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I’m looking to upgrade my sub and I’m wondering if Yamaha SW118V Club Series V Subwoofer is good match for a bridged Behringer EP 1500 amp?

Thanks
Jerry

That sub only needs 600 watts at 8 ohms. The EP1500 bridged is going to push 1000 watts into 8 ohms. It's a little more than it should have but if you aren't really pounding the bass/volume, you should be alright.

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

I do push the bass/volume a bit. So would the QSC GX3 be a better fit?

No in this respect the GX will not be a good mate for the Yamaha as the GX series is not bridgeable.
I would say just run the EP1500 bridged, if you do happen to blow the driver, you can always replace just the driver with a higher wattage driver - even a Peavey Black Widow 18" would work well and cheaper than either buying a new amp or a new sub, so go for it first and just see. As long as it is crossed over properly, it will most likely be fine.

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

This is bad advice. There are many critical properties of loudspeaker drivers beyond the power rating(s).

The SW118V is decent for the price. If the OP will eventually want more output than one SW118V can provide, though, a JBL SRX718S would be a better choice. It costs more, but one of them is a very good match for two of the Yamahas. It's a lot easier to carry a bigger amplifier than twice as many subwoofers.

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Jeff Wheeler, moonlight DJ/KJ

OK a couple things here. First, the EP1500 is rated at 800W over 8 ohms Bridge Mono for full range testing, 900W on a 1K test tone. That's per the users manual.

Second, bridging that amp and using it to drive a the Yamaha sub is not going to blow the sub. The sub is rated up to 1200W Peak, 600 Continuous, 300 RMS. Going by the old standby of 200-250% of RMS that puts you at 750, so 800W isn't a stretch at all.

Third, the JBL SRX718S is an 8 ohm box rated at 800W RMS meaning you want an amp capable of at least 1600W at 8 ohms. The EP1500 would be woefully underpowered in this scenario. Especially when talking low end, the last thing you want is no headroom.

In my opinion the Yamaha would be a fine match for the EP1500 in bridged mono.

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DJ Tony
Let It Rip Karaoke

But i'm willing to bet that he wouldn't blow that sub with that amp. Only sub i've ever blown was due to underpowering it, my current sub has an amp almost 3 times it's rating, but it is also crossed over and with the headroom available, doesn't need to be cranked into the stratosphere with volume and I do like bass too.
I don't know what spec I saw that said 1000 watts bridged (was specs in one of the online stores), but even Tony's 800-900 watt rating is fine as well for that sub. He should be ok!

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

I have two...actually selling one because one is enough! Give them the correct amount of power and they thump. They have Eminence drivers.

I don't know about your area, but around here you can always find them used on Craigs List for around $200-250. Popular with bands & DJ's.

Your opinion in this case is incorrect. If you take two identical EP1500s and use them to power an SRX718S and a SW118V, they will sound pretty equal at low power until you get to 40Hz and below, where the JBL is a huge winner. Ramp up the power, and the JBL will provide more output, because
1) higher thermal rating, better heat removal, less power compression
2) more Xmax means more output before distortion and eventual cone flap

If you use a larger amplifier, of course, the JBL subwoofer will accept more power without being damaged, and best the Yamaha by about 6dB; but with identical amplifiers, the JBL is still significantly better. It does cost more, though.

The reason I suggest this is if the OP should want more bass than he can get from one SW118V, the JBL provides very good output in a small amount of space. It is much easier to transport one subwoofer than two; and a more powerful amplifier is easy to transport.

If he knows one SW118V is enough for his needs, though, there would be little sense in spending the extra money.

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Jeff Wheeler, moonlight DJ/KJ

Jeff, the line you quoted isn't an opinion, it's a simple fact. Can you run the speaker on less power, yes. But the fact is for that sub cabinet the EP1500 is seriously under-powered. I didn't make any judgement either way on what would sound better so I don't know where you're seeing that I stated any opinion.

The fact is as Lon and I both said (that for some reason you're arguing with) the SW118V is a good match to the SW118V. That afterall was the original poster's question. Telling him that his amp would work with the Sub he's asking about IS NOT bad advice.

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DJ Tony
Let It Rip Karaoke

SW118V good match to the EP1500?

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

yes that's what I meant.

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DJ Tony
Let It Rip Karaoke

You don't understand the difference between under-powering a subwoofer and a multi-way passive cabinet. A subwoofer will not be damaged by this, and in fact the EP1500/SRX718S combination will produce significantly more output than the EP1500/SW118V before amplifier distortion becomes an issue (actually, the SW118V would first suffer thermal or mechanical damage.)

You didn't damage a subwoofer because your amplifier was too small; you damaged it because you expected more bass output than your available subwoofers could produce. A larger amplifier with headroom before clipping distortion would not have prevented that damage. If you have trouble believing this, I suggest you do some reading. I realize this is a common mis-conception, and the reason I am pointing out your error is to combat that incorrect belief.

Note also that I power SRX728S subwoofers (2x2268H) with bridged EP2500 amplifiers. This works quite well, and in fact, I have done an A/B comparison to twice as many Yamaha SW218IV subwoofers with "enough" power behind them. The JBL setup was easily comparable and has much better low-frequency extension, and less audible third-harmonic distortion when driven hard.


To be clear, I meant Lonman's suggestion the OP toss a different woofer into the Yamaha cabinet and call it better. Will it work? Sure. Will it sound better than the correct OEM driver? Not really, because subwoofer boxes are designed for specific drivers which behave best with a certain cabinet volume and port structure. The Black Widow 18 is not terribly different than the SW118V's driver, but it does need a larger cabinet and much more port area, and will deliver better LF extension with a lower box tuning frequency. The BW18 is also quite a bit less efficient than the Yamaha OEM driver.

