I've always heard that one of the virtues of having a sub is that
you relieve your main speakers of handling low frequency sounds. In my
case, I have a Nakamichi AV-3S receiver that I am using for 2 channel
sound (2.1 now I guess). My speakers are Paradigm Mini Monitors. If I
connect to the SUB OUT on my receiver, would it not be true that the
signal to the Minis would be unaffected? My receiver does not have any
facility of setting the main speakers to "small" or "large" -
btw and I have Surround turned off. Should I use the SUB OUT or would
I benefit by having the speakers filtered through the Sub?

Given that the sub I am getting is powered, would in-line connections
mean that I am replacing my Nak with the amp in the sub?

Thanks,
Ken

"KenS" wrote in message
oups.com...
I've always heard that one of the virtues of having a sub is that
you relieve your main speakers of handling low frequency sounds. In my
case, I have a Nakamichi AV-3S receiver that I am using for 2 channel
sound (2.1 now I guess). My speakers are Paradigm Mini Monitors. If I
connect to the SUB OUT on my receiver, would it not be true that the
signal to the Minis would be unaffected?

I can't comment on your receiver as I'm not familiar. My subout (or LFE)
channel doesn't do anything when the receiver is set to stereo but I haven't
messed with it much.

My receiver does not have any
facility of setting the main speakers to "small" or "large" -
btw and I have Surround turned off.

Sounds like my Pioneer.. these settings come on for surround but not
Stereo.

Should I use the SUB OUT or would
I benefit by having the speakers filtered through the Sub?

My Hsu instructions discuss both ways. One connection is to connect amp to
the sub and then a high pass filtered powered output goes on to the speaker.
I think this is useful for speakers that don't surrender quietly on their
minimum bass output. Some speakers have quite a hump in output at the bottom
end to give the appearance of extended bass. I tried it and didn't find any
advantage so I run my sub in parallel with the Quads (no point adding a
filter in front of the Quads IMO) and then set the subs output via its
crossover (now acting as low pass filter only) and level. I also ended up
putting my sub dead center between the speakers, it has plenty of output so
the max corner thing wasn't necessary and the only corners available were
behind the listening position and I just felt I could tell the sound wasn't
up front even though its output is below 60 hz. Anyway, dead center for
best imaging according to Hsu.
Given that the sub I am getting is powered, would in-line connections
mean that I am replacing my Nak with the amp in the sub?

Pretty much, you can run a line level out to the sub or speaker level (mine
has separate inputs), the sub is hi-impedance input on both line or speaker
level so you don't need fat wire and it won't add any load to the Nak. I
used speaker level as my line level pre is passive and putting another load
on the passive out knocked the level down a bit and I don't have much
headroom as it is. The quads aren't too efficient.

What subs you looking at? I really like my Hsu VTF-2, seems to provide real
clean output down to the hi 20s. Doesn't do anything weird after that.
Didn't cost a fortune either.

ScottW

I found a good deal on a used Paradigm PS-1000 - so I decided to give
it a try. I'm sure it's not the greatest, but the price was right and
it's well-reviewed.

Thanks
ken

Sounds like a good way to go and experiment. One other thing I'll
mention for when you set up... I went through an attempt to set mine
for flat response using a Radio Shack SPL meter and a setup cd that
came with it. I don't know if the Radio Shack meter isn't flat or what
but it seemed the result was a bit bass bloated so after awhile I
tweaked the level back down. It was useful to set the crossover,
though a friend with Vandersteens felt the bass on my preferred setup
was light on Pines of Rome. Didn't sufficiently shake the place I
haven't heard his system.
If I keep it cranked up where he preferred.... some of my vinyl is
annoyingly noisy and the bass is a little more dominant than I'm used
to. So there are definitely plenty of tradeoffs to play with when
integrating a sub into a system.... You can scratch that itch lots of
times without buying anymore equipment
I heard a system with Spendor compact monitors (SP3/1) and a sub that
was really awesome. I just couldn't get over how focused and deep an
image those little speakers put out there... and with the sub I thought
the setup actually kicked butte over most bigger 3-ways I've heard.

Good luck, let us know how you things work out.

ScottW

I really appreciate the help Scott. I'm also looking at the Paradigm
controllers - the X-10 and X-20 - as a possible solution. They're
relatively cheap ( $150), supposedly transparent, and seem to give the
control I'm looking for. The advantage (if it is an advantage) is that
my speakers would not be running off the sub. I won't have the sub
until next week sometime, so I have time to research.

Ken

Ken said:

KenS Apr 29, 9:12 am show options

Newsgroups: rec.audio.opinion
From: "KenS" - Find messages by this author
Date: 29 Apr 2005 09:12:32 -0700
Local: Fri,Apr 29 2005 9:12 am
Subject: Question about SUB connection method
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I really appreciate the help Scott. I'm also looking at the Paradigm
controllers - the X-10 and X-20 - as a possible solution. They're
relatively cheap ( $150), supposedly transparent, and seem to give the

control I'm looking for. The advantage (if it is an advantage) is that

my speakers would not be running off the sub. I won't have the sub
until next week sometime, so I have time to research.


Ken


I have my sub connected to the sub out connection, and the mains run
off the stereo amp. The mains also have an electronic xover to limit
what is fed to them. I assume the Paradigm's are ported, if that's
true, they really ought to have the ports plugged with a cork or
something like it, which will bring their f3 up to near 80Hz, making it
easier to blend them properly with the sub and not overwork the little
midbass drivers. I would still look into getting yourself some sort of
electronic xover for the main speakers to keep them free of low
frequency signals they don't need. Try checking some pro audio dealers
on line like Zzsounds, and you should be able to find one for under
$100.00 IIRC. Imention this because even with the ports on my speakers
plugged and the xover set to 80 Hz, when I play Flight of the Cosmic
Hippo by Bela Fleck, I can still hear breakup from the midbass drivers,
so I set the xover up to 100 Hz and problem solved. The fact that a
setting says something doesn't always mean it will work that way with
the speakers.