Benefits & Results of Subwoofer Coupling (with QSC KW181's)

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DJ Rick reviews the benefits and expected results of coupling subwoofers together.

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Category:

Education

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• bass is loaded
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[rileyswanson]

Does this work with three subwoofers side by side? Is this better than corner loading a subwoofer in each corner of the room?

[agiprodj]

@rileyswanson Both options are worth a try. It always comes down to acoustics of the room. Set it up a couple of different ways and determine what works best.

[zchur]

I'm waiting for my 2 KW181s to be delivered and I do have 2 Ksubs. I was planning to use the Ksubs together with the KW181. Ksubs on it's side, one on top of the other and the 2 KW181s on each side of the Ksubs. Will it give a little push or it is just a waste of time and effort?

[agiprodj]

@zchur Our feeling is that you may end up doing more harm than good. You can certainly give it a shot and see what happens. You may have some issues with competing waveforms and time alignment.

[noodlecake71240]

You stated that you have a mono signal going though your sound system, I assume that is to keep the signal the subwoofers get identical so you get that extra 3db. Let's say you had 4 subs and want to couple 2 on one side, and another 2 on the other side. Do you still need to run the system in mono or can you use a stereo signal and still get that extra 3db? Technically both subs will still be getting the same signal, the first pair on the left will be getting the left signal, and the vice versa

[agiprodj]

@noodlecake71240 This also assumes you have no other signal processing in the chain that will help you get a mono sub out. Mono sub out is not a requirement, just to be clear...but it IS the truest sonic representation you want to have to take advantage of coupling effects. Otherwise you are sending arguably different signals to separate subs. Hope that all makes sense.

[DJNATETRONSMUSIC]

@zchur

I know in car audio it's never good to get different size subs or different kinds of subs together for the same reason as mentioned below. I would say if you could run a crossover or eq to each set and get them to hit different freq then you probably wouldn't have as many problems. Then the Ksubs could give you that tight crisp bass while the KW181 give you that low heavy bass.

Have you got them yet?

[Cirdec1324]

Would you rather have 4 kw 181's in a row. or a 2 by 2 stack?

[noodlecake71240]

I have one more question on coupling. Aside from the SPL benefits, what does it do for frequency response? I noticed the specs on the JBL SRX728 basically shows the max spl of what 2 coupled 718's would be, but a lower frequency response. Would you get the same, lower response from coupling 2 single 18's?

[noodlecake71240]

@agiprodj Sorry, I just saw the second part of your response! Disregard my last reply

[noodlecake71240]

@agiprodj ok awesome, I understand lol. So the extra 3db gain wouldn't work if one pair is only getting the left signal, and the other pair the right signal, even though the coupled subs are receiving the same signal?

I know some people reading these comments right now must have sparks coming out of their ears lmao!