Still musing about my bass rig

[uOpt]

Still not sure what way to go. I need something modular that can serve as a subwoofer for full-range. Mainly for movies. I am out of space, if I were to get a dedicated bass rig I'd have to sell half a dozen guitars (oh the horror!).

So I think I have these ways to go:

• Get one of those mini bass amps that come in a nice nylon bag and a random 15" cabinet. Use as subwoofer just as-is, cutting highs until you can't locate it anymore or get a basic crossover.
• Get a programmable bass preamp such as the Zoom B3, then go into either:
  • Active subwoofer and something for the highs (2x10 or so). So I'd have to drag around a second cabinet.
  • 19" power amp and passive cabinet, in this case I would make or buy a cabinet with some high frequency capabilities. So I'd have to drag around a 19" rack. For use as a home theater I would get a crossover such as this one: http://www.samsontech.com/samson/pro...s-mini/sxover/
• Get full-range PA speakers and hope that boosting the bass will make it sound allright. Example product: Electro-Voice ELX112P

This is all not optimal. Too many things to drag around. They don't make a 3-way 19" power amp (for two satellites and one subwoofer), much less with an integrated crossover. They don't make powered PA subwoofers with useful crossovers for the satellites like many home subwoofers have.

Any thoughts?

[saladin]

Re: Still musing about my bass rig

Slightly confused.... You want a bass rig that also doubles as a movie sound system?

The first choice sounds best. You could run sound thru a small mixer and then into the effects return of the amp for better control.
You could also add a guitar amp for hi-end response. Sting from the Police always used a bi-amp rig with a bass amp and big speakers
for the low end and then used a guitar set up for the highs and effects. Very effective.

[uOpt]

Re: Still musing about my bass rig

I want it to serve as a subwoofer for movie watching. The rest of the spectrum comes out of "full-range" speakers (which is course aren't very full range compared to a 15" subwoofer).

I have already convinced myself that #1 is probably best and most reliable, and I can always combine it with that small crossover to do the frequency split properly. That way I am also more free to build or get a bass box that I like (which probably means a 15L and going from there). If things go horribly wrong and I need a 19" power amp later I can then use it for mid/high until I run out of power on the bass amp. Which isn't likely in a home theater situation.