Powered Subwoofer

[Midnite8]

Hey guys, I was wondering if I could possibly purchase a home theater subwoofer which is powered that I can use instead of a studio subwoofer. Currently I have a pair of M-Audio BX8As connected to an Mbox 3, but a friend of mine said that my dual XLR to TRS Y cable that is being plugged into Output 1 is in mono. Besides that, what are some options for me, do I need a subwoofer with high pass/low pass filter, RCA input/output, etc?

[Southsidemusic]

Originally Posted by Midnite8

Hey guys, I was wondering if I could possibly purchase a home theater subwoofer which is powered that I can use instead of a studio subwoofer. Currently I have a pair of M-Audio BX8As connected to an Mbox 3, but a friend of mine said that my dual XLR to TRS Y cable that is being plugged into Output 1 is in mono. Besides that, what are some options for me, do I need a subwoofer with high pass/low pass filter, RCA input/output, etc?

Hi

If you want something sustainable and usable you should get a SW with XLR L/R in and stereo out for connecting your M-Audio speakers to as doing it the way "a friend" sugests isn't always a great idea

A "friend of mine" thought I would be a great mountainbiker and we bought expensive as Hell bikes and went for it.. I can only say that I ended up in the hospital for 4 weeks and had 2 casts for over 8 weeks aswell after that excitement so needless to say I never listen to "good ol' friends" nowadays.

We use a dedicated Genelec Sub althought maybe too expensive for your needs ($3999) but there are good studio subs out there for far less than that. KRK has one for like 500 bucks 10inch and it sounds sufficient enough and you connect your speakers into it as it splits the signal and the sound comes out right. M-Audio also have a small 10 sub that is made for your speakers and dimensions,

Best of luck and stay away from heme theater stuff in your studio setup.
Christopher

[cwsand]

Originally Posted by Midnite8

Besides that, what are some options for me, do I need a subwoofer with high pass/low pass filter, RCA input/output, etc?

Yes, you need some kind of crossover so that you're not doubling frequencies - I learned this the hard way as my mixes had weird midrangy issues.

Chris

[Midnite8]

What is the low frequency roll-off frequency for the BX8As, so when I purchase a sub I can adjust the crossover frequency

[cwsand]

Originally Posted by Midnite8

What is the low frequency roll-off frequency for the BX8As, so when I purchase a sub I can adjust the crossover frequency

Hmm... Not sure I understand what you're asking. I don't think the monitors would have a low frequency rolloff, unless it was a shelving boost or cut. I was talking about a physical crossover like the dbx 223XL which worked well for me. I suppose you could create a crossover in Pro Tools provided you have the outputs on your interface, but a hardware crossover would work best IMHO.

Chris

[Mitchbis]

Although I don't use a subwoofer currently, I would treat it like you would shopping for monitors.

A home theater setup is made to take a good sound and make it uniquely better in its own way (Bose,Sony,ect.)
If you gander at a mix for hours and tweak it until "everything's perfect"
You'll usually be disappointed when you listen to it through your car, headphones, better studio and so on because you mixed a song with a monitor that did some mixing of its own.

And +1 to southsidemusic.
Unless your friends are living off of their knowledge, think of them as Wikipedia.


Think I found a new sig...

[CME]

First thing you need is acoustic treatment. Before you add a sub or anything else. Get your room and monitors sounding better as is. Because adding more bass to an untreated room is just going to complicate things.

Then once that is done decide if a sub is still needed. I have one hooked up through a jbl msc-1. But honestly the msc-1 helped most of the low end issues to the point I rarely use the sub. But I do turn it on every now and then jut do double check. And what's great about it, is it helps set the crossover, phase response, and level. All of which is hard to do by ear.

[Midnite8]

The frequency response of the monitors are 40-22hz, the 40 is the lowest the monitors can go. If I purchase say, the JBL LSR2310SP, I see that it has an adjustment for crossover frequency; 80hz, 120hz, or external. Or an KRK 10s has crossover frequency adjustment of 50hz, 80, 120. What would I adjust the frequency to?

[nst7]

80 hz is the most common crossover point, and should work for most situations. This applies both to music and to sound for video/film.

I recommend the KRK10s, as it's reasonably priced, sounds good, and has a jack for a footswitch that allows you to bypass the sub, thus sending the full range of audio to the monitors, as if the sub wasn't there.

The Roland FS-1 footswitch would be great for this. I would try to get the mix sounding good with the sub bypassed, then switch it on to check your low end.