7.6 cu.ft Maelstrom- X 18" build

**dradius** · **09-18-09, 09:17 AM**

Good move. You'll love the amp

**sub_junkie** · **09-22-09, 05:40 PM**

Got the amp and hooked it all up. All I can say it WOW. What a difference. My family had some Aunts and Uncle's in from out of town, and they can feel it in the living room over 30 feet away, and my room is surrounded by two other rooms.
I haven't had it turned up too far yet though

My mom doesn't like it, and the pictures on the wall next to the sub are going crazy. Now I have plenty of head room

I doubt I would even need a HPF with the levels I'm listening to it at, but I'm not going to take a chance with that.

I only have one problem though. When my MIC220 is connected to the EP2500, there is a hum coming from the sub. The hum goes away if just the EP is connected, but is there if the MIC is connected also. When I turn the gain down on the EP2500, the hum is gone. Same thing happens if I turn dow the Output settings on the MIC2200. I called Behringer, and a tech person recommended getting a power conditioner. He also recommended getting new cables if that didn't fix the hum.
I have noticed that the bass seems much tighter now. With the 150w amp, it seemed sluggish, but that is fixed now.
The only thing is I can't keep the amp but for 5 or 6 days as it is an early Christmas gift. Oh well.
Hopefully, everyone in the house will leave so I can crank the volume

Thanks again everyone for the help.

**sub_junkie** · **09-24-09, 10:59 AM**

Sorry for another double post.
I was able to clip my EP2500 while playing Bass I Love You by BassoTronics, and while playing Gangbangin 101 by Snoop Dogg. I have my mains and surrounds set at 0dB on my receiver, and the sub channel clips if it is a 0dB. If I turn it down to -1dB, then it's all good. I have the gain all the way up on the EP2500. On my MIC2200, the HPF setting is 2 clicks up from being on 12hz, so I'm assuming this is maybe around 16-18hz HPF? I have the EQ turned down to 0dB (straight up and down) and the octave bandwidth between 0.7 and 1.2. The output is set in the middle of 0 and +8dB.

It sound so good...

**Ryan Anderson** · **09-24-09, 09:43 PM**

Quote:

sub_junkie wrote:

Gangbangin 101 by Snoop Dogg.

sheesh

Quote:

sub_junkie wrote:

It sound so good...

I wish I saw that more often. Isn't it great to hear that about a build log?

**Mike P.** · **09-25-09, 07:31 AM**

I can imagine what Bass I Love You sounds like, Kinda shakes the walls eh?

**sub_junkie** · **09-25-09, 12:58 PM**

Quote:

Ryan Anderson wrote:

sheesh

I wish I saw that more often. Isn't it great to hear that about a build log?

I don't listen to any rap, but I just heard it on the radio, and it hit pretty hard, so I cranked it up

Mike,

The 11hz tone on Bass I Love You is insane.

It shakes pictures in my parents' bedroom over 30 feet away, and it is blocked from my room by two other rooms. I tried to get a video if it, but I set the house alarm off

Scared the you know what out of me. Shortly before that, my mom asked me to turn it down, but I didn't get to it in time

Here's a video I made of it with it not even at half power

Mal-X

Man... this puts movie theaters to shame big time now

I have an idea...

Spoiler

**sub_crazy** · **09-25-09, 01:32 PM**

What's wrong with rap? Especially to show your bass chops!

I used to use Dangerous by Busta Rhymes to show off my system's bass a long time ago. Someone who had a very expensive car audio system who plays jazz and classic rock 90% of the time used Le Tigre's "We like the cars that go boom" to show how well his subs performed and it was impressive.

Nice clip Sub_Junkie, careful with the levels though so you don't knock things to the ground or your sub might find it's way to the garage

**sub_junkie** · **09-25-09, 05:20 PM**

I use some rap somgs to show the bass also. I just don't listen to it usually. A good rap bass test is that Snoop Dogg song. I also think Gripping The Grain Chopped and Screwed is pretty good. True low bass testers are Opus Dei, The Bass Will Destroy You and Bass I Love You by BassoTronics, and Bach's Toccata and Fugue

What songs do you HT guys use to show off low bass?

