Can I connect a powered subwoofer to my vintage marantz 1060?

J

jesserex

Audiophyte
This is my first post.....I recently purchased a vintage Marantz 6200 turntable and a vintage Marantz 1060 2 channel amplifier along with a pair of polk audio tsi 300 speakers. At first I had my doubts about the sound but,little did I know that the Marantz 1060 is underrated at 30 watts per channel because it packs a mean punch to the speakers :D. The bass is good but I would like more bass. How can I connect a powered sub to my amp??? It has a tape input and output. Which do I use???
 
TLS Guy

TLS Guy

Seriously, I have no life.
This is my first post.....I recently purchased a vintage Marantz 6200 turntable and a vintage Marantz 1060 2 channel amplifier along with a pair of polk audio tsi 300 speakers. At first I had my doubts about the sound but,little did I know that the Marantz 1060 is underrated at 30 watts per channel because it packs a mean punch to the speakers :D. The bass is good but I would like more bass. How can I connect a powered sub to my amp??? It has a tape input and output. Which do I use???
You can't use the tape loop. Unless your sub has speaker level inputs you can not connect it to that unit without modifying your Marantz unit. You would have to instal preouts on the Marantz. You would have to know what you are doing though.
 
ImcLoud

ImcLoud

Audioholic Ninja
Don't give up that easy, and welcome to the forum...
your amp as many new and old stereo units has pre and main jumpers..
heres a pic of them in http://www.blackswampaudio.com/Images/Inv/1291.10.jpg
and heres a pic of them out http://digilander.libero.it/pasqua49/COLLEZIONE HI-FI/MARANTZ 1060/Marantz 1060 back.jpg
That is where you will focus on integrating a subwoofer into your system...

Here is how..
Buy 2 pairs of rca splitters, and a pair of 70hz high pass fmods, and you pull the jumpers on the pre out and main amp out install the spiltters and the fmods going back to the main amp and install the other end of the splitters to the subwoofer...

But an easier way to do it and IMO a better way would be to buy a sub with a high pass output and run rca's from you pre out to your subs input, then your subs high pass output to your main amp input on your amp... {of course remove the jumpers..}

And the last way would be to get a mini DSP 2x4 and it go from pre out to the mini dsp and then out of the mini dsp to your amp and sub...


Its not just as easy as hooking in an amp, you want to make sure your mains no longer make the lows, so you want them to stop getting the frequencies, this will do a couple positive things, 1-the low are hard to reproduce and take a lot of power to do so from your main amp, SO this is going to free up you 60w for the mids and highs, very good idea and 2-Its a bad idea to have your sub and your mains overlapping the same sounds, its is not good for sound quality...
I am not sure what your mains are but crossing around 80hz is usually good for most... If you want to be able to adjust the cross point there are a couple ways to do this, 1-fmods, you can buy different fmods to high or low pass at different feq's and levels... 2 a controller or EQ, the minidsp works very well, is kind of detailed to get started since you need a pc to program it up, but its a nice system and for $105 I feel it does a lot...

here are some links for you to look at...
http://www.minidsp.com/products/minidsp-in-a-box/minidsp-2x4
http://www.svsound.com/subwoofers/sealed-box/sb-1000
http://www.svsound.com/specials/outlet-specials/sb12-nsd-outlet-c#.VAHBDfldWHg I would get the sb12nsd this one has no damage and is on closeout, that is an awesome price and its a good amount more sub than the 1000, plus it has the built in xover if you choose to go that route... this wont last the weekend on the site, they are on sale, and that is an awesome price for that sub....

PS- For music I like sealed subs, for your 60w mains, I would think the sb1000 and sb12nsd would be more than enough depending on your taste in music and level you listen at... Also dual subs are better than one, but one will fill your system a lot more than none...
I also drew you a picture to show you how to wire it...


For others searching this topic, if your amp does not have main and pre jumpers, then you still have a few options to add a subwoofer, 1 is to buy a sub with speaker level/high level inputs like the outlaw lfm's http://www.soundandvision.com/images/archivesart/1206totem.3.jpg jbl, wharfedale, and many others have high level input and outputs...
Another way is to use a converter, not my favorite option but it will work... http://www.amazon.com/AudioControl-2-Channel-Converter-Subwoofer-Control/dp/B004CTBYGE/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1409401898&sr=8-3&keywords=line+level+converter and then you need one of these to power it http://www.amazon.com/supply-adapter-monitor-security-charger/dp/B00MHKBYB0/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1409401931&sr=8-12&keywords=12v+wall+wart there are much cheaper ones, but a friend of mine used this one an it worked well, you can get them as low as $5 on amazon, but I have no experience with them...

good luck...
 
Last edited:
TLS Guy

TLS Guy

Seriously, I have no life.
Don't give up that easy, and welcome to the forum...

You can install a subwoofer on that amp.. Here is how..
Buy 2 pairs of rca splitters, and a pair of 70hz high pass fmods, and you pull the jumpers on the pre out and main amp out install the spiltters and the fmods going back to the main amp and install the other end of the splitters to the subwoofer...

