I am looking to buy a setup for mobile DJ’ing for college partys and that sort of thing (nothing over 200-300 people.)
What I am considering buying is a pair of Peavey PV 215 Dual 15" Cabs powered by a QSC GX7 and a Peavey PV 118D Powered Sub for bottom end.
I realize this is probably overkill but I like BIG sound for when I need it.
The question I have is will these cabs and amp be compatible? According to the specs the cabs are 4Ohm and the amp is either 8 or 4 Ohm. Is there a specific way to wire this setup or how do I get the amp to run at 4Ohms? Also, any advice on this setup in regards to power(watts) would be appreciated. I am assuming this combo will work
Amp:1000w/channel@4Ohms
Cabs:1400w peak@4Ohms
Those will match just fine but the frequency response spec on the Peavey’s is not great. I haven’t heard them so take what I say with a grain of salt. You have any way to hear the combo before buying? Or are you doing an all online purchase?
Don’t get me wrong, this combo will work just fine. Maybe I’m more of an audiophile/audio snob. I’m always partial to Meyer’s, Turbosound & Funktion One or even custom systems that’re tuned right for the space.
Having experience with everything except the amp, here’s my two cents:
I have the GX5, the little brother to the GX7. Until seeing the link, I didn’t even know they had made another one.
The 700W RMS rating of the 215s is kinda BS, you’re looking at around a 3-500W actual RMS. I pumped 500W with my GX5 into these things and it fried one of em. This also was without using a subwoofer, so it’s possible the bass might have been too much (side note: the bass without a sub is pretty depressing, given twin 15s). If you set your crossover frequencies correctly and don’t push any sub-bass into the 215s, it should give you a decent sound
Sunshine, were u pushing two of these 215s with one GX5? Also, how would you set the crossover frequencies? A separate processor I am assuming or would something like a mixer work? Thanks for the reply.
Yes, I was running two of them with no subwoofer in full-range mode on the amplifier. I had the bass up a little too high I guess, and I fried the woofer in one of em. At 17 years old, it was an expensive mistake
Here’s how I would set em up: Your amp has a built in crossover set at 100Hz, which should be ideal. Set the amplifier to LF/HF mode, where 1 channel is for the subwoofer, and the other is for the mids/highs. Plug one of the PV215s into the amplifier, then plug the other into the speaker being amplified. Plug the PV118 into the LF channel, and away you go. It will look like this:
I wouldn’t recommend that. It’s called wiring speakers in parallel and will drop your Ohm rating to 2 Ohm’s Which neither the Amp nor the speakers are rated for.
Crap, you’re right; forgot about that silly thing called impedance
Have you considered an active subwoofer with two passive speakers? Completely negates the need for an amplifier at that point, as with certain subwoofers you can power your tops off of it, and the sub’s crossover distributes the frequencies for you. Lot less stuff to haul around as well. I think the B-52 Matrix system or whatever is like this.
If you have that much $ to spend I would rock a set of Mackie Thump 15" top cabs and a pair of the 18" powered Subs. I use the PV15 single cabs, they sound good but I wasn’t that impressed. I did a club with 6 single 15s around the room and a couple of folded horns. The owner was on a budget. I had purchased 8 but ended up using 6 so I kept two for my own rig. I sold them and up graded to the Thump powered cabs (plus put in RCF 15" drivers). The cabs with the stock speakers sound good, if you cross over the sub and take out the bottom end on the top cabs you can get nice and loud. Plus it is easily transportable and probably the best bang for the buck. After a year of abuse I upgraded to better RCF drivers and it gave the sound a little more warmth and punch, can’t complain at all tho..
No to mention you would want to get a cross over, those passives are not the best and don’t allow for any tuning. EQ will only do so much, I used a BBE DSP unit with multiple Crown CE amps with the install I did, I was able to tune the room and dial the cabs in to sound better then normal..
I was just gonna recommend the Mackie Thumps. I did a gig last night and my friend brought his for it. I was almost convinced there was a sub somewhere in the room, they were impressive.
Funny how I recommended the active sub. One of my crappy 10" speakers died today, so I kinda splurged and got a replacement and a 12" Gemini active sub to boot. Guess it’s time to throw that party I’ve been thinking about…
Well I have decided on the 15" Mackie Thumps (everyone loves them, must be for a reason) as the mains.
JasonPaul, were you talking about the Mackie SRM1801 18in 1000W Subs or just 18" powered subs in general? The reason I ask is poorish reviews on Musiciansfriend. People say they “just die” on them? Do you have any experience with them?
Again, thank you everyone for the replies this is a big help.
Yes SRM1801, they are solid if you don’t abuse them. I know some kids that crank them up all the way and then crank up their DJ mixers to +12db riding the red lights all night and end up blowing the sub. As long as you set it up right and play respectively you will have no issues. I beat on my pair of SRMs for over a year, when I say beat I mean pushed them to the limits of a clean signal all night long 4-6 hours per event (house music). I just replaced the drivers with RCF just to freshen them up, in the almost 1-1/2 years I used these stock I had zero issues.
My gain set up normally on mine is 3/4 sub and 5/8 tops with the 80Hz bass turned down quite a bit. Nice warm kick and clean sounding highs. Do not run your mixer in the clipping (red peak) area when feeding a powered system cranked up like the rest of the fools..
Also a little tip for plastic speaker owners, to get powered speakers to sound better use sound damping material. I used dynamat from old car audio installs I had left over. I lined the cabs with it which made them heavier a little but killed the resonance of the cabs and tightened the sound up. (cheap upgrades for better sound).
what would you consider a good frequency range?
