Open Question
Passive subwoofer installation?
Passive subwoofer installation? I am putting together a custom home theater system in my home. I am looking at putting in two 8" 150 watt passive In-wall Subwoofers to go along with my 7-channel surround system. I need to purchase a separate amplifier to run the two subs. I have been looking at the Pyle PTA1000 1000w 2-channel amplifier, but I'm not familiar enough with amplifiers to know if this will work. If anyone can help me out and give some suggestions, I'd greatly appreciate it.
Asked by Russell M time:2010-08-13 21:36:38
answers (3)
I'd strongly advise against using in-wall sub-woofers.
The average wall only has 4 or so inches of depth and that doesn't leave enough room for a good sub-woofer enclosure to be stuffed in it. Heck, unless you make some design concessions and sacrifice sound quality you can't make a decent Bass driver fit in that space.
I'm afraid if you go this route you'll end up with a rattling wall that is going to sound just awful.
The Pyle PTA1000 gets mixed reviews. I wouldn't trust any amp that so dramatically exaggerates its power spec. This amp can not output 1000 watts. You probably would be better off going with some kind of subwoofer plate amp. You would need to wire accordingly depending on the impedance of your speakers. If they are 8 ohm wire them parallel and if they are 4 ohm wire them series and connect both to a single plate amp. I will attach a link to Parts Express plate amps for you. Some have a bit of parametric EQ capability that might help you optimize your bass response where as something like the PTA1000 will not. Also some of the plate amps could be mounted in the wall along with your speakers. Some recommend not doing this so check first. I'm not sure why they suggest avoiding this since all the heat dissipation is on the outside. I have seven plate amps mounted in a wall for ceiling mounted woofers.
Just FYI it is true that you may have wall vibration issues mounting woofers in the wall this way unless there is a lot more space available than normal so you can do something to prevent it. My ceiling subs each use two 8" drivers opposed mounted to cancel vibrations so if you have about a 10" thick wall you can do that. Otherwise you may want to look at other options other than wall mounting.
Because they are no able to handle massive amounts of power, I would suggest a pair of used Marantz MA-500 mono-blocs rated at 125w each. You can sometimes find tham on eBay or Audiogon.com. They should be adequate for your set up at an affordable price.
Other amps to consider are from Parasound. The HCA-1000A & HCA-1500A wpuld do nicely as well.