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8 Posts
Hi all,
I had an old JBL Synthesis S400 Stereo Subwoofer Amplifier (2 x 200W @ 4 Ohms) lying around and I’ve been experimenting with 2 Mordaunt Short 309i active Subwoofers (175W @ 4 Ohms) that I picked up cheap as they had blown amps so I’m using them as passive by just feeding the drivers direct from the JBL amp. Seeing as the whole lot cost me very little it sounds great and nicely matches the rest of my Mordaunt Short 7.1 system.
Question is - would I be wasting money by using the existing (ported) enclosures and upgrading the drivers? As a quick look there are some Dayton 10” 4 Ohm 200 RMS 400 W max drivers that could fit the bill.
Currently I’m very pleased with the sound but during particularly prolonged / heavy film sequences when I have everything cranked up I can tell the subs are being pushed to their limits. As I am bypassing the 309i amps (and therefore the notch filters, crossovers and gain) there is only limited level reduction available from my Denon AV receiver the subs can get a bit overworked in those parts of movies. I could put some attenuation in somewhere but I’d rather spend the money by improving things rather than restricting.
Then a 2nd question - I actually have a 3rd 309 subwoofer with a working amp so if I wanted to go mad I could split off the Denon Sub out and feed the 3rd sub as an active. I’m not going to really benefit from much more loudness but could it even things out further? Room size is 16ft x 15 ft x 9 ft.
Any thoughts appreciated - just let me know if you need any more info.
I had an old JBL Synthesis S400 Stereo Subwoofer Amplifier (2 x 200W @ 4 Ohms) lying around and I’ve been experimenting with 2 Mordaunt Short 309i active Subwoofers (175W @ 4 Ohms) that I picked up cheap as they had blown amps so I’m using them as passive by just feeding the drivers direct from the JBL amp. Seeing as the whole lot cost me very little it sounds great and nicely matches the rest of my Mordaunt Short 7.1 system.
Question is - would I be wasting money by using the existing (ported) enclosures and upgrading the drivers? As a quick look there are some Dayton 10” 4 Ohm 200 RMS 400 W max drivers that could fit the bill.
Currently I’m very pleased with the sound but during particularly prolonged / heavy film sequences when I have everything cranked up I can tell the subs are being pushed to their limits. As I am bypassing the 309i amps (and therefore the notch filters, crossovers and gain) there is only limited level reduction available from my Denon AV receiver the subs can get a bit overworked in those parts of movies. I could put some attenuation in somewhere but I’d rather spend the money by improving things rather than restricting.
Then a 2nd question - I actually have a 3rd 309 subwoofer with a working amp so if I wanted to go mad I could split off the Denon Sub out and feed the 3rd sub as an active. I’m not going to really benefit from much more loudness but could it even things out further? Room size is 16ft x 15 ft x 9 ft.
Any thoughts appreciated - just let me know if you need any more info.