Can I use a surplus Behringer B1220DSP PA Speaker as a Sub in my HT

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suthosharko

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I have access to a surplus Behringer B1220DSP Active PA speaker and am building a Home Theater. I want to know whether it would be suitable to use as a subwoofer if I were to connect it to a Denonn 3312's subwoofer pre-out connection. This pre-out is RCA so I realise I would have to have an RCA to XLR converter to get the signal into the Behringer.

I am hoping that as the Denon will only send lower freq signals from its sub pre-out connection the Behringer will only have to drive its 12" woofer (and not its tweeter) and while I understand it wont be able to handle really low freq signals that other dedicated subwoofers can, will it be enough for a HT that is for a layman not an audiophile.
 
I would make the same assumptions as you have, but really the answer is try it out.

As long as that "pre-out" is as it sounds- A line level output, then you're good to go.

How well it will work is another question, but let us know :)

FWIW i use an alesis ra100 for centre and sub. The sub is a pioneer car woofer in an mdf box and the crossover is done ITB.
Hardly ideal, but it works fine for movies and games.
 
I doubt the output of the Denon is post-crossover - usually this function is handled at the amplifier (pre- or post-) stage.
 
I have done similar by placing a 2-15" cabinet, facing the floor on blocks. It did not sound near as good as a cabinet designed for such. But it did shake the house. Boomy though. I used a crossover.
 
I got the following feedback from Denon about using their AVR to drive the Behringer

If the sub only has XLR (balanced) inputs, the you would need an RCA to XLR converter as the 3312 only allows RCA (unbalanced) from the SW pre-out. If the SW is set to "Yes" and the other speakers are set to "Small" in the Speaker Configuration menu, then you would be outputting only the frequencies below the crossover point (ie: 80 Hz) to the subwoofer. Any of the speakers that are set to "Large" would output full frequency. The only way to output a full frequency signal to the sub would be to set the Front speakers to "Large" and then run the FL & FR pre-outs to the sub using a Y-adapter. In your application, you would have to run the FR & FL pre-outs "Y'd" out to the RCA to XLR converter, then XLR into the sub. You'll need an internal transformer to match the impedance from going RCA to XLR. (Unbalanced to Balanced) A good converter with an internal transformer usually costs over $30.00 and will match the impedance difference from RCA to XLR.

and the following from Behringer themselves

The B1220DSP would perform ok as a sub. It reproduces audio down to 45Hz which is fairly low. However, as a comparison, our B1500D Pro dedicated subwoofer goes down to approx 20Hz, so will be able to reproduce sub sonic frequencies more easily.

so it seems its all possible but a specialist subwoofer would likely produce better results. Anyway if I go this direction I'll reply back about the results. Thanks for the comments to date. Appreciated.
 
Seems like a waste of a $350 Powered PA speaker to me. Why don't you just sell it and buy a regular subwoofer? Seems like it would be a lot cheaper?
 
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