But an easier way to do it and IMO a better way would be to buy a sub with a high pass output and run rca's from you pre out to your subs input, then your subs high pass output to your main amp input on your amp... {of course remove the jumpers..}

And the last way would be to get a mini DSP 2x4 and it go from pre out to the mini dsp and then out of the mini dsp to your amp and sub...
He is right, that unit does have preouts and amp ins. So that is your best connection.

If you get a sub with a high pass crossover that would be your best bet. Then you can connect the pre outs to the sub inputs and the line outs on the sub to the amp in.
 
GranteedEV

GranteedEV

Audioholic Ninja
This is my first post.....I recently purchased a vintage Marantz 6200 turntable and a vintage Marantz 1060 2 channel amplifier along with a pair of polk audio tsi 300 speakers. At first I had my doubts about the sound but,little did I know that the Marantz 1060 is underrated at 30 watts per channel because it packs a mean punch to the speakers :D. The bass is good but I would like more bass. How can I connect a powered sub to my amp??? It has a tape input and output. Which do I use???
A few comments:

-A single sub may degrade sound quality more than it improves it. You generally want multiple bass sources.
- integrating subwoofers without DSP and HPF / LPF in real rooms can be an exercise in futility.
- 30 watts is only 3db less than 60 watts which is only 3db less than 120 watts which is only 3db less than 240 watts. So yes, 30 watts can pack plenty of punch without a hint of clipping, if your amplifier is presented with a load it can handle
- you're probably best off just looking for new speakers that have the sound character you want than making this vintage setup overly convoluted.
 
ImcLoud

ImcLoud

Audioholic Ninja
A few comments:

-A single sub may degrade sound quality more than it improves it. You generally want multiple bass sources.
- integrating subwoofers without DSP and HPF / LPF in real rooms can be an exercise in futility.
- 30 watts is only 3db less than 60 watts which is only 3db less than 120 watts which is only 3db less than 240 watts. So yes, 30 watts can pack plenty of punch without a hint of clipping, if your amplifier is presented with a load it can handle
- you're probably best off just looking for new speakers that have the sound character you want than making this vintage setup overly convoluted.

While I don't agree with EV, when it comes to no sub at all, I find its hard to fill a room with music with out a sub, granted I may just have cheap speakers that aren't up to the task and there may be better things out there more capable, I do agree that is 2 subs is better, and I do agree that maybe some better mains would suit you, since I am in no way a fan of polk for anything past HT, I do like some of their stuff but not there lower end... A new set of speakers may be a better fit, although I am not sure what will have a lot more low end over them 300 towers for around the budget you are going to spend on a subwoofer setup..... Plus keep in mind you free up power for mids and highs when crossing to a sub....
The Bostons 250's that are on sale for $200 each would definitely be a step up over the polks to my ears anyway, that is the other issue, you may hear a speaker I say blows the polk tsi's away and say the polks are better, you would be wrong :D {jk}, but still your money your choice..


Another thing to keep in mind is placement, you may want to move them towers around a little and see if it helps the low end...
 
GranteedEV

GranteedEV

Audioholic Ninja
For the record, i'm in favor of subs integrated well - but I suspect it's just not practical here.
 
ImcLoud

ImcLoud

Audioholic Ninja
For the record, i'm in favor of subs integrated well - but I suspect it's just not practical here.
I see where you are coming from, but have been on his side of the fence, I understand where his thinking is coming from... He may be happy with the mids and highs, but the lows just aren't "strong" enough.. And pushing the volume up raises everything the highs and mids too, and may not be desired... So take the lows out of the towers, and put them through a powered sub, now you can offset gain, have more dynamic headroom for mids and up, all is well...
I agree sound quality could suffer, because there are a lot of variables, if he does not high pass the towers that would not sound great, if he crosses too high that would also be bad if not worse {no one likes voice through a subwoofer}... Also we have to keep in mind {and I am a big offender of this} not evreyone cares about sq to the extent some of the members here do, they just want a little more bass or a little louder, ect... There are people that think a $10K audiophile system sounds the same as the factory system in their Ford Focus...

I am envious of them, I would have spent much less on my systems...
 
GranteedEV

GranteedEV

Audioholic Ninja
He may be happy with the mids and highs, but the lows just aren't "strong" enough.. And pushing the volume up raises everything the highs and mids too, and may not be desired... So take the lows out of the towers, and put them through a powered sub, now you can offset gain, have more dynamic headroom for mids and up, all is well...
That's perhaps fair enough - but I'll warn that "lows" is not just the sub 80hz subwoofer range. for all we know he may be perceiving a deficiency or suckout as high as 150hz.
 
ImcLoud

ImcLoud

Audioholic Ninja
That's perhaps fair enough - but I'll warn that "lows" is not just the sub 80hz subwoofer range. for all we know he may be perceiving a deficiency or suckout as high as 150hz.
Very true, when someone mentions subwoofer I automatically think 80 and below...
 

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