Do you know that’s true? From what source? I never heard that, and from discussions I have heard with – for example – Kevin Gray mastering the Tone Poet series, etc or with Malliard/Meyer at EBS on mastering DG’s The Original Source series nothing like that has even been claimed. That’s only true for movies with the LFE tracks as fas as I know.
Nevertheless, I’ve been using REL subs for a while now, and my dealer has been using, selling, and installing them for rather longer, and they’ve only ever installed single subs with high level connections as per manual as fas as I’ve ever heard. And to be sure, I just asked my dealer, and the guy there who has installed probably 4000 subs and trained by John Hunter directly says you are “dead %*&ing wrong” (quoting him) regarding the connection.
Bass summing is more an artifact of mastering in the old days when turntables couldn’t track as well. It’s the same reason they reduced dynamics, and reduced amplitude of the bass (nothwithstanding RIAA equalization). Nowadays, vinyl mastering is a cut a lot hotter because most systems can track it. DG’s The Original Source series is a perfect example of that.
I’ll ask Joe Harley and see what he says about mastering at Cohearent.
In any case, the answer I get from an experience REL dealer is to connect as the manual states. On both channels. That’s the only way I have ever done it.
Mastering choices will, as most things, be picking which compromise you want.
I have no argument about sub connections - if you have one sub, you need to sum the channels somewhere. I’m slightly surprised some of the configurations work at all, but evidently they do and their owners are happy…
Hadn’t crossed my mind my assumption could be so preposterous so as to make you call the dealer instantly!
In any case, thanks a lot for asking, this is valuable info. In fact I love to be proven wrong, that means I can improve on my past self.
Now I have a problem though since i had convolutional filters made under that configuration and should have them redone ( at a cost) if I change to the correct one.
[edit] Finding the source where I read this might prove difficult, although I might try and find similar claims and report back
I contacted the Naim dealer where I got my Uniti from and he’s told me to connect via the High Level. He said if I need to connect via the RCA, then the RCA cables I’d need for it to work properly would be very expensive (think in £000’s) does this sound accurate?
I’m wondering if my £100 evergreen RCA cables are now up to the job if I decide to stick with the route?
Seriously, what’s wrong with calling my dealer to ask. I’ve known them for 30 years and talk to them all the time about stuff. No reason to be offended by me asking. I was curious if they ever did connections of single subs by summing the high level channel connections.
Anyway, I’ll share if I get any info about what goes on at Cohearent.
My office system is a Naim Atom with a REL R-328. I have it connected as I started above and it works really quite well. My main system has stereo subs so that’s a different connection anyway.
Agree. One does not need a hyperexpensive RCA cable for a low level sub connection. I think I have an eight foot cable for the Dynaudio sub on my HT system and it was $100 or so.
Please don’t get me wrong, it’s perfectly fine you did, I was just worried I said something really stupid!
In any case I’ve searched for the matter and find many sources on music production sites were it seems to be advised to use mono for lower frequencies, main reasons being vinyl does not or did not support it well (as discussed above) and the other being that clubs are often playing music in mono and that could have phase cancelling effects on bass if recorded in stereo.
No, I didn’t think you said anything really stupid. We’re just arguing the points and gathering supporting information. It’s all good.
I’m waiting to see if I get an answer about Cohearent.
None of the music I listen to is played at clubs, so that’s really my frame of reference; i.e. classical and jazz and modern mastering of them. The need there to sum to mono is moot for me.
What I know is that mastering consoles/lathes have filters that can be applied optionally to [among other things] sum low bass (i.e. 80Hz and lower), but that if cutting engineers want to take more time and effort to do it right, they don’t have to use those filters. I suspect a lot of pop/rock music is probably filtered that way, but I’m not so sure stuff like the higher end DG classical remasters at EBS, or the Tone Poet, BNC, MMJ Blue Note remasters at Cohearent are. I don’t know for sure. I don’t have any contact at EBS to ask, but I’ll see if I find out anything otherwise.
Some dealers, including online retailers, will allow you to demo a cable and return for a refund it if you’re not happy with it. I certainly wouldn’t buy any expensive cable without this option.
I got an answer from Joe. Kevin Gray sums into mono below 70 Hz, so you are correct in that regard. I don’t know what EBS does. Likely something similar.
I would still recommend connecting to both channels though; otherwise, you’ll have only one channel of stereo signal for whatever response the sub has above 70 Hz. After all, the subs don’t just cut off at 70 Hz, they roll off so there is still information there above 70Hz that integrates with the main speakers.
Class D, differential, mono-bloc amps all have their own requirements for connections. Agree it’s best to check the manuals. What I post above refers to AB stereo amps.
