Home |
Search |
Today's Posts |
#1
Posted to rec.audio.tech
|
|||
|
|||
Old Boston Acoustics SubSat 7 subwoofer
I picked up an old Boston SubSat 7 subwoofer and 2 SubSat 6 satellite
speakers real cheap on Ebay. Any opinions on using this setup as my surround-sound speakers? Any issue with using the SubSat 6 satellite speakers with the SubSat 7 subwoofer? Any way I can use the SubSat 7 subwoofer to increase the bass output of my main speakers (Polk RM40T's)? Thanks for any help you can offer on putting this stuff to good use! |
#2
Posted to rec.audio.tech
|
|||
|
|||
Old Boston Acoustics SubSat 7 subwoofer
|
#3
Posted to rec.audio.tech
|
|||
|
|||
Old Boston Acoustics SubSat 7 subwoofer
On Nov 7, 10:35 am, jakdedert wrote:
wrote: I picked up an old Boston SubSat 7 subwoofer and 2 SubSat 6 satellite speakers real cheap on Ebay. Any opinions on using this setup as my surround-sound speakers? Any issue with using the SubSat 6 satellite speakers with the SubSat 7 subwoofer? Any way I can use the SubSat 7 subwoofer to increase the bass output of my main speakers (Polk RM40T's)? Thanks for any help you can offer on putting this stuff to good use! The sub is pretty irrelevant to your surround setup. The satellites might make acceptable surround speakers on their own. If my information is correct, the subsat system is passive, with two 7" woofers, correct? That means you'll have to cross it over and power it. How do you plan to do that? Is there a passive crossover in the sub box? If so, yeah, it will work, but there are better solutions. As far as the Polks...these have two 4.5" woofers. So, yeah, they'd undoubtedly benefit from some subbage, but the Bostons don't seem (from what little description I can find) to be very robust. Suggested hookup--assuming passive crossover in the sub--would be to try the Polks as the satellite speakers hooked up to the Boston sub; or try them in parallel with the subs left/right inputs. The latter would allow whatever low end info the Polk speakers (reportedly only usable down to 60 hz) produce to combine with that of the sub. Impedance, polarity and power handling are all possible issues with this setup. My advice would be to use the Boston system on its own, either as part of a bedroom system, or to provide computer sound (with an amplifier of some sort). jak Thanks for the reply! A quick question for you... Since the SubSat7 subwoofer is not powered, can I connect it to be "B" speaker outputs and just leave it by self (without the subsat 6 satellite speakers) until I can get a better powered sub? Again, I'm just trying to think of a way to use it temporarily until I can get a good powered sub. Any issues that anyone can see with this setup? Currently, I'm using bi-amping for the polks (basically using the surround back amps to "bi-amp" the fronts, which my receiver allows). Think I would be better off "un-doing" this bi-amp setup and instead connecting the subsat 7 subwoofer to these surround-back amps (again, my receiver allows me to configure the surround back amps as "bi-amp" or "second zone"), so this would be a possible setup, I would think... Or am I better off just leaving the Polks bi-amp'd and forget the subsat 7 subwoofer completely? I do plan on trying this setup to see what it sounds like, but also wanted some opinions! To be honest, I really didn't notice any difference when changing the polks to bi-amp, so I'm not real concerned with "undo-ing" it! Thanks for all of your help! |
#4
Posted to rec.audio.tech
|
|||
|
|||
Old Boston Acoustics SubSat 7 subwoofer
|
#5
Posted to rec.audio.tech
|
|||
|
|||
Old Boston Acoustics SubSat 7 subwoofer
On Nov 7, 1:40 pm, jakdedert wrote:
wrote: On Nov 7, 10:35 am, jakdedert wrote: wrote: I picked up an old Boston SubSat 7 subwoofer and 2 SubSat 6 satellite speakers real cheap on Ebay. Any opinions on using this setup as my surround-sound speakers? Any issue with using the SubSat 6 satellite speakers with the SubSat 7 subwoofer? Any way I can use the SubSat 7 subwoofer to increase the bass output of my main speakers (Polk RM40T's)? Thanks for any help you can offer on putting this stuff to good use! The sub is pretty irrelevant to your surround setup. The satellites might make acceptable surround speakers on their own. If my information is correct, the subsat system is passive, with two 7" woofers, correct? That means you'll have to cross it over and power it. How do you plan to do that? Is there a passive crossover in the sub box? If so, yeah, it will work, but there are better solutions. As far as the Polks...these have two 4.5" woofers. So, yeah, they'd undoubtedly benefit from some subbage, but the Bostons don't seem (from what little description I can find) to be very robust. Suggested hookup--assuming passive crossover in the sub--would be to try the Polks as the satellite speakers hooked up to the Boston sub; or try them in parallel with the subs left/right inputs. The latter would allow whatever low end info the Polk speakers (reportedly