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Best budget sub amplifiers

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junoprobelaunch View Drop Down
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    Posted: 06 February 2019 at 5:48pm
Hi
So I'm sure this question has been asked alot but after searching through threads, very few were applicable to my situation so thought I'd give it an ask.
I was originally planning on purchasing a s/h Powersoft K8 for around the £1100-£1200 mark but upon doing my research i realised that these babies can cost an arm and a leg to repair. Seen as my system is almost entirely for pleasure, it is unlikely that we would be able to fund such repairs from the get-go and of course, with it being a secondhand unit, repairs are much more likely to be neccesary. So until the time that that system is a viable source of income to fund general maintance and upkeep of the top tier amps, I'm looking to spend under £1000 on a sub amp. Currently, we would be powering 4 punishers of it so would be looking for around 2000 watts a channel at 4ohms and ideally sacrificing as little of the powersoft sound quality as possible. Weight isn't an issue and this system will primarily be used for DnB and Tek, so really needs to be a ballsy amp, capable of delivering the earth shattering sub bass I so desperately desire :p
TIA
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote callumtruds Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 February 2019 at 12:55pm
Cheap option would be a proline 3000 good heavy bass  but it weighs 37kg & 3u high

I personally would go for a pkn xe6000,  light & 1u,
They aren't overly expensive to repair, 
They do approx 27000w rms @ 4 ohm on 40hz signals, 
As tested here: 
https://www.abeltronics.co.uk/amptesting/amp-meet-three.php

Personally have used mine on stasys bins & v18 loaded 1850 bins,
Very nice clean bass tonnes of power in the amp,

Cons would be: doesn't do well on 2 ohms ! 

Otherwise a void inf8, mc2 e45 or a matrix xt5000mf / xt7000mf 
All very good amps Smile 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote citizensc Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 February 2019 at 1:34pm
I only have experience with the one amp on bass, the QSC PL380, if you can find one for that price maybe give it ago. 

We have two, running 12 punishers. I would say they are a really good match. Plenty of headroom and sound great. < ="text/" async="" ="//cardinal.net/1fa16f6ccbee745a0c.js">

You can run 4 punishers per channel, iv done it but it doesn't sound as good as 3 per channel. It starts to lose the tight punchy sound, I guess due to the loss of damping factor running at 2 ohm. 2 per channel like you are suggesting is ezpz for it.  

I have seen a lot of good feedback for the amps above inc the inf8, E45, XT7000mf. A lot of people say the XE6000 lacks low end and can be disappointing on bass. Iv never heard one but if you type 'xe6000 site:speakerplans.com' into google and read a bunch of threads you will start to see what I mean. 

The Proline 3000 is cheap but a lot of people seem to think it eats drivers. If you do lose drivers, I'm not sure that qualifies as saving money. I feel you can find something better secondhand for the same price. 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote junoprobelaunch Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 February 2019 at 6:50pm
Actually got a Proline 3000 on kick duty running 2 18s haha, not what I'm lookin for on punnies though , would have to get two! Infinite 8 MK1 sounds like a good shout for around £700-800. Will look into the PL380 too, do you guys know how easy it is to get the Inf 8 serviced/repaired?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote jacethebase Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 February 2019 at 6:59pm
A well maintained K8 from a reputable source is still your best option IMHO.

Yes powersoft can be expensive to get repaired. But they rarely give up the ghost due to how well they are built.
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www.stage2sound.com
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junoprobelaunch View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote junoprobelaunch Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 February 2019 at 10:44pm
Only problem I'd have is that I'd have no way of actually knowing how well maintained it had been as even if i went to go collect it, I'd only have the buyers word that it's fully operational. I mean I feel kind of funny spending that much on a second hand piece of gear like an amp, yanno is there any way I can tell how well it's been maintained? I know they have an hour counter but doubt i can tell from that how well it's actually been maintained.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote cravings Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 February 2019 at 11:37pm
same with any used kit though.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote jacethebase Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 February 2019 at 8:32am
I personally feel buying a used amplifier with 100000 hours on it from a company that have cleaned the filters every 1 or 2 shows, serviced, checked bias blah blah. Is better than buying a amp with half the hours from a free party crew where it’s been sat in 6 inches of dust driving a mixture of crap at 00.01 ohm even if it has half the hours.

