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Author Topic: Peavy bi-amp questions  (Read 5438 times)

Brian Strachan

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Peavy bi-amp questions
« on: October 22, 2018, 05:02:09 PM »

Hello everyone,

First post here but have been lurking on this site for some time. I own a small business in my hometown throwing events, running sound and renting my small amount of equipment to people having small events. I am somewhat experienced, but still consider myself quite green.

Here’s my question. I have a small P.A. setup that includes:
X2 Peavy SP4 IIs (Crown XTI 4000 in stereo)
X2 Yamaha SW218v subs (X2 Crown XTi2000 bridged)
I also have a QSC Rmxa2450 and an Rmxa800 gathering dust

I am wanting to bi-amp my peavey mains and have done a little reading, but am coming to the conclusion I: a. Don’t fully understand what the power requirements are for bi-amping and b. Think I could set my amps up differently.

I had been giving consideration to buying another Xti2000 to run the high/mids and using the 4000 to run the lows on my mains. I then began to think that might be silly to spend that money. Would it behoove me to move my Xti4000 to my subs in bridged mode and let it handle them while using my other amplifiers to run my mains? I was thinking I could use both of the XTI2000s to run the mains or even pair a 2000 with one of the QSC amps. I just cannot seem to find how much power the peavy horn/subs need when they’re being powered separately.

Also an unrelated question. Most of the music I do is electronic/club music that needs heavy bass. These Yamahas are good, but not quite cutting it. I was thinking of buying 2 more cabinets, but it’s already a lot to haul around. I have now given thought to upgrading the woofers and keeping the cabs. I found DS18 subs which look like they’ll fit well with my cab volume. Does anyone have experience with them or another brand what would give me better low end powe than the subs in my current Yamaha cabinets?
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Mike Caldwell

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Re: Peavy bi-amp questions
« Reply #1 on: October 22, 2018, 05:39:45 PM »

First all you should not be driving your two subs with a bridged amp.
With that low of an impeadance load the amp in going into protective limiting and not helping the sound of your subs at all.

With an external crossover you could use your rmx amps for bi amping.
First I would look at getting your subs properly powered.
Are you using the XTI internal crossover to high pass the SP4 speakers and to high pass and low pass the subs.

Brian Strachan

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Re: Peavy bi-amp questions
« Reply #2 on: October 22, 2018, 05:43:37 PM »

First all you should not be driving your two subs with a bridged amp.
With that low of an impeadance load the amp in going into protective limiting and not helping the sound of your subs at all.

With an external crossover you could use your rmx amps for bi amping.
First I would look at getting your subs properly powered.
Are you using the XTI internal crossover to high pass the SP4 speakers and to high pass and low pass the subs.

I think you might have misunderstood me. Each sub is powered by its own XTi2000 in bridge. Is that not an okay thing to do?

I forgot to mention I am using a DBX Drive Rack PA2 to run the mains. It will be doing the crossover for the high/mid and lows for the main speakers.

I haven’t been running the subs off the drive rack though because I use them off of an aux send from my mixer.

Edit: I see now that powering my subs from 1 XTi4000 subs in bridge would be poor judgement. That slipped my mind. I think that’s what you might have meant?
« Last Edit: October 22, 2018, 05:50:23 PM by Brian Strachan »
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Brian Strachan

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Re: Peavy bi-amp questions
« Reply #3 on: October 22, 2018, 07:20:03 PM »

I will also say I've given thought to selling my 2 XTi2000s and running the 2 subs off of one QSC PL380 in stereo. Unrelated to the bi-amp question, but would this be a better scenario than what I am already doing?
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Rob Spence

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Re: Peavy bi-amp questions
« Reply #4 on: October 22, 2018, 07:30:41 PM »

A couple of thoughts...

For more and better bass, save up and get better subs. Don’t try and second guess the Yami engineers and make franken-subs. You will destroy what ever value they have.

Are your current subs properly high passed and low passed?

Are your tops wired for bi-amp from the factory?

What do you expect to get that you don’t now have by bi-amping them.

Do you know what settings you need for your DSP to properly bi-amp the tops?

My $0.02 is that bi-amp may make the tops sound better (if properly processed) but it won’t make them louder.


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Paul G. OBrien

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Re: Peavy bi-amp questions
« Reply #5 on: October 22, 2018, 07:30:57 PM »


I am wanting to bi-amp my peavey mains and have done a little reading, but am coming to the conclusion I: a. Don’t fully understand what the power requirements are for bi-amping and b. Think I could set my amps up differently.

I had been giving consideration to buying another Xti2000 to run the high/mids and using the 4000 to run the lows on my mains. I then began to think that might be silly to spend that money. Would it behoove me to move my Xti4000 to my subs in bridged mode and let it handle them while using my other amplifiers to run my mains? I was thinking I could use both of the XTI2000s to run the mains or even pair a 2000 with one of the QSC amps. I just cannot seem to find how much power the peavy horn/subs need when they’re being powered separately.
I'm not sure you will see a dramatic difference in sound biamping those cabs but there is nothing wrong with giving it a try. The user manual for the SP4 which is available on the PV website gives recommendations for bi-amp crossover  settings and amplifiers. It states you want to use a 2khz 24db LR crossover between the compression driver and 15s and power the CD with no more than 200w, so if you ask me the xti4000 and RMX850 would do the job. If you're going to use this config out on gigs you will want to rack those amps together with the DR and build a patch panel that is prewired correctly so you simply have to connect a regular 4-core speaker cable between the rack and speakers, no special cables needed, no confusion, no blown drivers.

