Good or Bad idea to use a Stratos for bass drivers?

randog · « **on:** 18 Oct 2004, 10:46 pm »

My custom SCC300 cabinets are en route and I need to find a good amp to drive them. My mains are Ellis 1801's currently driven by a Stratos.

My rack is getting real tight and I've been considering moving the amp(s) out of it and placing them on amp stands near the speakers. To do this, I would get another Stratos and power the left 1801 and SCC300 with one and the other pair with the other.

How do you think the Stratos would work in this application? The SCC300 is a more of a bass driver than a subwoofer according to Jeff at Sonic Craft. I've considered the Adcom GFA-555, Aragon 4004, and Marsh A400s based on feedback from others. I believe all of these to be in the neighborhood of 200W/channel. Will the Stratos fall disappointingly short here?

Thanks for the feedback,
Randog

rosconey · « **Reply #1 on:** 18 Oct 2004, 10:53 pm »

i use a pair of monos with my vmps large sub-they work great and you wont believe what good bass sounds like-

some might think its over kill-

but after you hear bass from a good quality amp not a cheap sub amp you will understand

zybar · « **Reply #2 on:** 18 Oct 2004, 11:02 pm »

Quote from: rosconey

i use a pair of monos with my vmps large sub-they work great and you wont believe what good bass sounds like-

some might think its over kill- but after you hear bass from a good quality amp not a cheap sub amp you will understand

Wow, I would love to hear how that sounds.

I am getting very good results with a single Crown K2 driving TWO Larger subs in my 25x18x7 room.

George

randog · « **Reply #3 on:** 18 Oct 2004, 11:10 pm »

Quote from: rosconey

i use a pair of monos with my vmps large sub-they work great and you wont believe what good bass sounds like-

some might think its over kill- but after you hear bass from a good quality amp not a cheap sub amp you will understand

Hey Rosconey, I actually thought of you when I was thinking of doing this.

Now, don't the mono's have quite a bit more power than the stereo Stratos? My concern is that the Stratos may not have the power to drive these drivers.

The *good* thing with the application I'm proposing is that both bass drivers won't be taxing the same power supply.

I don't have the cash or room to go mono's.

rosconey · « **Reply #4 on:** 18 Oct 2004, 11:39 pm »

for a musical system 1,000 watts is a waste-imho- you dont want the bass overpowering the music-, its also nice to have the same sonic signature with amps-
so no i dont think you will be under powered,monos only have about 30 more watts.they have tons of control over the woofers.

i use 2 of the inline things at partsexpress to work the cutoff-didnt like them at first ,now i think they work well-go figure

ive hooked the sub up in mono and run from one mono block

it was a little over powering and slightly louder (i dont have a seperate sub volume control) when run in stereo everthing is more equil.

randog · « **Reply #5 on:** 19 Oct 2004, 12:09 am »

Well, from what I understand, the smaller the cabinet the more power is needed. Aren't the VMPS Largers pretty efficient?

My sealed cabinets are 3 cubic feet ea. Edited to add pics... let's see if this works:

I believe when you shove a beefy driver into a weenie cabinet, 500 or 1000 watts could come in handy. Fortunately, mine don't fall into that category. Exactly where they fall, I'm not quite sure (hence this thread). However, like you, I do like the thought of using the same amp type throughout.

.

mcody · « **Reply #6 on:** 3 Nov 2004, 03:48 am »

That does seem to be a bit of overkill but if it works great. How would such a setup campare to what I do? It seems pretty much the same.

My setup has been to use dual subs, each set to focus on a seperate part of the FR. I use ACI Titan II subs but have been thinking of going to a single larger sub design, or the other direction of multiple smaller subs.

My subs are currently stacked ,simply because it was easiest way to get greater output with lower distortion and not mess with room modes. Granted it did not fix potential room bumps/dips but it did not make them worse.

I could add extra power to the existing woofers but my thought is that I would be better of either:

Distrubuting bass output throughout the room via multiple small subs and deal with the complex room mode issues or:

Increase the output and overhead of the existing dual subs by replacing with a large sub (ACI Maestro = 4 x Titans) and then adjusting room modes via Behringer or similar.

Anyone have suggestions as to which approach might be better?

Rob Babcock · « **Reply #7 on:** 3 Nov 2004, 03:57 am »

Gorgeous subs!

Bet they'll really belt it out.

TheChairGuy · « **Reply #8 on:** 3 Nov 2004, 04:13 am »

Truly gorgeous randog...really pretty stuff.

I'll toast to that, too.

randog · « **Reply #9 on:** 3 Nov 2004, 04:41 am »

Thanks guys!

Here's the finished product:

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=14233

The Ellis are Darren Thomas craftsmanship and the Sub cabinets are the workmanship of Christof, both found here.

The pictures kinda suck. I'll replace them with better ones soon.

klaus@odyssey · « **Reply #10 on:** 3 Nov 2004, 08:15 am »

Of course it is. Randy, call me at 317 299 5578,

Klaus

klaus@odyssey · « **Reply #11 on:** 13 Nov 2004, 07:33 am »

hehehe, Randy, why don't you answer your question yourself when you 'll get the Stratos,

Klaus

randog · « **Reply #12 on:** 23 Nov 2004, 01:09 am »

Klaus, thank you. My Stratos is here and sounds great driving these SCC300's. It is definitely plenty of amp and a perfect sonic match to my other Stratos (as far as my ears can tell).

Do you ever get tired of hearing it?:
Thanks for doing me right once again!

Randy

rosconey · « **Reply #13 on:** 23 Nov 2004, 11:04 am »

told you so