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Of subs, weight and bad backs...


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Hmm I looked at the JBL VRX 15 vs 18 and there is a huge difference to me (4.42 cu ft for the 15" while 8.02 for the 18"). The PRX618 (18") is the smallest 18 I ran across at 7.9 cu ft. Yorky LS720P (15") is 5.12 cu ft vs the LS608 (18") which is 8.62 cu ft. The LS801P is a whopping 11.71 cu ft.

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well, you could consider a Danley Mini. 76 lbs. though. Dimensions are 24" x 15" x 22.5"

http://www.danleysoundlabs.com/tapped_horn.asp?MODEL=TH%20MINI

Also, BagEnd makes a compact 15" speaker, called the S15-D. It's typically used by bass players, but it's 44 lbs and quite small, 19 x 19 v 15. It will only go down to 50 Hz. They also have a compact 18, called the S18E-D, and it weighs 70 lbs and it's dimensions
22 x 22 x 19

http://www.bagend.com/

s15-d_sm.jpg

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How about 4 cheap plastic subs? Peavey PR Sub, 15" woofer. Only a 300 watt program rating but maybe if you run 4 of them. Just 33.5# each.

I actually ended up with four of them. Two do a pretty good job in a smaller club ( . I usually power them at 250W each.

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Is 33.5 lbs correct?


The Peavey website lists them at 42lbs each.

The Peavey website and docs suck and are often outdated. The newer ones have neo drivers and are rated at 400w program (up from 300w for the older ones). I can easily carry two at a time :cool:.

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I'm going to chime in here with a very strong vote for the Danley TH Mini in your situation. Unless weight is given a highly weighted dominant factor, I think the Mini wins out given all other factors. It's only 4.68 cubic feet compared to the VRX's 4.37 cf, so barely bigger, while giving you an additional 9dB of SPL which is huge if you are thinking of trying to cover 200 people with one sub. In addition, they have virtually the same low frequency response if you ignore JBL's published -3dB and -10dB points on the spec sheet and instead look at their recommended HPF settings and measured frequency charts. The only advantage I can see for the VRX is it's lighter weight at 57lb vs 76lb, but that comes with it's higher cost too due to paying for fly points you aren't using. (At least they were higher back when I bought my Minis, I haven't priced them lately.)

 

Yes, 20lbs heavier weight may be noticed every time you load them in and out, but not near as much as 9dB+ of additional output will be noticed as you try to get by with one sub. We have two Minis in our rig, and I'm not comfortable trying to cover more than about 250 people unless you are talking something like a wedding or other background music type gig. I don't think any single small sub can cover 200 at rock n roll levels.

 

Good luck, Winston.

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Is 33.5 lbs correct?


The Peavey website lists them at 42lbs each.

 

 

If you go to the peavey website, speakers PR sub and select "download specifications" specifications, it does state 42#. BUT if you select "view product" they list 44# PACKED, 33.4# UNPACKED. I suspect the latter is true. I bought some off brand 15" plastic subs from ebay for an extremely lightweight DJ project,never did use them BUT they are extremely light for their size.

 

Boomer

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Not to derail the Danley topic, but my old JBL MPro 418 subs were about 65 lbs. I put 4" casters on them which made maneuvering them a breeze. Still had to wrangle them into my 4Runner. Since you have a hatchback, lifting up and over the rear bumper is going to be a problem with a bad back. ANY type of lifting like that will be. I had a bulging disk a few years back and the subsequent surgery. It's been about 5 years now and my back in just about to get back to where it won't go out all of the time. When I was fresh off my surgery, I had rented small box trailers to hold my gear. That way, I could just roll my equipment up the ramp. EVERYTHING was on wheels.

 

My heart goes out to you. Hope you can find an adequate solution that won't break your back!

 

Johnny

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And they are how much $$$?

 

 

Looks to me like the TH Mini is in the same ballpark as the VRX 915S, but according to JBL's specs you'd need 2+ to keep up with one TH Mini which makes it cheap in comparison. I chimed in because the OP stated in his opening post that he wanted a small, light weight sub that could cover up to 200 people and he appears to be OK with the limited low frequency response of small subs and was OK with the price tag as well.

 

Personally, I don't think any single small sub on the market will really cover 200 people, but I guess that depends on ones definition of "cover". The VRX 915S looks to be about the most expensive sub he could choose that still wouldn't meet his stated goals. Unless there are mistakes in it's spec sheet, the only thing it appears to have going for it is it's size, weight and fly points. But I don't see how anybody is going to cover 200 people with a sub that makes 126dB and why one would want to try to do it when for about the same price you can get a similarly sized sub that makes more SPL and that weighs less than two of the VRX.

 

Small, loud and low. Choose any two, except the VRX appears to only offer one....

 

Winston

 

Winston

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Reading between the lines here, The JBL VRX918SP is the same box and very close to having the same driver as his passive brothers the SRX718/VRX918. Looks like all three have close to the same SPL ratings. That said the VRX-SP is listed as being tested in free space, guessing the Passive VRX is as well. So perhaps the VRX915 sub was tested in free space too.
Not really a big deal but if thats the case putting the sub on the floor should yield a few more dbs.

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Reading between the lines here, The JBL VRX918SP is the same box and very close to having the same driver as his passive brothers the SRX718/VRX918. Looks like all three have close to the same SPL ratings. That said the VRX-SP is listed as being tested in free space, guessing the Passive VRX is as well. So perhaps the VRX915 sub was tested in free space too.

Not really a big deal but if thats the case putting the sub on the floor should yield a few more dbs.

 

 

I suspect that the flyable sub is indeed measured in freespace, so add somewhere between 3 and 6dB to the fullspace measurement to get 1/2-space. 6dB is the theoretical differnce but like life, the conversion is not perfect in the real world.

 

Does anybody know what the Danley TH mini is rated into? I would assume 1/2-space unless otherwise stated since it's not designed to be flown.

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Does anybody know what the Danley TH mini is rated into? I would assume 1/2-space unless otherwise stated since it's not designed to be flown.

 

 

It is available with flypoints (install version) or handles (portable version). Both versions are, I believe, the same price.

 

Measurement is in 1/2 space.

 

As a whole, The VRX stuff doesn't seem to bring crushing performance for the price. What it does bring is really slick packaging, a modular configuration that scales, and an all-in-the-box-engineered-and-tuned turnkey system approach. Good stuff, but I don't see how any of that helps our original poster in his needs. Sounds like the 15 in it's little box is one of few he feels comfortable lifting. If that's the criteria, it all sounds good to me, regardless of the small premium paid on price versus performance.

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