How to hook up my new Sunfire Sub?

In my 2-channel setup I *think* I want to run the preamp to the sub and the sub to the amp. But doesn't that means like 10 foot interconnect each way. Should I worry about that? Also, what brand/type of cables should I get? I am of the school that says good cable is better than Radio Shack cable, but the returns dimish quickly after that. I don't want to spend more than $200.00 for the 4 cables....

Oh yeah, I don't have an ICBM yet, just getting into the subwoofer world (obviously :-)

How about using the SUB out off the reciever, then you would be able to utilize the Outlaw crossover as well as adjust the levels from your seat!!!

That would be best; use the processor's crossover unless you have some reason why you would not want to (such as your processor doesn't have one...)

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Matthew J. Hill
matt@idsi.net

Oops sorry for the lack of detail. I don't have any Outlaw stuff yet (waiting for the 950). Today I have a 2 channel Adcom amp, and a Adcom preamp with no sub out, no digital modes etc. It's old school stereo only.

What inputs and outputs does your sub have? Does it have a built-in crossover? Are there high-level inputs and outputs or only low-level inputs?

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Matthew J. Hill
matt@idsi.net

Here is a link to the subwoofer. It has an internal crossover, and standard and high level inputs, and high pass line level outputs.

http://www.sunfire.com/products/subsignature.shtml

I can offer a couple ideas.

1) ICBM. It will give you very flexible control of the crossover point, and it will keep the wiring fairly simple. In that scenario, you'd be talking about stereo interconnects from preamp to ICBM followed by stereo interconnects from ICBM to amp and a single interconnect from ICBM to sub. This is probably the "best" approach.

2) In lieu of the ICBM, you might look at something like Paradigm's X-30 control unit. I don't know what an X-30 goes for, but it could act just like the ICBM above.

3) Stereo interconnects from preamp to sub, and then from the sub to the amp. This was your initial idea, and is the best approach to take if you don't have an ICBM. The sub will be responsible for crossover work, so you'll need to get to the plate amp to make adjustments. You'll also be looking at some long interconnects, as you've noted.

4) To safe some interconnect mess, you could split the signals from the preamp and send the signal to both the sub and the amp. There is a chance for some signal loss at the splitter (how much is pretty debatable), and you will be delivering a full-range signal to your mains -- no crossover will be in the signal path to strip away the low frequency that the sub will be responsible for. The sub's crossover will only affect the sub in this scenario. This may be the cheapest and simplest, but not necessarily the best.

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gonk -- Saloon Links | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | 950 Review

Back when I had Bose 701 towers (don't dismiss me yet, I upgraded to Mirage OM-5 through a trade in program at Tweeter) I was looking for a sub to give more punch down low. I was looking at the same sub you are, the Sunfire Signature. I had wanted the sunfire to handle the lowest bass and the 701s to handle the rest. The dealer from Sound Forum said the best route would be to go from the sub preamp out to the sub and then to the 701. This run would have required 2 25-30' cables to do, the dealer knew this by the way.

So, I ended up running the pramp into the sub and the sub high pass into the amp. It turns out I only needed to run 3 foot in each direction. It sounds well, I can't hear any loss in the fronts, in fact due to the amp seeing a smaller band, the speakers seem to have opened up.

What kind of speakers are you using?

Well, I had Cerwin Vega DX3's. I also setup and listend to some Celstion 3s I had lying around and I've got $50.00 sony bookshelfs setup now. Haha.

But, I demoed some Triad InRoom Gold LCR speakers as well, and that is what's coming in the mail in a week or two . Those speakers are fantastic, I listend to every speaker I could find for a month and nothing came close to these babies. Except their Triad silver monitor which are out of my price range...

Also have another Sunfire coming in the mail. I have a large room with 20-30' vaulted cielings and it opens into a loft. So, I will probably Y-cable from the preamp to hook that sub up.