I'm confused about a certain issue. What is the best amplification for
a DIY subwoofer. I know the official answer is "IT DEPENDS". I guess
what I'm asking is... should I buy a subwoofer amp (with phase, and
low pass filter, volume, etc.).. or should would I get better results
with an external amp?

It seems strange to me that most subwoofer diy projects use built in
amps, which cost 150 bucks or so. On the other hand, amplifiers for
high end audio routinely cost much much more. Is a 200 dollar
subwoofer amp really as good as building a passive sub and attaching a
1000 dollar external amp to it?

On 5 Apr 2004 07:04:01 -0700, (mike vandy)
wrote:

I'm confused about a certain issue. What is the best amplification for
a DIY subwoofer. I know the official answer is "IT DEPENDS".

Not necessarily - I would *always* advise using a commercial 'plate'
amplifier, unless you have a particularly unusual subwoofer - like Tom
Nousaine's 8-driver behemoth. Otherwise, you can buy amps from 100 to
1,000 watts off the shelf which will give the best possible results
for any DIY project.

I guess
what I'm asking is... should I buy a subwoofer amp (with phase, and
low pass filter, volume, etc.).. or should would I get better results
with an external amp?

It seems strange to me that most subwoofer diy projects use built in
amps, which cost 150 bucks or so. On the other hand, amplifiers for
high end audio routinely cost much much more. Is a 200 dollar
subwoofer amp really as good as building a passive sub and attaching a
1000 dollar external amp to it?

No, a 200 dollar subwoofer amplifier will give *better* results than a
1,000 dollar external amp - because it was designed to drive a
subwoofer, and is probably more powerful than the external amp. In
subwoofer amps, sweet treble and midrange clarity are not issues, but
raw power certainly is!

BTW, *never* equate quality with price in audio electronics! :-)
--

Stewart Pinkerton | Music is Art - Audio is Engineering

On 5 Apr 2004 07:04:01 -0700, (mike vandy)
wrote:

I'm confused about a certain issue. What is the best amplification for
a DIY subwoofer. I know the official answer is "IT DEPENDS".

Not necessarily - I would *always* advise using a commercial 'plate'
amplifier, unless you have a particularly unusual subwoofer - like Tom
Nousaine's 8-driver behemoth. Otherwise, you can buy amps from 100 to
1,000 watts off the shelf which will give the best possible results
for any DIY project.

I guess
what I'm asking is... should I buy a subwoofer amp (with phase, and
low pass filter, volume, etc.).. or should would I get better results
with an external amp?

It seems strange to me that most subwoofer diy projects use built in
amps, which cost 150 bucks or so. On the other hand, amplifiers for
high end audio routinely cost much much more. Is a 200 dollar
subwoofer amp really as good as building a passive sub and attaching a
1000 dollar external amp to it?

No, a 200 dollar subwoofer amplifier will give *better* results than a
1,000 dollar external amp - because it was designed to drive a
subwoofer, and is probably more powerful than the external amp. In
subwoofer amps, sweet treble and midrange clarity are not issues, but
raw power certainly is!

BTW, *never* equate quality with price in audio electronics! :-)
--

Stewart Pinkerton | Music is Art - Audio is Engineering

On 5 Apr 2004 07:04:01 -0700, (mike vandy)
wrote:

I'm confused about a certain issue. What is the best amplification for
a DIY subwoofer. I know the official answer is "IT DEPENDS".

Not necessarily - I would *always* advise using a commercial 'plate'
amplifier, unless you have a particularly unusual subwoofer - like Tom
Nousaine's 8-driver behemoth. Otherwise, you can buy amps from 100 to
1,000 watts off the shelf which will give the best possible results
for any DIY project.

I guess
what I'm asking is... should I buy a subwoofer amp (with phase, and
low pass filter, volume, etc.).. or should would I get better results
with an external amp?

It seems strange to me that most subwoofer diy projects use built in
amps, which cost 150 bucks or so. On the other hand, amplifiers for
high end audio routinely cost much much more. Is a 200 dollar
subwoofer amp really as good as building a passive sub and attaching a
1000 dollar external amp to it?

No, a 200 dollar subwoofer amplifier will give *better* results than a
1,000 dollar external amp - because it was designed to drive a
subwoofer, and is probably more powerful than the external amp. In
subwoofer amps, sweet treble and midrange clarity are not issues, but
raw power certainly is!

BTW, *never* equate quality with price in audio electronics! :-)
--

Stewart Pinkerton | Music is Art - Audio is Engineering

On 5 Apr 2004 07:04:01 -0700, (mike vandy)
wrote:

I'm confused about a certain issue. What is the best amplification for
a DIY subwoofer. I know the official answer is "IT DEPENDS".

