# I need sub power, lots of it!



## raamaudio (May 4, 2005)

Now running 4 ID15 subs, separate sealed enclosures, my SA1000 PE amp was great on the huge horn loaded dual ID15 I just took out of the system but it was butt ugly though sounded great and loud!

With just 1kw the subs cannot keep up with the Edgarhorns 10 watts of tube fun, ok for most music but when I want to massage my feet with bass, I need more, lots more

I also need the EQ, variable phase, etc as it really dials in the subs response.

I knew 1kw was not nearly enough, Eric recommend 4 times that for what I want to do.

I went with 2 cubes sealed for fitment into the room, looks, etc......instead of larger ported enclosures and I like the control of a sealed sub best. (Horn loaded is cool but to really do it right, the way oversized chest freezer would still of needed many feet added to the length of the horn body!) I will build a massive in floor system on my next place, a HUGE one

Options:

1) Buy a second SA1000, run two subs each, when not wanting to pound, just run one amp/2 subs...not sure if going to be enough power yet!

2) Open up the SQ1000, tap into the driver stage before the gain stage, after EQ, etc......however it is designed, feed that out to my Crown 2kw AB PA amp....same amount of power, or so they say, it weighs 4 times as much as the SA1000, big power supply, big current capacity(big caps help, could put even bigger ones in)

3) Buy a Crown D class, 5kw amp for $900, use the SA as a preamp, etc as above. BUT, I have never heard one single D class amp I like, ever, no matter the cost or marketing, amp boner, etc...whatever Though I am open to suggestions if anybody has a different, actual knowledge, recommendation.

4) To back to the huge ugly sub my wife really liked and did not care about the looks as she loves to be massaged by bass Actually I ran the 2kw amp on it for awhile, then it really came alive, wow!

I looked at many options for a processor, the only ones I liked were to much money, I wanted a crossover so I could stop running full range to the Edgarhorns though they never seemed stressed from it. The others were not acceptable because I am not inserting extra ADC and DACs into the system, not a change. My Oppo SE Blu Ray player has quad 24 bit output DACs on the stereo channels and is amazing to say the least, not going to downgrade that signal quality. 

Though using the crossover in the SA1000, just 80HZ on the high pass which is to high, it sounds pretty dang good. I will be upgrading the op amps, caps, changing the freq, etc eventually. Or, go back to running full range again, going to test that, today

Let me know what you think, please

Thanks
Rick


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## Dr_jitsu (Dec 17, 2010)

I run 2 Chase Home Theater 18.2 subs off the one SA1000amp. They perform very well but sometimes I wonder if I need more power.


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## raamaudio (May 4, 2005)

I knew I would need quite a bit of power but also they would sound dang good and they do, just not LOUD enough, yet

Two of these with 2kw or so would rock but I want to rock the house off the foundation

Rick


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## raamaudio (May 4, 2005)

I will have this sorted out soon, today most likely

I picked up two 1,800 watt well rated pro audio amps for $600 total, AB, each weighs 37 lbs! 

I opened up the SA1000 and found it easy to locate the preamp, after all the EQ, crossover, phase, gain, etc stages, going to measure the voltage while running a test disk at a fixed frequency to ensure there is enough voltage to drive these amps. I might run two subs on the 1kw(500 at 8 ohms actually) and two on one of the pro audio, 1,800 at 8 ohms, depending on what sounds best. 

If not enough to drive either setup it will be easy to insert a line driver in series to get whatever voltage I need. 


I will have either 2,800 or 3,600 watts total for the 4 subs, either should be plenty. If the SA1000/single 1,800 amp does the trick the other 1,800 amp will go into my band room PA rack to power subs for it. 

Rick


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