only usable down to 60 hz) produce to combine with that of the sub. Impedance, polarity and power handling are all possible issues with this setup. My advice would be to use the Boston system on its own, either as part of a bedroom system, or to provide computer sound (with an amplifier of some sort). jak Thanks for the reply! A quick question for you... Since the SubSat7 subwoofer is not powered, can I connect it to be "B" speaker outputs and just leave it by self (without the subsat 6 satellite speakers) until I can get a better powered sub? Again, I'm just trying to think of a way to use it temporarily until I can get a good powered sub. Any issues that anyone can see with this setup? Currently, I'm using bi-amping for the polks (basically using the surround back amps to "bi-amp" the fronts, which my receiver allows). Think I would be better off "un-doing" this bi-amp setup and instead connecting the subsat 7 subwoofer to these surround-back amps (again, my receiver allows me to configure the surround back amps as "bi-amp" or "second zone"), so this would be a possible setup, I would think... Or am I better off just leaving the Polks bi-amp'd and forget the subsat 7 subwoofer completely? I do plan on trying this setup to see what it sounds like, but also wanted some opinions! To be honest, I really didn't notice any difference when changing the polks to bi-amp, so I'm not real concerned with "undo-ing" it! Thanks for all of your help! What you're describing is not really 'biamping' in the strictest sense. That describes the practice of using separate amps for low and high frequencies, which would require your Polks to have separate inputs for the woofers. In addition, you would need a frequency dividing device (active crossover) in front of the second amp to filter the high frequencies out. Perhaps your receiver has such. You don't say what it is. Using the 'B' outs for the subwoofer is essentially electrically identical to how I described running the sub in parallel with your main speakers (above). The possible problems would be too low an impedance load for the amps in the system, or the possibility of the sub being out of phase with the main speakers. The latter would result in possibly having even *less* bass than with your Polks alone...although that could be remedied by merely reversing the polarity of the leads to one or the other. The former (overloading) would be evidenced by either excessive distortion or the amplifier going into 'protect' mode...assuming it has sufficient protection. Otherwise, it might simply blow a fuse, or blow up completely. Be careful when experimenting. There are numerous resources on the web to guide your experimentation. If you enjoy doing this sort of thing, it would do well to get yourself better informed. Asking questions is a good start, but some basic knowledge is even more valuable. Start by googling 'home theater setup' and 'biamping'. Good luck. jak- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - Hmm, now you've intrigued me! In regards to the "bi-amping", here is what I'm doing... My polks have two sets of speaker binding posts, one for high freqs and one for low freqs. Since my receiver (a cheap- o pioneer, model 516k, I believe) allows me to set the "rear sourrund" channels to "bi-amp" mode. So, I removed the metal "jumpers" between the binding posts on the speakers and connected the front channels from my receiver to one set of binding posts and the surround-back channels to the other set of binding posts and set the rear surround channels to "bi-amp" mode. I guess the only difference that I see from your description of "strict bi-amping" is that both sets of binding posts on the speakers are receiving the exact same signal and the speaker is doing the low/high freq crossover work. Is this still true bi-amping? Back to the subwoofer questions - I was a little confused when I found only two sets of binding posts on the subwoofer (one set labeled right channel and the other labeled left channel). Coming from a Bose system (OLD am-3), I was expecting to find 4 sets of binding posts - one set each (left/right) from the amp and then one set each (left/ right) out to the satellite speakers. Being that there are only two sets of binding posts, how would one connect the sub and the satellites to a 2 channel output?? Also, does this help to answer the questions about phase and impedance you mentioned above? Now, I'm a little afraid to try and connect the sub in that I don't want to damage the receiver (even as cheap as it is)! Thank you VERY much for your replies - you are helping me to get "caught up" in the audio world - I haven't been involved in this stuff for years and not at this "level" either. Your time spent explaining this stuff is VERY MUCH appreciated. I've been doing a lot of research on my own (via the web), but sometimes the explainations you find don't answer the specific questions one might have. Again, thank you! |
#6
Posted to rec.audio.tech
|
