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Need advice on a passive subwoofer

I might be in the need of a passive subwooofer in the near future. I won't know until I've broken in a new set of speakers. I've been advised that I should look for a passive sub with an impedence of 4 ohms. I don't need a homewrecker, just a musical sub to fill in whenever the need arises. A subtle sub will sufffice. I would appreciate any suggestions as I have no working knowledge of such a device. The speakers are down 3db @37hz and my room size is small: 15' by 11'. My price range would be up to about $500. Any suggestions would be appreciated
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kr4's avatar
kr4
3,651 posts
 
Ha. So you are planning to add an amp/crossover and, in effect, make it an active sub. You should have said so.

Kal
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rauliruegas
12,832 posts
 
Dear Nonoise: Makes no-nonsense to ask for a passive subwoofer.

A self powered subwoofer ( active ) has a dedicated amplifier that match with any single woofer parameter: impedance, damping, range frecuency, power, etc, etc..
No one external amplifier can match the characteristic of any subwoofer.

Please read the follow link:

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?eanlg&1117893153&openflup&27&4#27

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?eanlg&1117893153&openflup&31&4#31

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.
nonoise's avatar
nonoise OP
10,577 posts
 
No, I wasn't planning on adding a crossover and/or amp: as I stated in my initial post, I'm new to this and need advice and appreciate all the input I can get. I don't know where this will lead or how I'll end up implementing the sub. My goal is a symbiotic relationship w/my existing system with no 'seams' in the sound.
And Raul, thanks for the leads; I'll check them out.
warnerwh
539 posts
 
Nonoise: You're welcome. If you want any more help just email me. I'm not a dealer for a living, sell only two lines and do it as part of my hobby. This is over thirty years I've spent doing this and so I figure I must love it.
snofun3
601 posts
 
Passive, sorta powered, no plate amps, build your own (better than factory (sure), crossover, no crossover.

Sure glad I bought my Revel where they had that all that impedance, damping, Q etc. figured out.

OK, I'm lost, nevermind.

One more time - if you go with a passive (as a passive - ie taking power from the main amp and routing above the crossover point to the main speakers), depending on efficiency it could be too loud, too soft or whatever. Your only potential to decrease the volume of the sub would be to put a resistor in the line to the sub, a yucky way to go.

If you're going to add an outboard amp to a passive sub, then you have - guess what - an active sub If you're going to do that anyway, then buy one where the manu. has already done the matching of all the characteristics mentioned above, rather than guess.

Why cobble something together and hope and pray that it works when manufacturers already have done the legwork?

The reason I mentioned the REL subs before is that they have a unique way of using high level outputs to combine with your speakers.
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