Viability of stereo sealed JL subs in a home environment?

[technodanvan]

This isn't normally a question that I ask as typically I'm the guy who is trying to talk friends out of using car audio equipment in a home theater setup. As it happens, I got a good deal on a pair of JL Audio 10w6v2 (dual 4 ohm VC) subwoofers that I briefly used in my car. It turned out that they just took up too much room and left so little trunkspace that I removed them and went significantly smaller, leaving me with a pair of subs I don't know what to do with.

The two options of course are to either sell them or keep them.

If I keep them, I would like to build a pair of small sealed boxes for use as stereo subwoofers in a music room. I imagine they would suffice just fine, but the problem comes with powering them. They can be wired for either a 2- or 8-ohm impedance and typically work best in the 400-500 watt range. Plate amps that can support a 400+ watts at 8 ohms are pricey. I used to run a Behringer EP2500 for a couple of Ascendant Audio 18s back in college, but that was an environment where volume was far more important than quality, and the fan was annoying even then. Plus I would need to get some form of crossover going, even though those on my preamp are moderately extensive. I wouldn't want to run anything like that on a decent stereo.

So I guess the question is, are there other options I'm not seeing? Would it be more cost effective to sell the subs for a few bills ($150 apiece at best, I imagine) and put that towards an equivalent system that can run at 4 ohms and thus use cheaper amps?

[heapatrouble]

One option would be to use the Dayton SA1000. It is a stand-alone external amp with dual sub outputs for use with two 8-oh rated subs. It also incorporates the same electronic crossover and EQ as the plate amps. It would output 500 watts to each of your subs, but as a mono signal (the only down side) so you would have to be careful about placement.

[Generic George]

If I keep them, I would like to build a pair of small sealed boxes for use as stereo subwoofers in a music room. I imagine they would suffice just fine, but the problem comes with powering them. They can be wired for either a 2- or 8-ohm impedance and typically work best in the 400-500 watt range. Plate amps that can support a 400+ watts at 8 ohms are pricey. I used to run a Behringer EP2500 for a couple of Ascendant Audio 18s back in college, but that was an environment where volume was far more important than quality, and the fan was annoying even then. Plus I would need to get some form of crossover going, even though those on my preamp are moderately extensive. I wouldn't want to run anything like that on a decent stereo.

You can replace the fans in the behringer with much, much quieter fans. So that isn't necessarily an issue. There should be plenty of info on doing so over at AVS and probably here somewhere. So they should work just fine if that's the way you want to go. If you drive the behringer off of the subwoofer output on your avr, I don't think you even need a crossover, though some sort of high pass filter is always a good idea for a sub.

So I guess the question is, are there other options I'm not seeing? Would it be more cost effective to sell the subs for a few bills ($150 apiece at best, I imagine) and put that towards an equivalent system that can run at 4 ohms and thus use cheaper amps?

This is the physically simplest solution, especially if you are building enclosures. 4 ohm capable amps are going to be cheaper than 2 ohm capable amps, but pro amps should probably be able to work either way.

It would output 500 watts to each of your subs, but as a mono signal (the only down side) so you would have to be careful about placement.

Given the frequencies subwoofers are typically operated at, a stereo signal is irrelevant. Placement of multiple subs does require some care to avoid cancellation, but I don't think it is a major issue and multiple subs are generally considered a very good way of smoothing out the bass response of the room, if you have any flexibility of placement.

[technodanvan]

One option would be to use the Dayton SA1000. It is a stand-alone external amp with dual sub outputs for use with two 8-oh rated subs. It also incorporates the same electronic crossover and EQ as the plate amps. It would output 500 watts to each of your subs, but as a mono signal (the only down side) so you would have to be careful about placement.

$400 seems pretty reasonable, but it seems the product page doesn't really come out and say it can handle two subs? There are obviously two sets of binding posts on it so I suppose that should be telling in of itself.

Is it known if there is a fan on it?

You can replace the fans in the behringer with much, much quieter fans

I've heard that as well, but I've also heard some people mention that even after the mod it can be noisy. I assume it just used 40 or 60mm fans internally, and with the dust guard it would be difficult to make that silent. Still, it's a cost effective solution that has possibilities.

As far as 'stereo' goes, I guess I just meant two separate subwoofers in separate locations and necessarily two distinct signals. While it may be beneficial to have some control over gain in each location (and phase if they weren't on the same plane) I would likely want the crossover to remain the same.

[JeremyG]

I used to have a pair of JL 10W4s that I used in a sealed alignment, then in a baby IB. They actually didn't sound too bad.

Anyway, what kind of receiver or processor do you have? Does it have a crossover and/or bass management of some kind? If it does then you shouldn't need anything else (save a BFD down the road) except an amp. As you know pro amps are great for subs. I use a Crown for mine. Using a plate amp gets tricky with multiple enclosures, unless you use multiple plate amps. And swapping out fans is a cinch.

Next question, do you have the T/S specs for the drivers? Use those to design the best alignment for your application. Having multiple subs can help with room modes, but you'll need to build two different enclosures, which adds cost and WAF if applicable.

Which brings us to the big question: What are you wanting to spend?

[heapatrouble]

The SA1000 is entirely passively cooled. It does use 2 sets of binding posts and you can hook up either 2 8-ohm subs or 1 4-ohm sub. I own one myself and it does a solid job of powering my 4-oh nominal quad driver sub tower.