Help connecting subs and/or extra power amp

[bonzodog99]

I posted on here a while ago as I was using a pair of EV SX300's powered by a crown XS700 (450W per side 8ohm). I had just bought a pair of EV subs SB122 (400w 8ohm), and as the shop told me my crown amp would power both fine, I asked on here for any thoughts. Most of you said it was not ideal, but best to try it and see what happens.

Smaller gigs were fine, and I was very impressed with the bass the little 12"subs gave out. Did a large gig last week (300+ people), and the amp clipped very occasionally, on certain tracks, but only the music. (I just use vocals and backing tracks via minidisc).

Therefore I would rather invest in another amp to avoid future clipping.

 

Only thing is do I buy a separate amp for the subs, or part/x the crown for a bigger amp to power both tops and subs?

Forgive me for being thick, but if I did use two amps, linked via XLR, with speakons out of my crown to the tops, and speakons from my 'new' amp to the subs, then how does the crossover work on the subs??? Will it be a case of both amps sending full signals to both sets of speakers, unless I buy an additional crossover to put in before the amps? (Don't really want to do this as the subs have left me skint!!!)

If I go down the one larger amp route, then I assume going into the subs first, and then into the tops will be better as the crossover will kick in. But in this method, I won't be able to individually control the volume of either the tops or subs. Plus the fact I don't really want to part with my crown as its been a great amp, and also good to have a back up/spare.

 

Any help on how to set it up, would be great.

[Doug Siddons]

Both sets of speakers will get a full range signal and will be able to cope with that. The inbuilt crossover in the sub will filter out the bits it doesn't need, the tops will continue to run full range. The optimum way to run the system would be to use an active crossover befor the amps but your system will work fine. The introduction of the crossover at a later date will just "clean up" the sound, reducing highs out of the bin and lows out of the tops which can become messy depending on what your playing, the room, etc.