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bass in OB

Posted by nl (A) on February 4, 2007 at 17:05:30

In Reply to: Ideal Parameters for OB Woofer posted by Joseph Cohen on February 3, 2007 at 12:28:05:

In my experience:

1) Biamping OB bass tends to work pretty well, so you can hook up a big earthmover amp (100W) and you don't have to worry about the efficiency too much. In general, OB is not a good way to go if you want high output in the bass, which is why you'll never see it with prosound gear.

2) You tend to get more help on the lower end than the equations say because the woofer is usually mounted near the floor. Also, there can be some room lift.

3) I haven't done too many experiments with it, but I'd say that super-high Qts drivers (higher than 0.8) may not be the way to go. High Qts usually means a small magnet, which means poor cone control, which means a resonance peak at F0 which is exactly the effect desired by the OB user. However, this resonance peak tends to sound like a resonance peak -- sort of like the port frequency on a bass-reflex enclosure. Is that what you want? That's fine up to a certain point but maybe you'll want more at some point. Thus, I'd consider lower-Qts (under 0.6) drivers with low (under 30hz) F0, and use active EQ.

4) With a big baffle you have less rolloff than a smaller baffle, which means less EQ, less excursion, and less power used.

5) I think multiple medium-excursion drivers are better than a single high-excursion one.

6) You might be able to live with 50hz but 35hz is better.

7) I bought a Behringer electronic crossover and two parametric equalizers on eBay for about $200 plus shipping. The fancy digital stuff is more.

8) After all that, if you have output/excursion/power limitations, ditch your OB and go get a sealed subwoofer. With my woofs EQ-ed up 12db at 35hz, I rarely use more than about 5 watts on peaks. Sometimes I crank it up to 50W peaks just to watch the cones move, but you wouldn't want to listen at those levels, in my room. I haven't clipped the 100W SS bass amp yet. Like fullrangers, OB bass is best when you are nowhere near their technical limitations. If that's not your gig then go get some basshorns.

9) I have used a 96db low-Qts (big honkin' alnico magnet) 15" woofer in a 4' OB without EQ and it sounded good, in a small room. I wouldn't recommend it, but I did it and lived with it for over year.

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