Connecting to a sub (not REL): Is it still hifi?

You may/may not have seen my thread about connecting to a Velodyne CHT-15 sub for hi-level but what I would like to know is: Will it still be hifi sound?

I suspect not as the sub's xover will be controlling the bass and it depends on how good the sub's xover is I guess.

As my speakers go down to 30Hz (so say the manufacturers of my Monitor Audio 703's) and I will have the sub's xover at 80Hz (you can pick 80Hz or 100Hz) will I be getting every bit of signal from my Arcam 8R amp and 8P power amp which is being sent to the sub?

I've been contemplating about this for weeks now and I'm still no nearer the answer.
I have to purchase 18 metres of speaker cable to connect up if I want to test what the sound will be like and if I don't like it that will be a waste of a lot of money.

Someone please put my mind at rest, please.

 

I heard a couple of Velodyne subs at a recent hifi show hooked up to some Moon hifi components & some Pro-Ac speakers and the sound was most definately hifi dude.

Velodyne have a great reputation for musical subs, REL are the kings of subs in the UK, but that does not neccessarily make them the best at the price, take their new Quake compact sub, many feel that the MJ Acoustics Pro 50 outguns its rival in the music stakes, REL really only get going at the Q150 or Strata series, but this is at a cost where other sub maker produce cheaper Subs ..... IMHO of course.

 

Connecting to a sub (not REL): Is it still hifi?


Providing it's a decent sub to start with, is well setup and integrates well with your main speakers, then yes, of course it'll still be hifi.

In fact you could argue that using such a sub is higher fi than the system would otherwise be without it!

 

Thanks for that.
My mind is made up. I've ordered the speaker cable.

 

I know you appear to have already made your decision but this is how I understand the high level connections can be used on Velodyne subs (my HGS15 has the same connection options).

You can, as you say, run your speaker cables from your amp into the high level "speaker in" sockets on the sub and then run another set from the subs "speaker out" sockets on to your speakers. In this case you would be going through the sub's high pass filter which you can set to 80 or 100Hz. This may bring certain benefits because your amp and speakers won't be trying to reproduce anything below 80Hz (assuming you set the high pass to 80Hz). I'm not sure whether you would need to set the low pass (crossover) frequency on the sub at all using this method - I wouldn't have thought so as the high pass is already sending everything above 80Hz on to the main speakers.

However, you can just run the speaker cables from your amp to your speakers and run a separate set of speaker cable just to the "speaker in" sockets on the sub. In this case you would need to set an appropriate low pass crossober frequency on the sub so that it takes over where your main speakers tail off. 40Hz is the lowest setting this allows. If your main speakers really do go below this then you may be forced to use the high pass filter as described in the above paragraph.

I hope this makes sense - basically, if you use the sub's high pass filter (i.e. run cables from the sub on to your speakers) then you are allowing the sub to give you bass management. If you don't then you get no bass management and have to set a suitable low pass crossover frequency on the sub.

As ever, try both and see which you prefer.

Matt.

 

Thanks for that Matt.
I've been using a REL sub for years and have never used anything else before so when I was confronted by this new way of connecting to high-level I didn't have a clue.

What I couldn't work out is if I had to connect to my speakers from the sub's outputs and from what you are saying I don't really have to.

My speakers are Monitor Audio 703's and the manual say that they go down to 30Hz. Yes, they produce good low down bass, but it's nothing compared to having a subwoofer taking over.

As I have ordered the cable already it means that I have now wasted money on cable that I won't need.