Not necessarily - I would *always* advise using a commercial 'plate'
amplifier, unless you have a particularly unusual subwoofer - like Tom
Nousaine's 8-driver behemoth. Otherwise, you can buy amps from 100 to
1,000 watts off the shelf which will give the best possible results
for any DIY project.

I guess
what I'm asking is... should I buy a subwoofer amp (with phase, and
low pass filter, volume, etc.).. or should would I get better results
with an external amp?

It seems strange to me that most subwoofer diy projects use built in
amps, which cost 150 bucks or so. On the other hand, amplifiers for
high end audio routinely cost much much more. Is a 200 dollar
subwoofer amp really as good as building a passive sub and attaching a
1000 dollar external amp to it?

No, a 200 dollar subwoofer amplifier will give *better* results than a
1,000 dollar external amp - because it was designed to drive a
subwoofer, and is probably more powerful than the external amp. In
subwoofer amps, sweet treble and midrange clarity are not issues, but
raw power certainly is!

BTW, *never* equate quality with price in audio electronics! :-)
--

Stewart Pinkerton | Music is Art - Audio is Engineering

mike vandy wrote:

I'm confused about a certain issue. What is the best amplification for
a DIY subwoofer. I know the official answer is "IT DEPENDS".

Except it doesn't depend that much. Find something that has enough clean
power, and is a reasonably good amp, and you can move more important issues
like integration of the woofer with your room acoustics.

I guess
what I'm asking is... should I buy a subwoofer amp (with phase, and
low pass filter, volume, etc.).. or should would I get better results
with an external amp?

Were I making the choices, I'd pick a Hafler, Crown or QSC amp off of eBay
and match it up with an appropriate crossover and maybe a paramedic eq to do
the final tuning with.

It seems strange to me that most subwoofer diy projects use built in
amps, which cost 150 bucks or so. On the other hand, amplifiers for
high end audio routinely cost much much more. Is a 200 dollar
subwoofer amp really as good as building a passive sub and attaching a
1000 dollar external amp to it?

Not if you spend your money wisely. If you spend your money wisely you get
what you pay for, but you may find that $1K is much more amp than you really
need.

I've tested some of those purpose-built subwoofer amps, and find that on a
good day you get about $200 worth of amp for your $200.

These amps are genially a bit on the cost-effective size.

To hit the price point, there may not be a lot of ability to drive low
impedance loads, but then again you might need a lot of that. Similarly, the
built-in crossover might not be a finely-tuned 24/dB octave design that adds
absolutely minimal amounts of noise to the main speaker paths.

OTOH, cost-effective though they may be, many of them will still do a good
enough job.

mike vandy wrote:

I'm confused about a certain issue. What is the best amplification for
a DIY subwoofer. I know the official answer is "IT DEPENDS".

Except it doesn't depend that much. Find something that has enough clean
power, and is a reasonably good amp, and you can move more important issues
like integration of the woofer with your room acoustics.

I guess
what I'm asking is... should I buy a subwoofer amp (with phase, and
low pass filter, volume, etc.).. or should would I get better results
with an external amp?

Were I making the choices, I'd pick a Hafler, Crown or QSC amp off of eBay
and match it up with an appropriate crossover and maybe a paramedic eq to do
the final tuning with.

It seems strange to me that most subwoofer diy projects use built in
amps, which cost 150 bucks or so. On the other hand, amplifiers for
high end audio routinely cost much much more. Is a 200 dollar
subwoofer amp really as good as building a passive sub and attaching a
1000 dollar external amp to it?

Not if you spend your money wisely. If you spend your money wisely you get
what you pay for, but you may find that $1K is much more amp than you really
need.

I've tested some of those purpose-built subwoofer amps, and find that on a
good day you get about $200 worth of amp for your $200.

These amps are genially a bit on the cost-effective size.

To hit the price point, there may not be a lot of ability to drive low
impedance loads, but then again you might need a lot of that. Similarly, the
built-in crossover might not be a finely-tuned 24/dB octave design that adds
absolutely minimal amounts of noise to the main speaker paths.

OTOH, cost-effective though they may be, many of them will still do a good
enough job.

mike vandy wrote:

I'm confused about a certain issue. What is the best amplification for
a DIY subwoofer. I know the official answer is "IT DEPENDS".

Except it doesn't depend that much. Find something that has enough clean
power, and is a reasonably good amp, and you can move more important issues
like integration of the woofer with your room acoustics.

I guess
what I'm asking is... should I buy a subwoofer amp (with phase, and
low pass filter, volume, etc.).. or should would I get better results
with an external amp?

