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A basic question, is there any difference in the music output of the sub if I connect it with L &R RCAs from the pre out of my integrated into L&R RCAs of my sub or twin from the integrated into a single sub into ie. an RCA with L&R on one end and honing into a single RCA on the other into the ‘sub in’ on the sub?

thanks in advance for the advice. 

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I don't know precisely in this instance.  It would help to know what the amp is and what the sub is.

 

However, as a general rule I am very wary of taking 2 separate channels and combining them into one with a cable/connector.  Electricity will find the path of least resistance and it is possible that both channels will feed their signal backwards into the other.  Your amp probably won't like this, so I wouldn't try it at all.  It may be benign BUT...

 

Your amp is producing a full range signal from the pre-out connectors.  If your sub has 2 RCA inputs then that path is expecting a full range signal.  The electronics in the sub will filter out the bass with a cross over and send that to the sub amp and speaker while passing on the remnant high freq range signal to what I presume-it-to-have output RCAs for final connection to main speakers.  Sort of a pass-through system.  Your sub may or may not have this feature.

 

The sub-in on the sub is probably expecting just the low freq signal which has been separated out previously by the amp.  Feeding a full range signal into a socket that is only expecting low freqs probably won't hurt but it is not what it was designed for.  You may end up with the large diameter sub speaker trying to reproduce high freqs.

 

I suggest that you connect the sub up by an intended method ...

 

amp sub-out =====>  one single RCA ======> sub-in or

amp pre-out ======> L & R RCAs ======> both RCA-in

 

In most cases low frequencies are mono, so if you are only using the sub as a sub and not passing any signal further on, then just the L or the R pre-out alone will suffice ie.

L or R amp pre-out ======> one single RCA ======> L or R RCA-in

 

This will also work

L or R amp pre-out ======> one single RCA ======> female-to-2-male RCA splitter ======> L and R RCA-in

 

Nothing to be gained by departing from the normal method.

 

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Thanks for your help. Very enlightening. amp is a NAD 356BEE and M&k v12. 
I did not know you can connect into the sub from the amp and then potentially feed the left and right speakers from there?

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7 hours ago, Vin rouge said:

Thanks for your help. Very enlightening. amp is a NAD 356BEE and M&k v12. 
I did not know you can connect into the sub from the amp and then potentially feed the left and right speakers from there?

Hi,

 

I had a look at the manuals for the NAD amp and the M & K sub.

 

The NAD doesn't have a "sub out socket" so the only choice for you is the Pre-out-1 (assuming that you are using Pre-out-2 to feed the power amp part of the NAD as suggested by the manual).

 

Now, in the sub manual.  The sub has 4 RCA sockets.  2 are labelled "input" and 2 are labelled "output" with the "L input" alternatively labelled as "mono".  The assumption in the manual is that you feed the "mono" input with the signal from an amp's "sub out" which is fine and normal but then doesn't mention, at all, the other sockets.

 

So I reckon that you connect the amp "pre-out-1" to the sub's "Input" L & R with 2 RCA cables.  Job done.

 

or just use one RCA cable from either L or R "pre-out-1" to the sub's "mono" input.

 

------------------

 

Some subs (in the old days? before "sub out" sockets?) had a pass-thru feature where the speaker level signal is intercepted to get the low freqs whilst passing on the full signal (or just the highs) to the main speakers.  Your M & K doesn't do this.  However, it has "output" RCA sockets but doesn't say anywhere what they might be used for.  My guess is that they pass the incoming signal through to a second sub or amp or something.

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