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LFE vs High-level subwoofer connection, for FIDELITY

Simple as it sounds. What subwoofer connection method offers higher fidelity, and why? The LFE, 75 ohm unbalanced RCA cable. Or high-level, speaker wire to the binding posts of the amp. I am running 2 KEF KC92 subwoofers to a Soul Note A-2 Ver. 1 amplifier.
 

Grok Ai states it matches your speakers tonal balance, timing cues, and sonic signature, because it shares the same signal path through the amplifier that your speakers sound travels through. It’s also a great way to get tube or amp sound into your bass region. My LFE outputs from my Khozmo Acoustics pre-amp, bypassing the amplifiers elite and favorable sound.  The PS audio subwoofer had not been released yet or I’d have swoope those up, instead of the KEFs.

Also, has anyone heard that it is straining or damaging to a truly balanced, direct coupled amplifier to use high level inputs? This was mentioned to me and I can’t recall how reliable a source it came from. 

jbuddha882
gdaddy1
540 posts
 

The "extra fidelity" from speaker level connections is some extra foolery propagated by the REL guy...

Nonsense. Paul McGowen also highly recommends High level connection as does anyone in the world of subwoofers!!

It's so simple even a caveman should be able to understand. Your amp has a dynamic characteristic. High level connection you will get that. If you only connect to the pre-amp you bypass the amp and don't get what your amp is putting out.

If you want FIDELITY this is the best way..BY FAR!

ricred1
2,148 posts
 

I've tried both methods and prefer the high-level connection with my current subwoofers.

gdaddy1
540 posts
 

@ricred1  Since you have more than one sub, have you experimented with stacking them? 

deep_333
2,479 posts
 

Right right,  Paul knew something that cavemen like Dr. Brian Ding (Rythmik), Dr. Hsu, etc didn't.....NOT

Nonsense. Paul McGowen also highly recommends High level connection as does anyone in the world of subwoofers!!

It's so simple even a caveman should be able to understand. Your amp has a dynamic characteristic. High level connection you will get that. If you only connect to the pre-amp you bypass the amp and don't get what your amp is putting out.

If you want FIDELITY this is the best way..BY FAR!

mswale
383 posts
 

Thought some of the issue is that LFE is made for movies, it's an "effects" channel. Some decoders do not do bass with music properly? 

For me using LFE I can tell there are subs in use (2 stacked), and constantly messing with the bass levels, as some sources have almost no bass, and others want to knock things off the walls. 

Moving to speaker level inputs, one I now have stereo bass (not sure how important that is) my subs have been set it and forget it. If I want more or less bass I just move my bass knob on my pre-amp, I almost never touch it. 

For my system, hi-level inputs sounds more blended, it's more even, my subs disappear along with my speakers. They sound more cohesive, in synergy. Plus they are easier to setup over LFE.

For me hi-level feels more analog, LFE is more digital. Think in the end it's all gear and setup dependent.  

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