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Custom Paradigm 2200 (1 Viewer)

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Jason Higgins
I have a second generation Paradigm PW-2200 subwoofer from a buddy of mine. The amplifiers power supply seems to have gone completely dead. This generation of subwoofer is 400w RMS continuous.

I do not want to replace the amp with the same piece of crap for the money I have to give Paradigm. I'm looking to completely seal off the existing amp area and install an amp that will sit seperately from the subwoofer box.

I'm looking at the Dayton amplifiers. I'm debating between the 1000w and 500w models. The 1000 seems like it might explode my sub to pieces. However, the subwoofer is an 8 ohm speaker, which brings its power down to a little under 500w RMS and also makes life easier on the amp.

I'm also curious how Paradigm comes up with their power ratings on such a small looking amplifier that really weighs nothing with an 8 ohm speaker? I can't imagine it could dish out 400 rms. But I'm also no expert on this Class D stuff. I can see the subwoofer taking it, it's a pretty beefy monster with a good heavy stack of magnets, and it looks like it was made to really dissipate heat.

I know a lot of people like the behringer amps, but I'm really not interested in a piece of pro audio equipment that isn't quite made for home theater playing.
 

schan1269

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I would actually buy any one of the Behringer. Forget another "plate amp".

Send RobertJ a PM to see what he thinks about a "specific one"(unless he sees this and responds).

But yeah, sealing that off and outboarding the amp is a perfect idea.

Edit:
And yeah I know you have a predisposition against the Behringer. But the feddback destroyer...once you have it, you won't go back to not having it.
 
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Jason Higgins
At first, I was looking to do just a simple fix with maybe another brand of plate amp, but the design of this subwoofer box has only a narrow strip on one side, with the giant port in the way for any other plate amp to have a chance of being retrofitted into the box.

I was looking at both the SA, and SPA 1000 models. I'm assuming they're both the same, except one is already conveniently mounted in a seperate enclosure. If I was to cheap out, I'd probably build a custom enclosure for the plate model. Either way, I have no intentions of putting another plate amp with this box.

I don't want to end up sinkin too much money into this setup, but I think it'll be pretty awesome. Standing this thing next to my Velodyne DPS 10 (which does a great job at rattling the hell out of my basement with only 185w RMS) it makes it look like a little baby subwoofer.

But, I may look again at the behringer. I just like the auto on with the LFE input that I don't see with the behringer. I know the fan can be noisy, but that's something I can easily replace with a quieter one. I've had more then enough experience playing with computer fans.

Thanks.
 

schan1269

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Don't be enthralled by "auto-on" via RCA.

It sucks. I have never, and I mean never, had an amp that worked as intended.

The amp either never turns off anyway...or it doesn't wake up.

I leave mine on. In the rooms where I have limited listening, I connected it to an outlet controlled by a light switch. If you don't have one controlled via a light switch...it isn't all that terrible to do a retro-fit.
 
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Jason Higgins
Yah, regardless of quality, it seems the auto on eventually gets weak and starts to fail, or sometimes doens't kick on when you want, or even goes off during quiet moments in a movie and then you miss the first moments of a sudden action scene. I was actually looking into a way of using the 12v trigger (via the receiver) to somehow make it come on. That power strip is actually the perfect tool. I'm assuming it's simply a relay energized by the 12v DC to close the switch on the 120 Hot side. I would expect something like that to last practically forever. I had a similar device like that on an aquarium controller for turning Metal Halide lights on/off. Most of the onboard switches weren't powerful enough to handle the current of the lights, but a relay controlled switch easily takes it.

I remember searching for a device like that, and couldn't find anything. Thanks.
 

Tom Vodhanel

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Porcupinepuffer said:
I have a second generation Paradigm PW-2200 subwoofer from a buddy of mine. The amplifiers power supply seems to have gone completely dead. This generation of subwoofer is 400w RMS continuous.

I do not want to replace the amp with the same piece of crap for the money I have to give Paradigm. I'm looking to completely seal off the existing amp area and install an amp that will sit seperately from the subwoofer box.