|||
|
|||
Old Boston Acoustics SubSat 7 subwoofer
|
#7
Posted to rec.audio.tech
|
|||
|
|||
Old Boston Acoustics SubSat 7 subwoofer
On Nov 7, 4:04 pm, jakdedert wrote:
wrote: On Nov 7, 1:40 pm, jakdedert wrote: wrote: On Nov 7, 10:35 am, jakdedert wrote: wrote: I picked up an old Boston SubSat 7 subwoofer and 2 SubSat 6 satellite speakers real cheap on Ebay. Any opinions on using this setup as my surround-sound speakers? Any issue with using the SubSat 6 satellite speakers with the SubSat 7 subwoofer? Any way I can use the SubSat 7 subwoofer to increase the bass output of my main speakers (Polk RM40T's)? Thanks for any help you can offer on putting this stuff to good use! The sub is pretty irrelevant to your surround setup. The satellites might make acceptable surround speakers on their own. If my information is correct, the subsat system is passive, with two 7" woofers, correct? That means you'll have to cross it over and power it. How do you plan to do that? Is there a passive crossover in the sub box? If so, yeah, it will work, but there are better solutions. As far as the Polks...these have two 4.5" woofers. So, yeah, they'd undoubtedly benefit from some subbage, but the Bostons don't seem (from what little description I can find) to be very robust. Suggested hookup--assuming passive crossover in the sub--would be to try the Polks as the satellite speakers hooked up to the Boston sub; or try them in parallel with the subs left/right inputs. The latter would allow whatever low end info the Polk speakers (reportedly only usable down to 60 hz) produce to combine with that of the sub. Impedance, polarity and power handling are all possible issues with this setup. My advice would be to use the Boston system on its own, either as part of a bedroom system, or to provide computer sound (with an amplifier of some sort). jak Thanks for the reply! A quick question for you... Since the SubSat7 subwoofer is not powered, can I connect it to be "B" speaker outputs and just leave it by self (without the subsat 6 satellite speakers) until I can get a better powered sub? Again, I'm just trying to think of a way to use it temporarily until I can get a good powered sub. Any issues that anyone can see with this setup? Currently, I'm using bi-amping for the polks (basically using the surround back amps to "bi-amp" the fronts, which my receiver allows). Think I would be better off "un-doing" this bi-amp setup and instead connecting the subsat 7 subwoofer to these surround-back amps (again, my receiver allows me to configure the surround back amps as "bi-amp" or "second zone"), so this would be a possible setup, I would think... Or am I better off just leaving the Polks bi-amp'd and forget the subsat 7 subwoofer completely? I do plan on trying this setup to see what it sounds like, but also wanted some opinions! To be honest, I really didn't notice any difference when changing the polks to bi-amp, so I'm not real concerned with "undo-ing" it! Thanks for all of your help! What you're describing is not really 'biamping' in the strictest sense. That describes the practice of using separate amps for low and high frequencies, which would require your Polks to have separate inputs for the woofers. In addition, you would need a frequency dividing device (active crossover) in front of the second amp to filter the high frequencies out. Perhaps your receiver has such. You don't say what it is. Using the 'B' outs for the subwoofer is essentially electrically identical to how I described running the sub in parallel with your main speakers (above). The possible problems would be too low an impedance load for the amps in the system, or the possibility of the sub being out of phase with the main speakers. The latter would result in possibly having even *less* bass than with your Polks alone...although that could be remedied by merely reversing the polarity of the leads to one or the other. The former (overloading) would be evidenced by either excessive distortion or the amplifier going into 'protect' mode...assuming it has sufficient protection. Otherwise, it might simply blow a fuse, or blow up completely. Be careful when experimenting. There are numerous resources on the web to guide your experimentation. If you enjoy doing this sort of thing, it would do well to get yourself better informed. Asking questions is a good start, but some basic knowledge is even more valuable. Start by googling 'home theater setup' and 'biamping'. Good luck. jak- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - Hmm, now you've intrigued me! In regards to the "bi-amping", here is what I'm doing... My polks have two sets of speaker binding posts, one for high freqs and one for low freqs. That's interesting, and yes, they apparently are capable of biamping. I would be very careful with sending a full range signal to the high frequency inputs, however. If there is no blocking circuitry, you could damage the tweeters/midranges. I didn't research you speakers carefully