Another "How do I connect a Sub..." thread

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by stay crunchy, Oct 17, 2016.

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  1. The Pinhead

    The Pinhead KING OF BOOM AND SIZZLE IN HELL

    Oh right, I forgot you need one of the pre outs to go into the power amp/s:doh:. Somehow I incorrectly assumed you had it hooked already and the other pre outs were extra . Yes; do as you state above. The volume drop remains a mistery though. Maybe they're sharing the same circuit so using both at the same time is causing the signal to weaken ?:(

    OAH I don't thave the space or budget to double up on subs so never gave it a thought:righton:
     
  2. stay crunchy

    stay crunchy Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Austin-area, Texas
    Thanks for expounding on your original post, but I hope you can offer a little clarity (I'm not very technical, so please bear with me). My preamp has 2 sets of outputs; if they are totally separate, I don't really know. My sub, the HSU STF-2, only has 1 input for a sub cable. It doesn't have a red/white RCA input. I was hoping to just use the Y adapter in the (currently) unused output on the preamp, and connect that to the sub cable. I'm hoping it will sound good.
     
  3. stay crunchy

    stay crunchy Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Austin-area, Texas
    Thanks for jumping in and looking out for me, buddy, greatly appreciated. You're correct in almost everything, but my sub only has the single input for a sub cable ("Sub In"). It doesn't have a left/right, red/white input thing.[​IMG]
     
  4. The Pinhead

    The Pinhead KING OF BOOM AND SIZZLE IN HELL

    I see. Then you do want to Y L+R on the spare PRE OUT on your preamp and send it through a single connector cable to the sub. The pic helped clarify things.

    Strange thing the crossover goes up to just 90. Not a bad thing cuz no one should really go higher than that but I'd have to max out that crossover control if I owned your sub.
     
  5. stay crunchy

    stay crunchy Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Austin-area, Texas
    Thanks Waxfreak! Pictures are always helpful, and I should have included previously. Ideally, where would you set your crossover at? How would that help my METAL obsession?

    I believe my power amp, the Crown XLS 1500, has some crossover settings..not sure if I will need use them or not. I haven't really played around with it enough to know. Whatever it's doing now, it sounds pretty damn good! Can't wait to see how the sub sounds with it.
     
  6. mds

    mds Forum Resident

    Location:
    PA
    STF-2 Subwoofer »

    This links to your subs technical page. You will find the manual. It will show three ways to power the sub. One as Waxfreak has mentioned above and the second through your amplifier using speaker cable. This is the third way which I cut and pasted from their site -

    Method C (STF-3 only). Connecting to controllers with PRE-OUTs.
    If you do not have a SUBWOOFER or LFE output but have an extra PRE-OUT, you can use this instead of the speaker outputs. Run a
    stereo RCA interconnect from your PRE-OUT to the left and right inputs on the subwoofer. For Dolby Pro-Logic controllers, your center
    channel must be switched to NORMAL. For Dolby Digital controllers, the subwoofer must be switched to NO or OFF and the left and
    right channels set to LARGE


    This third way seems to be the best for you since you do have the PRE-OUTS.
     
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  7. The Pinhead

    The Pinhead KING OF BOOM AND SIZZLE IN HELL

    Have a look at the pic of the back of @stay crunchy 's sub. There are no L and R inputs or LFE input, just a single RCA input label. Not a bad thing per se, for the sub is excellent but simple. He has to Y the unused PRE OUT and route it to that input on the sub.
     
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  8. The Pinhead

    The Pinhead KING OF BOOM AND SIZZLE IN HELL

    If you're loving things as they are with your vintage and somewhat smallish KEFs, you will be in shock at the difference the extended and augmented bottom end will make.

    Since your KEFs are flat to only 50hz, I'd set vol on the sub smack at 12 o clock, cross it at 90 and see whether you can detect the sub (highly room/source dependant). Place it in corner if there's one not to far away from the mains; the farther away from them, the lower you'll have to cross the sub. If you can detect localization, lower to 80 or less if necessary, but stay as high as you can. This will provide the punch, oomph and extension your music needs. Aim at achieving a solid, tight blend of bass and drums but take care not to overpower guitars.

    Bass and drums are ideally prominent enough you can hear them at all times but taking a backseat to guitars (just one row:))

    As for the crossover on your Crown, that's getting into way deeper waters. I'd not go there just yet.

    :tiphat:
     
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  9. head_unit

    head_unit Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles CA USA
    That is known as the Insane Clown Posse DVD-Audio approach-the mix engineer told me they literally said to put as much bass as possible in every channel, including LFE! :yikes:

    Sure, if your system doesn't really need a subwoofer too much in the first place, then it doesn't need a highpass too much. So I suppose I should specify my thoughts are more for the vast majority of systems where that is not true.
     
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  10. head_unit

    head_unit Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles CA USA
    The one on the back of the sub will cut the highs out of the sub. The XLS 1500 does indeed have a crossover, see page 5 of the manual. (I just Googled "Crown XLS 1500 manual" and then in the manual Found "crossover" and jumped through the matches).

