home audio questions

[t-maxxracer32]

wutup guys. so some of you may know i recently got a bunch of stuff for my room and im lovin it

this is the home theatre set i bought

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1184369167013

i switched the little subwoofer for one of my bigole kicker 12s and DANG what a difference.

i know it can be pushed WAY harder because i had it in my truck but i think it is OK for my room.

i also added 2 bigole audioline towers for the back of my room. i really hope im not pushing the amp but

how can i tell?

is there any way i could improve the bass?

is there a limit to how many speakers and stuff i can add?

willl the amp regulate the power throughout it all?

like for instance..... if its pushing 200 watts each tower. 400 total. and then i add 2 more will it then regulate the power so that each is only pushing 100? but still at 400w?

or how does that work?

to connect everything all i did was put the normal wires in the towers. but then added one other set that ran over to the second set of towers. is this ok? is there a smarter/better way to do it?

so far i really like what ive done.

its freakin loud as hell and i cant turn it up all the way without it hurting my ears.


some of you may think im stupid for adding all this stuff but you have to realize how big my room is. and the 2 little surround speakers werent enough for me.

its like the size of a garage... (theres a long story on how i got it... but it used to be the game room)


mmm i think thats about it for now...

was the sony theatre system i bought worth the money?

thanks!

[supralover72]

Well, try increasing the db setting for the woofer. I would personally get a second amp and run the woofer separate

[BrianG]

Don't know how the amp(s) are set up in that speaker system. The amp is probably an IC-based style (not discrete components) inside the reciever unit. And don't count on a real 1000w total - it's probably rated "peak" which is at least twice what it should be rated for (rms).

The speakers are matched to the amp used. You can use other speakers instead, but have to maintain the correct impedance. Most home speakers are around 8ohms. Simply adding another set of 8 ohm speakers in parallel will reduce the impedace to 4 ohms. This should create twice the power, but the amp will probably either cut out or thermal. If you want louder volume from your main speakers (not the sub), you'd have to get more/different equipment.

If you just want to add more bass, you can probably add a powered subwoofer. You can get a pre-built one, but if you already have the kicker sub (and a box to put it in), you may be able to use an add-on "plate amplifier" to power it. Just make sure you get one that has the power you want at the subwoofer impedance your kicker has (probably 4 or 2 ohm).

[t-maxxracer32]

ok i got what your saying.

i am not going for more volume. i have PLENTY of it and will never max it out. i am mainly looking for bass i guess you could say.

when im alone i put it on about 25-30 max is around 33 i beleive.

right now im only listening to it at 12. and its fine.


the whole reason i got the extra towers was because the size of my room needed more surround sound you could say.

now. no matter where im at i hear it and it sounds clean. so im pretty much good with that.

just dont wanna blow the amp.

i think i will be ok because it was maxxed out for about an hour and it didnt feel hott at all.

one of my freinds knows alot about this so ill talk to him about the plate amp.

thanks alot!

[bigboi146]

We just got that system this past weekend. I think it's great. I have to get a picture of our setup.

[glassdoctor]

If you want to upgrade someday without spending $1000s... check out Paradigm stuff. Their stuff really sounds awesome for a relative bargain price imo. I have a real basic surround setup from them for under $1000 (including a great $400 band pass sub)... it's entry-level for them but to me it sounded better than anything I listened to at places like BestBuy, Ultimate, etc even at 2-3X the price.

I'm not an audio junkie.... car or home.... but I love my little home theater system.
Paradigm Titan speakers and Yamaha reciever

[kulangflow]

+1 for Paradigm. They are fantastic speakers for the money.

You should just get a powered sub. I got a 12" Polk Audio powered sub for only $100 at Frye's Electronics. It's got more than enough bass.

[_paralyzed_]

yep, a powered sub, then you can turn the bass down on your full range speakers, letting them play louder, and just turn up the bass with a powered sub, also, your system has alot of power going to your kicker, could step up to a 15", but i'd rather get a 15" powered sub and just turn the knob when i wanna vibrate things, some subs even have a remote!

[snellemin]

I use a 15" kicker sub in my home entertainment system. It's power by a seperate amp. You could do the same thing with the 12" sub you have, using the plate amp that BrainG suggested. You want to build a down firing sub in a sealed enclosure. The distance between the woofer cone and the floor should be around 10-12". Putting the box in a corner "amplifies" the output some more. Firing in down onto a carpet floor works best too. Less sound reflections. If the box is stiff enough, it can be used as a corner table. If it vibrates too much, just add a marble slab on top and you gain some more output and nothing will vibrate off of it.

Ok, I said too much again..

Just use the kicker sub man.

[BrianG]

For proper sub placement (or rather, what sounds best to you), a common trick is to put the sub where you normally would sit, play some music at the volume/bass setting you'll be normally listening at, and then walk around the room and see where it sounds best. Once you find the right spot (assuming it is physically possible), put the sub there. Generally, room corners will amplify the bass (standing waves), but tends to sound boomy and not well defined. Some people like this, others don't.

Don't skimp on amp power. It's better to play 300-400w through a 200w sub if the signal is clean, than to play a distorted 200w through a 200w sub. An amp will theoretically double it's output power during full clip, and the speaker has a hard time to respond to such a sharp signal ramp (clipped sine-wave looks like a square wave) so it has less back-EMF to reduce the current flow. Also, the headroom from higher power is nice to have. Better to have it and not use it, than to need it and not have it. I've been running a "clean" 600w rms through a 300w rms sub in my car for over 4 years now and it still sounds perfect.

[JThiessen]

Generally speaking, the advice given so far is on the money. A powered sub with built in crossover is the way to go for your fronts. AND you did the right thing by getting an extra set of towers for your rears (I assume they are identical to the RL and RF?). Timber matching the complete set is the "proper" way to set up surrond sound. And no, just haveing the same brand of speakers does not mean they are timbre matched. They need to be the same size drivers and performance specs to be numerically matched.
I run 4 Definitive Technology Mythos 4's with a Mythos 8 center and an M&K 1000W sub.

[_paralyzed_]

wow,def tec! remember the bp2000's with the built in 18" powered sub? awesome......

[BrianG]

The only trouble with integrated towers/sub is placement. Tower placement is critical while sub not so much. And often, what sounds good for mids/highs does not sounds as good for the sub. Better IMO to have seperate sub and towers. Cross the towers and sub over a no higher than 80Hz (high pass) with a 12db/octave slope (minimum) for good midbass response and to keep the sub from playing frequencies that degrade imaging.

[_paralyzed_]

lets remember his setup, he has 285 watts coming out of his reciever for a sub, so that means he doesn't need a plate amp, and yes, a powered sub is the easiest solution. I assume your kicker is 4 ohms(most car subs are) so you've proven your reciever can handle 4ohms. you could step up to a 15" woofer, or run two 12" 8 ohm subs in parralel, a couple more efficient speakers splitting the power would give you more volume. I guess we need more info. Do you want a cheap solution, an easy solution, or the right solution? I personnaly would put the kicker back in the car, run no sub off your reciever allowing it to only run mids and highs, and get a big ole 15" powered subwoofer, a cerwin vega, with the red surround, that will shake sh@! off of walls

[skellyo]

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