Best 18" sub speaker under $200?

[CoffeeBass]

Hey all,

I am looking into building some single 18" subs for my band's PA and am wondering what y'all think is the best sub speaker out there. I have looked at carvin speakers, some eminence, peavey, and Electro-Voice (which I think is going to be out of my price range). Probably $200 or under/per speaker is my budget.

I have not done a lot of research into the enclosures themselves yet, so suggestions there would be appreciated too.

I have been looking at the EV i force subs, Carvin subs, and The Yamaha club series. They are all about $400+/-. I figured that I could probably build something as good or better for the same amount of money. Do you think that is true in general? Tools and woodworking know-how is no problem. I need to do some research about cabinet tuning, but there is a guy who has experience who is going to help me.

Impart to me your wisdom oh great TalkBass!

Coffee

[baba]

Check our brother forumite's speaker designs: http://www.billfitzmaurice.com/

[Zooberwerx]

I found quite a few used subs on Craigslist; most were ~ $400 / pair for the lower-end stuff but all showing various degrees of wear. We settled on a pair of Yorkville YS118s in near-excellent condition with new Eminence drivers. In terms of resources, I could not have come close to that building from scratch.

Riis

[Nick Kay]

Bass response is less about the driver, more about the cab. Any driver that has high maximum excursion (Xmax), high power handling and can go deep will make an admirable sub.

[CoffeeBass]

Thanks all for the responses.

I am looking into Bill Fitzmaurice's stuff and I am very intrigued. Are they everything he says they are? Does anyone here know if the prices he's throwing around including everything or is the driver separate? Bill, if you see this please let me know.

Zooberworx - How do you like those ys118's? I saw a pair online for decent price but I could not find any info about them. How are you using them and for what kind of music? Did they have the original speaker in them and you found them lacking?

Coffee

[Zooberwerx]

Originally Posted by CoffeeBass

Zooberworx - How do you like those ys118's? I saw a pair online for decent price but I could not find any info about them. How are you using them and for what kind of music? Did they have the original speaker in them and you found them lacking?

Coffee

Not a clue...yet. I bought them on reputation (and price, of course!) but they won't see their first gig until this Saturday as I am just installing the dbx Xover. The majority of cabs I considered had aftermarket drivers which would lead me to believe previous owners had been careless. Either that or they really hated the original 18's. The Yorkies are now sporting new Eminence Sigma Pros, certainly not the top-of-the-line but they'll suit our purposes nicely. We play C/W, classic rock, etc. in small / mid-size venues. I doubt if we could do sound reinforcement for a block party. Nice thing is they're small enough to fit side-by-side in my shortbed pickup along with the Carvin mains and my bass gear. I should also mention that the 1/4" inputs have been supplemented by (2) Neutriks on each enclosure. Clever!

Riis

[CoffeeBass]

Thanks Zoob, Let us know how it goes this saturday!

Coffee

[Laserman]

Hi,

I put a Peavy Low Rider Sub 15 inch in my bass guitar cab and it sounds just great when I use my Crossover in the rig.

Barry

[Zooberwerx]

Originally Posted by CoffeeBass

Thanks Zoob, Let us know how it goes this saturday!

Coffee

The story thus far...

As everyone can recall, I snagged a pair of Yorkville Performance 18" subs to complement the Carvin 1503 mains. I also picked up a dbx 223XL Xover, "donated" my Crest CA-6 and BBE Sonic Maximizer, and spent another $60 just on cables. We were lucky enough to gain access to the American Legion hall in Newport News for the full installation and trial. Took about 2 hours to re-rack and cable the components but, amazingly enough, she powered up completely and without meltdown. We set all components with program material (I highly recommend any Santana CD) and then mics / amps / instruments. Here's the chain:

Behringer PA board (budget model but it works)

BBE Sonic Maximizer 462 (Aux 4 effects loop)

dbx 223XL Xover (stereo / summed lows, Xover @ 100 hz)

QSC RMX 1450 driving the Carvin mains

Crest CA-6 (bridged mono) driving both Yorkie subs

Few interesting application notes: The Yorkies performed well but did not like being jacked to 140 hz. Just an experiment, folks...they are just 18's! The BBE SM sounded best with Process @ 4.5 and Low Contour @ 3.5. This was essential an we are working sans equalizer with the exception of the Behringer's 3-band (per channel). Seeing as how I've been deprived of my Crest power amp, I've been relying on my Hartke HA 3500 rig for backline. The Hartke's EQ sounded acceptable on stage but the post-EQ DI signal to the PA board sounded terrible. I remedied that by switching the DI to pre-EQ. Just goes to prove that what you hear is not what FOH hears!

This project continues to be a learning experience for your's truly, comments are encouraged and appreciated.

Riis