Matching crown XTI with subs?

[doug c]

I am new to home audio and need some quick advice to get me started from you veterans please.

I am using two 12 or 15s and building 2 sub enclosures for my home theater room, which is also our family room. The best place for interior design is under the TV, but there is room on either side in the corners (not ideal). I want this to have great SQ but also have the bottom end to rattle the shingles off the roof. I can always turn it down...

I need an amp and some speakers, I listed some below that I can afford in my $1500 sub budget.

My equipment ideas:
Crown XTI 1000 or 2000
McCauley 6244 15"
or Acoustic Elegance 15"
or JL Audio 12w7

or budget ideas:
Buttkicker 1500w class D
Dayton 1000w plate
Mackie 2500
Two on-hand 10 year old Cerwin Vega 15" out of CV stock cabinets


My questions are:

What OHMs are best for subs?
Are these pair matched OK?
Is a slot port box OK for 5cu ft boxes in this design?
Parallel or Series?
Mono or Stereo?
One enclosure or two
Active or passive crossover?

I have 4 Jamo for surround, DIY center made from Advent Reference Series, listen to rap, electronic, country, symphony, and LOVE watching scifi and action flicks with my wife and kids LOUD.

Thanks so much for any advice!!

[Iain McNeill]

Hi and welcome to DIYaudio. You'll find a wealth of info if you search through the threads.

To throw a few answers at the more basic questions you asked:

Ohms is a matter for you amplifier. An amplifier designed for 4ohms or less needs to source a lot of current and so will have lots of paralleled output devices and will probably weight a lot (big iron). Even class D amps have to be specifically designed for low impedance. If you don't know what your amp is capable of, it's best to go for 8ohm or higher. Even an 8ohm driver can dip below 5ohms at some frequencies.

Parallel/series: IMHO doesn't matter

Stereo/mono: IMHO doesn't matter (for subs - very little stereo info below 100Hz)

1/2 enclosures: more subwoofers each contributing a little bit of the bass is the best for room integration. Helps minimize room mode resonances.

Active/Passive: start passive and work to active. Active is best but requires a greater understanding of more inter-related factors.

[Glowbug]

I wouldn't want to build a passive crossover for subbass

A Crown or QSC Powerlight amp and two subs would be a great choice.

Amps can be found lightly used for significant savings.

[doug c]

Thanks for the response guys

The weight or power draw is not an issue since it will be in my home. The XTI can run anywhere from 4 ohm bridged mono at 1400 watts to 275 watts per channel 8 ohm stereo. The Acoustic Elegance 15 is either dual 2 ohm or dual 4 ohm.

Would I be better off running 4 ohm with more watts or 8 ohm with less watts with the above Crown and AE paired? Are there other better subs I should look at?

[doug c]

I was looking at this Reckhorn B-1 also

http://reckhorn.com/graphics/s1/S1front.jpg

[Glowbug]

The Exodus Audio drivers would be worth it to check out, also

DIYCable.com

Would I be better off running 4 ohm with more watts or 8 ohm with less watts with the above Crown and AE paired?

Good quality pro amps can handle 4 ohms with ease.

[doug c]

Those look nice Jim, thanks. I will explore them some more

Originally Posted by Glowbug

The Exodus Audio drivers would be worth it to check out, also

DIYCable.com



Good quality pro amps can handle 4 ohms with ease.

[davygrvy]

If you want a sub to shake the shingles off your roof, a Tuba HT would do a good job coming literally pretty close. Load it with a Dayton DVC 15" and that's a serious sub on a budget. Got a table saw in your garage?

[chris661]

Looks like you'll be a supporter of my tag line.

I'd agree with people that say horns would be best.

How much of an issue is size? Does it have to be a certain size or less, or have you been given free reign?

[Pallas]

The XTi2000 is a great idea, because it has plenty of power and the onboard EQ is really useful. It also has shelf filters built in, so one can do a "real" Linkwitz Transform.

The Dayton "1kW" plate/standalone amp is fine, too. In some systems, it's less of a headache than pro amps. I replaced the XTi2000 in my nearfield system (powering an Exodus Maelstrom-X in ~110L sealed) with the Dayton HPSA-1000 because in the summer the XTi's fans would come on occasionally and it was only ~4 feet away from me. It still has a parametric EQ that can be used to extend the low end of a sealed box, and if you have Audyssey MultEQ XT in your receiver you'll get most of the benefit of the XTi's EQ in terms of cleaning up the in-room bass response.

As for drivers, the AE or McCauley drivers will be higher fidelity than the linear-BL-but-high-inductance W7. Also, as others have mentioned, look at Exodus Audio drivers, too.