More Sound

[Corabar Steve]

Did you build it yourself?

[nigelwright7557]

Did you build it yourself?

I bought the driver but built the cabinet to the specs supplied with a vented enclosure.

[Tom]

For the original poster,


If you love the sound of the Mackies srm450, why change them.

Why not take a look at the mackie subs and see what works for you. If you let the subs work from 120hz and under and the speaker tops about 120hz (for example) then you will be able to get a larger, fuller sound.

[Bouncy Dancefloor]

i still stick by my previous comment, if you did the same room with and without subs. If the subs are setup properly and the tops (when used with subs) are set mid/high, you will notice quite a big increase in volume

I originally noticed this with the peavey HiSys range, the tops are full range, but when you use the bass cabs, you go into the bass and only mid/high is passed onto the top cabs, i always wondered why, until i tried a side by side comparison, wow big difference in volume!!

Ive since tried this with the Mackie SRM450's V1 and the 1501 bass cabs

[CRAZY K]

i still stick by my previous comment, if you did the same room with and without subs. If the subs are setup properly and the tops (when used with subs) are set mid/high, you will notice quite a big increase in volume

I originally noticed this with the peavey HiSys range, the tops are full range, but when you use the bass cabs, you go into the bass and only mid/high is passed onto the top cabs, i always wondered why, until i tried a side by side comparison, wow big difference in volume!!

Ive since tried this with the Mackie SRM450's V1 and the 1501 bass cabs

By using 4 speakers instead of 2 isnt it going to seem to sound louder generally as well as more pronounced bass anyway?

If not then stick to 2 speakers

CRAZY K

[Dj Diddy Davies]

Hi folks,

Thanks for the answers so far.

Just to confirm, i have no intention of getting rid of the Mackies. I want to add to them.

Bass bins seem to be the way forward. Would the Mackie 1501's be better suited to the 450's (i.e. same maker etc.) or doesn't it make any difference and something like Silver's RCF ART 705 be better?

So what happens if you just add more of the same (i.e. 450) speakers?

Is it relatively easy to set up the tops and subs? (some posters have emphasised properly set up!) What wiring do they need?

Sorry for so many questions, but i don't know the answers!

Thanks again.

Steve.

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

Bass bins seem to be the way forward. Would the Mackie 1501's be better suited to the 450's (i.e. same maker etc.) or doesn't it make any difference and something like Silver's RCF ART 705 be better?

So what happens if you just add more of the same (i.e. 450) speakers?

Is it relatively easy to set up the tops and subs? (some posters have emphasised properly set up!) What wiring do they need?

Sorry for so many questions, but i don't know the answers!

Thanks again.

Steve.

Having had both 1501s and 705s, I feel qualified to answer this.

The 705 is much better than the 1501. I quite often would see the clip light coming on the Mackies when playing R&B or the like, but very rarely does it come on the RCF.

If you added more 450s, the sound would be louder but not more balanced.

If you add a sub or 2, the sound will be a lot more balanced.

With regards to wiring, both the Mackie and RCF sub have balanced output and high pass output. The high pass will filter the frequencies and keep the bass in the bass bin, so the 450s will run mid-top frequencies only. If you use the balanced output, the whole system will run full range.

Both of the subs have active crossovers which means that they will determine where the frequencies go depending on the configuration of the sub.

The RCF sub also has a crossover switch which you can change from 80-120Hz.

I had real problems with the Mackie subs, but that was nothing to do with sound or power. I would fully recommend the RCF if you can afford the extra.

[Dj Diddy Davies]

Many thanks for the reply Solitaire, looks like the RCF is the way to go. Waiting for Silver to get back to me with some details.

Thanks

Steve.

[sleah]

I think I know what Mr Dancefloor is getting at with the "not to add bass" comment.
It's not to significantly increase the amount of bass specifically, but to shift the bass away from the full range speakers in to dedicated bass drivers, one effect of course will be to increase the bass, but not necessarily massively.

[Bouncy Dancefloor]

yes sleah

basically a SRM450 will be putting most of its juice into the bass drivers, so the horn probably only gets about 100Watts of the power, by making it mid/high, it can devote more of the juice into volume, whereas the bass cab will worry about the low frequencies

Youd get an increase in bass, but not the equivalent of adding another 500Watts of bass, think of it as removing about 300watts of 12" bass and adding 500watts of 15" bass (or 18"). So youd get slightly lower frequencies as well