A Guitar And Gear Support Forum

I am not up on the latest home stereo gear. We recently moved and the old Kenwood 777's from the 70's no longer work with the motif in our new mansion. So I purchased a pair of Klipsch speakers, the book shelf variety. I hooked them to my existing Yamaha receiver and they sound fine. Me, I cast spotify to the Visio sound bar but the wife is technologically challenged and still prefers to just hit the remote on button to the receiver.I really like the sound bar because of the bass. Same reason I like playing music through a mixer, amp'ed into tops and bottoms. It's all about that bass!!

Enough background, is there a receiver made that has a crossover with outputs for 2 subs and 2 tops?? I still like to play all my CD's and I think a set up like that would sound great. I am not interested in the surround sound system with 10 little speakers the size of a beer can, just 2 subs and 2 tops bookshelf size in stereo. Thanks in advance.

Did you want powered subs, or passive subs? Most receivers I've seen lately will have one sub out (unpowered, essentially a mono RCA connector) and some have two, or you could split the mono out with a Y cable, but even some searching came up empty on receivers that have actual low/high pass filters. In custom car audio, its super common, but I've never seen one in home audio.

Update: I did a search on Amazon, and look what I found:

https://www.amazon.com/Nippon-HC-101-ch ... 225&sr=8-1

Not pretty, but looks like it would do the job if you want passive subs...

I have the Denon AVR-530BT that supports two active subwoofers, but I just have 1 with Bose bookshelf speakers. I've had it since 2017 and have no problems with the receiver. The amazon link for it is below, but its not being sold there anymore. If you want support for 2 subwoofers, look for X.2 receivers. The digit before the decimal is the amount of "top" speakers as you mentioned and the number after the decimal is the amount of subwoofer channels. For instance, mine is a 5.2 system, meaning that I can have 5 speakers in surround and 2 subwoofers.

https://www.amazon.com/Denon-AVRS530BT- ... B06XYD1RZ3

My brother-in-law got a nicer one at Costco, but I forget which one it is.

Thanks for the replies, I like both ideas. I also did some research and found some other configuration options that may work. I am not beyond putting a small PA head on the shelf and getting that crossover from Amazon.

finger on the trigger for that Denon if I can find one

tonebender wrote: ↑Thu Jun 11, 2020 7:19 am finger on the trigger for that Denon if I can find one

The ad said there is an updated version but for some reason the amazon link won't show in my post

For that use, I would get a basic home theater receive that is 5.2 or 7.2. The .2 is the number of active subs it will take. That said, are your sure you want 2 subs? You probably don’t need two subs unless you set the crossover point higher than 80-100 hz, and unless you know what you are doing and have a lot of placement flexibility, phase issues are very likely.

bleys21 wrote: ↑Wed Jun 10, 2020 9:10 pm
Update: I did a search on Amazon, and look what I found:

https://www.amazon.com/Nippon-HC-101-ch ... 225&sr=8-1

Not pretty, but looks like it would do the job if you want passive subs...

That’s only half of what you need. To use those, you will need a matching 120hz high pass for the mains. Otherwise you will be doubling up the lower frequencies until the bookshelves roll off.

Chocol8 wrote: ↑Thu Jun 11, 2020 3:14 pm
That’s only half of what you need. To use those, you will need a matching 120hz high pass for the mains. Otherwise you will be doubling up the lower frequencies until the bookshelves roll off.

That get's to the heart of the problem with the whole plan. You either need matched speakers and electronics where there is some assurance that they will sound appropriate together, or electronics with adjustability in the crossover frequency and slope so you can at least tune things by ear. I noticed one of the .2 receivers alluded to something that sounded like a built in real-time analyzer, but who knows how well that would work?

All (nearly all?) home theater receivers will have an active crossover where if the mains are set to small, the mains will be high passed and the sub low passed at the same crossover frequency.

stacks wrote: ↑Thu Jun 11, 2020 10:30 am

tonebender wrote: ↑Thu Jun 11, 2020 7:19 am finger on the trigger for that Denon if I can find one

The ad said there is an updated version but for some reason the amazon link won't show in my post

You have to go into the full editor, select the URL, and click the "Insert URL" button on the editor toolbar. I can see the link now that I'm quoting you. Here's the link:

https://www.amazon.com/Denon-AVR-S540BT ... b_title_ce

Jeff,

I have recently learned there is a club around here where the members are hitting all the "Goodwill Stores," "Salvation Army" type places because
the stereos of the 1970's & 1980's were so much better than anything you can buy new today. While I happen to agree with them, at least my ears
do, I didn't appreciate them trying to buy the systems I happen to own!

The big screen TV I usually watch feeds a 1970's Kenwood Stereo system that I bought new back then. Even tho they offered me more than I paid
for it new.....that was a long time ago! And is still working perfectly!

The new stuff you buy today seems to have a "programmed" life span measured in months.

A lot of home theater receivers will have two sub outputs. I bought an Onkyo with two over christmas - although I believe it sends the same signal through both. With and AV receiver you can still just run in stereo mode - but get the advantages of bass management, hdmi, and room correction. Mine sounds great in stereo - has a phono input too if you're into that sort of thing.

mickey wrote: ↑Fri Jun 12, 2020 4:26 pm Jeff,

I have recently learned there is a club around here where the members are hitting all the "Goodwill Stores," "Salvation Army" type places because
the stereos of the 1970's & 1980's were so much better than anything you can buy new today. While I happen to agree with them, at least my ears
do, I didn't appreciate them trying to buy the systems I happen to own!

The big screen TV I usually watch feeds a 1970's Kenwood Stereo system that I bought new back then. Even tho they offered me more than I paid
for it new.....that was a long time ago! And is still working perfectly!

The new stuff you buy today seems to have a "programmed" life span measured in months.

Take a look on eBay and see what a Marantz receiver or a McIntosh amp is going for these days. Those are just a couple of examples, but just like vintage guitars, there is a whole new market for “vintage” 2 channel equipment. I had an old Halfler DH500 amp which was my ultimate "college" amp as it was like 275 watts per channel and basically just had one switch- on and off. It sat collecting dust in my basement for years and ended up selling it a few years back for about twice what I paid for it back in the day.

Have a few vintages pieces myself - I used to have more but have thinned the herd over the years. Two of my favorite pieces include a late '70's Sansui 9090 that I had restored. It's a beast. The other is a early '60's Pilot Tube Integrated amp -about 15 watts of tube goodness. Something that old shouldn't sound that good.

Just ordered the Denon AVR S540BT 5.2

Looks like just what I need to do what I want to do. Thanks again