MiniDSP for RA280?

ROSE Products
#1

Hi all,

I’m wondering if anyone owning an RA280 is using bass management for their RA280 subwoofer pre-out ? I would love to hear your experiences. What DSP are you using. Did you notice any time delay in the pre-out of the RA280…
I’m looking at a miniDSP to get a correction curve for my sub. ( REL S550 )

I’m looking also at a more complete solution for sub integration, that would mean I need a miniDSP that supports XLR for my main speakers ( RS451 connected with XLS to the RA280 here ), but then I can’t time align the main speakers with the sub. And doing time alignment manually is maybe not possible due to physical placement restrictions and rather difficult by ear…

Last but not least, happy holiday’s and end of year !

#2

You’d be better off getting a real subwoofer first…

And if you want something that will do proper bass management, you really need sources designed for high fidelity sound reproduction (i.e. including at least bass management, maybe also DRC) rather than for looks and a fancy screen.

With what you have, you’d need either a digital MiniDSP box in front of 451 that would send high-passed signal to 451 for your main speakers, and low-passed subwoofer signal to whatever auxiliary DAC you might get. Then you lose 451’s nice metadata display. Or an analog MiniDSP that will take signal from 451 and split it into 2 high-passed channel for the amp and 1 or 2 low-passed channels for the sub. Then you keep 451’s display but audio will go through ADC/DAC in the MiniDSP (not that it would be audible, but I’d find it annoying if I had paid for DACs in 451.

In any case, the subwoofer output on the 280, not adjustable and not high-passing main speaker outputs, is about as useful as an umbrella is to a fish.

#3

I don’t mind not having the display of the Rose RS 451, I use the VU meters and Spotify Connect.
I don’t know what you mean by a “real subwoofer”, but the S550 is fast and gets to 20Hz, so low enough for me. I’m not watching movies, I’m mostly listening Dubstep, Pop, Lounge, Minimal music.
I’ve had subs that go deeper, ported, but they can’t keep up with fast changing bass transients … and… there’s the wife, bigger will be a big nono :slight_smile:

#4

Subwoofer is supposed to play low frequency sound, it can’t be “fast.”

This particular one has a 10 inch driver and a low power amp. It “gets” to 20Hz, at -6dB (and with some unspecified distortion, because if REL ever started giving real specs for their products, they’d be out of business in a week). It’s basically a woofer augmentation system, overpriced by about factor of 10. You are paying for a (rather garish, IMHO) crown on the box, not for any performance. A good, sealed, similarly sized sub with servo motor, doing 18Hz at -3dB costs quarter of REL’s price…

Of course if you already have it and can’t get rid of it, you’ll have to do with it.

You could use e.g. MiniDSP Flex to split the signal to high-passed signal for the 451 (I guess at least VU meters will work) and analog outputs for the sub. But then thr question is how do you get signal to MiniDSP?

Alternatively, you could use digital output of the 451 to feed MiniDSP. That way you keep 451’s full display and streaming capabilities, while MiniDSP will handle crossovers and time delays.

This will work, but to me it looks kludgy and you’re paying for lots of stuff you’re not going to use., when there are single-box solutions that will do all of that, at all different price levels, that will work better, starting from a Node and all the way up to Lyngdorf and similar brands…

#5

When I write fast, you should read it as : controlled, accurate, fast switching. Like f.e. transistor switching. Songs with different deep notes, layers of deep notes playing all at the same time … on a “slow” sub, they will sound muddy, on a fast sub, you will hear the different low sounds and they will be separated well. My Focal Kanta no. 3’s, can’t go to 20Hz, more like 30Hz I would say, but they are fast. If you put a ported SVS next to them, you’ll never be able to get them sounding as one unit. These SVS’es can go very deep, but in the upper bass, they can’t keep up with a good tower speaker. Their cones are way too heavy and require too much energy to move. So power wise, they have huge power reserves, but they sound terrible if you cross them over at 80Hz… I hope this explains what I mean with slow/fast subs. Edit : typo

1 Like
#6

It’s definitely more difficult to integrate ported subs with sealed speakers (or vice versa) but far from impossible if the subs are well-designed, be they ported, sealed, or push-pull.

That’s why also companies like SVS make both ported and sealed subs, and supply port plugs for the ported ones.

Anyway, there are lots of sealed, “fast” subs of similar size that actually go deep into sub-bass region. With Kantas having reasonably deep bass by themselves, IMHO it would make more sense…

As for the original question, as far as can be gathered from Rose’s specs, the “sub” output on RA280 does not specify and low-pass frequency, let alone any way to adjust it, so it can be safely assumed that it’s just a mono output with no bass management. Better than nothing at all but pretty much useless for anything serious.

#7

LOL, you really are something

#8

Imagine that! Having a clue must be a completely foreign feeling for you. And that’s if you knew what a clue were.

1 Like
#9

Ich halte die Rel Subwoofer auch für sehr gut. Kein Schnickschnack, einfach einzustellen und zeitlich über den high Level Eingang der ja schon Jahrzehnte lang existiert auch gut zu intrigieren.
Klar gibt es mächtige Subwoofer die weit unter 20hz gehen…wers braucht :joy:
Bei mir spielt ein Rel T9x Se mit den Scansonic Mb5b getrennt bei etwa 35 hz …vielleicht auch etwas mehr… super.
Angesteuert werden sie durch einen Audionet Sam20 Se und einen Rs151
Für Musik klingt das für mich persönlich perfekt

So macht jeder seine eigenen Erfahrungen

1 Like
#10

Boris you hate the Rel but it is actually a very decent sub.

Maybe you’re looking for something to shake the house when you watch your TV shows, and not listen to music.

#11

At around $500 it would have been an OK sub. At $3300 (lol) that REL asks for it, it’s a joke. And it’s not even a sealed sub, it’s much closer to ported. One could get three nice servocontrolled sealed subs (each going much deeper than any REL) that are much “faster” for that kind of money.

I am looking for something that can do a proper organ concerto. M&K push-pulls do it much better (well, they could shake the house if I wanted, too). REL at best could make some cheesy bookshelves reproduce Diana Krall believably, although I’d be at loss why anyone would want that.

#12

Smegel you should know Boris is never wrong and an expert at everything, he is the 100% reason I’ll never call myself an audiophile, because people like him on forums give us all a bad name.

2 Likes
#13

Dear HiFi rose users

As the discussion seems to be turning negative, I will close this post.
If there are any additional topics to discuss, please post a new thread.

Thank you

#14