subwoofer... passive or powered?

[pixelthis]

Yeah I didn't say it couldn't be done...I just said it couldn't be done right!

It can be done in a way that works, which is always "right"
even if sometimes not optimum.
IN ALL THE TIME I ran a sub like this I never had a problem.

[GMichael]

It can be done in a way that works, which is always "right"
even if sometimes not optimum.
IN ALL THE TIME I ran a sub like this I never had a problem.

But the OP was asking which was better. Using the amp in your/his receiver is surely not the better choice, unless he has no choice.

[pixelthis]

But the OP was asking which was better. Using the amp in your/his receiver is surely not the better choice, unless he has no choice.

By all rights this method should be like one of those tire fix
spray cans, because when a sub goes out its not always
convenient
HOWEVER days turned into months, and this "fix" worked fine
THE truth is that a sub is probably never going to need even
the paltry 125watts put out by my receiver channel . And levels,
etc were easy to adjust.
And this was a sub that came with a BASH 600w plate amp(its
now running on a 130w). It may go against instincts, but at the end of the day, an amp is really just an amp.
I know that the true power of a receiver is gaged by its power
supply, how many amps is available to be distributed to each
channel, and the power claims are usually about as optimistic
as TREASURY forecasts, but I REALLY NEVER HAD A PROBLEM.

[GMichael]

Would you rather drive cross country with a tire that has a can of fix-o-flat in it or on 4 new tires? Sure, you may never have a problem with that tire, but if you had a choice, which would you pick?

[pixelthis]

Would you rather drive cross country with a tire that has a can of fix-o-flat in it or on 4 new tires? Sure, you may never have a problem with that tire, but if you had a choice, which would you pick?

Spoken like a true middle class person who only has to open a
checkbook to buy anything.
If you use a can of "fix flat" you can get that tire plugged for fifteen
bucks or less. QUITE often the price of four new tires is out of reach,
so its not even an issue.
As much as I ENJOY THIS HOBBY, there is always something
more pressing. In an age when gas for work is 160 a month,[I]plus[/I
the gas to get around, with groceries costing a small fortune,
if something is working I tend to not mess with it.
THERE are targets of opportunity, like 29 bucks for a hundred dollar tuner, an EMO AMP FOR 250 BUCKS(haven't seen it that
cheap again).
RUNNING my sub on a receiver channel worked fine, didn't bother
me at all, didn't hurt the sub, not the first time I have done it.
And if I had not had a plate amp fall into my lap, I would be probably still be set up that way.
BEING type two diabetic I need pills just to protect my kidneys.
Pills and test strips, hundreds of dollars a month, visits to the
doctor every three months. You can't get kidneys at RADIO
SHACK.
I DO HAVE a meager HT "budget" but you have to prioritize,
and if something works you don't mess with it.
I SEE where the non technical minded might be more nervous
than someone who built his own stereo for a class project once,
but it didn't bother me a bit.

[GMichael]

Spoken like a true middle class person who only has to open a
checkbook to buy anything.
If you use a can of "fix flat" you can get that tire plugged for fifteen
bucks or less. QUITE often the price of four new tires is out of reach,
so its not even an issue.
As much as I ENJOY THIS HOBBY, there is always something
more pressing. In an age when gas for work is 160 a month,[I]plus[/I
the gas to get around, with groceries costing a small fortune,
if something is working I tend to not mess with it.
THERE are targets of opportunity, like 29 bucks for a hundred dollar tuner, an EMO AMP FOR 250 BUCKS(haven't seen it that
cheap again).
RUNNING my sub on a receiver channel worked fine, didn't bother
me at all, didn't hurt the sub, not the first time I have done it.
And if I had not had a plate amp fall into my lap, I would be probably still be set up that way.
BEING type two diabetic I need pills just to protect my kidneys.
Pills and test strips, hundreds of dollars a month, visits to the
doctor every three months. You can't get kidneys at RADIO
SHACK.
I DO HAVE a meager HT "budget" but you have to prioritize,
and if something works you don't mess with it.
I SEE where the non technical minded might be more nervous
than someone who built his own stereo for a class project once,
but it didn't bother me a bit.

Don't assume that my budget is any better than yours. The OP asked what was better, not what was cheapest.

