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Audio setup in big garage questions

4K views 45 replies 11 participants last post by  quaiboy 
#1 ·
Hi everyone! So glad I found a busy forum to ask questions in.

Im what you would call a novice in the audio world.

I have a few basic questions..hopefully some of you may be able to point me towards the right direction.

I have 4 Bang Olufsen RL 140 speakers and one 10" mtx car subwoofer.

I currently have two of the RL's hooked up to a old pioneer amp that's connected to my computer in my garage. I play my music threw winamp and use the integrated sound card that came with my computer.

They sound great when I don't blast it, but sound like ass when I try to pump up the volume. I know the amp is not nearly powerful enough to power these speakers as they are rated for 200 watts rms.

What way should I go about powering all 4 RL 140s and a 10" sub(the sub is ratted at 400 watts rms) ?

Should I look for a power amp? a pre amp? Do I need 4 channel or 5 channel amp?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated,

Thanks sooo much!:)
 
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#3 ·
I was initially going to suggest getting an amp and connecting directly tothe computer via analog output... But I am not so sure about those speakers.

What are the speaker specs?

What is your budget?

What are your needs other than playing loud music?

Are you ok with keeping the computer as the source and if so does thecomputer have analog audio outputs?
 
#7 ·
I opened up the 4 and no foam rot...they are in really mint condition... right now two are hooked up to my computer via a 3.5mm jack and the two aux wires(I got mine from rma electronics) to my pioneer receiver. I used 10 gauge speaker wire.

My budget is around 800$ for the power source( preamp or power amp?) What are my options? what specs should I be looking for?

How many channels do I need?

Thanks guys...as soon as I get my 5 posts ill post up some pics of the garage and the speakers...
 
#8 ·
Does your Pioneer receiver have pre-outs? What model is it?

Pre-amps, i.e. before the amp, prepare the signal for amplification by the amplifier. You need a pre-amp with a power amp together. A receiver combines them and adds in radio/internet source.

For $800 and needing multiple channels, 5 at least, that's kinda skinny outside of receivers. Even two pro amps, usually the best bang for the buck for say 200w/ch or above amps, will cost most of that and not leave enough for a pre-amp. You could buy a refurb Denon 4520 before they're gone, they have 9 channels of 150w/ch amps (although if you drive a sine wave through 7 channels simultaneously it can only deliver a bit above 100w/ch due to a limited power supply).
 
#9 ·
Welcome to garage sound!

Looked up those speakers--B&O tend to be...well, I guess you have to like the look of them. Two 165mm woofers or around 6.5 inch woofers will give you some bass but they are not for blasting tunes for a garage party. Think a spot of tea and not a keg of beer. ;)

You said "blast it".... those speakers are not for cranking up in a garage and having a party--they can get reasonably loud but they don't have block party abilities. What type of music do you listen to? Back in the 80's when those speakers were designed, to the designers rap was what you do with presents and the only thing with drum and bass used together was bass drum. :eek:

What model is your old Pioneer receiver? If it is say... 100 watts per channel then any amp will give you slightly more output but can damage your speakers. The 200 watt rating is the peaks on music as long as they are not deep bass. If you run rap, R&B, dance music, electronic music, modern pop music etc. through them--they will sound like ass during the bass notes since they don't have the ability or design to perform that function.

I have "garage sound" myself, the monsters are in the garage since my wife refuses to have the beasts in the house (can't blame her) Since I play everything, I designed the system to handle...anything. Pro sound amps work well for garage duties in that they can cool themselves down during the heat of the summer and have limiter/clip lights and adjustable DSP to allow the amps to match the limits of my speakers.

So are these speakers for party time, bass heavy music or just reasonable sound levels for working in the garage?
 
#10 ·
Hi thanks for your response!

I listen to trance, 2ac and classic rock...so i guess a bit of everything!

My Pioneer Stereo receiver is the SX-580...i think its just really to weak...

