I am brand new to the forums and not sure if this is the right area to ask this question, so if not then please point me in the right direction.
About 25yrs ago I used to play around in DIY car audio and home audio. Built some subwoofers and shelf speakers etc. I have tons of leftover stuff laying around and wanted to put it to use. Primarily wanted to make a subwoofer for home theater so my kids can experience some deep bass, not the 100hz and above crap we get from these tiny little wireless speakers these days.
Because I have very little free time these days I broke down and bought something like this about a year ago:
VIZIO SB3821-C6 38-Inch 2.1 Channel Sound Bar with Wireless Subwoofer
It has a little powered sub with something like a 5.25" driver.
I want to improve upon this so...
This is what I have:
-two old Kicker 12" competition subs intended for sealed boxes...I think they can handle 200w RMS?
-a plate amp that I forgot the rating on (maybe 100-200w total RMS)
My main questions are
1-is there a way to use the signal from the current crappy little sub as input for the plate amp to drive the Kickers? It gets a bluetooth signal from the main soundbar I think.
2-if I find the power output of the plate amp totally inadequate to drive the Kickers, would I be able to use something like an i-nuke 1000 from Behringer in its place?
I am not looking for audiophile perfection or house-shaking performance. I just want me and my family to hear (maybe feel) bass that they don't even know is there due to lack of extension in these tiny cheap subs
Thanks
About 25yrs ago I used to play around in DIY car audio and home audio. Built some subwoofers and shelf speakers etc. I have tons of leftover stuff laying around and wanted to put it to use. Primarily wanted to make a subwoofer for home theater so my kids can experience some deep bass, not the 100hz and above crap we get from these tiny little wireless speakers these days.
Because I have very little free time these days I broke down and bought something like this about a year ago:
VIZIO SB3821-C6 38-Inch 2.1 Channel Sound Bar with Wireless Subwoofer
It has a little powered sub with something like a 5.25" driver.
I want to improve upon this so...This is what I have:
-two old Kicker 12" competition subs intended for sealed boxes...I think they can handle 200w RMS?
-a plate amp that I forgot the rating on (maybe 100-200w total RMS)
My main questions are
1-is there a way to use the signal from the current crappy little sub as input for the plate amp to drive the Kickers? It gets a bluetooth signal from the main soundbar I think.
2-if I find the power output of the plate amp totally inadequate to drive the Kickers, would I be able to use something like an i-nuke 1000 from Behringer in its place?
I am not looking for audiophile perfection or house-shaking performance. I just want me and my family to hear (maybe feel) bass that they don't even know is there due to lack of extension in these tiny cheap subs
Thanks
Welcome to the forum!
I'm not quite sure where this should go either, so we'll leave it here until someone else has a batter idea.
Answer 1: Yes, probably pretty easy to hijack the signal meant for the small sub to go to your plate amp. If the plate amp has speaker level inputs, it would be very easy. What you don't know is the EQ and crossover applied to the sub signal coming from the soundbar. It might not sound great with your new sub. Or it might. All you can do is try.
Answer 2. Same thing. You could use the signal meant for the speaker to drive a bigger amp. You might want to load it with a power resistor of a few ohms, 50 or so sholud be fine to keep noise at bay. Same things applies for the EQ and crossover applied by the electronics in the soundbar.
I'm not quite sure where this should go either, so we'll leave it here until someone else has a batter idea.
Answer 1: Yes, probably pretty easy to hijack the signal meant for the small sub to go to your plate amp. If the plate amp has speaker level inputs, it would be very easy. What you don't know is the EQ and crossover applied to the sub signal coming from the soundbar. It might not sound great with your new sub. Or it might. All you can do is try.
Answer 2. Same thing. You could use the signal meant for the speaker to drive a bigger amp. You might want to load it with a power resistor of a few ohms, 50 or so sholud be fine to keep noise at bay. Same things applies for the EQ and crossover applied by the electronics in the soundbar.
Pano -thanks. I was thinking the same thing...use speaker level inputs which I think my plate amp has. I actually have to locate the amp...it is packed away somewhere. I know the plate amp has a variable low-pass crossover and I too am curious how this would interact with whatever is being sent to the tiny bluetooth sub.
2-how would I load it with a power resistor? in-line or parallel? 50 ohms but how many watts? Also, are you familiar with the i-nuke 1000...I don't think it has speaker level inputs.
Thanks
2-how would I load it with a power resistor? in-line or parallel? 50 ohms but how many watts? Also, are you familiar with the i-nuke 1000...I don't think it has speaker level inputs.
Thanks
Yes I know the iNuke, you'd use its xlr inputs.
As for loading the little sub amp, it's just a precaution. The amp is designed to work into 8 or 4 ohms, so the 10K input of the iNuke might result in noise. Giving the amp a load of 50 or 100 ohms in parallel (across +/-) can clean things up a bit without getting the resistor hot. Someone here might have a better idea to adapt the levels and reduce noise.
As for loading the little sub amp, it's just a precaution. The amp is designed to work into 8 or 4 ohms, so the 10K input of the iNuke might result in noise. Giving the amp a load of 50 or 100 ohms in parallel (across +/-) can clean things up a bit without getting the resistor hot. Someone here might have a better idea to adapt the levels and reduce noise.
xlr are balanced inputs, it has three pins, negative signal, positive signal and ground.
It is a special connector, google 3 pin xlr to see what it looks like.
For power, its voltage squared divided by resistance. Not sure how much voltage will be on the resistor. You could try it without the resistor, see how it sounds, and if its noisy measure the voltage across the input to the sub amp, and then calculate the power you need. Add some margin to the power rating, at least 25% imho.
Randy
It is a special connector, google 3 pin xlr to see what it looks like.
For power, its voltage squared divided by resistance. Not sure how much voltage will be on the resistor. You could try it without the resistor, see how it sounds, and if its noisy measure the voltage across the input to the sub amp, and then calculate the power you need. Add some margin to the power rating, at least 25% imho.
Randy
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