Subwoofer Setup Help. Am I doing this right?

Hey all, I’m new to the HiFi world and am absolutely enthralled by the newfound love I have for all the music I’ve listened to in my 22 years. Over the past month I have invested in Paradigm Monitor SE Atoms for a Near-Field setup on my desk, along with a Topping PA3 as the dedicated amplifier for the set.

I am very happy with these speakers but they lack the low end punch I’m looking for with the Paradigms (IMO) Bright sound signature. However my Topping only has a left and right channel output for 2 speakers. I’ve been doing some searching and discovered RCA Y splitters. I have a FiiO e10k dac/amp for my headphones with a 3.5mm line out currently feeding my topping (0db gain when using the speakers). I was wondering if it would be ok to split the 3.5mm output into 2 sets of RCA outputs and connect one to the topping and one to a powered sub (or would this introduce timing issues, etc?). I know its a bit janky but if this is not viable should i replace my Topping PA3 for something with a sub-out? If anyone has any ideas please let me know.

Good first post, welcome aboard. I liked to know the answer. You could get a sub with high imputs to get signal from the speaker wires. Elac sub1010 example. Hear its more hifi if you get the signal from hi-level imputs.

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In the case of the topping, I’m using banana plugs to feed the speakers. Can I use the bananas and then use bare speaker wire to feed the high level input of the Elac or some other woofer?


Here I have the bananas for the Left and Right channels. If i unscrewed the binding posts and added some speaker wire to the image above, would I be able to feed the woofer (leaving the bananas in)? Maybe its a fire hazard lol.

Yup, you can do that. It’s the correct way to do it. No fire hazard.

Or if you prefer, you can do what the back of the sub says:
From amp to sub “from receiver” then out of sub “out to speakers” to the speakers.

Electrically they’re the same thing.

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Awesome! Saves me 100 dollars!

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Just to confirm, Your saying I can use the Bananas and the bare wire at the same time? Just want to make sure we are on the same page. Also I thought about doing that, but that would require me bypassing the Topping i think.

Basically if your sub doesn’t have a pass though, you can split the line level or speaker level outputs to the sub.
If the sub has a passthrough, line level or speaker level use it. The reason it’s there is to act as a crossover, so your small speakers aren’t trying to reproduce the low bass that is now being done by the sub.
You can fairly effectively tune a sub with the natural rollout off of the speaker, but it’s more messing around.

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O you got a nice sub already, highpass filtered and everything. Awesome.

I haven’t bought anything yet, but I’ve heard good things about the BIC America F12 which i attached. If you guys have any recomendations (bedroom sized room), im all ears

Yes. But as mentioned above, you may want to wire from amp → sub and, sub → speakers. This way you get the crossover functionality built into the sub. The crossover will remove the low frequencies from your speakers and allow them to operate with less stress.

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I think I will do this!!!

One Last Question if you don’t mind. Will the Topping amp still adjust the volume on the speakers if I use the sub as a crossover?

Does that high-pass filter go for any sub with a speaker out ?

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The lowest frequency an instrument (piano) can go is i think 29hz ? No sure i need it but i want it.

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Depends on the sub you buy. It’s sort of assumed that that’s the case but not necessarily. Read the manual.

Yup    

That’s an interesting bit of trivia.

The organ would like a word…

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Think your right going off the top.