[amator]

Hi,

I am considering Signature 30.2.  I have REL powered sub which is essential part of my current system. 
Can the active sub be hooked up to 30.2's speaker output without a problem? 
Or do I have to use the RCA out?

If anybody has experience please comment.

Thank you,

[enjoiflobees]

Hey well the good thing about the Sig 30 is the RCA outs for the sub, but if you sub has speaker level inputs then there is no problem grabbing from the speaker outputs. I actually prefer it and there is definitely no problems doing it.  I have actually asked vinnie himself and he said it was fine. 

[IronLion]

Hey well the good thing about the Sig 30 is the RCA outs for the sub, but if you sub has speaker level inputs then there is no problem grabbing from the speaker outputs. I actually prefer it and there is definitely no problems doing it.  I have actually asked vinnie himself and he said it was fine. 

I would not be so gung-ho about speaker-level sub connections to the Sig 30.  As I recall, it depends entirely on the way the subwoofer you're connecting to is wired, and in a worst case scenario things could be pretty bad if I remember correctly.  Ask Vinnie. 

[enjoiflobees]

You are right, we should leave this to vinnie or anyone that has that same sub. 

Hmm, but I would be interested to find out what electronically could make this not work though.   

[Vinnie R.]

Hi,

I am considering Signature 30.2.  I have REL powered sub which is essential part of my current system. 
Can the active sub be hooked up to 30.2's speaker output without a problem? 
Or do I have to use the RCA out?

If anybody has experience please comment.

Thank you,

Hi Amator,

Welcome to Audiocircle and the RWA forum!

If the negative (-) speaker posts of your sub's speaker level inputs are not connected together (usually to the sub's GND), it will be fine to use these.  One can test this with an multimeter set to measure ohms.  In general, you'll want greater than 100 ohms between them. 

If they are tied together (close to zero ohms), this will short the L and R outputs of the 30.2... not good!  The outputs of the 30.2 are "balanced" in that the L negative and R negative are NOT tied together to GND... they are differential with respect to the L+ and R+. 

So in the case that your sub has these L- and R- speaker inputs tied together (many do), use the 30.2's volume controlled RCA output jacks to feed the line-level L and R inputs of your sub.  This is the main reason why we designed them into the 30.2 

Hey well the good thing about the Sig 30 is the RCA outs for the sub, but if you sub has speaker level inputs then there is no problem grabbing from the speaker outputs. I actually prefer it and there is definitely no problems doing it.  I have actually asked vinnie himself and he said it was fine. 

enjoiflobees is using an Omega DeepHemp sub.  This is one of those subs whose negative speaker level inputs are NOT tied together, so it works very well with the 30.2. 

Hope this helps,

Vinnie

[kbuzz3]

Hey well the good thing about the Sig 30 is the RCA outs for the sub, but if you sub has speaker level inputs then there is no problem grabbing from the speaker outputs. I actually prefer it and there is definitely no problems doing it.  I have actually asked vinnie himself and he said it was fine. 

Assuming one has the type of sub/xover/amp that can accept speaker level input from the RWA sig-why do you prefer using the speaker inputs?  I assume you dont run both plugs and bananas out of the RWA speaker taps to your mains and subs at the same time as some have done with traditional amps. 

Or am i raising that age old debate of whether running the speaker out signal from your amp to xover then to your mains is an extra step that degrades the sound v. running the speaker level first through the xover/amp relieves the mains of low bass signal and lets the work easier.

The reason i bring this up is philosphically i think it makes better sense to run rca outs to a sub at the same time which --if im correct-- will not degrade the signal and allow the mains to run full range. However for some reason my TBI sub gets much more volume "gain"? when run from the speaker inputs.  I have not tried this with the RWA however...

Just curious....

[Vinnie R.]

I assume you dont run both plugs and bananas out of the RWA speaker taps to your mains and subs at the same time as some have done with traditional amps. 

Actually, if I remember correctly this is exactly what he is doing.

Connect from the amp speaker outputs to speakers, and connect from amp speaker outputs to sub speaker inputs (amp speaker output connections are in parallel).

