[Pav26]

Howdy fellas,

Got a Sunfire True EQ (TS-EQ10) on it's way to me, pretty excited. I have a few issues/questions, thought you guys might be able to help.

1. The sub is missing it's microphone, used to plug into the sub and perform it's auto EQ. The sub seems to take a normal 3.5mm jack input, though. It says in the manual to only use Sunfire's mic, but couldn't I just plug in another one and use that? I'm guessing it'd have to be a good mic though, not many cheap microphones pick up on bass very well (That's what it's gotta pick up to adjust the sound/EQ). Thoughts?

2. It's a 120v US sub and I'm in the UK, so 230V outlets. I've heard that many people use subs with a step down transformer without any issues at all, so that seems good. My question is which one to get though? In the manual, it states 600W "typical" usage, 2700W peak. What sort of wattage transformers should I be looking at? I'm guessing something around the 3000w mark, if it peaks at 2700w I want to be able to get that power out of it.

Any help is much appreciated! :T

 

[Jungle Jack]

Howdy fellas,

Got a Sunfire True EQ (TS-EQ10) on it's way to me, pretty excited. I have a few issues/questions, thought you guys might be able to help.

1. The sub is missing it's microphone, used to plug into the sub and perform it's auto EQ. The sub seems to take a normal 3.5mm jack input, though. It says in the manual to only use Sunfire's mic, but couldn't I just plug in another one and use that? I'm guessing it'd have to be a good mic though, not many cheap microphones pick up on bass very well (That's what it's gotta pick up to adjust the sound/EQ). Thoughts?

2. It's a 120v US sub and I'm in the UK, so 230V outlets. I've heard that many people use subs with a step down transformer without any issues at all, so that seems good. My question is which one to get though? In the manual, it states 600W "typical" usage, 2700W peak. What sort of wattage transformers should I be looking at? I'm guessing something around the 3000w mark, if it peaks at 2700w I want to be able to get that power out of it.

Any help is much appreciated! :T

Hello,
I am somewhat concerned about there being issues using a step transformer when talking about this many watts. I would certainly email Sunfire. That being said, perhaps some of our European HTS'ers might have been down this road before.

As for the EQ cable, if memory serves, I think you can use a regular one. However, I would not place my confidence-o-meter higher than 64.36267%....
Best,
Jack

 

[Pav26]

Hello,
I am somewhat concerned about there being issues using a step transformer when talking about this many watts. I would certainly email Sunfire. That being said, perhaps some of our European HTS'ers might have been down this road before.

As for the EQ cable, if memory serves, I think you can use a regular one. However, I would not place my confidence-o-meter higher than 64.36267%....
Best,
Jack

Cheers for the reply Jack,

After reading up a lot on subwoofers and step up/down transformers, I have concluded it shouldn't be too big of an issue - Sunfire even supplied their own step down transformer with the original True EQ sub, which also carried a 2700 watt power rating. This is what it looked like: http://i.imgur.com/s1YkydT.jpg. I just think I need a good quality one, that'll provide solid power to give to the sub, an hopefully it'll be fine; just not sure which one exactly! At max continuous rated power, it's only 600w. 2700w is a very time limited figure, less than a few seconds like it says in the manual. I've shot an email about this to Sunfire like you suggested too, just hope they reply!

64.36267%?! :rofl2: Thanks haha - No harm in trying a normal one, (I hope)!
Pav

 

[Jungle Jack]

Figuring that it is a switching mode power amplifier on it, that most certainly might be the case. Moreover, many components out there even allow you to switch voltage on the fly and or require a tiny amount of modification. However, my concern would be that it works, but is not achieving peak power. It is just many of us Norte Americanos have so little experience with such a scenario. An alarm clock or electric razor? Sure.

 

[Pav26]

Yip, Sunfire have a True "Jr" model, and in that manual it says that if you want to connect the sub to a 230v line in another country, they recommend a step down transformer of 500w or more. (Page 7, http://theater.stevejenkins.com/docs/Sunfire_True_Jr_Subwoofer_Manual.pdf). This model uses 300W typical, and 1200W peak - so I dunno, not sure how the 500w step down can supply that 1200w peak. Those are Sunfire's words though, so I guess it must work. Just gotta find out what the True EQ 10 needs.

There's no going back though, the sub is on it's way to me in the UK - was kind of an impulse buy, but really hope I can use it here.

 

[fusseli]

If it's 300W "typical" a 500W transformer would be plenty. Transformers are capable of handling infrequent transients just fine without damage. Just don't run it over 500W continuous. There would be a LOT of SPL near 300-500W continuous.

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

1. The sub is missing it's microphone, used to plug into the sub and perform it's auto EQ. The sub seems to take a normal 3.5mm jack input, though. It says in the manual to only use Sunfire's mic, but couldn't I just plug in another one and use that?

Probably not, at least not to good effect. For one thing, the mic pre-amp the Sunfire has might be “tailor-made” to match the mic. Another mic might have higher output that would overload the pre-amp, or perhaps not have enough output to make the auto EQ system work right.

The other thing is that, as you alluded, the mic is probably cheap (as is typically the case with these mics) and doesn’t have flat response, and as such the subwoofer has a built-in calibration for it. Any other mic you plug into it will have a different natural frequency response than the stock mic – see additional relevant info here.

Regards,
Wayne

 

[Pav26]

Thanks fusseli, I went ahead and ordered a 1000W (The 300w/500w example was for the smaller version of my sub, mine is 600w typical) isolated transformer, though the one I ordered is a conditioning balanced power supply (with all the RFI/EMF shields, etc) to keep unwanted ground loops and noise floor levels down. I didn't so much order it for that function, but it was the closest thing to a isolated transformer - and I guess it can't hurt to have the extra filters and such. Should be arriving tomorrow, I'll report back on my findings when I get to fire the whole thing up.

Wayne - Thanks, that's a lot of info. I realized the socket isn't even 3.5mm, so plugging a cheap one in is out of the question. I read through a bit of the thread you linked me to. If your point of each particular mic being calibrated and tuned to match each sub by a technician before being shipped, then I'm guessing I will never get the response that I'd otherwise get with the "stock" microphone. I'll ask Sunfire about this though...