    As to settings, probably need some pictures of the room to help.

    I found this about your KEFs on an old Stereophile forum post
    KEF 104/2 »
    "
    As for 104/2's: Check the internal woofers. Check for sag. They are both horizontally oriented. It's a modified bandpass woofer loading design.

    If the woofers are good, they would benefit tremendously from a changing out of the electrolytic capacitors in the crossover.

    This,from ebay, from someone who does recones of the suspects:

    "Virtually every pair of KEF 102/2, 103/3, 104/2, 107 and 107/2 loudspeakers all have the same problem; the proprietary inner surround ring, also know as the annulus, has dry rotted. This can cause several problems; the woofer excursion increases which can allow the voice coil to bottom out and distort the former causing ongoing audible distortion, bass output is significantly reduced, the woofer power handling is much lower, and the frequency response of the woofer will also change because the back enclosure is no longer sealed.""
     
  11. stay crunchy

    stay crunchy Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Austin-area, Texas
    I do enjoy my system quite and bit, and those KEFs sound absolutely amazing...very open and clear, no mud, no honk, nothing but beautiful, brutal METAL music!

    Just got the Y-adapter in the mail today. I will hook it up tonight and let you know my impressions after those tubes in the CJ get warmed up. Very excited.

    Thanks for the advice on setting up the sub, it's greatly appreciated! When I had the sub set up with my other AV system, it was pretty well blended in for music. Looking at where the crossover was previously set, it was already near 90.

    Yeah, don't think I'll play around with the settings on the Crown just yet.
     
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  12. stay crunchy

    stay crunchy Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Austin-area, Texas
    Sure, if your system doesn't really need a subwoofer too much in the first place, then it doesn't need a highpass too much. So I suppose I should specify my thoughts are more for the vast majority of systems where that is not true.[/QUOTE]

    My system has always sounded great to me and I never really felt it lacked bass (except for several specific albums, but maybe they were just recorded that way?). If I didn't already have the extra sub sitting around not being used, I don't think I would have been in a hurry to add one. Should be a fun little experiment!
     
  13. stay crunchy

    stay crunchy Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Austin-area, Texas
    Thanks for taking the time to Google the information about the Crown and the KEFs; that was very considerate of you and I do appreciate your efforts. Need more folks like you in the world!!!

    The KEFs were fully restored by a local speaker guy before I got my hands on them and I couldn't be happier. One of the first things I checked was the condition of the woofer surrounds and they looked brand new. The tweeters were replaced/upgraded and the crossovers were fully rebuilt/restored. These speakers have given me quite a bit of joy since I've owned them. The addition of the sub is kind of like a bonus to a system that I have already fallen in love with...over and over!

    I also just recently upgraded to a set of Clear Day Audio interconnects (for my preamp and power amp) and I just can't help but smile. The sound is so wide open and the soundstage is incredible. Also had the power caps on the CJ replaced, so I'm sure that's helping too!
     
  14. The Pinhead

    The Pinhead KING OF BOOM AND SIZZLE IN HELL

    Sadly, that's the case. But if your mains are capable enough, with well-recorded albums you may not need the sub. I've never heard your KEFs, but if you feel they have enough bass with most of your albums, then good for you.

    Be warned, however, that once you start listening with a sub, there's no way back; you'll never want to be without one.
     
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  15. stay crunchy

    stay crunchy Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Austin-area, Texas
    Finally had a few days to listen to the sub and Y-adapter is working great. I'm definitely getting more bottom end then before, but it's really album dependent. You are correct, many of the well-recorded albums I have are not missing that much, but the added "punch" and weight is certainly a welcome bonus. Some albums benefit from a bit more juice from the sub, others need to have it reduced a tad. Overall, I'm very happy with my new addition and WON"T be taking it out anytime soon!

    I was also able to finally finish some tube bass traps that my brother was helping me build. Adding them to the room has tightened things up quite a bit (especially now with the sub in place) and it's easier to distinguish individual instruments in the soundstage. It's pretty awesome and exactly what I was hoping for! Let the METAL mayhem begin!!!!!
     
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  16. The Pinhead

    The Pinhead KING OF BOOM AND SIZZLE IN HELL

    Make sure you check out that band too:)
     
  17. Beyond Salvation

    Beyond Salvation Forum Resident

    Ok, another request for sub assistance please.
    I have a stereo only system - a pre into power amp, with the power amp driving A + B speakers, all bi-wired.
    A set of speakers are B&W CM9 & B set are B&W DM603 S3.
    I want to experiment with adding a B&W ASW500 sub I have.
    I don't want to cut the bass going to the A set (CM9) so if I send the speaker level from B channel to the sub, then sub to B set (DM603) will all be ok?
    (Assuming I will need to remove the second set of bi-wire cables from the B set & use the jumper on the speaker terminals to still get whatever level of bass the sub still passes through.)
    Thanks for your thoughts :)
     
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