Brian's Dual FI 18" IB Giveaway Build Thread

**bonehead848** · **05-29-08, 09:05 PM**

I have made it successfully into my new home and we are now unpacked enough to where I can escape to the garage for some fun!

Equipment for the build includes:
2 18" Fi IB subwoofers - One of which was won in the FI audio giveaway here at the shack!
EP2500 - I got this brand new for $250 thanks to a deal posted by Sonnie!
EQ - depending on how my fr looks I will probably be buying a bfd. Because of finances I am going to wait a little bit for this one.

I bought wood yesterday, cut today, and am in the process of assembly tonight. My joist spacing is 16" so the dimensions I have gone with are 14.5" x 22" x 20". I know many people say build it to fit four and cap two but buying the stuff I have now stretched my budget enough (i am a medical student...) so upgrading to four is not really an option anyway.

What I am doing now is trying to decide how to fasten the drivers to the box. I know everyone around these parts loves hurricane/t nuts but I am still thinking. I also have to run my wires. Because I bought the amp new I would like to keep the warranty so no fan mod for me. To get rid of fan noise I am going to be locating it in my laundry room adjacent to the listening area. Already built a shelf for it and it passed the waf test.

Thanks again to the shack, fi, and all those who provided advice!!!

**Sonnie** · **05-30-08, 06:26 PM**

Lookin' good... and glad to know some folks did get that deal on the amp.

**bonehead848** · **05-31-08, 12:33 AM**

Test fit checks out and t-nuts are in place. It killed me trying to get this thing into my attic alone but I pulled it off. Don't know when I will have the chance to get it into place but I am close. I am so psyched I can hardly stand it!

**bonehead848** · **06-02-08, 12:04 AM**

Got it into place today. I am going out of town tomorrow so I have not had time to get measurements or play with it yet but it is up and running. Impressions will follow later this week.

**bonehead848** · **06-08-08, 12:16 AM**

Here is a couple pics of the finished project. This thing is CRAZY powerful. There have been a number of times I turned it down because I feared the house might get damaged. Now I am looking to pick up a BFD because I need a low pass. My receiver is sending all sub frequencies and I want to cut it to below 60 only. I will get some measurements once I get that up and running.

**Chicago** · **06-13-08, 09:12 AM**

Hi, just was looking at your post, That sub looks real nasty(in a good way)!!!! Just a couple questions for ya. First how do you like the sound? Can you tell the sound from sub is coming from above? I was looking to do something very similar in my project , except i was going to put sub into side of wall and cover it with a painting with panty hose (nylon) type material. Does the grill vibrate at all? Id love to hear what that sounds like .

**Bob_99** · **06-13-08, 10:18 AM**

Brian,

I'm just curious to know what type to temperature fluctuation occurs in the area of your IB.

Thanks.

bob

**bonehead848** · **06-13-08, 10:22 AM**

Quote:

Chicago wrote:

Hi, just was looking at your post, That sub looks real nasty(in a good way)!!!! Just a couple questions for ya. First how do you like the sound? Can you tell the sound from sub is coming from above? I was looking to do something very similar in my project , except i was going to put sub into side of wall and cover it with a painting with panty hose (nylon) type material. Does the grill vibrate at all? Id love to hear what that sounds like .

The sound is amazing. It is just there, so effortless. The only thing I don't like is that my receiver is sending all lfe to it and I am in the process of changing that to only under 60Hz. Just waiting for my bfd to get here. After that it should be near perfect.

For frequencies below around 80 I cannot tell at all where they are coming from. Above that I can. Again, this will be fixed once I incorporate a bfd.

No grill movement for me at all. I know of a few people who have used nylon type stuff over at the cult with great success. As long as it is pulled tight it should be fine.

Quote:

Bob_99 wrote:

Brian,

I'm just curious to know what type to temperature fluctuation occurs in the area of your IB.

Thanks.

bob

Are you referring to how hot my attic gets or if it transmits heat into my listening room? I figured it would transmit some heat so in an effort to prevent this I lined all exposed sides (except the 2 sides with the woofers) with insulation. I can get a pic of that if you like. I do not know if it helps or not but I live in OK where it gets really hot so I figure anything helps.

**Bob_99** · **06-13-08, 11:17 AM**

Brian,

Sorry I wasn't clearer on my question. How cold in the winter and how hot in the summer? Since heat rises, you shouldn't have a problem with it getting in the house although in the winter I would be interested in how much cold air comes down. I had asked that question over at the cult and they suggested a plug if it really got cold but I really didn't want to hassle with climbing on a ladder every time I wanted to listen to my system. Being in Oklahoma City though, I don't cold air will be a concern for you. In any case, you did a nice job and I hope you get to do a lot of listening.