Also an unrelated question. Most of the music I do is electronic/club music that needs heavy bass. These Yamahas are good, but not quite cutting it. I was thinking of buying 2 more cabinets, but it’s already a lot to haul around. I have now given thought to upgrading the woofers and keeping the cabs. I found DS18 subs which look like they’ll fit well with my cab volume.

As much as I like DIY projects the big problem with these Yamaha subs is that the cabinets are not rigid enough so more powerful drivers will be somewhat wasted on them. If you are any good at woodworking you could install some bracing but combine the time and materials you would spend on that with the cost of better drivers and you may find it's more cost effective to just look for better subs.
« Last Edit: October 22, 2018, 07:35:26 PM by Paul G. OBrien »
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Rob Spence

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Re: Peavy bi-amp questions
« Reply #6 on: October 22, 2018, 07:31:05 PM »

I will also say I've given thought to selling my 2 XTi2000s and running the 2 subs off of one QSC PL380 in stereo. Unrelated to the bi-amp question, but would this be a better scenario than what I am already doing?

Yes


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Rob Spence

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Re: Peavy bi-amp questions
« Reply #7 on: October 22, 2018, 07:36:52 PM »

I once had a Crown amp among my dozen of QSC amps.

Two things bugged me.
One is the Crown & the QSC draw cool air from opposite ends. I would not generally rack em together especially if I was going to drive em hard.
The other was how they calculated gain and sensitivity. It made me crazy switching my head back and forth.

Pick a brand and build from it.

I sold the Crown and am now all QSC.



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rob at lynxaudioservices dot com

Dealer for: AKG, Allen & Heath, Ashley, Astatic, Audix, Blue Microphones, CAD, Chauvet, Community, Countryman, Crown, DBX, Electro-Voice, FBT, Furman, Heil, Horizon, Intellistage, JBL, Lab Gruppen, Mid Atlantic, On Stage Stands, Pelican, Peterson Tuners, Presonus, ProCo, QSC, Radial, RCF, Sennheiser, Shure, SKB, Soundcraft, TC Electronics, Telex, Whirlwind and others

Brian Strachan

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Re: Peavy bi-amp questions
« Reply #8 on: October 22, 2018, 07:46:17 PM »

A couple of thoughts...

For more and better bass, save up and get better subs. Don’t try and second guess the Yami engineers and make franken-subs. You will destroy what ever value they have. Understood

Are your current subs properly high passed and low passed? yes they are

Are your tops wired for bi-amp from the factory? They are made to be, but are currently linked for full range

What do you expect to get that you don’t now have by bi-amping them. Better sound, not more sound

Do you know what settings you need for your DSP to properly bi-amp the tops? After looking at the manual, yes

My $0.02 is that bi-amp may make the tops sound better (if properly processed) but it won’t make them louder.


I'm not sure you will see a dramatic difference in sound biamping those cabs but there is nothing wrong with giving it a try. The user manual for the SP4 which is available on the PV website gives recommendations for bi-amp crossover  settings and amplifiers. It states you want to use a 2khz 24db LR crossover between the compression driver and 15s and power the CD with no more than 200w, so if you ask me the xti4000 and RMX850 would do the job. If you're going to use this config out on gigs you will want to rack those amps together with the DR and build a patch panel that is prewired correctly so you simply have to connect a regular 4-core speaker cable between the rack and speakers, no special cables needed, no confusion, no blown drivers.

As much as I like DIY projects the big problem with these Yamaha subs is that the cabinets are not rigid enough so more powerful drivers will be somewhat wasted on them. If you are any good at woodworking you could install some bracing but combine the time and materials you would spend on that with the cost of better drivers and you may find it's more cost effective to just look for better subs.

I think we are on the same page. I'm not sure I will see a "dramtic" improvement, but I know I will feel better (placebo) and that matters to me. I think using the crown and QSC will make for a good bi-amp setup and I will be building a patch bay so that it's always plug-and-play.

In terms of the subs I think I will leave them alone for now as suggested. There is a guy local to me who custom builds sub cabinets that sound excellent and are far more powerful than mine. He uses PL380s on them with great success. When I have the money I think I will sell my SW218s and buy his purpose built cabinets.

This has (for now, haha) answered my questions. I will power the mains with a QSC and Crown amp, then sell my 2000s and buy 1 PL380 to power the subs in stereo. Fortunately I have a very large amp rack which will allow me to place the QSC far away from the crown and avoid any airflow issues.
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Caleb Dueck

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Re: Peavy bi-amp questions
« Reply #9 on: October 22, 2018, 08:57:06 PM »



When I have the money I think I will sell my SW218s and buy his purpose built cabinets.

....1 PL380 to power the subs in stereo.

For the applications you've mentioned, replacing the subs with better would be a very good decision.  Replacing them with something unknown with zero resale value - not so much.   JTR Orbit Shifter or Danley TH118 are the two I'd look at first. 

After deciding on the subs - then look at amps.  The PL380 is good, but Powersoft K3 or K10 would unlock more potential, depending on sub.

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Re: Peavy bi-amp questions
« Reply #9 on: October 22, 2018, 08:57:06 PM »


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