Hardware Review Power Sound Audio XS30 Subwoofer Review (1 Viewer)

[schan1269]

Back in the dark ages...when Pyle's "New Wave"(or was it Purple Wave?) was "it" in car audio...

Friend of mine put triple 15's in a Tempo and wondered why he didn't have "anything below 30hz"...(nevermind his "reference" was a Cassingle of Eazy E)

 

[Tom Vodhanel]

Thanks Tom. I suspect that is exactly what it is. Is that less likely to happen with a sealed sub?

As far as what I am looking for, it might involve more headroom in mid and upper bass. I don't cross it over at an extremely low frequency. Usually in the 70 to 80 Hz range. Even though the Thiels are supposed to be flat to 30 Hz, they eat power like there's no tomorrow and keeping the crossover reasonable seems to help. Plus, I do like the sound slightly on the "meaty" side. What I'm looking for, in general terms, is something with at least as good extension, but cleaner for music.

I wouldn't say the subwoofer "order" (sealed, PR, ported, etc) would itself be more/less prone to "audible noises" when driven to its limits. The key is design refinement and to a large degree component quality. Give us your plus/2 design and allow us to "refine" the electrical side of things and bit and I'm sure we could minimize the noise you are hearing and improve the sound quality. The designer responsible for your plus/2 performance did his best....but he has learned quite a bit in the last 10 years..

All of the Power-X subwoofers use advanced DSP integrated amplification. This allows much great precision with the system limiters, compressor, attack, release, etc, etc. There are no performance metrics for this yet so I would say the best source of information would be subjective comments from users and reviewers.

Which "tuning" mode are you running with the plus/2? (how many ports open, switch setting on the sub?)Tom V.
Power Sound Audio

 

[JohnRice]

Thanks again Tom. I have one port open with the switch set to 16Hz. In the years I've had the sub, I've tried different combinations. I hope that is the correct combination for the lowest tuning. I am rather certain that what I mentioned, which doesn't happen very often, is the sub being fed a signal that is too loud and too low for it to handle.

I'm actually quite impressed how the Plus/2 holds up after all this time. It's an excellent performer. I'm just at the point where I wouldn't mind something a little cleaner. A little more extension wouldn't hurt...

 

[Tom Vodhanel]

Thanks again Tom. I have one port open with the switch set to 16Hz. In the years I've had the sub, I've tried different combinations. I hope that is the correct combination for the lowest tuning. I am rather certain that what I mentioned, which doesn't happen very often, is the sub being fed a signal that is too loud and too low for it to handle.

I'm actually quite impressed how the Plus/2 holds up after all this time. It's an excellent performer. I'm just at the point where I wouldn't mind something a little cleaner. A little more extension wouldn't hurt...

This could be a case of port flow limitations. dual 12s with a single 4" port. If you haven't experimented a bit as of yet, try leaving the porting as is(one open) and resetting the amp switch to 25hz. This will electrically attenuate the signal

 

[JohnRice]

Excellent! I will give that a try.

 

[Tom Vodhanel]

Thanks again Tom. I have one port open with the switch set to 16Hz. In the years I've had the sub, I've tried different combinations. I hope that is the correct combination for the lowest tuning. I am rather certain that what I mentioned, which doesn't happen very often, is the sub being fed a signal that is too loud and too low for it to handle.

I'm actually quite impressed how the Plus/2 holds up after all this time. It's an excellent performer. I'm just at the point where I wouldn't mind something a little cleaner. A little more extension wouldn't hurt...

Also, if there is anything you can do in terms of placement to give the bass/sub more efficiency that could help a good bit too. For example, corner loading often works well, particularly if there are no room openings near the corner.

Tom Vodhanel

 

[JohnRice]

I have a lot of flexibility with placement and I've done a lot of experimentation over the years. I've been in the same house for 20 years. Also, the back of the Thiels are 4 ft from the front wall, so I can place the sub almost anywhere behind them. Where I have settled with the plus/2 is it is sitting along the front wall with the ports facing the outside (right) wall. It is about 6" from the front wall and about 3' from the right wall. The room is about 20x25 with the speakers along the 25' wall.