REL subs with Rowland Amplifiers

Daveyf 9-22-2019
I connect my subs with the red and yellow summed to the red output per amp and the black to the black output per amp. This is with dual subs and mono blocks.

In the case of an amp having balanced outputs, such as Ricred’s, the black wire from the sub should absolutely not be connected to a negative output terminal of the amp. Doing so would cause the full amplitude signal that is present on that output terminal of the amp to be connected to the sub’s ground. Depending on the internal grounding configurations of the amp and the sub (and more specifically on the impedance through which their circuit grounds are internally connected to their chassis/AC safety grounds) doing so might work, but is very poor practice at best and could very conceivably cause damage at worst. If the outputs of your 8T are balanced (or bridged) that would presumably be the reason Mr. Rowland recommended installing a ground terminal on it.

Over the years I’ve seen a number of members here mention that they connect the black wire of a REL sub to the negative output terminal of a fully balanced amp, and the results seem good. To that I say they should count their blessings :-)

Best regards,
-- Al

“Over the years I’ve seen a number of members here mention that they connect the black wire of a REL sub to the negative output terminal of a fully balanced amp, and the results seem good. To that I say they should count their blessings :-)”

@almarg,

Not sure what do mean when you say ‘count their blessings’...is it a cautionary smiley at the end?

I own dual mono SET amps and after consulting with REL and amp manufacturer, I also connected red/yellow wire to positive output and black wire to negative output of the terminal. Like Daveyf, I am also using dual subs. The Input Impedance of each mono is 100 kOhm.

Hi Lalit,

Given that the amps you referred to are SETs they do not have balanced or bridged outputs, so connecting your subs as you have described is perfectly fine.

My statement about counting their blessings referred to what I had said just before that, meaning that those who have connected the black wire to the negative output terminal of a fully balanced (or bridged) amp should feel lucky that (a) it worked ok, and (b) damage didn’t result. As I said, which of those eventualities occurs, in the case of an amp having balanced or bridged outputs, will depend on the internal grounding configurations of the particular sub and amp.

Best regards,
-- Al

Hi Al,

Now that makes perfect sense 😊

I also experimented (skeptics at first) with non-grounded power cords for all of my components except preamp to eliminate any ground loop or hum issues. The results were shockingly good, my system is dead quite now...the interconnects from preamp provides static dissipation through the secondary ground connection & neutral thus eliminating any ground loop caused by interconnection of electrical equipments having multiple paths to the ground.

daveyf,
"If you are not connecting the black wire, I would be concerned that you are not grounding the sub." If it wasn't properly grounded I'm assuming I would hear a hum? I assume REL's Chief Engineer wouldn't tell me to do something that would damage my amp or sub.