basic BASH would stack up against the Hypex. I know that Rythmik seems to work some magic with their relatively low powered Hypex amps, but obviously I don't get into this stuff all that much. Of course, one idea I have thrown around with myself is sacrificing some output and just running the spare channels from the 7125. With 200W into 4 ohms on tap per side, it'd still be fairly potent (and free ), and I'd still have an upgrade path later. On the down side to all of this, a pair of E15s still look like a very compelling solution that doesn't give up much performance to this possibility.

 

[fuzz092888]

With this new information, I vote that you build 2 with the 18" SI in a box 21.5"H X 21.5"W X 20".25D, making them only marginally larger than the E15's. Power them with the Outlaw, add a miniDSP, EQ them flat, but add a HPF at 20hz with a shallow rolloff or 15hz with a steep rolloff and enjoy until you feel like throwing more power at them. You should be looking at ~107-113db from 20-100hz+ not counting room gain or doubling up, given 200W each.

($220 X 2) + $135 + $200 = $775 for two subs and miniDSP (finish dependent).