It sounds like you have a pot on your SSE and want to control the subwoofer with the same pot. As the previous poster alluded to, you would normally do this with your preamp (or passive volume control).
If you don't have one, what you could do is add a pair of RCA jacks to the SSE that taps into the output of your volume control between the pot and PCB. Then you have a volume-controlled output that you can use to drive the sub.
If you don't have one, what you could do is add a pair of RCA jacks to the SSE that taps into the output of your volume control between the pot and PCB. Then you have a volume-controlled output that you can use to drive the sub.
Thanks for the replies. I won't be using a preamp. I want to add a pot to the sse to have some control over the vol of the sub. As you well know, some recordings need a little bass boost and some don't. I think what Russ is describing is what i want to do with a separate pot. When i get the sub i will see how it is set up and go from there.
Roy
Roy
Which Subwoofer? I just got one of the cheap Polk Audio 10 inch powered sub from Newegg. Haven't made it work yet, but I haven't had time to try. Just got home from work and its 9PM.
There is no simple answer to this question. It depends of the source and the sub. The ideal case would be a low impedance source and a sub with a high impedance line input. In this case you wire the input to the sub directly across the input terminals on the Simple SE PC board after the volume pot. If this causes non linear action of the volume control then a volume pot with a lower resistance may be required, but too low of a resistance may upset your source.
I've done this myself except my volume control is external to the amp in case I want to swap it out. The only issue I've found is that plugging in the sub reduces my usable gain enough to be annoying with wimpier sources (ipod, my single opamp phono stage, etc).
At some point I'd like to build have a line stage to take the punishment of this arrangement. Or even better an active crossover to move all the low frequencies to the sub.
I got the Polk because Newegg sent me a cupon code so I got it for $89 with free shipping. As with the Polk, the specifications listed on the Yamaha web site are rather sparse. There is no mention of the line level input impedance. Yamaha wants me to register on their web site to see the owners manual, so I didn't look there. Maybe the specs are in the manual.
I have decided that the line stage is what I need long term. The sub has a low pass filter already so it will only respond to the low frequencies. At least with my setup I don't see any problems with letting the full audio range hit the Simple SE or Simple P-P. The speakers that I use (and most small speakers) have an impedance curve that is above 8 ohms from 35Hz to 120 Hz. This keeps the OPT from saturating unless I get crazy with the volume knob. I believe that inserting any more frequency response shaping devices into the audio chain will only hurt the sound. They tend to alter the phase response over a fairly wide range.
The system that I listen to most often is also the system that I use for testing and experimenting. This is a pain because I have to disconnect the amp that I listen to in order to hook up an amp for testing. I already have a 3 way switch for the speakers that works good, but switching the source has been problematic. I need to switch between 4 or 5 sources, and 4 or 5 possible outputs with more than one output active at once (amps, computer, test bench, and now the sub). The push button switch box from Radio Shack does not belong in a quality audio chain (snap, crackle, pop, and even hiss). I would like the ability to A/B two amps with the push of a button. The solution seems to be a line stage with multiple independent outputs.
I have done some experimentation, yielding promising results, but no activity has taken place in several months. I plan to get back to this soon since I now have a new sub that sits disconnected.
The concept is a tube buffer with multiple inputs switched by sub miniature relays. It feeds 5 seperate buffers so that each output is completely independent. Shorting an output or connecting it to a complex load will not affect the other outputs. Each output has its own level control. My initial experiments used a CCS loaded cathode follower for the buffer and 5 seperate mosfet followers for the buffers. It worked good and had a flat frequency response past 1 MHz (my measurement limit). It however needed some gain so I plan to experiment further in the near future.
I found the Yamaha manual at http://www.abt.com/images/products/PDF_Files/ystsw216_manual.pdf . I must admit that this is more complex than i had imagined. I am trying to follow this discussion with some understanding, but i am just barely hanging on.
Roy
Roy
I have a half-finished preamp sitting in a box. I've learned a great deal since starting that project almost 10 years ago. I used it in it's unfinished state for a while, but took it apart while building the logic board. I got my hands on a nice cache of mercury-wetted SPDT relays and that is what drove the rest of the design. I too am using a crunchy Rat-Shack push-button selector right now
The preamp itself is a 4-channel preamp (mu followers) with an extra 2-channel buffered output (cathode followers). It was all done with 12AU7s because that was the only tube I had on hand in any quantity back then (from my old organ). The PSUs, amps, relays, and logic board are all crammed in one chassis. The plan now is to remove or disable the preamp and make it into a passive selector/volume control. That way I can play around with preamps without have to take my whole system apart each time.
I haven't broken down and bought a sub yet. The KLF-10s have amazingly deep bass and I just don't feel like I'm missing anything.
