So my current setup is a pair of Tannoy Kensington GR loudspeakers and a pair of REL T/7i subs.
As you may know RELs are supposed to be connected directly to the amp.
Question: do you think it’d help if I had a crossover between the Tannoy and RELs? I’m wondering if the bass coming from both the Tannoy and the RELs are muddying each other.
As I recall REL’s factory rep was pretty emphatic that RELs were designed to work optimally in the direct to amp connection mode. It would be an interesting experiment to see what the differences are using a crossover. I certainly have zero complaints about my pair of RELs muddying the bass of my Tidal Piano Ceras.
No
Love the succinct and clear answer
JL audio makes a CR1 crossover designed for mains and subs. I toyed with the idea of getting one, but read responses that In very resolving systems there was a sonic penalty to the extra circuitry.
Is it possible in your system it may be just the ticket? Only you can answer that.
My Velodyne dd10 plus subs have a high pass crossover built in, but I’ve never tried it. I should just for fun, but if the CR1 isn’t transparent, there’s no way the built in going to be good.
I have driven my subs via high level from my BHK300 ‘s but I find XLR from my tube pre to sound deeper with more texture.
In my experience listening to the CR1 it noticeably degrades the sound.
I’ve heard the JL Audio CR1 on a pair of Rel number 25’s and there was no benefit. Hooking up a Rel subwoofer thru the high level connection thru the amps is far superior and the best way IMO and REL’s. The CR1 with JL subs is a different story.
If the bass from the REL is muddying the Tannoy’s bass, it’s probably best to lower the crossover on the REL so it’s blending better. It doesn’t need to play frequencies the speakers are already covering well.
No crossover on the mains.
For well over 12 years, I’ve been running all of my various subs via their high level inputs straight from the speaker taps off of my amps (HSU, Earthquake, Polk Audio, JL Audio, SVS). Allowing the loudspeakers to play fullrange and the subs picking up where the mains leave off AT the listening position always offers the best results.
Not only that, but the subs seem to have zero chance of getting hum injected into them from a high level signal, and in my experience, the subs always sound better being fed a high level signal.