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[Jeff Babcock]

jorge terrez wrote on Sun, 17 August 2008 21:18

I used to own EAW LA-400's and I sold them after building my first pair of titans ; compare with the EAW's I think they are a little bit more musical , they have a lot of punch on the 60-70hz region ....  and also is a good height to stack your tops. that was also one of my main reasons to replace my EAW with these ones.

I actually own both LA400s and Titan48's and came to the OPPOSITE conclusion.  I found the LA400's to be slightly punchier, tighter, and more controlled than the Titan48.  Even moreso in multiples - a block of 4 LA400's hits a lot harder.  The Titan goes a bit lower.

Jorge I am guessing from the picture that you were running 1 LA400 per side.  They are not really designed for that sort of use and are very underwhelming in that scenario. But in a center clustered block of 4 or larger they do very well.  FWIW 4 titans in a block is pretty good too.

Deciding on subs based on whether their height is good for stacking tops on should be a secondary decision.  Center cluster when you can and in most cases you will have better results and minimize "power alley".  For small shows I use portable "painter's" scaffolding to elevate the tops to the correct height.

[kevinjames]

Wow, those are the nicest looking Titans I have seen yet. Excellent work.

[Jorge Terrez]

   jeff at some point I just to own four of the EAW-LA400 , but I was never able to run them center clustered in a block of four , due to the places where I used them ,but I was able to have two per side on some ocassions , the same has happened with the titans, I've been able to run two per side , and on this configuration I feel they hit harder than the EAW's in my personal opinion , probably center clustered is a total different situation. My titans are loaded with the eminence definimax 4015 , I don't know if this is an improvement over the eminence lf3015 , but at least it makes me feel more confident when running more power on them.  regarding the height , it was a good reason for me , because I have a cargo van and putting four eaw's + my tops + amps and on top of that scaffolding to raise my tops,it was a very tight pack ; now at least I dont have to carry with the scaffolding anymore and the titan's fit better on my van than the EAW's.
 

[Jeff Babcock]

Jorge,

That's strange how our findings have been so dissimilar.  I have used both types of subs on many many gigs and constantly come to the same conclusion that the 400 is punchier.

Perhaps the rooms you used the LA400 in were a factor.  Outdoors they sound nowhere similar.  Titan does better in the lower ranges but is absolutely not as punchy as the LA400.  Are you sure your tops were delayed accordingly for each sub?  

Also keep in mind your usual configuration of 2 per side is creating a big power alley at FOH which may be misleading.

I typically have driven off of a QSC PL380.  With the LA400's I have raised the HPF to 40Hz (EAW recommends lower).

Keep in mind both subs are a good bang for the buck.  You can do better if you want to spend more.

[jeffhtg (Jeff Kenney)]

A classic example of peoples perception of sound being very different.. ESPECIALLY when it comes to bass

I've used the LA boxes quite a bit.. I've always thought this box, and the dc equivalent was a extremely tight 'punchy' sub - but without the ultra-low end extension I desire in my "super subs". You must cluster them in large groups to get any response out of them. The DCS-2 really needs to be run in blocks of 4 - and the LA box is basically a 1/2 of a DCS-2.. that means I Would want to see 8 of them together to make them work well. Sometimes I find that these subs sound so "clean" that you actually have to add a little bit of distortion to your mix, or perhaps a bass enhancer to dirty it up and give the punters the sound they are used to.

[Jeff Babcock]

Ha! Jeff, you are so used to a big block of Lab Subs that I'm sure hearing LA400's is pretty underwhelming.

The largest I have run them is in a center clustered block of 8, in that configuration it hits really hard and tight but of course drops off quickly below 40Hz.  A block of 4 for smaller events though is still pretty impressive.  For live music the lack of extension is not as big a deal to me as it would be if I were doing DJ type stuff or a lot of playback.

I have experimented a bit with adding some "dirt" to the signal with mixed results.  After messing around with it, I'm now more of the opinion to just use double 18's if I want that sound, and horns when I want a cleaner sound...  more often than not I opt for the horns.  I am contemplating some TH115s these days as an upgrade from the LA400's.