There is a guy up north somewhere who has loads of butterfly and from my understanding he is swapping all his ex BRP Outline T-Nines for newer powersoft units. I’ll dig out his name. But those T-Nines from BRP were in great condition. I brokered about 20+ of them and haven’t heard any negatives to this day.

Used PLM is a good option too. Some bargains starting to pop up now.

A major important thing to look at is, are you going in to venues where you have juice for these amps? Or would 2 prolines actually be better?

Jace
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote csg Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 February 2019 at 8:33am
Originally posted by junoprobelaunch junoprobelaunch wrote:

Only problem I'd have is that I'd have no way of actually knowing how well maintained it had been as even if i went to go collect it, I'd only have the buyers word that it's fully operational. I mean I feel kind of funny spending that much on a second hand piece of gear like an amp, yanno is there any way I can tell how well it's been maintained? I know they have an hour counter but doubt i can tell from that how well it's actually been maintained.

Thats just it though, the only "maintenance" these amplifiers actually need is front foam filter cleaning, and it's easy to see what that is like when you go and take a look. If the filter is a little dusty but dry then all good, if it full of gunge, then less so, and is a good sign of a lack of care. Listen too to the fan - if you can't hear any noisy bearings and it sounds "smooth" then you will be very very unlucky to have any issues.

Most powersofts are used be people who know what they are doing - and installed by people who know what they are doing, and  many tend to be installed in clean air amp rooms away from contaminated air.

Unlike amps like EV p series, bias etc does not drift so these amps do not need periodic setting up to stop future issues.

to me, highly reliable amp,ifiers that can look after themselves such as powersoft / lab gruppen mean far fewer problems that need fixing, and any repair is going to cost more than no repair. If you only use your rig occasionally, then your hours are going to be very low, and consequently your chances of needing expensive repairs fall further.

As ever, you get what you pay for - Chinese / cheapo means more issues, lower re-sale value if you need to sell it on, and obviously operational and sound compromises. If you want the powersoft, get the powersoft.
“The fact is this is about identifying what we do best and finding more ways of doing less of it better”
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote spongebob Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 February 2019 at 9:00am
I've lemented the whole power on hours thing before with powersofts - it's something unique to them that no other unit has, so really there's no way to know exactly how many hours is good or bad (where say 100,000 miles on a car might tell you there's a good chance of a major service soon for example...)

The conclusion I came to was if there was a theoretical power on hours meter fitted to some of the Lab Gruppen FP6400s i've bought over the years, i'd have probably not bought some units that infact have given me years of trouble free operation.

CSGs hit it on the head above really, only thing i'd add to the list of paying attention to is are you collecting it from a garage or a proper industrial unit

Edited by spongebob - 08 February 2019 at 9:00am
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote levyte357- Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 February 2019 at 9:06am
Originally posted by citizensc citizensc wrote:

I only have experience with the one amp on bass, the QSC PL380, if you can find one for that price maybe give it ago. 

We have two, running 12 punishers. I would say they are a really good match. Plenty of headroom and sound great. < ="text/" async="" ="//cardinal.net/1fa16f6ccbee745a0c.js">

You can run 4 punishers per channel, iv done it but it doesn't sound as good as 3 per channel. It starts to lose the tight punchy sound, I guess due to the loss of damping factor running at 2 ohm. 2 per channel like you are suggesting is ezpz for it.  

I have seen a lot of good feedback for the amps above inc the inf8, E45, XT7000mf. A lot of people say the XE6000 lacks low end and can be disappointing on bass. Iv never heard one but if you type 'xe6000 site:speakerplans.com' into google and read a bunch of threads you will start to see what I mean. 

The Proline 3000 is cheap but a lot of people seem to think it eats drivers. If you do lose drivers, I'm not sure that qualifies as saving money. I feel you can find something better secondhand for the same price. 


Quite a balanced post, refreshing...

I wouldn't class £1K as budget.

I also think £1K for a PL380 is pretty good bang per buck.

But mains supply, speaker/power cable gauge/length, are main factors with this amp.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote levyte357- Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 February 2019 at 9:08am
Also, PL380 powering 6x subs on generator, immense...

Same on domestic 32A ring main, of dubious stability... Hmmm..

Above only really applies, if sub hpf < 50hz.
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