Looking for Feeback on a First Time Stack
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Category: General
Forum Name: Newbie Discussion
Forum Description: Newbie Discussion/Questions. Look less stupid here...
URL: https://forum.speakerplans.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=109323
Printed Date: 26 March 2026 at 5:30pm
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Topic: Looking for Feeback on a First Time Stack
Posted By: DSnow
Subject: Looking for Feeback on a First Time Stack
Date Posted: 12 November 2025 at 8:16pm
Hello, long time lurker finally taking the dip.  A little about me, I'm just a guy that is really good and building things. This will be my first large wood project and thankfully I have a lovely neighbor who has a full workshop who is excited to help. Here's my purchase list for the electronics. Where I live is filled with wine bars that turn into clubs at night but they dont have their own system and ask DJs to provide. We are compensated well for this but I'm tired of the traditional wedding dj style PA systems. I'm building 2 Cubo18 with 2 mid boxes and 2 horn boxes. I'm a vinyl dj and have always wanted a system to go with the type of music i play which is indie dance and disco edits. I dont need or want a dubstep wub, looking to tune the subs to around 38-40 for a tight kick. Thanks for taking a look, and open to opinions and suggestions.
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Replies:
Posted By: fudge22
Date Posted: 13 November 2025 at 11:21am
| Do you already own some of the equipment in this proposed system? |
Posted By: DSnow
Date Posted: 13 November 2025 at 2:28pm
| Hello no. I've also done more research and am thinking Keystones instead of Cubo. |
Posted By: FOO
Date Posted: 13 November 2025 at 3:07pm
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To be honest, I cant see this as a good startup compared to what you are tired of. Aka wedding setups.. A typical setup of a 18" sub + 12"/driver will do just the same as your suggestions. How much will it add up to? I just did a quick price check: 12"+driver+horn. Two amps. X-over. That adds up to just shy of 1400£. All parts brand new from Thomann and THLP. Then you have to add wood cost, grills and other stuff to finish of a set of mid/high boxes. At that amount of money you could get something as a set of RCF art-732a. mk. 5 |
Posted By: fudge22
Date Posted: 13 November 2025 at 4:28pm
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If this is more of a vanity project than being super optimised for some chosen metric, or the best system to earn a living, then go with what makes you happy. However, if you are looking for work, model your system around what others who get regular work use. How big are the wine bars that you are hoping to perform at? They might not be super impressed if you if you turn up with something much bigger than a HK lucas nano. Unless the construction of the loudspeakers is a part of the process, and not just a means to an end, I agree with FOO, buy a complete system, you won’t save on cost by building. System wise, Given your choice of electronic components, it would seem that funds are limited. As such there are cheaper drive units that will perform just as well. If nothing else, check to see if P.audio do an equivalent horn. Same physical shape horn, same sound. Less cost. Acoustics do not check the brand. A digital loudspeaker management system would be better than the crossover you spec’d and would include limiters and eq, but if you don’t know how to set it up, it would not be much of an advantage. Ditch the limiter. Pre-recorded music is already compressed and vinyl precludes any sudden large peaks. Learn to operate the levels within the limits of your system. I use a dsp to tune systems (see comment above), but graphics are easier to understand. You can get one with the money you save from not buying a limiter. The choice of the EP4000 EUROPOWER is puzzling. On Thomann’s web site it is almost the same price as the NX6000, which puts out more power and is lighter. You could pair that with the 4ch version for about the same price as the amps you listed. The Furman power conditioner is expensive for what it does. It just uses a couple of MOVs and capacitors. A cheap surge protected extension cable provides the same protection. Most of the case is just empty space, but if you want your outlets in a rack mounted box, perhaps you think it is worth the expense. |
Posted By: DSnow
Date Posted: 13 November 2025 at 4:48pm
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Hey all, I'm in the States and if I go with your ideas of in the box solutions (totally fair mind you) the cost through Sweetwater is $10,196.00. That's for 2 RCF ART 932-A 2,100W 2-way 12-inch Powered Speaker and 2 RCF SUB 8004-AS 2500W 18-inch Powered Subwoofer I've already priced a diy stack and it comes to about 5k. Huge difference.
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Posted By: FOO
Date Posted: 13 November 2025 at 6:44pm
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First of all if you really should go with RCF, then forget ART932a. The ART732. Mk.5 sounds better. Most people say it's bull****, but the fact is most people haven't heard the mk.5 yet. They just think it's the same box as mk.4, but it's not. I got both, and I don't use them together because of the difference. I wanted to upgrade to 932a but didn't after mk.5 launched. But enough of that.. If you want to use a driver like that beyma, you need more muscle. It's never a good idea to use an amp with less power than the driver can handle RMS. For this specific Beyma I wouldn't hesitate to go with 1500 watt RMS for each driver. It's all about amplifier headroom. And that goes for the mid and hi sections also. Underpowering kill drivers. And I would go for a LMS instead of a separate x-over and limiter. You can get some nice LMS unit for not alot. You get much more control |
Posted By: fudge22
Date Posted: 13 November 2025 at 8:59pm
Over powering can kill drive units too. One needs to learn to operate on that fine line of correct powering. |
Underpowering kill drivers.Posted By: FOO
Date Posted: 13 November 2025 at 10:06pm
Yes off course. I'm not saying you should go 100% overkill, but 50% won't hurt anything. But underpowering is just waiting to fry coils.