Were I making the choices, I'd pick a Hafler, Crown or QSC amp off of eBay
and match it up with an appropriate crossover and maybe a paramedic eq to do
the final tuning with.

It seems strange to me that most subwoofer diy projects use built in
amps, which cost 150 bucks or so. On the other hand, amplifiers for
high end audio routinely cost much much more. Is a 200 dollar
subwoofer amp really as good as building a passive sub and attaching a
1000 dollar external amp to it?

Not if you spend your money wisely. If you spend your money wisely you get
what you pay for, but you may find that $1K is much more amp than you really
need.

I've tested some of those purpose-built subwoofer amps, and find that on a
good day you get about $200 worth of amp for your $200.

These amps are genially a bit on the cost-effective size.

To hit the price point, there may not be a lot of ability to drive low
impedance loads, but then again you might need a lot of that. Similarly, the
built-in crossover might not be a finely-tuned 24/dB octave design that adds
absolutely minimal amounts of noise to the main speaker paths.

OTOH, cost-effective though they may be, many of them will still do a good
enough job.

mike vandy wrote:

I'm confused about a certain issue. What is the best amplification for
a DIY subwoofer. I know the official answer is "IT DEPENDS".

Except it doesn't depend that much. Find something that has enough clean
power, and is a reasonably good amp, and you can move more important issues
like integration of the woofer with your room acoustics.

I guess
what I'm asking is... should I buy a subwoofer amp (with phase, and
low pass filter, volume, etc.).. or should would I get better results
with an external amp?

Were I making the choices, I'd pick a Hafler, Crown or QSC amp off of eBay
and match it up with an appropriate crossover and maybe a paramedic eq to do
the final tuning with.

It seems strange to me that most subwoofer diy projects use built in
amps, which cost 150 bucks or so. On the other hand, amplifiers for
high end audio routinely cost much much more. Is a 200 dollar
subwoofer amp really as good as building a passive sub and attaching a
1000 dollar external amp to it?

Not if you spend your money wisely. If you spend your money wisely you get
what you pay for, but you may find that $1K is much more amp than you really
need.

I've tested some of those purpose-built subwoofer amps, and find that on a
good day you get about $200 worth of amp for your $200.

These amps are genially a bit on the cost-effective size.

To hit the price point, there may not be a lot of ability to drive low
impedance loads, but then again you might need a lot of that. Similarly, the
built-in crossover might not be a finely-tuned 24/dB octave design that adds
absolutely minimal amounts of noise to the main speaker paths.

OTOH, cost-effective though they may be, many of them will still do a good
enough job.

"mike vandy" wrote in message
m...
I'm confused about a certain issue. What is the best amplification
for
a DIY subwoofer. I know the official answer is "IT DEPENDS". I guess
what I'm asking is... should I buy a subwoofer amp (with phase, and
low pass filter, volume, etc.).. or should would I get better
results
with an external amp?

It seems strange to me that most subwoofer diy projects use built in
amps, which cost 150 bucks or so. On the other hand, amplifiers for
high end audio routinely cost much much more. Is a 200 dollar
subwoofer amp really as good as building a passive sub and attaching
a
1000 dollar external amp to it?

You don't need $1000 amps for this!

You can get up to about 100 watts of cheap subwoofer power from a
surplus 50 wpc vintage stereo receiver IF you have two passive subs or
a single sub that has two drivers in the same box - just wire them
independently to L and R channels and drive the amp in mono. Of
course, NEVER wire amplifier O/P's is parallel. You can get even more
power from a separate stereo amplifier (I use a Yamaha M4 to drive two
separate passive subs, up to over 300 watts total.) But here's the
rub, you will likely have to find a LP filter to put before the sub
amplifier AUX input.

If you use a stereo receiver or so-called integrated amplifier (with
pre-amp) the sub-out level from a surround sound receiver will be
about right and it is already LP filtered (but likely at a bit too
high crossover, but that's another matter.) The stereo amps alone
need an external pre-amp and a LP filter if you drive them with full
range L and R signals (I had to build a pre-amp and 90 Hz LP filter to
get the over 1 volt RMS needed by the M4 from a Yamaha receiver
sub-out channel with a 150 Hz X/O.)

Cheers,

Roger

"mike vandy" wrote in message
m...
I'm confused about a certain issue. What is the best amplification
for
a DIY subwoofer. I know the official answer is "IT DEPENDS". I guess
what I'm asking is... should I buy a subwoofer amp (with phase, and
low pass filter, volume, etc.).. or should would I get better
results
with an external amp?

