2. speakers
  3. 181144-13598

Passive subwoofer too loud.

Hi,

I have two front speakers rated at 4 ohms and a subwoofer made by the same designer (unknown specs) that should go well with his fronts, but... the subwoofer is laughably loud.

 

The designer recently passed away so I cannot get any support. I am using the same amps to drive the fronts and the subwoofer so it should not be an amp gain issue.

The subwoofer has two 12 inch drivers. Each driver has its own inputs for speaker cable. So I am running one channel of my stereo amp (again sub has its own amp - same kind of amp as fronts) to one woofer on the sub and the other channel to the other woofer on the sub. Is that the issue ? Or,  I am wondering if the sub was internally wired in series when it should have been wired in parallel or vice versa? - Just trying to understand why it is so damned loud when the same guy designed it and knew that the amplifier that I would be using with it is a typical amp - no volume control.

I am so aggravated... hope someone can help.

brjoon1021

Showing 1 response by mlsstl

mlsstl
1,394 posts
 

The gain/input sensitivity of amps can vary quite a bit. Could be the separate amp you are using for the sub simply has more gain than the amp being used for the speakers.  

As noted earlier in this thread, the Schiit SYS is a $49 passive preamp that you could use to adjust the volume of the sub. Simply put it inline in between the sub amp's input and the source output. 

Also, remember that subwoofers are extremely sensitive to their placement in a room.  Too close to corners or a wall/floor boundary can increase their loudness, particularly at certain frequencies.  You might try moving the sub further away from a corner or wall placement and see if that helps. And this particular experiment is completely free!  

More to discover