By the way, I am also type two. I also spent the last 6 weeks in and out of hospitals for my kidneys. None of which has anything to do with the fact that a receiver amp should be the very LAST option taken unless you have no options.

As for non technical, I do have a degree in Science and worked 12 years in the T.J. Watson Research Center.

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

Don't assume that my budget is any better than yours. The OP asked what was better, not what was cheapest.

By the way, I am also type two. I also spent the last 6 weeks in and out of hospitals for my kidneys. None of which has anything to do with the fact that a receiver amp should be the very LAST option taken unless you have no options.

As for non technical, I do have a degree in Science and worked 12 years in the T.J. Watson Research Center.

I cannot believe he says you are non technical, but yet he makes this statement

THE truth is that a sub is probably never going to need even
the paltry 125watts put out by my receiver channel

Is this person out of his mind? Yep. In a VERY small room, 125 watts MIGHT be enough. In a larger room, no way in hell is that enough. The lower you go in bass frequencies, the more power you need. The larger the room, the more power you need. When you combine these two facts together, you need a lot of power so you don't end up over driving the amp - or even pushing the driver into compression.

In a small 12X15x10ft room I use a single H-PAS sub with a 300 watt amp. On several movies(The Haunted, War of the Worlds, and Saving Private Ryan comes to mind) the red lamp on the amp has lit up signaling that the amp is approaching its maximum power. This is with a 70db average dialog level which will produce 100db peaks at the maximum digital level of 0db. So you see, a 125 watt amp would be overloaded at that level easily.

[pixelthis]

Don't assume that my budget is any better than yours. The OP asked what was better, not what was cheapest.

By the way, I am also type two. I also spent the last 6 weeks in and out of hospitals for my kidneys. None of which has anything to do with the fact that a receiver amp should be the very LAST option taken unless you have no options.

As for non technical, I do have a degree in Science and worked 12 years in the T.J. Watson Research Center.

So you oughta know that it is no big deal.
AND that is not the "last" option, a clock radio is.

[Florian]

I dont meant to ruin your wonderfull and structured conversation but i have a set of four subwoofers. And they are both passive and active.One of them has the amplifier attached to the subwoofer frame and the other set has the amp detached from the subwoofer frame. Both work wonderful and both sets are using the "sealed acoustic suspension" enclousure. One set uses 2 Krell Reference 200 amplifiers and the other set uses a older JVC MD 3030 stereo block. I use a Velodyne SMS -1 to flatten the inroom response and because one set if subwoofers uses a high efficency Focal driver ît makes no difference if you use the smaller 55lbs JVC or the 253lbs Krell References.

The most important topic was not even discussed in this thread, room acoustics and the integraton with the meain speakers. It does not matter if the amplifier is attached to the subwoofer or not....

Cheers

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

The most important topic was not even discussed in this thread, room acoustics and the integraton with the meain speakers. It does not matter if the amplifier is attached to the subwoofer or not....

Cheers

I think you missed this comment on post #7

I do not think either passive or active subs offer any advantage over the other. I use both types, and get great sound from both types. Calibration and room placement are more important than active or passive.

[GMichael]

I think you missed this comment on post #7

I do not think either passive or active subs offer any advantage over the other. I use both types, and get great sound from both types. Calibration and room placement are more important than active or passive.

I guess that some of "us" did then.

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

I guess that some of "us" did then.

You missed it too?? (smacks GM on the nose with his Ipad2). Sorry GM, I gave up the morning paper for a Ipad2. I hope you can get your nose fixed!!

[pixelthis]

SOME people on this site have too much time on their hands.
A SUB is not that difficult to set up.
AND if you don't like the fact that the higher the freq the more power it requires(notice fones keep going up in freq, NO COINKIDINK
that the higher the freq, the more power required.
You don't like rudimentary physics, don't yell at me, become
Amish.
AGAIN, there is some rule that states that it takes 17 times
the regular power to get low freqs outta a sub, can't remember it but will look for it.
MEANWHILE you might notice that tweeters break all of the time,
subs hardly ever, ever wonder why that is? AND WHY HIGHER
(more energetic) freqs are the ones that break glass.

[GMichael]

I like turtles. Are you a turtle?