It seems strange to me that most subwoofer diy projects use built in
amps, which cost 150 bucks or so. On the other hand, amplifiers for
high end audio routinely cost much much more. Is a 200 dollar
subwoofer amp really as good as building a passive sub and attaching
a
1000 dollar external amp to it?

You don't need $1000 amps for this!

You can get up to about 100 watts of cheap subwoofer power from a
surplus 50 wpc vintage stereo receiver IF you have two passive subs or
a single sub that has two drivers in the same box - just wire them
independently to L and R channels and drive the amp in mono. Of
course, NEVER wire amplifier O/P's is parallel. You can get even more
power from a separate stereo amplifier (I use a Yamaha M4 to drive two
separate passive subs, up to over 300 watts total.) But here's the
rub, you will likely have to find a LP filter to put before the sub
amplifier AUX input.

If you use a stereo receiver or so-called integrated amplifier (with
pre-amp) the sub-out level from a surround sound receiver will be
about right and it is already LP filtered (but likely at a bit too
high crossover, but that's another matter.) The stereo amps alone
need an external pre-amp and a LP filter if you drive them with full
range L and R signals (I had to build a pre-amp and 90 Hz LP filter to
get the over 1 volt RMS needed by the M4 from a Yamaha receiver
sub-out channel with a 150 Hz X/O.)

Cheers,

Roger

"mike vandy" wrote in message
m...
I'm confused about a certain issue. What is the best amplification
for
a DIY subwoofer. I know the official answer is "IT DEPENDS". I guess
what I'm asking is... should I buy a subwoofer amp (with phase, and
low pass filter, volume, etc.).. or should would I get better
results
with an external amp?

It seems strange to me that most subwoofer diy projects use built in
amps, which cost 150 bucks or so. On the other hand, amplifiers for
high end audio routinely cost much much more. Is a 200 dollar
subwoofer amp really as good as building a passive sub and attaching
a
1000 dollar external amp to it?

You don't need $1000 amps for this!

You can get up to about 100 watts of cheap subwoofer power from a
surplus 50 wpc vintage stereo receiver IF you have two passive subs or
a single sub that has two drivers in the same box - just wire them
independently to L and R channels and drive the amp in mono. Of
course, NEVER wire amplifier O/P's is parallel. You can get even more
power from a separate stereo amplifier (I use a Yamaha M4 to drive two
separate passive subs, up to over 300 watts total.) But here's the
rub, you will likely have to find a LP filter to put before the sub
amplifier AUX input.

If you use a stereo receiver or so-called integrated amplifier (with
pre-amp) the sub-out level from a surround sound receiver will be
about right and it is already LP filtered (but likely at a bit too
high crossover, but that's another matter.) The stereo amps alone
need an external pre-amp and a LP filter if you drive them with full
range L and R signals (I had to build a pre-amp and 90 Hz LP filter to
get the over 1 volt RMS needed by the M4 from a Yamaha receiver
sub-out channel with a 150 Hz X/O.)

Cheers,

Roger

"mike vandy" wrote in message
m...
I'm confused about a certain issue. What is the best amplification
for
a DIY subwoofer. I know the official answer is "IT DEPENDS". I guess
what I'm asking is... should I buy a subwoofer amp (with phase, and
low pass filter, volume, etc.).. or should would I get better
results
with an external amp?

It seems strange to me that most subwoofer diy projects use built in
amps, which cost 150 bucks or so. On the other hand, amplifiers for
high end audio routinely cost much much more. Is a 200 dollar
subwoofer amp really as good as building a passive sub and attaching
a
1000 dollar external amp to it?

You don't need $1000 amps for this!

You can get up to about 100 watts of cheap subwoofer power from a
surplus 50 wpc vintage stereo receiver IF you have two passive subs or
a single sub that has two drivers in the same box - just wire them
independently to L and R channels and drive the amp in mono. Of
course, NEVER wire amplifier O/P's is parallel. You can get even more
power from a separate stereo amplifier (I use a Yamaha M4 to drive two
separate passive subs, up to over 300 watts total.) But here's the
rub, you will likely have to find a LP filter to put before the sub
amplifier AUX input.

If you use a stereo receiver or so-called integrated amplifier (with
pre-amp) the sub-out level from a surround sound receiver will be
about right and it is already LP filtered (but likely at a bit too
high crossover, but that's another matter.) The stereo amps alone
need an external pre-amp and a LP filter if you drive them with full
range L and R signals (I had to build a pre-amp and 90 Hz LP filter to
get the over 1 volt RMS needed by the M4 from a Yamaha receiver
sub-out channel with a 150 Hz X/O.)

Cheers,

Roger