IMO, this is preferred than to running the speaker outputs of the amp into the sub's speaker inputs, and then out of the sub speaker outputs to the speakers.  This usually adds a cheap crossover in the path of the mains (and usually it crosses them over too high, like 120Hz or something crappy like that!  ).  It tends to make integrating the sub with the mains more difficult.

However for some reason my TBI sub gets much more volume "gain"? when run from the speaker inputs.

This depends on how much gain your speaker amp has compared to how much gain your line-level signal has, AND it has to do with how the sub's plate amp inputs (speaker and RCA level) are set up.  There is no industry standard to my knowledge, so results will vary.

[kbuzz3]

Vinnie interesting statement on running the RWA "amp speaker output connections are in parallel"- Wow did not know that could be done with the RWA sig 30. Would one run one set of speaker cables with spades and the others with banana's to simplify the connection?  If so this is certainly something id like to try with my tbi.  Right now running rca inputs into the sub ive got the juice the volume almost to max. That cant be too good....

Amazing that vinnie is up monitoring his boards here as he as a young daughter and pre amps are in the wings.  Thanks VR great to see. NOW GET OFF THE INTERNET AND START UPGRADING MY AMP ASAP.  aa aa aa aa

I mean am i the only loser on AC at midnight on a monday after midnight est...

[stevenkelby]

Connect from the amp speaker outputs to speakers, and connect from amp speaker outputs to sub speaker inputs (amp speaker output connections are in parallel).

IMO, this is preferred than to running the speaker outputs of the amp into the sub's speaker inputs, and then out of the sub speaker outputs to the speakers.  This usually adds a cheap crossover in the path of the mains (and usually it crosses them over too high, like 120Hz or something crappy like that!  ).  It tends to make integrating the sub with the mains more difficult.

Thanks for the info Vinnie.

How do you feel about a single run of cable to the speakers (or sub) then continuing that same run of wire to the sub (or speakers)?

Would that work the same as using separate runs to speaker and sub?

[amator]

Thanks Vinnie for your explanation!

Speaker line output will be coming into REL by Neutrik connetor, so it's kind of difficult to measure. 
I will try asking REL if negative terminals are connected. 

[Vinnie R.]

Vinnie interesting statement on running the RWA "amp speaker output connections are in parallel"- Wow did not know that could be done with the RWA sig 30.

Just to be clear, you can run the cables that go to the speakers in parallel with the cables that go to the speaker level inputs of the sub. 

Wow did not know that could be done with the RWA sig 30. Would one run one set of speaker cables with spades and the others with banana's to simplify the connection?

Yes, this works very well.

If so this is certainly something id like to try with my tbi. 

Make sure your TBI does not have the L and R negative speaker level inputs tied together before you do anything.

Right now running rca inputs into the sub ive got the juice the volume almost to max. That cant be too good....

Why not?  It is just a matter of getting the gain correct.... it is all relative.

NOW GET OFF THE INTERNET AND START UPGRADING MY AMP ASAP.       

Just received it yesterday and we'll be getting to it shortly. 

How do you feel about a single run of cable to the speakers (or sub) then continuing that same run of wire to the sub (or speakers)?

Would that work the same as using separate runs to speaker and sub?

Yes, you can parallel the cables at the amp or at the sub.  If you are going to do it this way, I recommend connecting from the amp to the speakers, and then connecting in parallel from the speakers to the sub.  Good question!

Thanks Vinnie for your explanation!

Speaker line output will be coming into REL by Neutrik connetor, so it's kind of difficult to measure. 
I will try asking REL if negative terminals are connected. 

Please email me any diagrams, etc. if I can be of help.

If you have the L and R line-level inputs, these are the sure thing to use!

Vinnie

[Alwayswantmore]

2 cents may not be worth as much as it used to, but here's mine...

Many higher end speakers (even 2-way monitors) are designed so they can be bi-wired. Bi-wired means a separate run of cables to both the tweeter and woofer (i.e. parallel as Vinnie refers to above). Doing this effectively moves the crossover to the amp, so the signal used to drive the tweeter (or in this case main speakers) is not interacting within the same wire with the signal used to power the woofer (or in this case active sub).

So to the extent the crossover in an active sub might impact the electrical signals it receives, the interaction is isolated to the amp, and not directly impacting the signal carried by the speaker wire used to drive the mains.

[Alwayswantmore]

dp