I'm looking at the Dayton amplifiers. I'm debating between the 1000w and 500w models. The 1000 seems like it might explode my sub to pieces. However, the subwoofer is an 8 ohm speaker, which brings its power down to a little under 500w RMS and also makes life easier on the amp.

I'm also curious how Paradigm comes up with their power ratings on such a small looking amplifier that really weighs nothing with an 8 ohm speaker? I can't imagine it could dish out 400 rms. But I'm also no expert on this Class D stuff. I can see the subwoofer taking it, it's a pretty beefy monster with a good heavy stack of magnets, and it looks like it was made to really dissipate heat.

I know a lot of people like the behringer amps, but I'm really not interested in a piece of pro audio equipment that isn't quite made for home theater playing.
Curious, how do you know the driver coil(s) = 8ohm?

Also, generic amplification will work, but you may run into some over excursion issues if you don't use a highpass(subsonic) filter. I measured the pw2200 a long time ago but I can't remember the specifics. I'd guess the tuning point was in the upper 20s maybe? If you don't highpass it and run something like "war of the worlds" at louder levels....could be problems.

Tom V.
 

Robert_J

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I agree with Tom (as always). Plus you don't know anything about the factory amp's built in EQ. Sealing it may also cause issues if the factory driver wasn't designed to run in a sealed box.

Sell the driver and use the cabinet. Sell both and go full DIY. Sell both subs and get one of Tom's subs.
 

schan1269

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Or, simply remove the plate amp. Seal that part(which is what I thought he meant...not "also seal the port").

Connect it to an amp, which you'll need for a DIY sub anyway...if it works...great.

IF not, start your sub build.
 
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Jason Higgins
Hold the phone. I'm definitely not sealing the port! I've already completely removed the guts of the amp and filled in the internal surface area of the box with MDF that the existing amp occupied to maintain the exact same internal volume design of the box that paradigm made. I want to keep this thing working properly at the frequency the way their subwoofer and box was intended. It should actually handle tighter hits better with a more solid mdf backing instead of the metal of the plate amp that was back there.I found out the subwoofer was 8 ohms by simply probing for ohms with the terminals on the woofer. Came out to 7.5 ohms, which is exactly what an 8 ohm speaker would be. I'm still waiting for some speaker terminals to come in so I can mount them on the gutted plate and re-install only the plate shield on the back of the box.Work has been a bit slow, so I'm just going to finish the build of this box while I play around with finding a suitable amp.
 

Tom Vodhanel

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Porcupinepuffer said:
Hold the phone. I'm definitely not sealing the port! I've already completely removed the guts of the amp and filled in the internal surface area of the box with MDF that the existing amp occupied to maintain the exact same internal volume design of the box that paradigm made. I want to keep this thing working properly at the frequency the way their subwoofer and box was intended. It should actually handle tighter hits better with a more solid mdf backing instead of the metal of the plate amp that was back there.I found out the subwoofer was 8 ohms by simply probing for ohms with the terminals on the woofer. Came out to 7.5 ohms, which is exactly what an 8 ohm speaker would be. I'm still waiting for some speaker terminals to come in so I can mount them on the gutted plate and re-install only the plate shield on the back of the box.Work has been a bit slow, so I'm just going to finish the build of this box while I play around with finding a suitable amp.
You might be leaving out the factory amplifier filter settings though? I can guarantee you that paradigm(amp) has a myriad of compressors, filters, limiters in place. These are used to shape the frequency response as the manufacturer sees fit and to keep the subwoofer in one piece when extreme source material is used at very loud levels. The subwoofer will function without any of these and perhaps function pretty well. But the primary concern is a high level input signal under the "tuning frequency" of the enclosure. The driver won't have much/any resistance < tuning point and may move so far it leads to eventual damage.

Don't count on the MDF being different than a fairly thick aluminum plate in regards to stiffness. At least not in this context(leading to an audible difference in a subwoofer).

Also, an "8 ohm" subwoofer could measure nearly anything. There really aren't any industry standards. We spec 8ohm and see everything from mid 5s to mid 8s on a regular basis.

Tom V.
 

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