Integrated amp for my Sonus Faber Guarneri

Hello Loydelee21 - I finally got the sub, but I need some more help with the connections.

The sub has low-pass input and high-pass output RCA jacks.

Connecting the low-pass RCA input on the sub to the pre-out output of the pre-amp section of my integrated amp (McIntosh MA6800) gives me low, rumbly, thumpy bass, the volume and low-crossover point of which I can adjust. This just sounds basically like the GH's as they were, but with some rumbly bass underneath.

I tried the sub connected this way at the shop with some screechy little "Mission" speakers, and it sounded much more integrated than what I'm getting at home with the GH's, so I imagine I need to also connect the high-pass crossover as well.

What I don't get is where on the integrated amp to connect the high-pass output from the sub. Your #2, above says to connect the line-level outputs to the AMP, but the manual says to connect those to the "line-in PRE-AMP input," while my amp has no RCA connection labeled as such.

The amp has the following RCA inputs:

Phono/Aux, CD1, CD2, Tuner, Tape1, Tape2, Tape3, Video.

It also has an "pwr amp in" set of jacks next to the "pre-amp out." Should I connect the high-pass line output to this "pwr amp in" jack instead of the "line-in PRE-AMP input" that the manual cites?

I tried that, but it doesn't seem to make much difference in sound.

As for your suggested wiring #3, since mine is an integrated, I assume I don't need the RCA splitters, am I right?

Sorry to ask such dumb questions, but I certainly don't want to somehow damage my new amp or the GH's.

Getting desparate in terms of time, with just 3 days to go with my trial and wifey adamant that I should send the GH's back.

Hello Again Lloydelee - I bottle of excellent wine is in order for you!

The lousy quality subwoofer test worked! It took me some emergency tweaking after figuring out the wiring, but I got the sub to blend well enough to convince my ever-so picky wife that the Guarneri is better than the Yamahas, with the sub (which she calls a "bandaid").

I thank you profusely for your patient and clear help. You knew exactly what the priority items were to approach first for my problems with the GH's, and your solutions were economical as well as practical.

If I figure out where in our small and ancient Japanese house to store the three shipping containers (the wooden one for the speakers "will make a nice coffee table," while the one for the stands a "nice coffin" for "someone" as she said when when I first got them home), I'll be able to keep them.

Little does wifey know what long train of equipment upgrades await. Thanks for your help with that aspect, too, Daveyf.

Rachmaninoff on a Bodendorfer on "A Window in Time" sounds rich and full now with the sub, and more like a real piano than through the Yammies, as we tested live against our modest piano here.

Pandolfo's cellos on "A Solo" are really rich and with subtle tonality, much different than I had heard before.

What's not great yet is percussion in general, which is all too soft, and I can't get Cassandra Wilson and her band on "New Moon Daughter" to sound good at all yet. All their rich low sounds come out as dead "thuds." Just getting started...lots to do...

Fantastic!!!!!!!!!!! that is great news, and well worth all the hard work and effort you put into it. If I was of any help, i am glad for it, but you did all the hard work. Many congratulations and i am really pleased for you...as i think all of us A'Goners are out who have discovered new levels of sound and satisfaction.

If you wish to explore the sub integration in more detail now, feel free to keep posting here any questions you may have. happy to help if i can.

on your comment about percussiveness of the bass, it sounds like you probably have a little more "adjusting" to do given how quickly you have had to work just to get the sub set up.

Now that you can fine tune with less time pressure, i wonder about your flooring...specifically if the percussion is too soft, it might be that the floorboards are "flexing" underneath. (It might could be the sub placement, or just the sub itself.) One "inexpensive test" to possibly "sharpen" the bass is to put 4 tennis balls underneath...one under each corner. The bass will get lighter...so just turn up the volume a bit to match...but the bass itself (can sometimes) become sharper , clearer and more percussive.

just a thought. keep posting! and many congrats again.

Lloyd

Congrats on your purchase D.I.L.E.! While the Guarneri's will show any changes/upgrades to equipment they are also quite forgiving compared to other speakers. I have not tried a plethora of components with my G's as they've sounded good with pretty much anything I've connected them to...I think you neede some tubes in the mix to get rid of the 'flat' sound...be it pre or power amp.

Thanks Jman. In the process of home-testing the Guarneris, I found that I like the McIntosh house sound with American Jazz recordings, of which I've got thousands. My present McIntosh is a humble MA6800, which I'd like to upgrade away from in stages. I like it's way of soft warmth with power underneath, but it lacks a bit of detail to me.

Right now I'm looking at a McIntosh C2200 Preamp, which is a tubed pre of Stereophile class A1, if that means anything, really. The price is about half of what it normally costs (I'm not as rich as the average GH owner, it seems), with exchange rates and discount, etc. It's new in the unopened box. If I got that or something else nice, I was thinking I'd then find a powerful SS amp. Do any of you have an opinion on the C2200 tube preamp for the GHs or otherwise?

I've also discovered that REL subs aren't available in Japan, so I'll have to try to get one sent over from Hong Kong or elsewhere. The sub I've got now is just a simple, lower-model Velodyne one bought on the great advice of Lloydelee21 as "proof-of-concept." I really don't enjoy the GH's without a sub. It'll be quite a while yet before my GHs do what I hope for in my home. Velodyne is available here but not REL, while it seems everyone in A'gon likes the REL.