I like to play loud music at night as this garage is part of mu building where i conduct business(textiles) so its a industrial area.. The size of the garage is about 15 feet wide X 35 feet deep X 20 feet high. so in volume its about 10500 cubic feet.

And at night i leave the garage door open so alot of the music escapes out into the street...so its good when me and my friends are bbq'n and pre drinking befor going out...

let me know what you think
 

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#12 ·
Looked up the specs on the SX-580

20 watts per channel--yes, it is rather weak. :eek: The B&O speakers have two 6 1/2 inch woofers and a tweeter, not a lot of bass but decent output.

If you want to use those speakers but get the maximum out of them, I'd add subwoofers to give you trance bass and protect the little woofers. You have a HUGE space so the only thing the MTX 10" car sub will do is annoy you.

Since you are going to use those speakers in a very large warehouse for dance and rock music--I would go with PA amplifiers with built-in crossover filters. Something like an iNuke 1000 DSP which will push over 200 watts into a 4 ohm load (two B&O per channel = 4 ohms) Keep an eye on the red clip/limit light and you should be fine. It is not the best amp in the world but the limiter will help prevent blowing the cones out. The DSP function is good to filter them below 80Hz to be used with a subwoofer.

The iNuke 1000 DSP runs 156 pounds. You can get by using a Numark M6 USB club mixer which has the balanced XLR outputs and also accepts RCA inputs and outputs for 139 pounds.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Behringer-NU1000DSP-Inuke-Amplifier-Control/dp/B005EHIN3A

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Numark-M6-U...&qid=1430511836&sr=1-1&keywords=Numark+M6+usb

That should leave you enough to purchase a decent 18" subwoofer...at least a decent used one. ;) Good luck!
 
#15 · (Edited)
That is a lot of space to fill. I'd get 2 or 4 of these 18's and make a few 30hz ported boxes (or one big one to fit them all in).
You can forget about getting bass below 30hz in a room that size (it would be too expensive, thousands of dollars in bass alone), better to focus on the >30hz firstly.
http://www.parts-express.com/dayton-audio-pa460-8-18-pro-woofer--295-036
http://www.parts-express.com/behringer-nu3000dsp-inuke-3000-watt-power-amplifier-with-dsp--248-6706
http://www.parts-express.com/pyle-ppss30-speakon-type-speaker-cable-30-ft--248-4626
http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=115&cp_id=11509&cs_id=1150902&p_id=4777&seq=1&format=2
That would solve the bass. (Night and Day difference...)

You could get 1 or 2 of these if you want more
 
#17 · (Edited)
This sounds like an acoustic treatment problem, not equipment problem. Is your garage insulated or is it just concrete floor with the inside of the outermost panels visible on the outside of the studs? Is it a bare metal ceiling?

EDIT: Based on the picture, I'd just have low volume. You'd need a ton of rockwool to have a reasonable sound in that space at high volume levels.
EDIT2: Perhaps some outdoor covers for the speakers so you can have them outside playing into the garage instead of inside the garage playing out. Should take care of some of the echoes.
EDIT3: Some decent active PAs sound like a good idea, but get some that can handle rain and outdoor use even with whatever signal cables you'll use. Look on used market for epic stuff.
 
#18 ·
ok your all loosing me... i don't understand the hertz stuff at all... what is a PA 's ? whats DSP?

Its quite overwhelming with all these ideas, im willing to do the research its just that theirs a lot to understand.... if i go with 18hurts's idea, do i still keep my pioneer? if so i don't see any regular looking plugs on the back of the inuke for my speakers?

Its rather complicated and i need a complete action plan as id like to order everything in one shot then hook it all up and enjoy some good music as the snow is finally gone and we have a short summer up here


THANKS!!!
 
#19 ·
PA - Public Address - think like the amps and speakers for a rock band

DSP - Digital Signal Processing - The music is waves, waves are numbers, perform mathematical magic on the numbers instead of using capacitors and inductors to adjust the sound
 
#22 ·
The limiting factor with your SX-580 is the lack of a bass management (subwoofer crossover) function. In other words, a subwoofer output jack.