[Florian]

*Flo enters the room and sees GM alone in a corner smoking pixi dust and watching a wise man battle a man with his facebook friends tatooted to his arm. Sits down next to him to light one up as well, but uses the heatsinks of his amp instead of a lighter..... good show and reminisses about long forgotten times

[GMichael]

*Flo enters the room and sees GM alone in a corner smoking pixi dust and watching a wise man battle a man with his facebook friends tatooted to his arm. Sits down next to him to light one up as well, but uses the heatsinks of his amp instead of a lighter..... good show and reminisses about long forgotten times

Hey Flo,

Would you like a beer? There are chips on the shelf over there. Just don't let my wife catch us.

[GMichael]

I dont meant to ruin your wonderfull and structured conversation but i have a set of four subwoofers. And they are both passive and active.One of them has the amplifier attached to the subwoofer frame and the other set has the amp detached from the subwoofer frame. Both work wonderful and both sets are using the "sealed acoustic suspension" enclousure. One set uses 2 Krell Reference 200 amplifiers and the other set uses a older JVC MD 3030 stereo block. I use a Velodyne SMS -1 to flatten the inroom response and because one set if subwoofers uses a high efficency Focal driver ît makes no difference if you use the smaller 55lbs JVC or the 253lbs Krell References.

The most important topic was not even discussed in this thread, room acoustics and the integraton with the meain speakers. It does not matter if the amplifier is attached to the subwoofer or not....

Cheers

You are right. The BFD should help, but we really didn't get into room acoustics. Just that either passive or active can work well.

Good to see you around Flo.

[pixelthis]

I dont meant to ruin your wonderfull and structured conversation but i have a set of four subwoofers. And they are both passive and active.One of them has the amplifier attached to the subwoofer frame and the other set has the amp detached from the subwoofer frame. Both work wonderful and both sets are using the "sealed acoustic suspension" enclousure. One set uses 2 Krell Reference 200 amplifiers and the other set uses a older JVC MD 3030 stereo block. I use a Velodyne SMS -1 to flatten the inroom response and because one set if subwoofers uses a high efficency Focal driver ît makes no difference if you use the smaller 55lbs JVC or the 253lbs Krell References.

The most important topic was not even discussed in this thread, room acoustics and the integraton with the meain speakers. It does not matter if the amplifier is attached to the subwoofer or not....

Cheers

Speaking of which, four subs would be difficult to get to play together( wave cancelling and all).
WHERE do you live, the ROMAN colluseam?

[Florian]

Speaking of which, four subs would be difficult to get to play together( wave cancelling and all).
WHERE do you live, the ROMAN colluseam?

Not really, but i have multiple systems in multiple rooms

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

Speaking of which, four subs would be difficult to get to play together( wave cancelling and all).
WHERE do you live, the ROMAN colluseam?

Four subwoofers properly placed does not suffer from cancellations, and it also can take care of the room modes as well.

[Florian]

Just out of curiosity because i was absent for so long (Thanks for the Welcome GM), is Pixelthis a troll with a massive post count?

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

Just out of curiosity because i was absent for so long (Thanks for the Welcome GM), is Pixelthis a troll with a massive post count?

Correction Flo, he is a OLD troll with a massive post count. And by the way, good to see ya around!

[GMichael]

(GM gets up from his pool of blood and shoots a dirty look at the Big T. Then he turns to Flo.)

Hey Flo. Pixy just likes to stir things up to see who boils over first. He tends to spout off about things that he probably knows are wrong just to get a rise out of us. The Big T is usually the first to call BS.

(GM rubs the blood on his face off on T’s sleeve)
You get that round Mr. but you may want to grow eyes in the back of your head.

[Florian]

Thank you SirT :-)
(Flo turns to GM to bring out some long forgotten "MagicPixiDust" and sprinkels some over his head... waiting for a reaction)

[GMichael]

Thank you SirT :-)
(Flo turns to GM to bring out some long forgotten "MagicPixiDust" and sprinkels some over his head... waiting for a reaction)

OMG! Look at all the cool colors! The blues are so...so... BLUE.
The reds are red. The greens are green. Wow man. Where'd you get that stuff?

(GM looks at Sir T.) Wow man. Can you put a hat on or something. All that bright light is harshing my mellow.

Anyone else here feeling hungry?