Okay, there were a few points that I am hearing. One of which is that using a speaker level high-pass into a sub (e.g. REL) might be the best way to connect it. The other is that the benefit from a high pass to the Dynaudios could be minimal. I will do a little more reading into subs that take a high level speaker signal.
DIY subwoofer high pass filter after preamp
Hoping to get some sage advice from some of the brilliant members of this audio forum. I am interested in trying a subwoofer in my system. I am not really interested in ultra powerful bass, but I am quite curious to see if taking some of the low frequency work away from my monitor speakers can further enhance clarity. I am also interested in improving the soundstage and filling out the music more.
Details of my system are in my profile but the speakers are Dynaudio Heritage Special monitors. I do not like the idea of using the subwoofer DSP for high pass filtering and would like to implement the simplest, highest quality solution without breaking the bank. After doing a little research it seems one simple passive approach would be to run the sub in parallel via one set of preamp line out connectors and then use a simple high pass capacitor introduced between the second set of preamp line outs and my amplifier.
I was thinking I could have a go at doing this myself. The plan would be to buy a high quality capacitor and solder one end of it directly to a male RCA plug I would then solder the other end of the capacitor to a female RCA plug and shrink wrap and jacket the whole thing together. I would then just have a filter/adaptor at one end of my interconnect that would connect directly to either the amp or preamp.
A few questions:
1) Is this feasible or even a good idea?
2) What value capacitor would I need for roughly 80 Hz filtering with a 37 kOhm, 220 pF input impedance on my Audionet Amp1 V2? My speakers are 4 ohm, but not across all frequencies.
3) Would I need matched capacitors for each channel and to within what % of each other?
4) Can I solder the capacitor leads directly to the connectors in this way? Most capacitors look to have enough wire for this.
5) Anything else I should consider with this plan.
Thanks in advance for input.
- ...
- 14 posts total
Didn't see the last two posts in time. Sounds like the original approach might be worth a try at least. As with many things in this hobby, there are so many system and implementation dependent variables, that you don't really know the outcome until you listen. I did a little tinkering with AI and it seems like I could do it without a lot of effort. Given the common capacitor values, I could get a cutoff/rolloff of right around 77 Hz or 91 Hz depending on which one I select. This would be quite a different approach than what others proposed since it also can't be combined with the high level input on a REL. |
John Hunter from REL and Paul McCowen from PS Audio and SVS recommend high level input. (Plenty of others) Watch these explanations... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nknu2cmToZ8 To your point of high passing the mains... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1lRQzXXcyA This is what your trying to do and why you shouldn’t! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3K9hGtG2j08 Hope this helps shed some light. |
- 14 posts total

