Two questions about RSW-15:

[Threxx]

First of all this is going to be almost entirely for listening to music and in that case 50+% of it is going to be higher volume party type listening. Maybe the occasional movie or game, but it's really an afterthought.

-To make a long story short, there is absolutely no way for me to get a preamp signal to the sub for my music listening. I have to send a full-powered speaker signal through. So my first question is, does the RSW have the ability to get a clean signal from the powered speaker cable and then send that power on through to the speaker without filtering any sound or distorting the signal?

-A year or two ago I remember everything I read was saying the RSW-15 was one of, if not THE best sub on the market for music listening, particularly if the listener prefered a 'tight/quick/punchy' higher frequency bass bias (which I do, for music). Is this still the case, or are there better newer designs on the market now? I keep seeing everyone mentioning SVS, but last I heard they weren't much for music as much as they were for movies.

Ideas?

[Sanman023]

hello...i dont think you can hook up speaker wires to the rsw15 because its not an option on this sub...it only has rca inputs and out....and yes is a very nice sub for music and movies...

[michael hurd]

"To make a long story short, there is absolutely no way for me to get a preamp signal to the sub for my music listening"

??? Split the preamp output with a pair of cheap rca y's and send both left and right to the subwoofer. Assuming that the preamp will generate enough voltage to properly drive the inputs on the powered RSW-15, you should not have any problems. Adjust the gain control and frequency on the sub for proper blend, and enjoy.

[psg]

"To make a long story short, there is absolutely no way for me to get a preamp signal to the sub for my music listening"

??? Split the preamp output with a pair of cheap rca y's and send both left and right to the subwoofer.

Didn't he just say "absolutely no way for me to get a preamp signal to the sub"? That surely means there are no pre-outs.

:-)

Money for a RSW-15 but no pre-outs on his system. That is somewhat surprising...

I would think SVS are as good for music as they are for movies. For myself, I absolutely love my Hsu STF-3 on music.

Peter

[CAS]

"To make a long story short, there is absolutely no way for me to get a preamp signal to the sub for my music listening"

Actually, in your situation I would probably invest $500 in a more modern receiver/processor and apply the rest of it to a PB2+. You'll spend the same amount of cash and get more for your dough. Unless you just want to keep your receiver and invest in the monster PB2-Ultra in black. That'll still be around the same price range and it's got speaker level inputs (as does the PB2+ as well).

At these levels HSU doesn't provide a similar product.

[Threxx]

OK to make a long story long:

I have a server upstairs in a wiring closet that runs Napster radio feeds, Sirius radio, DVD Audio, and SACD... basically a custom media box with an operating system. In the server I have a Sound Blaster Audigy ZS 2 sending a preamp signal to my Rotel 1090 amplifier (conservative 700 watts per channel RMS @ 4 ohms x 2 channels), which sits above the server. From the amp I have cabling leading to a Niles distribution block which sits in a Leviton home media center box in the wall. From the distribution block I have 8 pairs of speaker cables (14 guage 4-conductor) which lead to various locations around the house and end up leading to Niles high power impedence matching volume controls. From the volume controls the cable splits off into a left channel and a right channel that end up leading to a wall plate where I can connect each speaker exactly where they belong.

The end result is that I hve 8 locations where there are a pair of speakers. Each pair has a volume control next to it that can deliver anywhere from absolute mute to 100 or more watts RMS per channel. And best of all, all 8 pairs, regardless of the individual resistance of the speaker can all play the same source simultanously at as high of a volume as necessary without the amplifier seeing any lower resistance than it should be seeing (for the Rotel that happens to be 4 ohms, although I'm sure it could extent lower... there's no reason for it to).

So now you see that all the electronics are upstairs, all of the cables are already ran (and it was already enough of a task to run before the drywall went up... I'm not going to even try after), so I only have a powered signal to work with.

Anyhow... sounds to me from what I'm reading that I might just want to go with an SVS 25-31 instead. May not be quite as tight and musical, but it will save me a little money plus it will probably be better adapted for the limitations I have. Right?

[Threxx]

OK well, if the RSW-15 doesn't even have high level input capabilities, then I've gotta go elsewhere. Just called and asked the guys at SVS a similar question... liked all the answers I got except for the fact that the high pass filter can't be adjusted or even defeated. None the less, I put in an order in for the SVS 20-39 PC Plus.

I'll let y'all know what I think. It may not sound quite as good for music as the RSW, but at half the price and considering I'd really have to jerry-rig stuff to get the RSW to function... it just wasn't worth it to me.

[spkrgeek]

i have a similar set up w/ all sources upstairs feeding (among other things) a russound distribution hub. I connected the line level output of one of the downstairs russound volume controls to the r & l inputs on a jbl markII sub (the rsw15 stays in the theater rm) and it works fine.