Re: Sub Amp? 1 large amp or 2 smaller amps.
Ahhh... the old "turn it up 'til it smokes, then back off 3dB" school of mixing.
Ahhh... the old "turn it up 'til it smokes, then back off 3dB" school of mixing.
Sub Amp? 1 large amp or 2 smaller amps.
- Thread starter Loren Jones
- Start date
Silas Pradetto
Graduate Student
Re: Sub Amp? 1 large amp or 2 smaller amps.
I think you'd be pressed to push a system over the edge if it uses properly-set voltage limiters, especially the ones the IT and MAi series use. Yes, I'm a fanboy, and yes, I've never blown a speaker while using those limiters. None of the BEs that have been on any of my rigs have ever hurt anything, either, even many dB into gain reduction.
I think you'd be pressed to push a system over the edge if it uses properly-set voltage limiters, especially the ones the IT and MAi series use. Yes, I'm a fanboy, and yes, I've never blown a speaker while using those limiters. None of the BEs that have been on any of my rigs have ever hurt anything, either, even many dB into gain reduction.
Re: Sub Amp? 1 large amp or 2 smaller amps.
It's not that our volunteers necessarily grasp the concept of headroom but rather that we mix to a set SPL target and anyone who mixes much louder than that will be told quickly by the pastors to turn it down. So in that way having the system be capable of a fair bit more than what we will ask of it is a safety factor. Perhaps an expensive one though. Loren Jones
Re: Sub Amp? 1 large amp or 2 smaller amps.
Currently our system DSP has no comps or limiters set in it. I didn't set it up, it has been that way since installed before I got there. They set it up with amp input attenuators wide open and used the gain settings within the DSP to limit overall output. I think you could push the output of the mixing desk to near peaking and never see a peak light on any amp nor be in danger of blowing any drivers. It doesn't really protect from runaway feedback though which proper limiting would protect the drivers against to some extent. We don't ask enough output from the system to be close to running out of overhead. If we changed our subs I would probably want them to meet the same design philosophy. I am sure well designed advanced limiters like those found in MAi/itech and other top amps would provide even more safety. Loren Jones
Re: Sub Amp? 1 large amp or 2 smaller amps.
Just by way of followup I thought I would post what we ended up doing. Basically my eyes (gearlust) got way bigger than our need. I was thinking we would need 4 of these 21" front-loaded sub cabinets that I built to really cover our needs. But in the end I tried just the pair of them. Each was powered with a bridged MA2400 (8 ohm cabinets). They have no trouble handling our services and in fact I have generated complaints about the bass impact being too great. We are generally hitting 100 to 105 dbC (90 to 95 dbA) on fast response at the back of our room. In the end the MA2400 seems like a good match for these subs in our application. They could handle somewhat more power without damage, but with rookies like me running the system it will be basically impossible to hurt them under any use short of 20 hz sine waves at full power.
Thanks for all the interesting discussion.
Loren Jones
Just by way of followup I thought I would post what we ended up doing. Basically my eyes (gearlust) got way bigger than our need. I was thinking we would need 4 of these 21" front-loaded sub cabinets that I built to really cover our needs. But in the end I tried just the pair of them. Each was powered with a bridged MA2400 (8 ohm cabinets). They have no trouble handling our services and in fact I have generated complaints about the bass impact being too great. We are generally hitting 100 to 105 dbC (90 to 95 dbA) on fast response at the back of our room. In the end the MA2400 seems like a good match for these subs in our application. They could handle somewhat more power without damage, but with rookies like me running the system it will be basically impossible to hurt them under any use short of 20 hz sine waves at full power.
Thanks for all the interesting discussion.
Loren Jones
Re: Sub Amp? 1 large amp or 2 smaller amps.
Loren,
Random question for you, but what church are you at in Hampton Roads? I've been through a couple of churches there before with a band I traveled with out of Liberty University. Who knows, we may have met before!
Loren,
Random question for you, but what church are you at in Hampton Roads? I've been through a couple of churches there before with a band I traveled with out of Liberty University. Who knows, we may have met before!
Re: Sub Amp? 1 large amp or 2 smaller amps.
Hi John,
It is called Sovereign Grace Church. I have only been there 4 years, but in that time they have never hosted a concert. I would be surprised if they did so at any time before that either. I wish they would choose to do some of that sort of thing. Seems relatively hard to find many Christian concerts around here.
Did you play at Wave or Rock Church?
Take care,
Loren Jones
Hi John,
It is called Sovereign Grace Church. I have only been there 4 years, but in that time they have never hosted a concert. I would be surprised if they did so at any time before that either. I wish they would choose to do some of that sort of thing. Seems relatively hard to find many Christian concerts around here.
Did you play at Wave or Rock Church?
Take care,
Loren Jones
Re: Sub Amp? 1 large amp or 2 smaller amps.
Hmm.
I just text the two guys in the band that literally remember every name and venue we ever went to, along with a story about each one. Ha. You could say one word about a place we went to and all of a sudden they remembered every detail of the place. I'm waiting on a response now.
I don't remember the Wave or Rock church, so maybe we were more in the Norfolk area and not hampton roads? I just got a text back from one of the guys and apparently we never were over there. So now I have no clue what to think. Ha!
We traveled and recruited for LU and churches would bring us with our own gear to talk to their youth and whoever else was interested about the school. Since we recruited, we didn't really have an honorarium type of thing, usually just a love offering or a pre-determined price between our booking agent and the church. Never anything huge. Given that if someone heard about LU and ended up coming, the school was more than willing to fork out some money for us to do this as one student over 4 years means about $80,000. They even sent us out to California for a tour to do this. Typically we'd do a Saturday night concert for about an hour and a half and then do worship with them as well on Sundays. Sometimes we'd be gone 4 days out of the week, as full-time students. Was quite the challenge but got me in a LOT of venues while still being in school.
Sorry for the slight out of contexts from the OP reply.
Hmm.
I just text the two guys in the band that literally remember every name and venue we ever went to, along with a story about each one. Ha. You could say one word about a place we went to and all of a sudden they remembered every detail of the place. I'm waiting on a response now.
I don't remember the Wave or Rock church, so maybe we were more in the Norfolk area and not hampton roads? I just got a text back from one of the guys and apparently we never were over there. So now I have no clue what to think. Ha!
We traveled and recruited for LU and churches would bring us with our own gear to talk to their youth and whoever else was interested about the school. Since we recruited, we didn't really have an honorarium type of thing, usually just a love offering or a pre-determined price between our booking agent and the church. Never anything huge. Given that if someone heard about LU and ended up coming, the school was more than willing to fork out some money for us to do this as one student over 4 years means about $80,000. They even sent us out to California for a tour to do this. Typically we'd do a Saturday night concert for about an hour and a half and then do worship with them as well on Sundays. Sometimes we'd be gone 4 days out of the week, as full-time students. Was quite the challenge but got me in a LOT of venues while still being in school.
Sorry for the slight out of contexts from the OP reply.