Crazy Home Audio Idea

[Ugly Fingertips]

...Or maybe not so crazy.

I have a Sony 500W 5.1 channel receiver (100W per channel) and two 100W KEF Carlton III floor standing speakers. I very much want a subwoofer, but have no money for one. Being a bass player, I had a crazy idea. Would I be able to use my bass amp as a sub?

Am I being a stupid newbie audiophile, or is it possible? If it is possible, how would it be done?

[R. Laevinus]

It's not technically possible, because a bass amp is not a subwoofer, it's an instrument amplifier, and is therefore full-range. It's just not designed to do - and not capable of doing - what a proper subwoofer does.

You can, however, use it to augment the bass response of your system, and you do it simply by taking a line-level feed from the amp into the instrument input. (Line level and instrument level are not the same - amps aren't made to take line level, but I occasionally run line-level from my mixer into my amp. YMMV.)

Then you crank up the bass on your amp's EQ.

But don't expect it to shake the room like a subwoofer.

[T-Bird]

Hi.

^+1.

It may well be possible that You don't want/need an actual sub, but the general mid- to high-lows area needs some beefing up.

Most people are quite happy with 40Hz roll-off (since they don't know any better ).

Then Your bass amp will work, if you have a separate sub-out line level on your reciever of course. You'll probably cover 40Hz-120Hz from that. Do check the upper sub cut-out frequency though, if it's below 80Hz, using the sub-out won't work.

Prepare to make two leads for the connection, one wired in phase (+ -> +, - -> -) and one out of phase (+ -> -, - -> +) as there's no telling what the amplification sections on both amps do to the relative phase between the different speakers. Try both, use the one that works better.

Regards
Sam

[MJ5150]

I use my bass cabs in my home audio system.

-Mike

[Jim Campbell]

Originally Posted by Ugly Fingertips

...Or maybe not so crazy.

I have a Sony 500W 5.1 channel receiver (100W per channel) and two 100W KEF Carlton III floor standing speakers. I very much want a subwoofer, but have no money for one. Being a bass player, I had a crazy idea. Would I be able to use my bass amp as a sub?

Am I being a stupid newbie audiophile, or is it possible? If it is possible, how would it be done?

you could,but i doubt if the results would be that good....the bass amp probably rolls off where your kefs do,and a decent sub is designed for the freqs below that.....make sure your ht amp is set so the information that goes to the .1 sub channel is routed through your main system.....it will be in the set up menu

[Richland123]

Not a crazy idea at all. Years ago, I used my Music Man One Thirty bass head as a slave amp to power a home system along with a stereo receiver for E.Q. and signal and used the 2 bass cabinets for the bottom end with two other cabinets for the highs and mids and it worked great.