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[Justin Staszewski]

Just landed the biggest account of my career.  I am taking over production for a large local cover band and will be mixing to average club crowds of 800 to 1000.  I am purchasing 4 each of the SLS960 and VLF218 and was curious what you all might consider market value to be.  They are all in Good to Very Good condition.  I am buying from a friend and the price seems pretty fair, but I also dont want to over pay as there aren't alot of these floating around used to use as a barometer for their value.  Any help would be MUCH appreciated.

In addition, I'm building a new amp rack to run these and I am currently torn between 2 scenarios.  I have 2 iTech 4000 and 2 iTech 6000.  I previously had 1 6k and a PLX 3402 on my mid rig (QRX212 over QRX218- 1 stack per side) and found the PLX running out of gas on me.  So I switched it to the 2 iTech 4k and have been very pleased.  So I was planning on running the 6k's on the Community system.  Will a 6k be enough to adequately power all 4 subs? I figured I'd be ok since the previous owner ran the subs on a Macro 5k which is 1250 per box and this would be about the same, but the iTech and Marco aren't exactly Apples to Apples.  Am I gonna be ok or do I need to switch the mid system back and run a 4k apiece on the subs and instead and get a new amp to replace the PLX on the mid system? 

Sorry for the long winded post, but any of your expert advice would be very much appreciated!

Justin Staszewski
Desoto Audio

[Tim McCulloch]

Just landed the biggest account of my career.  I am taking over production for a large local cover band and will be mixing to average club crowds of 800 to 1000.  I am purchasing 4 each of the SLS960 and VLF218 and was curious what you all might consider market value to be.  They are all in Good to Very Good condition.  I am buying from a friend and the price seems pretty fair, but I also dont want to over pay as there aren't alot of these floating around used to use as a barometer for their value.  Any help would be MUCH appreciated.

In addition, I'm building a new amp rack to run these and I am currently torn between 2 scenarios.  I have 2 iTech 4000 and 2 iTech 6000.  I previously had 1 6k and a PLX 3402 on my mid rig (QRX212 over QRX218- 1 stack per side) and found the PLX running out of gas on me.  So I switched it to the 2 iTech 4k and have been very pleased.  So I was planning on running the 6k's on the Community system.  Will a 6k be enough to adequately power all 4 subs? I figured I'd be ok since the previous owner ran the subs on a Macro 5k which is 1250 per box and this would be about the same, but the iTech and Marco aren't exactly Apples to Apples.  Am I gonna be ok or do I need to switch the mid system back and run a 4k apiece on the subs and instead and get a new amp to replace the PLX on the mid system? 

Sorry for the long winded post, but any of your expert advice would be very much appreciated!

Justin Staszewski
Desoto Audio

Use the SEARCH for these "new" forums and also search the old "FUD Forums" for the archived content.  We've had several Community rig owners posting over the years.

The 960s don't require a lot of power, IIRC something like 800w in passive mode.  Rated sensitivity is very high, but the number escapes me... it's been a long time.  Community believes in making sound, not heat, so their power handling looks low by today's standards.  I recall a discussion about this going  back to 2005 or 2006.

BTW, a quick phone call to Community will get many of your questions answered.  They are no-bullshit folks who will give you good information.

As for price, the used market seems to put these in the ~$1000 each range.

[John Chiara]

Just landed the biggest account of my career.  I am taking over production for a large local cover band and will be mixing to average club crowds of 800 to 1000.  I am purchasing 4 each of the SLS960 and VLF218 and was curious what you all might consider market value to be.  They are all in Good to Very Good condition.  I am buying from a friend and the price seems pretty fair, but I also dont want to over pay as there aren't alot of these floating around used to use as a barometer for their value.  Any help would be MUCH appreciated.

In addition, I'm building a new amp rack to run these and I am currently torn between 2 scenarios.  I have 2 iTech 4000 and 2 iTech 6000.  I previously had 1 6k and a PLX 3402 on my mid rig (QRX212 over QRX218- 1 stack per side) and found the PLX running out of gas on me.  So I switched it to the 2 iTech 4k and have been very pleased.  So I was planning on running the 6k's on the Community system.  Will a 6k be enough to adequately power all 4 subs? I figured I'd be ok since the previous owner ran the subs on a Macro 5k which is 1250 per box and this would be about the same, but the iTech and Marco aren't exactly Apples to Apples.  Am I gonna be ok or do I need to switch the mid system back and run a 4k apiece on the subs and instead and get a new amp to replace the PLX on the mid system? 

Sorry for the long winded post, but any of your expert advice would be very much appreciated!

Justin Staszewski
Desoto Audio

I have done outdoor shows with 4 960's running off 1 Carver PM 1.5...the tops run on almost nothing and will surprise you. I would suggest something to get the 960's up in the air a bit...I have som single 15" cabs the same size of the 960's and 18" high... Works great.

[Chris Davis]

Agreed with the other posters.  Since the SLS960 are very sensitive, many of the amp-related and heat/stress-related issues seem to fly right out the window.  Every now and then somebody seems to be highly opinionated about using these in Bi-amp mode, but the rest of us find Passive mode on these speakers to be much better than the norm (whatever the norm is nowadays).  You would be better off planning what amps you will use on your subs, and how to properly drive them.  I don't really have any specific opinions on the Community VLF subs though, but I do use double 18's on SLS960's myself for a mains rig.  The Macrotechs had some characteristics that many people found to be well-suited for subwoofers.  Personally I use the QSC 4050HD amps on my double 18s for that rig.  That was based on a good tip I got from this forum a few years back.  Thanks Bob!

[g'bye, Dick Rees]

..... the rest of us find Passive mode on these speakers to be much better than the norm (whatever the norm is nowadays).

[Timothy J. Trace]

I am purchasing 4 each of the SLS960 and VLF218...

Hi, Justin.  Do you mean something like this....



That's my rig, at a daytime car-park show in 2009, about a year and a month before I replaced my Allen & Heath GL2200-432 with an A&H iDR-32 (and all of my outboard, too).

Mains are 4x SLS960 over 4x VLF218.  I've owned my SLS960 since Y2K and the VLF218 since ~2005.

Power is 1x bridged PLX2502 per VLF218 (2,500 EIA W per speaker, 7.5A current consumption) and 1x channel of a PL218 per SLS960 (525 FTC W per speaker, 8A current consumption).

With one stack per side, I can run the rig wide-open on 2x 20A circuits: 1x 20A for mains and 1x 20A for monitors, backline and LED lighting.  With both stacks I usually need 1x 20A per side.  Outdoors, I like to have 1x 20A per sub amp.

The subs are powered just right, and the tops only get around 50% of their recommended power...but as others in this topic have noted, the SLS960 is crazy efficient, and I've never felt that they've been underpowered.

My system processor is a BSS FDS-366T.  Crossover point is 90Hz, can't recall the slope or filter model, and I roll them off at 27Hz. The full-range EQ was given to me in Y2k, by a very reliable source - Dave Howden at Community - I can share if you'd like.

After testing, I decided that there was no need to bi-amp the SLS960.  I've always preferred the tone of the very high-quality passive crossover.

Orion Blue Book (aka usedprice.com) suggests that used retail on a VLF218 is $536-655.  SLS960 are $717-876.

Is there anything else with which I might be of assistance? 

[ProSoundWeb Community]