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Posted By: Conanski
Date Posted: 14 November 2025 at 2:23am
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I'm just going to pile on here. For all the work you are going to put into this rig, a pair of RCF 932s with a single 8004 could potentially eclipse it in performance and definitely will blow it out of the water in terms of out-of-the-box sound quality and durability. The one area where you lose out big time is with the DSP processing in a modern PA speaker, you simply will not match the modern systems linearity and protection with analog components and the limited tuning it provides. You should be able to dial in some decent sound quality over time but you'll be coming from waaaay behind, and your system will be more work to load in/out. |
Posted By: Conanski
Date Posted: 14 November 2025 at 2:41am
Sorry but this is a fundamental misunderstanding of the problem, there is no issue unless the amplifier is overdriven but people can't stop themselves from turning it up more and more, with that kind of operator a bigger amplifier is just delaying the inevitable it's not preventing anything. |
Posted By: FOO
Date Posted: 14 November 2025 at 12:08pm
Agreed. As long as the amp is kept in check it's good. But.. pushing an underpowered amp beyond it's limits is by far a bigger problem than overpowering a driver above its Continues rating. Im this case I recommended 1500watts for a 1200 watt driver. But besides that I am 100% with you on the choice of gear.
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Posted By: DSnow
Date Posted: 14 November 2025 at 5:05pm
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Hey everyone thank you for contributing to the conversation! I think i've dialed things back and am just going to build the subs and use the Mackie SRM212 V-Class 2,000W 12" Powered Speaker 12 in I already have for the mids and horn. That said, will 2 keystones be good or should i go to 4? My idea is to work with what I have in some respect and build slowly |
Posted By: FOO
Date Posted: 14 November 2025 at 6:14pm
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Ooh you already have some fine gear? Those Mackie boxes will do great. I don't know the keystone design, but how much will it set you back to build a set + big enough amp + x over + all the bells and whistles?
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Posted By: fudge22
Date Posted: 14 November 2025 at 6:57pm
Given that the OP has reached a decision I don’t feel so bad about going off topic.
Oh come on! Everyone knows that as long as you don’t clip the amplifier, it is impossible to blow up a drive unit. A gazillion watt amplifier with brick-wall limiter for the win. Not in response to the above quote, but on the same topic, here are a few comments from two manufacturers. Mainly aimed at anyone who thought my statement above was serious. To quote JBL’s sound system manual:
EAW states:
What does not often get discussed, is that loudspeakers present a reactive as well as resistive load to the amplifier. Power factors of 0.4 -0.6 are not uncommon. Reactive loads do not dissipate energy. It is “reflected” back to the amplifier which then needs to dissipate it. On the whole class D amplifiers cope with this better than class AB. Larger amplifiers are designed to be able to dissipate more energy and cope with higher currents demands. This is why it is, in my opinion, why it is better to over-rate the amplifier. Simply so that it further away from its maximum capability and is less stressed. But, as JBL stated, “where there is an operator who controls levels carefully” For some historical context the article “Music Power Rating – Help or Hindrance?”, by Norman H. Crowhurst, in Electronics World, October 1960 is worth a read. |
Posted By: Conanski
Date Posted: 17 November 2025 at 7:24pm
- Low freq drivers will absorb a lot more abuse than smaller mid or high freq drivers. - The program material and it's duty cycle matters. - The presence/absence of driver protection matters.
I have witnessed what happens with lots of different speaker/amp combos.. 1. Amp capable of 500w connected to fullrange speakers that were 1000w continuous, amp was pushed into solid clipping for extended periods but no drivers failed over a 6hr event. Sounded like ass. 2. Amp capable of 500w driving four 250w fullrange speakers. Amp never clipped but all tweeters died after about 2hrs simultaneously like a fuse blew, but there was no fuse the drivers just saw too much sustained power and were all blown. Sounded good right up to that point. 3. Amp capable of 500w directly driving CD's rated at only 70w, DSP limited to 100w, no issue and sounded great. 4. Amp capable of 1000w on LF drivers rated 700w continuous, DSP limiting at amp clipping, program material was continuous(DJ) but dynamic, no issue and sounded great. I love big amplifiers, I'll always recommend someone get the biggest amplifiers they can get thier hands on because in my experience it always makes a system sound better, but speaker protection then becomes manditory. |
Posted By: DSnow
Date Posted: 18 November 2025 at 3:24pm
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Hey everyone, I ended up getting a Crown I-Tech 6000 Two-Channel Power Amplifier which will power my 2 tapped horn subs running B&C 18SW115-4 18" Professional Neodymium Subwoofer 4 Ohm (3400 Watts handling) in each box. I don't plan on running the subs at 3400 watts and am hoping the 6000 watt amp i have will give me enough headroom for a small room. I'm now looking at protection for my system and came across this https://furmanpower.com/products/asd-120-2-0 - Furman ASD-120 Do ya'll think it will be enough to protect a small system?
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Posted By: FOO
Date Posted: 18 November 2025 at 3:36pm
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That gives much more sense than your first thoughts. And the onboard DSP should give you the tools to tune and tweek to your likings. You are on the right path now  But I don't get what you want that Furman thing for?
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Posted By: DSnow
Date Posted: 18 November 2025 at 4:40pm
| The Furman "thing" is to protect the system from electrical issues outside of my control. |
Posted By: fudge22
Date Posted: 18 November 2025 at 11:11pm
According to Furman’s description, this thing just sequences the outputs when you tun it on. It doesn’t mention anything about protection. You can do that for free by turning on the device at the start of the signal chain first and ending with the amplifiers, and turning everything off in reverse order. It does advise - WARNING: Cancer and Reproductive Harm. What electrical issues do you think might arise, which are out of your control, that you need protection from? |
Posted By: BadmanSS
Date Posted: 09 March 2026 at 12:12am
You need a voltage regulator.
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