Tino916 Posted April 12 Posted April 12 I would like to hook up a sub woofer to my Willseton R8. I am running a turntable but struggling on how I can accomplish this as my speakers need a little help on the low end. My turntable has a pre amp but I can by pass if needed which I am currently doing and sending turntable to a small pre amp then to R8 which is providing much better sound but still lacking on the lows hence the need for a sub..
RCAguy Posted April 13 Posted April 13 If you don’t hear low bass where there should be some, then you likely need a subwoofer (SW). But using a turntable, make sure the two are separated, as feedback will make the sound flabby, or cause groove hopping. **paid link removed**
Cloth Ears Posted April 13 Posted April 13 On 12/04/2025 at 11:08 PM, Tino916 said: I would like to hook up a sub woofer to my Willseton R8. I am running a turntable but struggling on how I can accomplish this as my speakers need a little help on the low end. My turntable has a pre amp but I can by pass if needed which I am currently doing and sending turntable to a small pre amp then to R8 which is providing much better sound but still lacking on the lows hence the need for a sub.. You haven't mentioned what speakers you are using and also what 'pre-amp' you are using. Both of these are important in offering advice. Some examples might be: 1/ you're not using (or the pre-amp doesn't have) phono inputs 2/ the 'phono pre-amp' is not set-up correctly for your cartridge 3/ the pre-amp is connected to the wrong input on your amp Then you could be using the incorrect tube setting, or you could be using the wrong connections for your speakers. Then, with the speakers, the may not have the ability to produce the lower notes. But they also might need more power than the R8 can provide... So, what's the rest of your playback chain? Including the turntable and cartridge, please?
Tino916 Posted April 14 Author Posted April 14 My bad, The speakers are X-LS Encores with upgraded sonic caps and tube connectors. Turntable Audio-Technica AT-LR 120 pre amp Fosi Box X4 Tube mm
Cloth Ears Posted April 14 Posted April 14 (edited) 10 hours ago, Tino916 said: My bad, The speakers are X-LS Encores with upgraded sonic caps and tube connectors. Turntable Audio-Technica AT-LR 120 pre amp Fosi Box X4 Tube mm OK. Your speakers not particularly sensitive (-87dB) and they aren't really designed for bass, so much so that it might be worth getting two smaller subwoofers (one for each speaker). That being said, your set-up isn't really designed to work together. Can I assume that you have the Fosi headphone output plugged into the 'pre-in' on the Willseton? As having it plugged in anywhere else would mean you're running through two volume controls - which won't affect the bass, but might degrade the sound. And, your Fosi is really designed to be a stand-alone headphone or pre-amp to be used with active speakers. Better would be to try finding a phono (MM) pre-amp and feeding that into your AUX1 or AUX2 input on the Willeston (the volume control on a $1000+ amp is probably going to be better than the volume on the <$100 Fosi). That being said, I might be looking for something like a SVS SB-1000 subwoofer (two of them). I'm not saying go for that one (expensive and probably overkill), but if you can find a picture of the back of one you'll see it has a line level in and out. You would connect the Fosi left and right outputs to the line level in (white) and then the output on the sub (white) to your Willseton Pre-in. Then you can play around with the bass reinforcement level for each speaker so that it's not noticeable at around 55 Hz. I'm sure there are smaller (8-inch) subbies that offer the same line level connections and they would be able to assist your bass playback. There are other options: - you can feed the output of the amp into some subwoofers and they'll split the signal and then send it to your speakers. Issue - how good is the crossover doing the split, as you have a pretty nice tube amp there and you might just lose a lot in the process? - if you look at the SVS back picture (below) you can see the the speaker "high level" inputs. You might be able to have two sets of wires from the back of your Willseton (one to your speakers and one to each subwoofer - or just get one subwoofer and feed it with both channels). Issue - will your Willseton handle this, as it might 'see' half the impedance that it would if it was only driving the speakers? - you can pass the signal from the Fosi to an external crossover and have the signal sent to a subwoofer or subwoofers and your amp. But unless you can find something nice (like a NHT X2), you'll be paying a lot for the privilege. - you can split the signal from the Fosi without a crossover (so, one pair of RCA's to your amp and another to your subwoofers). I'm not sure how well the impedance of the Fosi will be able to drive this, but it's designed to drive a variety of headphones so maybe it'll work. Sorry I don't have anything specific, but maybe it'll give you an idea where to start. Oh! and if you listen to your Fosi using headphones...does it sound good? I mean, really good? If not, then maybe that should also be an area to look at for replacement. Edited Tuesday at 01:04 AM by Cloth Ears 1
Tino916 Posted Tuesday at 12:16 AM Author Posted Tuesday at 12:16 AM Thanks for the feedback. Will look into the two small subs.
Cloth Ears Posted Tuesday at 06:10 AM Posted Tuesday at 06:10 AM 5 hours ago, Tino916 said: Thanks for the feedback. Will look into the two small subs. Remember, in audio, there's always more than one way to 'skin a cat'. Have a look at some of the options. Maybe take your amp into your local shop and ask if you can set up in one of the ways I suggested (or two of the ways). Everything I suggested may be wrong for you - it's like financial advice!
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