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[andrew gissing]

I got my hands on 2 qsubs and a B2 today. I ran them underneath one Q7.

Interesting.

I'm going to post some shots off smaart 6; I hope they come through ok.

Measurement was EW M30 about 6 metres in front of the boxes, 1.5m in the air.

Source signal was pink noise out of the sound card of my notebook, and a cd.

From what I can tell, it looks like the B2 doesn't put out much energy above 80; whereas the Q subs seem to put out more above  125.

I'm trying to decide on purchasing between 4 q's and 2 b2's.

I'm not sure with pre-recorded music and pink noise which one I prefer. The Q's have more around 125, kinda gives it that "lots of bass" sound; but the b2's just deliver solidly on the bottom end. Kinda like there is a gap between the b2's and the tops.

yet, the spectragraph seems to show the B2 as a bit more smooth I think - yet with a dip at 125. Louder on either side. It looks like there is a shift to the right with the q7's - frequency response is allover, just a bit higher.

I've got 4 pics attached (i hope); first 2 are pink noise fed into the system as a whole (q7 and the subs); the second pair are just the subs playing the song "what kind of fool" at about 1:30 in; Streisand and Gibb. Where the bass and kick start in the song.

I'm not sure what i'm hoping to gain from posting this. Your thoughts but on what ?

Am I really asking... Do I want less 125 in my PA or not ?

Do I really need to try these out live ?

4 q's are more expensive than 2 b2's; the D12 will be the same either way; if I go the q's, i'd find a way to strap them together so that I move a pair as one.

2 q's take up less floor space.

there really isn't a lot between them.

Thoughts ?

I've got the speakers tomorrow so thought i'd post here and seek some opinions in the hope that in 10 hours time you may have some ideas for me to try.

I've got access to protools and some multitrack recordings; I may try a mix through that and see how it goes.


Thanks in advance,



Andrew



Andrew

[andrew gissing]

Pink q sub

[andrew gissing]

b2 song

[andrew gissing]

q sub song

[Art Welter]

If you can, listen to the speakers outside.

Cross over the subs where you would normally cross them.

If you want to compare frequency response, use the magnitude screen.

Put the test mic capsule almost touching the ground.

[Evan Kirkendall]

FWIW- The B2 and Q-sub are supposed to be used together to form a complete system. The B2 falls off right where the Q-sub is supposed to pick up where the B2 leaves off, and then the Q1 picks up where the Q-sub falls off. You can even run the B2 in infra mode to get some more LF.

If you can't afford to run them together, then I'd get the B2. It's a much better sub with a good bit more get up and go.



Evan

[The Guy]

Evan Kirkendall wrote on Tue, 26 May 2009 20:38

FWIW- The B2 and Q-sub are supposed to be used together to form a complete system. The B2 falls off right where the Q-sub is supposed to pick up where the B2 leaves off, and then the Q1 picks up where the Q-sub falls off. You can even run the B2 in infra mode to get some more LF. Evan

You are not necessarily correct.  The B2 in INFRA mode is designed to work under a Q-SUB (or C4 sub) to supplement the very low bass region.  The recommended configuration ratio is 1 B2 for every 4 Q or C subs.  

Running B2's in standard (non-infra) mode will work well with Q-series boxes in CUT mode, taking the place of Q or C-subs.  Running B2's in standard mode with Q subs is not recommended, nor is running B2's in INFRA mode straight into Q tops.  

Evan Kirkendall wrote on Tue, 26 May 2009 20:38

If you can't afford to run them together, then I'd get the B2. It's a much better sub with a good bit more get up and go. Evan

This is also a flawed statement.  The B2 is not "better" than a Q-sub, just different.  It's like saying that your Ford Mustang GT is "Better" than my F250 pickup truck.  They both drive, but are designed to do different things.

-J

[andrew gissing]

Thanks for the tip Art; I re-took a measurement indoors close to the floor and what a difference that made. The room I was using is pretty large. Kids today looked at smart and saw some noise up around 4k and asked what it was... I had to remind them that the measurement mic hears everything - including the sound of the light fittings rattling around !

I got all the gear outdoors but then smaart decided not to play ball - I didn't try and re-boot computer, probably should have done that but I was pressed for time and feeling stressed so... another day maybe.

As Jim has pointed out, the boxes are different. I think the q's sounded like a bass bin. I think the presence of frequencies above 100 were kind of masking that it also went low. Whereas the B2 only did low.

I'd love to take both q's and b's to a gig and swap subs during set breaks but that's a luxury I don't think i'll be able to wrangle.

Arr... i wish I could easily say I clearly preferred one over the other but it's a b2 by slight margin I think.


Thanks all for your thoughts.


andrew
PS: no matter what I buy, I won't have enough for you Evan - i'll have to cross-hire ! <grin>

[Ivan Beaver]

Why are you using the spectrograph to show the freq response?  There is no way of knowing that the difference in color in in relation to db variation.  That is adjustable in the program and could mean anything.

Why not show a regular freq response curve that would be much clearer?