**sub_crazy** · **09-25-09, 05:44 PM**

Movies.....hmmmmm

Live Free or Die Hard Blu-ray is a great demo in a lot of places but the best is the Jet vs Semi scene. This scene can get really crazy and I actually did some cosmetic damage to one of my woofers.

War of the Worlds is a classic bass demo scene were the pods come out of the ground.

The Haunting DTS DVD is always a treat that I demoed again after a few years just recently. I hope this comes to Blu-ray soon.

Master and Commander and U571 are 2 that comes to mind as well.

Shoot em up Blu-ray has some good scenes.

I have various Blu-ray's, CD's and SACD's I use when I am listening to a new sub as I am familiar with the bass. Ironically since I defended rap none of these tracks I use for evaluation have any rap.
LF or DH is always used as well as a small section from Shoot em Up and sometimes Roy Orbison Black and White night on Blu-ray. I use various jazz music to see if the bass is correct. I also use some various DTS-HD MA and TrueHD demo discs from time to time.
I just use these as I am very familiar with these tracks so I can quickly identify is something is wrong. LF or DH I have learned to be careful with though as I tried it with a single sub with an aluminum cone and went a bit too far and dented the cone.......

There are a bunch of others but that is just what came to mind.

**sub_junkie** · **09-25-09, 08:26 PM**

Wow. How did it dent the cone?

Thanks for the movie suggestions. I will have to check them out now

**sub_crazy** · **09-25-09, 08:36 PM**

Quote:

sub_junkie wrote:

Wow. How did it dent the cone?

The driver was rocking out too much and reached it's excursion limits. It still works fine but were the cone attaches in the middle hit the back plate and caused the dent. This was in a new room and found out really fast that 1 sub was not going to cut it. Of course this happened with LF or DH as it breezed through the other tests, I could hear when bad stuff started to happen but I was too late with the pause button.

I am surprised I haven't cooked a driver fully yet, most on this forum would say I am just not trying hard enough

**Mike P.** · **09-25-09, 09:25 PM**

Rent the Incredible Hulk movie, the part where they hit him with the sound gun is awesome.

**sub_junkie** · **09-25-09, 09:30 PM**

Edit: I meant that sucks to Sub_crazy

I didn't mean the movie part Mike. Sorry for the confusion

That sucks.
I have noticed that it sounds like the driver is bottoming out while listening to regular music. How can this be happening? The amp isn't clipping, and it doesn't look like the sub is at 33mm, but it sound like it. I have the HPF set at a minimum of 12hz, and there shouldn't be any bass below what sounds like 20hz. I especially noticed it while playing Throw It Up Chopped And Screwed. My mains were set at -7dB, and the receiver is set at 62dB. The sub channel was set at 0dB. I have the gain all the way up on the EP2500, and the output on the MIC2200 is in between 0dB and +8dB, so I'm guessing it's set around +4dB or so. Should the sub be louder that what it is with the gain and everything how it is?

**sub_junkie** · **09-26-09, 01:48 AM**

I think that vicious circle of upgrading has begun...

What would be the optimum box size for a dual 18" PR'd Mal-X? I'm mostly just curious, but can't get it to model it right. If it looks much much better on the low end (not that I really need more...) I might just get a few PR's from Kevin in a few months

I would like to model it in my program, so if someone models it, could I get all the specs like the weight added, etc...? I can get the PR's specs though haha.
I just don't know how to compare a PR'd box compared to the ported on I already have according to WinISD. I just can't seem to get it right.

**Ryan Anderson** · **09-26-09, 04:22 AM**

Quote:

sub_junkie wrote:

The 11hz tone on Bass I Love You is insane.

I thought it was 18Hz and 7Hz? I've heard several other's too...I'd like to know the actual tones

**sub_junkie** · **09-26-09, 12:59 PM**

I had heard that it was 6hz, and 11hz tones in it. But, who knows. I will try a 11hz test tone if I get a chance to see if it compares to the one in the song. I will try lower test tones also to see which one compares the best to the 6hz or 8hz tone. Would there be a program that can tell you what the bass tones in a song is?