A B&C 18SW115 with 1700 watt Pe, you might think, would be much better than the 300 watt Pe Yamaha driver. In fact, it would have a large frequency response peak around the box tuning frequency, and be considerably less efficient than a carefully designed cabinet intended for that driver.

You and Lonman are both expert in many things, but in this thread, you are giving the OP some wrong information.

You'll note that I suggest the SW118V is a good idea for him if he does not think he will need more bass than one of them can provide. The only reason I suggest an alternative is because most KJs probably don't want to haul around any more bulky speakers than is necessary; and one JBL subwoofer is better than two of the Yamahas. Note also that one JBL sub costs around the same as two Yamahas.

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Jeff Wheeler, moonlight DJ/KJ

Yup. I picked up my last SW118V for $275, practically brand new. A local band bought it along with a whole PA...then the band broke up a few months later and everyone wanted their money back. Same old song that has been sung a thousand times!

For my purposes (mobile KJ in medium sized bar and occasional backyard party) it's PLENTY and a killer price at that.

Excuse me Jeff? First, don't pretend to assume what I understand and don't understand. Being underpowered is being underpowered whether you chose to drive the amp into clip and ruin your speakers or chose to run it properly and not use the capabilities of your expensive speakers. Go back and read the posts, prior to this moment I NEVER said anything about subwoofer damage (other than saying the EP1500 WOULD NOT damage the proposed Yamaha sub). But having an amplifier that doesn't come close to exercising the capacity of the cabinet its connected too is simply pointless. Either get a bigger amp or buy a less expensive cab. There was no discussion of audio quality in this thread until you brought it up. The question was will this cabinet work with this amp and you went off into left field suggesting the OP spend more than twice as much to get a cabinet that far exceeds the capabilities of his amp.

If you want to make jabs at my skills and knowledge, I suggest first you read what I said and stop attributing others posts to my comments. Second, if you'd like a freakin' resume of my education, experience and past engineering gigs, PM me. But if this is all just a pissing match to make you feel better about yourself, then take it somewhere else, no one here is interested.

I'm calling you out right now pal, show me one thing I've said in this thread that was false.

(BTW, if you really want to get into it, I can give you the laundry list on why x-max is a terribly misleading measurement just the same as total power handling. We can get into all the nit-picking you want and I'll barb with you all week but the fact is my answer to the OP's question was accurate.)

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DJ Tony
Let It Rip Karaoke

Sorry, having re-read the thread, it was not you who made reference to having damaged a subwoofer by under-powering it; Lonman made that post.

A bridged EP1500 really is enough to damage an SW118V if it is driven hard, especially without a high-pass filter and playing modern "dance" music. I choose to suggest a better (and admittedly more expensive) subwoofer instead of pick at this point. I'm sure the OP will use whatever sub he decides to buy with care, so I based my suggestion on the advantages of more output in the same amount of truck space.

A bridged EP1500 is also plenty for a 2268H if it's being used for content going down to 30Hz, where the driver easily exceeds 10% THD well before reaching RMS power. There is actually a PSW thread on this topic right now that includes dual-FFT measurements and good THD estimates of the SRX718S as well as several other subwoofers.

I have plenty of experience with both these subwoofers, with similar amounts of power per driver. I am quite confident my suggestion to the OP is valid.

I do apologize for wrongly saying that you referred to under-powering a subwoofer as being a potential cause of damage.

However, a better subwoofer is a better subwoofer. Even if you compared these two products with 250 watts instead of 1000 watts, the JBL subwoofer can still play much lower, though efficiency gains as you approach 100Hz are minimal because neither subwoofer is affected much by power compression with a 250 watt amp (presumably running no hotter than light clipping, or perhaps 40 watts RMS; not enough to heat up either one.)

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Jeff Wheeler, moonlight DJ/KJ

This I don't disagree with at all. I mean come on now, you've read my other posts, when do I ever advocate a cheaper, lower quality anything over something better?

I don't agree that the EP1500 would damage the Yamaha sub unless it's being seriously mis-used. Hell we could get into a whole different topic about amplifier issues and such, but I'll resist that temptation since this thread is already dangerously close to off-topic.

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DJ Tony
Let It Rip Karaoke

Well, if I put a definition on seriously mis-used, I would include running the sub without a high-pass filter as abuse. You can damage a SW118V with 30Hz content easily. Many KJs do not own a fancy crossover that has an adjustable HPF, and the one built into the EP1500 only offers 30Hz or 50Hz 12dB/octave Bw2 filters.

Inexperienced users could make this mistake and damage their subwoofers. I do not think many people realize that over-excursion from playing below Fb is a common failure mode for subwoofers.

Of course, if the OP does not have to play loud "dance music" at his shows, he probably has no worries.

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Jeff Wheeler, moonlight DJ/KJ

Yes & I still stand by that. I had a 400 watt amp pushing a speaker that should have had an amp of approx 1400 watts, the amp was driven into clipping to compensate for the volume that was needed at the time and the sub blew. When I replaced the driver and got a proper amp (actually it more powerful than required) never had a problem again.
The amp in question is more than required, but will be fine. And if it isn't, THEN the OP should either look into getting a slightly smaller amp (not needed) or a better sub - in which they can simply replace the driver inside 9 out of 10 times to make it work properly. This is done all the time - sometimes without even needing to, the engineer just wants a better driver to begin with.

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

Nobody has actually said it but from what I've read so for, I have to ask. Is the SW118V a bad choice?