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Powered subwoofer

#4
I tried it. Bill is right. Doesn't work for electric bass, at least in a live band situation. I gave it a good shot for almost a year using a Yorkville Sound 2x10" 750 watt powered subwoofer in a bandpass type enclosure. The upper frequencies were handled by my regular rig-a GK 400 RB into a GK 4x10" cabinet. I even used an electronic crossover and experimented with different crossover frequencies to no real benefit. Usually all that happened was the extra lowest octave muddied up the sound of the whole band and made everything, including my bass, indistinct and lacking definition and punch. In some rooms it set up a horrible rumble throughout the space that had no recognizable pitch. It was waste of money and a hell of a hassle to cart around all that extra weight.

The Yorkville subwoofer is a pretty good one as powered subwoofers go and when used with a matching PA in a fixed installation and controlled by a soundman out front with good ears, could be beneficial. Luckily I was able to sell it back to the L&M store without too much of a financial hit. Best bet is to spend the extra money on a matching extension cabinet or a better main speaker cabinet. I got rid of the GK 4x10 cabinet and bought a pair of Yorkville 1x15" cabinets which gave me the sound I wanted with lots of volume.
 
#5
The problem with subwoofers is unless they are PA subs, they are designed to work in a small room. Now, if you could get your hands on a sub from a movie theater or something of that nature, and had a huge amp to push it, you might rattle some teeth loose.

The issue with home theater type subs is that they are very picky about placement. I've seen people buy very nice, high dollar subs and return them because they said they didn't sound good. Come to find out, they weren't placing them properly.

If you played a room where you could put your entire audience in the "sweet spot", then home subs would rock. I have run my bass through my two 12" home subs and it sounded great in my small room, but take that config to a 200 seat venue, and you'd not be happy.
 
#6
I guess I am surprised that a powered 15 or 18 inch PA sub, properly crossed over at 100 hz or less, with an independant volume control wouldn't work. The newer NEO loaded enclosures are light enough that it wouldn't be that big of a hassle to work with. Maybe under 210 or 112 combo? I am sure it would be a bad idea if you were also going through the PA subs, but if not...

I have no experience myself but want to tag along here for the education. I was thinking about trying something like this with a powered neo 15 and my little GK MB150, also taking a DI out to the PA tops.
 
#9
What I've found is that those big subwoofers have a lot of trouble tracking, like a delay. The sub is producing HUGE, pillowy mud with too much fat low-end. Great if you play whole notes, but the second you try to do any kind of walking or moving bass line, all you'll get is womph womph womph. I played at my church and all they had was a powered mixer and 15" sub. Absolutely no definition.
 
#10
Rick Auricchio said:
Joe, the subs work well, but there's so little USEFUL sound down there from electric bass that it's not worthwhile.
Click to expand...

Exactly right. Not only not worthwhile but it contributes to bad sound. As I said in my post I worked with one for about a year and used good equipment. The Yorkville powered sub was designed for PA use, not home theatre or hi fi. It put out clean low frequencies and at plenty enough sound level. But these frequencies do not make the bass sound good when added beyond a very tiny amount. The more you add the worse the sound-yours and the rest of the band ends up. The Yorkville wasn't a multi thousand dollar Bag End sub system but it was good enough and designed for live PA use.

This topic has been covered extensively on TB over the years and in previous threads various experts would explain why in technical terms. But the idea is appealing to many who haven't tried it so it persists.

However, if you still want to try it, go ahead. It's your money.

When I finally got rid of my setup and went with a pair of 1x15 cabs the rest of the band said it sounded so much better. They had been pretty tolerant of me and my experiment.
 
#13
Thanks for the input. As it is, the guy who was selling it said it worked fine, but the speakers started sounding "funny" if he turned the volume up high. It might be worth $90 for a 360-watt, 100 lbs. cabinet and amp, just to replace the speakers, but I wasn't looking for a project that had little practical use for me in the end.
 

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