Subwoofer Blending


I am considering buying a REL or Velodyne (or similar)subwoofer and want to "cut off" my Proac 2.5s at 50-60 HZ, blending in the subwoofer. I want to ease the burden on my SET and also get better bass response. I know most people recommend running speakers and subwoofer full range, I don't want to do this. Will I need an outboard electronic x-over or these products have built in x-overs for the purpose? Does my pre-amp need a special input for connection, would I just be able to use a line level input?
tomryan

Showing 1 response by seandtaylor99

I don't have a specific answer, but I would strongly suggest demoing subs and picking whichever one sounds more musical, regardless of the sub's ability to provide a high-pass output. REL does not feature a high-pass output, but they are very good subs and should not be struck off your list for this reason.

ACI speaker manufacturer offers a passive high-pass filter to go between the preamp and amp (at line level). This would only work if you connect the sub to the preamp at line level, and would clearly not work if you connect the sub to the power amp at speaker level (REL's favored approach).

Lastly I have heard of people getting a very large non-polarized capacitor and connecting in series with the main speakers. Off the top of my head I think you'd need a non-polarized capacitor, rated to at least 100 volts (to be safe) and with a capacitance of around 200 millifarads. Not sure how easy this is to find.

I think it may be best to run full range .. but if you can get the capacitors cheaply try it out.