Deth's New Speaker

[Deth V]

There's no crossing option on my subwoofer amplifier, the subwoofer itself is passive, but its set to play everything from 20Hz to 250Hz, the upper frequencies are handled by my ADC floor speakers (2x6,5" and 1x1" 120W RMS) and my Kenwood KRF-V5200D home cinema amplifier. I do have center and rear speakers, but I don't have any placement for them, nor do I see the use in them, so they just collect dust in the basement.

Yeah, you really need a lot of power because of the huge coil size on those speaker cones. The more power, the more punch you get. Currently, I'm not using much power on my subwoofer, I'm using a small amplifier because of space issues, but it's more than enough for music and movies. I do, however have a car amplifier at 500W RMS that I'd have to use a car battery and charger on, but that stuff is stored in the basement for now as it's too messy.

What model is the ADC Floor speakers? Because they might play low enough to not need a sub. If you have floor speakers, you should be able to set it to play 20-80 at the most, because any higher and the response gets muddy (You lose that nice "punch" to everything) Is there any low pass filter settings you can use? Set it to around 80-70... Trust me it will rock your world.


Not neccesairly the more punch you get... the sub I have right now is around 150 watts peak, and it handles things really nicely (although I know when I get my new sub for my theater, that will rock my world...). I believe you can buy like 12 volt transformers or whatever for those... even old PC power supplies work, if I remember right.




This is my two new tower speakers. Response is excellent, and I listen to music in a different way whenever I use these... EMPTek E5Ti model. 150 watt peaks on both speakers ( But 120 watts is enough for them to ROCK).. They play down to 50hz which is pretty cool.

[hawkiee552]

I can't remember the model (can't check it atm). They do play nicely without a subwoofer down to 20Hz, but I want that rich bass, so the subwoofer is giving that extra sound. However, the floor speakers give more physical punch (that punch you can feel in your chest) than the subwoofer, because it has more speaker surface moving air (6,5"x4=26", even though this isn't the right way to measure, I think there's more technical than that, it does have a larger surface than my sub), but they don't play low frequencies that loud and rich because of the small surface on each individual speaker.

I can use the low pass filter on the car amplifier to set it from 20-80Hz, but I think the sound is excellent as it is now on every frequency. I've been searching for a 12v adapter that's powerful enough, but with no luck. I did try a PSU to run it, but it got fried after several months even though it had electronic fuse and protection (400W, 21A). I'd rather stay with my weaker, but strong enough amplifier or use a car battery and charger.


Nice home cinema setup btw! Looks awesome, plays awesome too, right?
Loved the black finish on the speakers, mine are cherry red/brown-ish.

[Deth V]

How are you supplying the sub? Sub output on PC? Because that might already have an adjustable crossover on it. Generally if ANY sub plays that high, it will sound terrible, and muddy.

You listen to music loud enough to get a physical punch in your chest? measure that with a DB meter because that could be downright unhealthy, depending on how long you listen to it that way.

It does! Nice and clear, had it up to 96 DBA once, no distortion!

[hawkiee552]

The "punch" is actually because of the vibrations from the floor and onto the bed (my bedroom is quite small), feels like a punch in your chest, but really isn't. I hope. Going to check the dB tomorrow. I am running it from my Kenwood amplifier's sub out, haven't read the instructions to know what the pass filter is set to, but there are no options for changing it. There is a pass filter in the subwoofer amplifier though, which goes from 20-250Hz as I said. It depends a lot on the room and the size of it, and I haven't noticed any muddy bass/sound at all, it's perfectly clear and rich at all sound frequencies.

I think the Kenwood's sub out port is from 20-80 or 100Hz most likely.

[Deth V]

The "punch" is actually because of the vibrations from the floor and onto the bed (my bedroom is quite small), feels like a punch in your chest, but really isn't. I hope. Going to check the dB tomorrow. I am running it from my Kenwood amplifier's sub out, haven't read the instructions to know what the pass filter is set to, but there are no options for changing it. There is a pass filter in the subwoofer amplifier though, which goes from 20-250Hz as I said. It depends a lot on the room and the size of it, and I haven't noticed any muddy bass/sound at all, it's perfectly clear and rich at all sound frequencies.

I think the Kenwood's sub out port is from 20-80 or 100Hz most likely.

Oh that punch, Lol yeah my speakers do that too.

Oh the LPF is probably set at 80hz (That's the THX standard most of these receivers use).

The room effects the sound, yes, but a crossover set to freakishly high settings like 200hz for a sub (12 inch sub too!) just sounds awful, no matter how good the room.

In the really techincal sense, you should run two subs in your room, and have them EQed so there are no peaks and nulls in the response (Which is what I'm going to try and do with my theater).



EDIT: And your receiver has a powered subwoofer out? O.o That's rare.

[hawkiee552]

EDIT: And your receiver has a powered subwoofer out? O.o That's rare.

No, it only has a RCA low-output for subwoofers, but that output is filtered. I'm using a small amplifier for my subwoofer at 100W, and I just checked the pass filter of it and it's set to 20-160Hz. That doesn't matter though, because my reciever is filtering it.

[Deth V]

Oh ok.... Yeah if you want a steeper roll-off, you could set the sub's LPF to 80Hz

[hawkiee552]

Oh ok.... Yeah if you want a steeper roll-off, you could set the sub's LPF to 80Hz

The low-pass filter is fixed, can't change it

[hawkiee552]

However, I really want to look after either a new subwoofer with an amplifier in it, or just buy a new amplifier for this one which runs on mains power. This subwoofer is made to play loud and punch hard as it is a car subwoofer, while other home cinema subwoofers play more rich and nature-like, so I might buy a new one in the future.

[Deth V]

Yeah Car subs genereally sound terrible....

Yeah there are some amazing home theater subs, and if you can afford it, I highly recommend SVS subs, flat response from then, and nice onboard EQ.

Higher models of Velodyne subs could do well too, just browse sub reviews, most of them have a music section of it.