The cheapest option to improve your sound might be to get an inexpensive AVR (~$250) and subwoofers to go with that AB power amplifier.

Around here it is common for guys to build their own subwoofer boxes, as it can save a few hundred bucks, quid or euros. And won't have to be pretty, out there in the garage.
 
#25 ·
ok everyone. I just picked up a Yamaha professional power amp P2200. How can i hook it up to my pioneer SA-6700?? I was told to get the most out of the yamaha power amp i need a preamp??? Is my pioneer SA-6700 a preamp? If so where do I hook up the cables?

Here are some pics of what Ive got :

The first two are the pioneer and the last two are the yamaha.

Thanks!
 

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#27 · (Edited)
Your SA6700 doesn't appear to have pre-outs (pre-amplifer outputs) for a power amp; although some receivers do, usually only the higher end models provide such pre-outs (other than for a subwoofer) these days. You could use a speaker level/high level to line level/low level converter like these http://www.crutchfield.com/S-REWZjA6XULE/g_721/Line-Output-Converters.html

ps You could try using the tape out but that will probably be a fixed level signal so the master volume on your SA6700 wouldn't control the power amp's volume, you'd need to adjust volume on the power amp separately....

pps You would need the appropriate rca to xlr cable from SA6700 to the amp's inputs....
 
#29 ·
would something like this work?

http://www.kijiji.ca/v-electronique...uf/1096126407?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true

if yes do you think that combo would be good for 4 RL 140's??

THANKS man!
The MAC3 appears to be a stereo to multi-ch converter and would be used by someone with an old 2ch system looking to use a matrix surround with additional speakers and amplifiers for the multiple channels, don't see how that would help you. You have a stereo receiver and a stereo power amp and powering 4 speakers off that power amp would depend on the capabilities of the amp, that amp seems rated only for 8ohm operation, and if you hook up two speakers to each channel you're looking at least at a 4ohm load, might not work well especially at loud volumes.

You really should just buy a modern multi-ch receiver for ease of connection and powering of your speakers....and one with multi-ch pre-outs in case you still want to use power amps later....
 
#31 ·
http://www.kijiji.ca/v-electronique...er/1093529106?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true

http://www.kijiji.ca/v-electronique...sp/1082747331?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true

http://www.kijiji.ca/v-enregistreme...mp/1095125956?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true

http://www.kijiji.ca/v-electronique...53/1057574634?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true

Any of these would work? I don't really know what im looking for but these are some local results I found. I wanna go pick up what I need today so I can enjoy some music tmr. Im kinda in a hurry, yall probably have guessed. But ive been screwing around with this since april and just want to get some sounds in my garage again.

Thanks!
 
#33 ·
I went with the marantz 3800... Sounds amazing. But after about 10-15 mins of prolonged playing at very loud one of my speakers started smoking...

Pretty bumed about it... I let them cool and they still sound pretty good.

Im gonna source a speaker thats better at filling the cubic feet i have... Someone told me to look into JBL...

What do yall think?
 
#35 ·
Look at the Behringer B215XL speakers, relatively inexpensive, can play at reference level with modest amplification, but will need a subwoofer. Check out this thread http://www.avsforum.com/forum/89-speakers/1519940-behringer-eurolive-b215xl-15-2-way-l-r-mains.html
I second this suggestion, but bear in mind that these are very sensitive speakers, depending on S/N ratio on amp and signal chain you may hear a hiss during very silent parts and/or at pauses. Having 112db 1w/m horns myself I can't hear the hiss at all if I just have 65db music or more (talking, in loudness). And my amps aren't super expensive, just EP4000's with 100db signal to noise ratio.
If you can afford it though, JBL has some excellent choices as well, if not anything else its at least fun to go demo their PA systems. If you live anywhere near civilization there's somewhere you can do that quite nearby.
 
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