**sub_junkie** · **09-26-09, 02:44 PM**

About how much mass would I need to apply to both PR's in a 5 cu.ft box?

**Mike P.** · **09-26-09, 02:54 PM**

Quote:

I just don't know how to compare a PR'd box compared to the ported on I already have according to WinISD.

The PR's will show that it rolls off a little faster compared to a ported sub.

**sub_crazy** · **09-26-09, 03:42 PM**

Mike P. would have a better idea if it is worth it but I don't think you will gain anything by going the PR route over your large ported enclosure. The only gain you will get is a smaller enclosure. The extra money would be better spent on another Mal-X if you can shoe horn it in.

**sub_junkie** · **09-26-09, 05:06 PM**

So basically, the PR's wouldn't be much of an improvement?

**Mike P.** · **09-26-09, 08:57 PM**

Nope. Did you get your hum problem solved?

**sub_junkie** · **09-27-09, 12:30 AM**

Ok, thanks.
Not yet. I'm going to try to pick up a power conditioner sometime next week. Hopefully that will solve it.

**NEO Dan** · **09-27-09, 09:06 PM**

Generally there two really common causes of hum with this setup:

Cable TV that causes hum because of bad ground.
Good old ground loop from being on a different circuit.
Bad signal cable setup between the AVR and MIC2200, the 1/4" mono to RCA adapter, or anything that shorts the ring to sleeve or XLR pins 1&3 makes it easier to get noise.

You should try to fix any grounding issue if at all possible.

Un-hook any cable feed and or HDMI to your AVR to see if the hum goes away.
Trying a power strip with CATV Coax "filtering" will also tell you if your cable feed is improperly grounded. If that works your cable feed has a bad ground most likely.

Run a nice heavy ground between the AVR and EP2500 if you've got a ground loop. But if that fixes it you should also look at having the electrical system in the house fixed because that's the real source of the problem.

You should always run balanced cable between the MIC2200 and EP2500. A Mic cable is the same as a balanced patch cable, both work correctly. This is not a fix for a ground loop but the correct way to connect the two.

If you are using a RCA adapter between the AVR and MIC2200, customize the cable with a balanced XLR on the MIC2200 end like so:

DO NOT connect the shield to signal - anywhere.

**sub_junkie** · **09-27-09, 10:39 PM**

Here's the cables that I bought:

The cable going from the MIC2200 to the EP2500

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...=158365&is=REG

The cable from my receiver to the MIC2200

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...=133652&is=REG

The Behringer Tech had me dicsonnect the RCA cable going to the MIC2200, and the noise was still there. As soon as I turn off the MIC2200, and keept the EP2500 on, the noise goes away. He said that the hum issue could be from my cables, or needing a power conditioner. He also had me try a different outlet in my room, and the noise was still there.

Thanks for the help NEO. Is there any easy way to get a 14hz HPF or very close to it without using REW?

**sub_junkie** · **09-28-09, 02:19 PM**

After listening more at high volumes, it appears the the driver is actually reaching or very close to its Xmax. There is definiely distorion; the MIC2200 is at 0dB at the max, and I have the gain on the EP2500 all the way up. The Output knob on the 2200 is at 0dB. I had my receiver at 65dB, the mains and surronds turned down to -10dB, and the Sub channel was set at +6dB. This is happening while listening to songs like Down 4 Tha Krown by Kottonmouth Kings, Throw It Up (Chopped and Screwed). The driver sound like it is bottoming out on the tones in Bass I Love You, except for the 6hz and 11hz tones suprisingly. So, it sounds like its hitting its limits on the 30hz and up tones. It shouldn't be doing that, right?
I also found a small cracked piece of drywall in the corner of the sub.

It's very hard to see. I had to be very close the the corner of the wall to see it.

I found something very wrong with my computer...

That can't be good haha. I don't look at anything bad on my computer. (seriously)

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