The preamp itself is a 4-channel preamp (mu followers) with an extra 2-channel buffered output (cathode followers). It was all done with 12AU7s because that was the only tube I had on hand in any quantity back then (from my old organ). The PSUs, amps, relays, and logic board are all crammed in one chassis. The plan now is to remove or disable the preamp and make it into a passive selector/volume control. That way I can play around with preamps without have to take my whole system apart each time.
I haven't broken down and bought a sub yet. The KLF-10s have amazingly deep bass and I just don't feel like I'm missing anything.
I looked at the specs for the Yamaha sub in the manual that you linked. The input impedance is 12K ohms. This means that you can't just connect it to the input of the Simple SE without some modifications. As whitelabrat pointed out the volume will be reduced and the volume control will be very nonlinear.
What are you driving the Simple SE with? Maybe your source has a low enough output impedance so that a different volume control is all thats needed. See if you can find a similar manual for what ever you are feeding the Simple SE with.
I use a pair of Yamaha NS-10M Studio monitor speakers. They have no output below 70Hz and the output begins to roll off at 100Hz. They sound fine for everyday listening, but the 15 inch speakers in the living room can shake the whole house with a Simple SE! No sub needed.
I had a 20 year old passive down firing subwoofer (big, really big) that I powered with half of a 2 KW Crown CE2000 amp (the other half was blown). They say that bass isn't directional but it was pretty obvious that the sound was coming from the floor, untill you turned it up loud enough to shake the walls. The amp and speaker were given away last year in my continuing effort to reduce my collection of "stuff". I got along just fine without it.
There has been an old 25 inch CRT television up on the shelf in my work room for years. I recently replaced it with a flat TV. I had all of this empty space behind the TV, so when I saw the 10 inch sub for $89 I went for it. Not sure how the TV is going to like it though.
What are you driving the Simple SE with? Maybe your source has a low enough output impedance so that a different volume control is all thats needed. See if you can find a similar manual for what ever you are feeding the Simple SE with.
I use a pair of Yamaha NS-10M Studio monitor speakers. They have no output below 70Hz and the output begins to roll off at 100Hz. They sound fine for everyday listening, but the 15 inch speakers in the living room can shake the whole house with a Simple SE! No sub needed.
I had a 20 year old passive down firing subwoofer (big, really big) that I powered with half of a 2 KW Crown CE2000 amp (the other half was blown). They say that bass isn't directional but it was pretty obvious that the sound was coming from the floor, untill you turned it up loud enough to shake the walls. The amp and speaker were given away last year in my continuing effort to reduce my collection of "stuff". I got along just fine without it.
There has been an old 25 inch CRT television up on the shelf in my work room for years. I recently replaced it with a flat TV. I had all of this empty space behind the TV, so when I saw the 10 inch sub for $89 I went for it. Not sure how the TV is going to like it though.
The KLF-10s are in my main system and are rated 32Hz-20kHz +/-3dB. Even taken with a grain of salt, that's pretty good for a 98dB speaker. Getting that kind of thump-thump out of a 2 WPC amp (TSE on 45s) is just too funny. Gotta love Klipsch.
I have an old pair of Boston Acoustics A60s in my shop. The woofers had the usual rubber foam rot so I replaced the foams with some from eBay. They are too stiff, I think, and make the bass way too tight. They are also not easy to drive (acoustic suspension), even for the ST-70. Could use a sub there, I suppose. Then again, it's my dirty old shop.
I would really like to get a pair of Klipsch speakers but I haven't found any for a good deal really. I have these older POS Technics speakers I have been using. They sound surprisingly good for being pretty cheaply made and bass is definitely loud enough for me. I think they are around 95db/1w @1m. I have a pair of Fostex 206E but too many projects at once has kept me from building the horn enclosures for those.
Before I got the KLF-10s, my "good" speakers were a pair of Boston Acoustics A70 Series II speakers that I found on Craigslist from a guy who re-foams old speakers as a hobby. I got them for $40. They are 89dB but are a little tougher to drive due to the acoustic suspension. The Simple SE can handle them, though...especially in UL+CFB mode. For the 15+ or so years before that, my speakers were a pair of Radio Shack Realistic Nova-18s. I bought them new when I worked there. I still have them and although they are clearly cheapo speakers, they are not bad and seem fairly efficient. The TSE had no trouble driving them. I also still have my very first pair of speakers, Realistic MC-2001. Somehow the foam is still perfect on both pairs of the Rat-Shack speakers.
Anyway, sorry about the tangent. George is right in that a simple passive volume control won't be able to drive that sub very well without some kind of driver/buffer stage in between.
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