Daisy-Chaining Amps - Anything to be Careful of?

[SPJ]

Evening All,

I'd appreciate a little help with this one please?

I have a Numark Dimension 4 running (412wrms/channel) running into a pair of KAM Z1504s (250wrms each).

I also have a Gemini X-03 which is kept now more as a spare. I bought the Numark new as opposed to the x03 second hand when I first started out.

As I am paranoid of blowing something with the first combo (as I guess more watts at the amp rather than the speaker is not a good thing), I was thinking of getting a single bass cab and running it off the Gemini as the possible minimal cost option of having a bit more oomph without damaging anything.

Firstly, does this sound like a reasonable thing to do.? If so and I daisy chain the Gemini (for the bass) from the Numark (running the full range), is there anything I need to be careful of?

I have had one or two gigs whereby people have asked to turn the sound up a bit which I have done but have not been sure how much legroom I've had to play with and had to keep fingers crossed.
That said I seem to hear of many people playing gigs with 250w speaker capacity, so am I being too cautious?

Any help most welcome.

cheers
Steve

[Cj_The_Dj]

I wouldn't daisy chain a Amp, but what i would do if i was you, is use one amp for the tops (if ohms and whats are compatible.) and the other amp for a Pair of subs, running though a behringer crossover. i wouldn't recommend one passive sub.

if you get a pair of 500w subs with them tops it should be good enough for most venues depending on the spls of course.

[DJ Jules]

I wouldn't daisy chain a Amp, but what i would do if i was you, is use one amp for the tops (if ohms and whats are compatible.) and the other amp for a Pair of subs, running though a behringer crossover. i wouldn't recommend one passive sub.


Yup, I agree, it'll be well worth the few quid it'll cost you. You'll find you should be able to get a lot more out of your tops as well if you filter the bass out and direct it to a seperate set of bins via a seperate amp.


if you get a 500w sub with them tops it should be good enough for most venues depending on the spls of course.

Agreed, or at least I certainly hope so, as that's what I'm running now ;)

Julian

[A1DL]

As I am paranoid of blowing something with the first combo (as I guess more watts at the amp rather than the speaker is not a good thing)

Don't be paranoid Steve :) You've got what you need - the amplifier output power should indeed be higher than the speaker input power, to prevent driving the amplifier flat out and clipping. When matching an amp to boxes, 1½ to 2 times the RMS rating of the boxes is pretty much accepted as industry standard.


That said I seem to hear of many people playing gigs with 250w speaker capacity, so am I being too cautious?


Don't worry about wattage, it's the speaker efficiency that is important.
All things even, if you double the wattage you will only create a 3db increase in output power. Audible, but certainly not the sort of increase that will knock you over.

Hope this helps

Tony

[SPJ]

Thanks for the replies, chaps.

Assuming I'm a bit cash strapped at the mo, :( would it be worth considering a short term fix of a couple subs linking out of the full range speakers all running from the main amp?
If my understanding is correct and based on the amp spec sheet, this would give me 660Watts per side (assuming 4 x 8 ohm speakers, right?)

Would I notice a significant difference in power with this config?

I am not familiar with functionality of crossovers, but I assume this is used almost like a 'hub' to pass all the sound through and route it accordingly?

I guess this sort of topic has probably been done to death, so my apologies!

cheers
Steve

[Excalibur]

Right, I posted a reply earlier, and then deleted it, as I'd not read the post correctly. :o :o :o Second try. :D
Assuming it's a stop gap till you get a crossover and second amp, yes. The theory is that subs will only reproduce low frequencies, but in my opinion, if you give them full range, they'll try to reproduce it. ;) :(

You should get a bit of a volume increase, but not a clarity increase.

[DJMaxG]

When you daisy chain, it is a flat signal that is sent through, not a powered one.