Thanks.

bob

**bonehead848** · **07-01-08, 11:48 PM**

So occasionally when I have been listening at reasonable levels (nothing extreme) my amp has been clipping. I am quite surprised by this because I would think my amp should be much much more capable than what I am getting. I had my hk at +0 and the ep2500 at full gain. What should I change? Do I need a cleanbox or something?

**Mike P.** · **07-02-08, 12:51 AM**

What's the chance you have rodents in your attic?

http://www.hometheatershack.com/foru...ike-crazy.html

**bonehead848** · **07-02-08, 12:54 AM**

Quote:

Mike P. wrote:

What's the chance you have rodents in your attic?

http://www.hometheatershack.com/foru...ike-crazy.html

haha, wow. I was up there today and the cord looked fine so I guess thats good

**Robert_J** · **07-02-08, 01:44 PM**

Quote:

bonehead848 wrote:

Now I am looking to pick up a BFD because I need a low pass. My receiver is sending all sub frequencies and I want to cut it to below 60 only.

The BFD does not contain any type of crossover. It is an EQ only.

-Robert

**bonehead848** · **07-02-08, 02:15 PM**

Quote:

Robert_J wrote:

The BFD does not contain any type of crossover. It is an EQ only.

-Robert

you can set up filters in such a way that it behaves as a crossover, i actually recently received mine and set it up. It sounds great.

**bonehead848** · **07-03-08, 05:34 PM**

I think I solved the problem. I reached up into the box today and felt the subs going. One of them was booming alot less than the other. I went up into the attic and all cords were perfect so I figured it was something with that channel of my ep2500. I then bridged them and then BOOM, everything works perfect! I think the reason I was clipping was that only one sub was performing well causing me to push it too hard. Now that they are both performing well I don't have to push it too hard. This thing just continues to blow my mind. My brothers are in town and playing warhawk and every explosion sounds like a bomb dropped in the room. It is amazing...

Just so I know though, what happens if I turn the clip limiter off? Does it risk hurting the subs more?

**Robert_J** · **07-04-08, 10:35 AM**

If one of your subs was "booming" and the other was not, then there was something wrong. It would have been best to solve that issue rather than bridging the amp. That may be a bandaid on a larger problem.

According to the manual, the limiter should be used when you have a distorted input signal. I have mine turned off so that I get full dyanmic range.

-Robert

**bonehead848** · **07-04-08, 12:31 PM**

I was thinking the same thing but because I have no testing equipment and it would cost a bundle to ship the amp anywhere do you have any suggestions on how to figure out what was going wrong?

**ccdoggy** · **07-20-08, 12:39 PM**

Take a multimeter to the two subs independently and see what the resistances are.

Take a look at them when they are playing a test tone or something and really see if one is moving more then the other one.

**thxgoon** · **07-20-08, 02:24 PM**

If the amp is bridged now how was it hooked up before? Sounds to me like a bad connection on the input side of the amp... Maybe a bad cable?

**bonehead848** · **07-20-08, 02:28 PM**

I had them on separate channels before. Once I bridged it the output was identical between the two woofers.

**thxgoon** · **07-20-08, 02:59 PM**

Ya, sounds like a problem on the input side of the amp or a bad cable. Glad you got everything working though

**bonehead848** · **08-13-08, 09:52 PM**

Looks like you guys ended up being right. My amp is now toast. Thankfully I did not do any mods and it is still under warranty so I am sending it back for a new one. I do have to pay shipping though

. So with this bad experience I am thinking of selling the one I get back on ebay and picking up something else. I had a buttkicker for my old RL-P15 and I really liked it, auto on, no fan, etc. I know it has high distortion but i couldnt tell. So should I sell the ep2500 or keep the new one hoping my one bad experience will be a fluke?

**thxgoon** · **08-14-08, 03:00 PM**

Ouch what a bummer. I know that some independent testing confimed that the EP2500 was a stronger amp than the buttkicker.

Do you have a multimeter? If not they can be had fairly cheaply (less than shipping an amp). Test the resistance on each woofer, test the cables and anything else you can think of to make certain there are no short circuits. Diagnose the problem, and rule out the amp. If you can't find anything wrong, then it's likely you just had a bad amp and with the warrenty and service from Behringer, I'd say stick with the 2500.

**Sonnie** · **08-14-08, 03:33 PM**

Definitely stick with the EP2500. They are proven and a LOT of people use them. I am about to order another one myself. I should not have sold mine to begin with... it already had the fan mod.

**bonehead848** · **08-15-08, 03:30 PM**

I took thxgoons advice and picked up a multimeter. I doubt it will surprise anyone to know that one of the 18's did not register on the device. The other was right on at 2 ohms. The broken sub is now back on its way to fi. So once I receive the amp and sub back, no matter which one started the problems, everything will hopefully work. Thanks again for all the help.

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