Help please - Sub sounds *blah*

I've have a Stryke Audio HE-15 in a 22" cube with two 18" PR's. My box (purchased pre-made) is roughly half of the box pictured (actual interior dimensions are around 22"x22"x22") in the following link - thanks "greg", it's hard to find these specs nowadays.

link for subwoofer

I have a Mackie m2600 to power it (I bought this used). Here is a link for the specs:

link for mackie

I have the Stryke's 3ohm dual voice coils wired in a series.

My problem with this is the output.

With the mackie in bridged mono mode, I do not think I am getting adequate output. The amp shows that it is giving it all she's got (the front led's light up to the "clip" level), but the sub is barely moving...maybe 3/4 inch excursion. And the sound level is certainly lower the my SA 12 in a 1ft^3 sealed box with a 500w digital amplifier.

The mackie has the low pass filters off and the crossover at 120hz.

What's going on here? I have access to a much smaller amp (around 150w) and I only have rudimentary tools (a Radioshack db meter and multi-meter).

Am I expecting to much?

If not, what steps should I take to test the driver, passive radiators, box design, and amplifier? - I'm gonna assume that the box design is OK at least.

Any help would be much appreciated!

Thank you,
Chris
 
I bet you have your voice coils out of phase if this is a dual voice coil sub. What that means is that you are giving the coils plenty of power, but they are mostly cancelling each other out. The movement you see is probably the difference between the two channels.

switch the leads, + to -, on one of the coils and see if that fixes the problem!
good luck
 
tade said:
I bet you have your voice coils out of phase if this is a dual voice coil sub. What that means is that you are giving the coils plenty of power, but they are mostly cancelling each other out. The movement you see is probably the difference between the two channels.

switch the leads, + to -, on one of the coils and see if that fixes the problem!
good luck


That seems to have done the trick....at least partially - many thanks :nod:

Now, my last question is sensitivity.....I currently have LFE output running into a single RCA to dual Phono jacks into the Mackie. The problem is the output.....I realize that this sub is mostly for the lowest of the lows (that's why I have it's baby brother for the rest), but I don't seem to be getting much out of it without cranking up the gain at the receiver.

The current setup is only temporary to test, but before I go out and start making interconnects, what would be the best setup to run?

Because this is primarily a Movie setup, I guess I am stuck using the sole LFE ouput from my Denon 1802 split to both subs. Or should I maybe run the LFE to the Mackie....then use its Thru Outputs to the other sub?

I'm getting a little lost (and I'm sure confusing everyone else) here.

Any help would be much appreciated!

-Chris
 
If your trying to use 2 subwoofers to cover different frequency ranges then you'll need to use a crossover between them.

At least set the xo on the big 15 as low as possible if the other sub covers the rest....

Personally I'd try using the 15 on it's own for now.

Do you have any measuring equipment?


Cheers,

Rob.



btw. most 'pro' amps need to be turned fully up if used with 'home' gear as there is a big difference in the expected levels. (<-- generalisation)
 
Eva said:
Has some attempt been made to tune the box properly? The passive radiators are worth nothing if their Fs and the volume of the box are not properly chosen.



I will re-measure the box volume and dig up the specs on the PR's. Last time I checked it seemed to be exactly the specs that Stryke Audio had put out.


Thanks for the tone generator...I will look into it when I get off work!

Chris