enough to ascertain that. Since my receiver (a cheap- o pioneer, model 516k, I believe) allows me to set the "rear sourrund" channels to "bi-amp" mode. So, I removed the metal "jumpers" between the binding posts on the speakers and connected the front channels from my receiver to one set of binding posts and the surround-back channels to the other set of binding posts and set the rear surround channels to "bi-amp" mode. I guess the only difference that I see from your description of "strict bi-amping" is that both sets of binding posts on the speakers are receiving the exact same signal and the speaker is doing the low/high freq crossover work. Is this still true bi-amping? As above, no. Looking at that receiver on the web, it's a pretty amazing bit of gear for the money, but there no frequency division between the front/rear amps that I can see. So, pumping 100 watts to the highs and the lows simultaneously is probably not a good idea. OTOH, it does have a crossover network in the subwoofer output. I don't see how that's useful to you, unless you were able to use one of the amplifier channels to power it. Back to the subwoofer questions - I was a little confused when I found only two sets of binding posts on the subwoofer (one set labeled right channel and the other labeled left channel). Coming from a Bose system (OLD am-3), I was expecting to find 4 sets of binding posts - one set each (left/right) from the amp and then one set each (left/ right) out to the satellite speakers. Being that there are only two sets of binding posts, how would one connect the sub and the satellites to a 2 channel output?? Also, does this help to answer the questions about phase and impedance you mentioned above? Now, I'm a little afraid to try and connect the sub in that I don't want to damage the receiver (even as cheap as it is)! Yeah, that's what I would have expected as well. Since it's not the case, I don't know what to tell you. Most passive systems like this have speaker inputs which connect to the receiver, with outputs for the satellites as you describe. Most importantly, there is a crossover network in the sub which divides off the low frequencies for the subwoofer, and only sends mids and highs to the satellites. I can only surmise that something is missing in your case, unless there is filtering in each speaker component which blocks frequencies it was not designed to reproduce. Info on the web is pretty scarce for those speakers, except the driver sizes and original list price (around $500). Thank you VERY much for your replies - you are helping me to get "caught up" in the audio world - I haven't been involved in this stuff for years and not at this "level" either. Your time spent explaining this stuff is VERY MUCH appreciated. I've been doing a lot of research on my own (via the web), but sometimes the explainations you find don't answer the specific questions one might have. Again, thank you! Just happened to have enough time at this point and got sucked into the mystery.... One note: with some sort of outboard amplifier, the sub could be used via the sub preamp output on your receiver, and the satellites, as I said, would probably make acceptable rear channel speakers. jak- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - FYI - I just found that with the BA subsat systems, you just wire the satellite speakers in parallel with the sub. Apparently, the sub doesn't have a crossver in it, but the satellite speakers do: Taken from a post on another newsgroup: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The SS6 subwoofer is a bandpass design which rolls off quite effectively on it's own. The SS6 sattelite has a highpass crossover network inside which rolls off the speaker so that it mates with the subwoofer. You can choose to run two sets of cables from your amp -- one to the sats and the other to the sub -- or you can run one pair of cables from the amp to the sub and then cables from the sub to the sats. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Knowing this, do you see any issue with connecting it to my "B" speaker outputs? Again, I don't want to cause any problem for the amplifier! I think I've come to the conclusion that my "passive bi-amping" doesn't really benefit me in any way since there is no "active" crossover (and becuase I didn't notice any sound difference after connecting them that way!), so I'd like to try to connect this sub (without the satellites), as long as I don't "blow up" my receiver in the process!! Thank you very much! |
#8
Posted to rec.audio.tech
|
|||
|
|||
Old Boston Acoustics SubSat 7 subwoofer
|
Reply |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Forum | |||
FA: Boston Acoustics Rally Series enclosed Subwoofer 2x10" | Car Audio | |||
FA: Boston Acoustics Rally Series enclosed Subwoofer 2x10" | Car Audio | |||
FA: Boston Acoustics Rally Series enclosed Subwoofer 2x10" | Car Audio | |||
FS: Boston Acoustics CR5 | Marketplace | |||
WTB....Boston Acoustics | Car Audio |