XPA-100 as subwoofer amp

[bwest1000]

With the fall sale I decided to purchase a XPA-100 to power my center channel speaker to keep up with my XPA-2 powered L&R front mains. My home audio system is very dynamic, never static, and I got to thinking about using an XPA-100 as a subwoofer amp with an in line active crossover. I think this could work and would be simple to do, but would there be anything anyone with more experience than myself can think of as to why I could or should not do this? As I am sure everyone frequenting this forum already knows, the XPA-100 is set up beautifully to bi-wire with two sets of bindings posts, so could it be used to power two separate woofers working a mono signal? Again, thoughts and warnings would be greatly appreciated. Would I even need an active in line crossover or could I just add an in line, non-adjustable coil crossover set at 100hz or 120hz to the subs? This is not something that I am doing any time soon, but I am interested in doing something like this at some point. I would love to build a couple of Decware Deathbox IIs and power those woofers with the XPA-100 when I upgrade my system again.

[DYohn]

Should work just fine: an amp is an amp. The only down side is the power available. If the power is sufficient, and if the subwoofer impedance is at least 4 ohms, go for it. (and depending on your pre/pro, you may not need any sort of crossover if it has a sub low pass built in.)

[repeetavx]

I'm using an XPA-100 to power my 15 inch subwoofer. Its being fed by the sub output of my processor. I would think that a crossover is necessary and it sounds like you've got some pretty good ideas.

My subwoofer is 6.3 ohms, with the understanding that at some frequencies the impedance would be much lower, and the XPA-100 handles it beautifully. It is very musical and precise. See Gary's post below for four ohm performance.

[bwest1000]

So I could use my Marantz receiver to set the low pass/high pass filter for the LFE out, run that to the Emotiva, and be good to go? That would take care of the crossover requirements without having to put coils in line.

What 15" sub are you using in conjunction with the XPA-100?

Thanks for the advice.

[repeetavx]

Nov 12, 2014 14:13:57 GMT -5 bwest1000 said:

What 15" sub are you using in conjunction with the XPA-100?

A down firing sub which was designed for Dolby ProLogic.



I use it as an end table as well as a speaker

[Gary Cook]

I use an XPA-100 with a 17" Soundstream 4 ohm driver in a 100 litre DIY enclosure. Easily the most musical amp I have used with that sub woofer and I've used a lot, from DIY amps to pro amps with over 1000 watts. IMHO the XPA-100 kills them all for sound quality as well as providing more than enough grunt for solid LFE movie tracks. I have tried an XPA-1L (driving that same sub) and I couldn't detect any difference from its additional 100 watts. I have no hesitation in recommending the XPA-100 especially if you use it for music as well as movies.

Cheers
Gary

[knucklehead]

Nov 12, 2014 14:13:57 GMT -5 bwest1000 said:

So I could use my Marantz receiver to set the low pass/high pass filter for the LFE out, run that to the Emotiva, and be good to go? That would take care of the crossover requirements without having to put coils in line.

What 15" sub are you using in conjunction with the XPA-100?

Thanks for the advice.

Your Marantz should be all you need for a crossover. If you have a dual 4ohm voice coil sub you might want to wire them in series so impedances don't drop too low which could set the amp into protect mode. Pro amps usually are rated for 2ohm and might be a better choice - depending on your sub of course. For the same money you could get a Behringer Inuke amp or a Crown XLS-1000 and have two channels to play with - and more power.

[rdavidw]

Would the XPA-100 gen 2 be a good fit for this outdoor sub: Niles GSS10 Passive Subwoofer?  I would be running it off a Pioneer Elite with a sub out with a built in crossover.  The Niles sub is rated for 50 to 500 watts and is 8 ohms.    

My deck speakers are the Polk Audio Atrium8 SDI and the Pioneer Elite is 130 wpc and will be crossed over as small speakers.

Thanks for any advice.

[Gary Cook]

I'm not familiar with the Niles (interesting design), but the XPA-100 should do just fine.

Cheers
Gary

[rdavidw]

I wonder if a small, cool D class amp would be a better fit for the sub, such as a Behringer Inuke amp or a Crown XLS-1000 per knucklehead's recommendation. I have seen some reviews of the Inuke and other Behringer amps complain that the fan noise level of the amp is very high, even mounted in a cabinet. The Crown XLS-1000 at 700 watts bridged at 8 ohm looks good but I have read some people had trouble with high level input requirements (2-3v?) with some AV receivers. Am I correct in thinking that for a high-end full range speaker the Emotiva would be the clear choice but the Crown XLS-1000 for $279 may be a better fit for a sub amp?

[Gary Cook]

I'm not familiar with the Niles (interesting design), but the XPA-100 should do just fine.

Cheers
Gary

[knucklehead]

That Niles sub is an interesting design. Looks like a pot belly stove! The sub specs show it to be 8ohm and requires 50-500 watts. A Behringer A500 is cheap (about $200 new - less used on ebay) and could drive that sub easily. Its a 2 channel amp with no fans (no noise!) and can be bridged into 8ohm loads and will supply 375w in bridged mono. Perfect for that Niles sub IMO. You can't bridge an XPA-100 and it won't fully power that Niles sub.

[Gary Cook]

The XPA-100 has more than double the power output of the AVR, so plenty of grunt. Mine has no problem matching an XPA-5, which has far more watts.

Cheers
Gary