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[Scott Carneval]

Ok, I know I'm comparing apples to fried chicken here, but hear me out.  I have a client who is renovating a nightclub and we're doing the sound/lighting.  We're using some leftover equipment wherever practical.  He has 2 QSC GP218 subs and a RMX5050 amp to power them.  These worked fine before, and were 'loud enough', but it wasn't 'knock your socks off' bass by any means.  I have an opportunity to purchase 4 KF940's plus amplification for about $4k.  On paper, these are much much better subs than the QSC's.  I get it that they're huge and they're heavy, but we could make that part work. 

One of my concerns, though, is that we can't stack them in a 2 over 2 cube as EAW suggests.  There is a LED video wall going behind the subs, and if they are stacked 2 high it would block the wall.  We would have to array them 1 high by 4 across. 

Another concern of mine is that it is my experience and my understanding that, given equal output at say 50', horn loaded subs are quieter directly in front of the mouth vs a bass reflex design.  I believe I will have a whole lot more sub than I need, so we could always turn them up louder to compensate, but I'm afraid we'll throw too much bass on the neighboring condominiums which are 1 block away.  The front door of the club is an accordion door, meaning it will open up completely to the front patio, meaning there's basically no wall on the front of the building when the door is open.  We may end up with a very poorly designed horn within a horn.

The room is 27.5' wide x 68' long with 11' ceilings.  We will have an opportunity next week to demo the KF940's in our room, and the QSC's are already on site, so we can do a side-by-side comparison.  I'm just wondering what I should expect. 

[Bill Hornibrook]

Is the club doing contemporary hip-hop? This stuff absolutely lives in the sub 40hz region, and can go right through walls and travel for blocks. I'm currently DJ in a room with just two 21" B&C subs. We have an apartment complex 1 1/2 blocks away, and used to get noise complaints all the time until I was forced to turn the subs down.

I honestly don't think you will be able to get away with them. But for your auditions bring the current #1 hip-hop download IDFWU (Big Sean) with it's room rattling low B's (30hz) and Headband (B.O.B.) with it's thunderous wobbly low C's (32hz). These are huge club hits right now and very typical of the genre.

Bring cleans if during the day unless you want everyone within hearing range to know what IDFWU stands for

[Scott Carneval]

It's an open-format club, so it will be a mix of Hip-Hop, EDM, Trap, Twerk, and a little bit of everything else.  Definitely a lot of LF content and drawn out bass notes.  One of the things that drew me to the 940 was the 22hz LF extension. 

[Bill Hornibrook]

Yeah that's what I am (and my room is) open format.

EDM sometimes ventures into low D. Trap and twerk are actually mostly above 40hz. Hip-hop is the one that really pushes the boundaries for club subs. Put some in and then head on over to that condominium.

The room itself will love those subs. There is no such thing as too much bass if you're mixing for highly intoxicated 22 year olds.

[Richard Turner]

Weren't the KF940 originally sold as 8 boxes being capable of stadium size events or was that the BH760?

Might be a tad much in a confined space but your plan will likely be enthusiastically embraced by shareholders in libbey glass works.

[Scott Carneval]

I think I forgot to mention that 3 of the walls in the club are floor-to-ceiling mirrors.  We're taking bets on how long until one shatters.

[Terry Fryar]

We used to have KF940's.  We tried em in a few small rooms.  Even in a decent sized church.  Ahem...how do I put this...

Find a friend who has a competition audio car that generates 130db sub.  Roll the window down.  Pull up a empty cargo van or u-haul truck next to the car.  Get in the back of the van/truck.  This is what it will sound like in a small room with KF940s!

Outdoors, they generate an enormous amount of low frequency energy.  Put 6 or 8 a side and you can cover sub for 10,000 people.  But indoors in a small room they don't hit your chest at 60 like double 18"s will.  Indoors...well...you can split a sheetrock wall with 2 of em playing EDM at 20hz.  But a kick drum won't sound like it has any impact.

Of course they weight 400lbs and are the size of a refrigerator...but.....

[Scott Holtzman]

Is the club doing contemporary hip-hop? This stuff absolutely lives in the sub 40hz region, and can go right through walls and travel for blocks. I'm currently DJ in a room with just two 21" B&C subs. We have an apartment complex 1 1/2 blocks away, and used to get noise complaints all the time until I was forced to turn the subs down.

I honestly don't think you will be able to get away with them. But for your auditions bring the current #1 hip-hop download IDFWU (Big Sean) with it's room rattling low B's (30hz) and Headband (B.O.B.) with it's thunderous wobbly low C's (32hz). These are huge club hits right now and very typical of the genre.

Bring cleans if during the day unless you want everyone within hearing range to know what IDFWU stands for

I honestly think the lyrics to this "song" represent the decline of western civilization as we know it.  Would like to hear with a Danley spud that goes below 20hz

[Caleb Dueck]

But they don't hit your chest at 60 like double 18"s will.  Indoors...well...you can split a sheetrock wall with 2 of em playing EDM at 20hz.  But a kick drum won't sound like it has any impact.

Was the 60-200Hz region reproduced by quality horn loaded speakers as well?

[Bill Hornibrook]

I honestly think the lyrics to this "song" represent the decline of western civilization as we know it.  Would like to hear with a Danley spud that goes below 20hz

Well yeah. But they don't call this stuff songs anymore. They call 'em tracks

Scott Carneval I hope you report back on how it goes. Containing sub-40 info is becoming more and more of an issues to those of us who deal with hip-hop (and to a lesser extent EDM). I've got stories, but I'll leave them for another time.

[ProSoundWeb Community]