Can a subwoofer from a rock band be used (1 Viewer)

[DanielKellmii]

A friend of mine saw a front projector and was stunned that something like that existed. He is going to go buy one. I told him that he needed to buy a decent sound system to go along with it otherwise he would really be missing out. He was in a rock band for many years and still has a lot of equipment. He asked if he could use his subwoofer from his band days. It is a sealed single 18 inch driver that has an external amplifier. He has many amps. I am not sure what he wants to use, but wattage is not an issue. Is this OK?

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Sure, if he wants an ugly box covered with black carpet the size of a small chest freezer in his living room.

Aside from that, the only downside that is that most of those subs don’t do much below 40 Hz, but in a living room he might be able to EQ in some of the lowest frequencies.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[Greg_Hammond]

The problem your friend is going to have with the 18" sub cabinet is that it won't produce very good bass at lower listening volumes. I have a Peavey black-widow 18" sub and ported cabinet that is >20 years old that does a FINE job as sound reinforcement for my live rig, but it would be overpowering if I operated the sub at it's best power range inside the home theatre.

I'm with Wayne though when it comes to putting an ugly carpeted box the size of a chest freezer in your home theatre. If your friend's theatre is going to be an unfinished basement with a sheet hanging from the ceiling for the screen - the rock band sub cabinet might well become the centerpiece of the room. =)

Greg

 

[John S]

I used a 15" cab from the old band days for along time, I like it very much. I finally decided the size and look was just to much for the overall decor feel in my living room. I tried to use JBL 12" sub stuff and blew three of them. (I was used to being able to run my subs way way hot with the other brute)

I now use a 15" Velodyne and been thrilled with it for more than 2 years now.

So I can say, if he gets used to the 18" running hot, he will have to anti up some bucko's when / if he ever wants to change it, to be happy.

 

[Scott Moeller]

I did the reverse. I used a big home theater sub and put a mic on our drummers bass kick. We had it hooked up to the mixing board. It worked great. Ha.

 

[DanielKellmii]

Just to make things clear. This isn't going to be permanent. It will be a tool to help him decide how important a sub is in his set-up. I don't think a shoebox from a HTiB will give him any useful information. With this, he will be able to decide if he wants to spend $150 on a sub or $1000. I have my own opinions, but with this guy if I suggest a $500 SVS that ends up sitting around a lot I will never hear the end of in.
Thanks guys.

 

[John S]

feed it lots of power.. like 400 watts min. It shoudl; show him how important a sub is. The band cabs are power hungry to say the least.

 

[Cees Alons]

Especially as a tool it will help him tremendously.

A sub isn't even strictly necessary to start a modest home theater with reasonable DD. Adding a rock band sub can only be a welcome addition.

He's going to love it.


Cees