[BaltimoreCarlos]

Hello AudioCircle! This is my first post in this forum, so I want to quickly introduce myself before asking my question.

As my username indicates, my name is Carlos, and I am from Baltimore, MD. I am a music lover and aspiring audiophile. I am very excited to be joining this site's forum and look forward to many interesting discussions about our shared hobby.

I currently have an older system that I am looking to replace. I have a pair of B&W 801 Matrix Series II speakers passively bi-amped to a pair of Pioneer Elite M-91 power amps. My other components are a Pioneer Elite C-91 pre-amp, PD-65 CD-player, and SP-99D Digital Processor/External DAC.

I am looking to upgrade to a set of Magnepan 3.6R planar speakers. Ideally, I would like to actively bi-amp these speakers with a pair of Bryston 4B SST2 power amps and a Bryston 10B-Sub crossover. However, I would also like to pair the Magnepans with an REL sub, most likely a Stadium III.

My question is whether it is possible to bi-amp with the 10B-Sub crossover AND also hook up a powered subwoofer. Would I need to buy two 10B-Sub crossovers and run in 3-way mono mode? Is that even possible with a 10B-Sub crossover?

The reason I am leaning towards using the Bryston 10B-Sub crossover is that Magnepan recommends it since it uses the same slopes and frequencies as the passive crossover in the 3.6R speakers. Can these settings be reproduced in 3-way mono mode, hence facilitating a combination with the REL sub? Or is there something simpler that I am overlooking?

Thanks very much for your insight!

[Phil A]

Welcome to the forum.  Rel subs have both high and low level connections.  To use it with a pair of any speakers for audio (vs. home theater) it gets hooked to the amplifier speaker terminals (both channels - to steal a little signal) into the Neutrik Speakon connector on the sub.  It has a flexible and adjustable crossover.  Bass frequencies sum and the ideal setting depends on your room and where your mains drop off.  Usually you want to set it just below where the mains drop off.  The 3.6s can produce decent bass.  If you use the sub with an external crossover it would be different.

[James Tanner]

Welcome sir.

The 10B Sub crossover is the one you need with the 3.6's and Phil seems more familiar witht the Rel sub than myself.  From his description of hookup you would just need to attach the high level speaker cables going to the Rel from the 'lowpass' amp running the lower section of the 3.6's.

james

[Crimson]

Absolutely. I have a pair of 3.6s biamped (7B-STs on the bottom) with a 10B and use the high level inputs on a pair of Vandersteen subs.

[Phil A]

While the back and controls be slightly different with the Stadium III - this what the back of a Rel sub looks like:

http://www.avforums.com/forums/attachments/home-cinema-hi-fi-equipment-classified-adverts/139043d1253266077-sale-home-cinema-setup-kef-2005-2-rel-yamaha-more-sub_back.jpg

The high level connection is for the 4-pole Speakon connector (the standard Rel cable has 3 wire coming out - red, yellow and black which gets connected to the positive and negative of one channel and the positive of the other.  The mode switch has 4 positions which is for both phase and filter bypass incorporated in one control (you can connect both the high level and low level connections at the same time) where positions one and three are for the line (zero and 180 degree phase) and two and four are for the LFE.  I believe the Stadium III also has two sets of dials, one labeled "A, B, C and D" and the other numbered "one thru six."  These are to set the frequency roll off of the high level connection where "A" "1" might be 22 Hz, "A" "4" might be 27 Hz and "B" "1" might be 32 Hz.

[Phil A]

PS - there are also two sets of volume controls.  One for the high level connection and one for the low level connection.