JimJ

An EQ and an active crossover are two very different things...the former being used to change the levels of frequencies in the passband, and the latter used for dividing a signal into different frequency ranges.

I helped a friend in HS with an Audiobahn AWT12X, followed the recommended plans and it worked good enough as a starting point. If you're halfway serious about competing you'll likely go through those subs anyway

I'd follow what's recommended by SI...

I'd go with the four BL's.

Something doesn't seem right about buying a Porsche and then shaking it to pieces in the lanes

About five years ago the local emergency management office replaced all their first response vehicles with Durangos...same issues. So apparently they suck just as badly for individuals as they do in fleet use...

My vote would be for the two SSD's, sealed. Enough output to overpower the front stage at times if wanted, while retaining musicality at lower volumes.

Like I said before...I wouldn't recommend it.

He didn't say to not have any subs... Think about it, about 90% of the frequency response comes from your front speakers, so where should the most money and effort go...?

Pretty common idea in home sub designs. Works fine. http://passdiy.com/speakers.htm Scroll down to "El Pipe-O" That design with Mach 5 woofers would be scary...if you have 14+ foot ceilings.

A better idea anyway. Living with the 'rents sucks. You could have it worse, my parents have been bugging me to do something upstairs for a year now - they got pissed when I had to move my stuff back to B'burg Which makes me feel bad because it's a much better acoustic space than my apartment is...

*sigh*

Yep.

Really good sounding. I had military surplus black plate 12AU7's in it and they worked great. Sold it because the dual volume knobs annoyed me after a while, and I *thought* I would have liked the 2A3 integrated I had for a little bit. Should have stuck with the Foreplay/Decware Zen combo at the time, that 2A3 project wasn't worth it. Pictures are here...yeah yeah, not my finest hour in wiring but it worked http://www.carstereos.org/gallery/showimag...=4007&c=189 http://www.carstereos.org/gallery/showimag...=4008&c=189

No real reason to. zaphaudio.com has an excellent tweet review that could get you started, at least. Excellent, but horns usually are more of a pain to install than typical speakers. Zaph and DIYMA should be both places you check...tons of good manufacturers out there. Vifa, Seas, Scan Speak, Focal, Rainbow, Morel...

Yep You can't find a used one? There are used Foreplays on Audiogon for $200'ish a lot of the time. IIRC, I sold mine for around that. If you aren't afraid of potentially re-capping things, the Dynaco PAS-3 is probably the linestage with the most value out there. 12AX7 based.

What's your budget?

I wouldn't run much more than what's rated. Would rather get more cone area than drive fewer speakers into power compression. Could you run infinite baffle? A few MJ-18's with that kind of power would be frightening

If you're going active, the whole point is to get rid of the passives I'd skip the CDTs...

I would, I'd rather go with the more professional customer service of Fi

The tinsel lead can be resoldered back on the terminal, and the spade terminals can be screwed back onto the basket.

What's your definition of 'pretty deep' bass? Sealed will get you the lowest extension...

I can solve some of that... Got any 'peekas you're wanting to particularly part with?

Honestly, I'd read very carefully into failure reports before making any judgements. Was the user trying to stretch the rating of the sub past what's recommended? Do they know how to actually set things up correctly? There's a lot of people on the forums with Fi products and a lot of people that shouldn't be around amplifiers...add those two together and you're left with a lot of melted tinsel leads and mechanical issues.

Speaking about concerts, seeing Gov't Mule in two weeks. Should be good.