Choosing some PA bass cabs ?

[Nostromo]

Hi and Happy New Year from a Newbie forum member,

 

I'm seeking tips and advice in choosing and buying some bass bins for my ever evolving and improving PA system. Am currently suffering from option paralysis and as a result may miss the January sales which would be a shame ! ! !

 

Background: I put on gigs in my local Village Hall – all done for charity, to raise money to keep the hall going. I have built up a reasonable PA system ( Mackie 1640 Desk, Crown Power amps x 4, JBL FOH passive speakers and Yamaha passive foldback monitors x 6) My PA mainly gets used in the Village Hall but I'm in a band as well so I use the rig for pub gigs etc, occasionally playing out somewhere that needs bass reinforcement. I've been borrowing a couple of bass bins for the last year or so (a Yorkville LS808 and an OHM LM-S to be precise) not a matched pair but beggars can't be choosers and they've actually sounded very good, each being driven by a Crown CE2000 that's part of my rig. However the owner of these bins has just moved away so I'm left with a relatively small budget and having to buy something to replace what I've been borrowing.

 

I've done lots of "on line" research – but being out in the countryside so to speak, its going to be very difficult to do any meaning full listening tests or A/B comparisons - so it'll probably be a case of taking the plunge and ordering something based on spec and recommendations ? . . . I'm a bass player so have a good ear for what's going on in the lower frequencies . . However, that said, the fact of the matter is that I couldn't honestly say I could hear a lot of difference between the "Ohm" and "Yorkville" cabs I've been using (other than the Yorkville seemed a fair bit more efficient and thus didn't need quite as much amp gain) but tonally they were very similar – and this leads me to wonder how much actual audible difference is there is going to be between The various bass bins on the market and how does the VFM and "law of ever diminishing returns" rule kick in once you start to consider the more expensive esoteric stuff ?

 

Any thoughts on how I ought to go about narrowing down my options would be much appreciated ?. . . . budget . . . £600 to £800 approx if possible.

[Matt Riley]

The various bass bins on the market and how does the VFM and "law of ever diminishing returns" rule kick in once you start to consider the more expensive esoteric stuff ?

 

Any thoughts on how I ought to go about narrowing down my options would be much appreciated ?. . . . budget . . . £600 to £800 approx if possible.

 

I think it would be fair to say that a good 'expensive' sub vs a decent sub within your budget will be subject to the law of diminishing returns- often in these situations with the expensive kit you pay for the construction, rigging and weight as opposed to the actual sound quality. This is especially true with front loaded designs - with horns and bandpass boxes there is considerably more design input needed to produce a good box (although the results for the former can be impressive!) Also there is a lot of tat around at this price point and below.

 

In terms of reasonably priced boxes I would consider:

1. A single thomann TP218 (£549) from thomann.de - see threads on here for many good reviews

2. A couple of thomann TP118/800 (£626 from thomann) afaik the single 18" version of the above

3. A couple of the studiospares auditorium 218 subs (£602 from studiospares) again gets good reviews on here

[Russ83]

I have one JBL JRX 118S that I use for tiny gigs as I can lift it by myself up stairs, out the van etc. It adds a bit of depth to the sound but you don't really feel it. I normally use it with two JRX112M on stands with my Crown XTi amps. Using the XTi's preset for this setup the sound is balanced and levels are fine for a live band or background music for a hall upto 50 people. (I'm not a DJ and a red light is either a channel mute button or danger.) These subs new are about £375 each.

 

For bigger events I now own two RCF ESW1018. These are what I would class as 'proper subs' and will shake the dust out of the light fittings with the amps hardly showing a signal. The inbuilt crossover is handy and they seem quite easy to match with different tops and in-house rigs. These are probably the best value for money piece of kit that I've got as they were £400 for the pair second hand. Only downside is moving them as they are quite chunky. I can drag, tip and stack them by myself but certainly couldn't get them up stairs. I've used the pair for DJs, theatre and live music for 400 people and they've still had more to give than my ears would take. Another bonus is that Chris (cedd) got the other identical pair so we have four available between us! Unfortunatly his pair cost slighly more but that is the nature of ebay.

 

[cedd]

Indeed I do own the other pair of ESW1018's to match Russ's and I'll second their ability to flap trousers and generally shake the place! Used along with my Tannoy V12's they sound really nice.

 

My main problem at the minute has been finding an amp to drive the things! I've currently got a BGW GTB bridged to run the pair of them at 4 ohms, but I could do with a 2U amp that's a bit lighter! Budget doesn't allow for MC2 or Powersoft (or Crown!) and I'm not brave enough to buy a Behringer iNuke yet! 800W a side in to 8 ohms would be nice!

Anyway, what I'm saying is, they need some reasonable amps behind them! Russ is very fortunate to have some flipping huge Crown amps to drive his!

 

The ESW1018's come up on ebay pretty regularly. I was watching a pair last week (NOT because I want another pair, I was just interested in what others were paying for them) and they went for the high £300's. Not a lot of money for a pair of decent subs! I just hope you've got a van!

[Nostromo]

Thanks for the above advice guys . . . . . I'm still juggling with options at the moment . . . . but can see that at the very lowest cost points you probably just get what you pay for . . . . resonable build quality boxes which would be ok if you are not going on tour with them (and I'm not unfortunately ! !) . . .but the budget stuff probably not scoring very high marks on power handling ?. . . . . so at least I've decided I'm going to stay away from the very "budget" end of the new market . . . that same £500/£600 invested in higher spec second hand gear probably seems a lot more sencible way to go. That said, The Thomann "The Box" subs and the Studiospares Auditorium range do both seem get good reviews and tick some of my boxes, so far as my requirements go, so they might be a buy new option if nothing shows up second hand on eBay or elsewhere ? . . . . . I'n the mean time, I'm just gonna set up some saved searches on ebay and see what I can find . . . . ESW1018 will be one search . . . . . Yorkville LS808 will be another . . . beyond that not too sure what to look out for ? . . . . any thoughts much appreciated !