Subwoofer addition

The Naim version does not have spades, it has stackable bananas so that you can plug the bananas on your main speaker cables into them. Otherwise there’s no way to connect both cables to the sockets on a Naim amp.

Yes, this is what you need if you want to connect to the amp.
If you were to connect to the speakers you would keep the spades.

My speakers are the ProAc D2Rs. They benefit from a sub or two but only a smidge and the RELs were perfect and provided the bass control. I bought two REL T9is and connected them at the speaker binding posts with cables from custom design-a-cable. Aimed at competing with the REL Blue you can specify bare, spades or bananas. They are beautifully made and finished.

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Maybe. Depends on speaker. Mine have the WBT interface with both banana and spade receivers. It just so happens I use the banana connectors for the amp and the spades for the subs, but there is no reason it couldn’t be the other way around.

The OP has B&W speakers which use dual purpose sockets which accept bananas and spades, so there would be no need to change the spades.

But don’t you connect the sub to the amp not the speakers?

I have a pair of REL subs and connect them to my speakers. I didn’t feel like paying for two REL Baseline Blue Naim cables. They are expensive.

I think you would be better off connecting at the speaker end and not the amp end. If I remember correctly the Naim Baseline Blue cable had a resistor and the standard one didn’t. I connected my S/3 to my Epos14’s with Cardas dual purpose plugs.

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Sorry is this has already been mentioned but REL has a webpage and a list of Naim amps with recommended connection method for each. It says this was made together with Naim techs.

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Naim amps don’t like sub cables connected to them, for much the same reason that they don’t like certain non-Naim speaker cables. So Naim recommend that you connect at the speaker end instead. This means using a split cable to run from the two speakers to the single Neutrik socket on a Rel sub.
The easiest solution is probably to ask Designacable to make up a split cable for this purpose, as they understand the requirements of Naim amps and Rel subs, or you can use a Rel cable and split the outer sheath open so you can separate the cables.

The Naim version of the Bassline Blue gets around this by adding a little circuit that makes it possible to connect to a Naim power amp without adversely affecting its performance. Designacable also sell such a cable, and it’s much cheaper.

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I have two REL T-zeros. Each just connected at the speaker end. But I am using 135s which are stand-alone mono blocks and this is of course a very simple situation.

I use T-Zeros as I didnt want deeper or more bass just a little support. The T-Zeros are fast enough and blends well.

I soldered the spades of the REL-cable high up on the banana on the NACA5 so I get good connection at the same time as the special banana terminals on the Magnepans is not interfered with.

As I keep going back and forth on this I’m reading up and trying to follow the discussion on high level vs low level and connecting to the speaker end or the amp end.

I also have 135s. If I remember REL normally suggests 3 wires are connected on the neutrik cable - two red and one black, but the second red isn’t mandatory. That for one sub. With two subs, do you have just one red and one black for each sub? How was the positioning and set-up please?

I have two subs connected, one at each speaker. On each one the red and yellow sub wires are combined and connected to the red speaker terminal. The black wire on the sub cable is left unconnected. That is how I was told to connect them for my 300DR and Dyn speakers.

I position each behind the speaker and toe it in to point to the opposite back corner of the room.

The REL website has plenty of info and video for all this. I recommend looking there, rather than getting a mix of information and misinformation here.

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I’ve lost track with this thread, but do you have a single sub? You can wire it straight from a DIN output from your pre-amp’s power supply. Well, at least that is what I do with a SC in a 252 system. Seems simple enough and works fine.

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I tried such a low-level connection to a REL long ago and found the sound quality and balance to be vastly inferior to using the high level inputs on the REL. I thought it really sounded pretty awful by comparison. My dealer warned me that would likely be the case and they were spot on. It was just too boomy and sluggish sounding no matter how much I tried to get the adjustments right.

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Interesting, I wonder if that’s to do with the way a REL is configured. The signal I run from the SC is full range and then I control the crossover setting on the sub. I’ve a Totem setup, so the sub is matched with the floor standers.

That’s how I connect mine (din to 552 ps ) albeit I have active ATC speakers so I think that maybe my only option….

I have to say in my room my system sounds pretty poor without the Rel sub…

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Love my rels …check sum sites for used as ull get sum good deals n they make a big difference :notes:

Lso iv attached my rwls at the back of sopra 2 and even if u use ur amp theres no problem with naim gear as it really doesn’t see it as the subs are powered …but if u attached to the speaker end it gets the same sound as ur speaker or signal …so integrates better …n yep many videos on rel site …i use the baseline blue …very happy