Wharfedale diamond sw150 + Yamaha as201 compatability

[silba]

Hi guys currently using a really old amp (20 or so years) off my dad to run my recently repaired Wharfedale diamond 122s and it's great compared to my old 'pc speakers' but the bass is really lacking and there's noticable noise, assuming its coming from the amp.

So im looking to buy a new amp for cleaner sound (hopefully) and a subwoofer to enhance the bass experience. I've a very limited budget and have decided on the sw150 but am struggling to get my head around hooking it up to an amplifier like the as201. I've been told i can hook the subwoofer up via the recorder output on the as201, is this correct?

If anyone has any other suggestions my budget is around £160 each.

 

[TLS Guy]

No, you can not connect that amp to a sub via the record outs. The volume control does notwork on the record outs.

You are on a US site. We do not have that amp here and there would really be no market for it.

The only way you could use a sub with that amp would be to find a sub with speaker level inputs. These are now hard to find, and it is not a good connection.

If you want to use a sub, you need an amp that has a subwoofer output, or an amp that has jumpers between the pre amp and amp stage. Only some vintage amps have that. The only other solution is to use a saperate pre amp and power amp.

Most people with subs use an AV receiver.

Unless you use used equipment you will not do this for 160 Quid.

 

[silba]

No, you can not connect that amp to a sub via the record outs. The volume control does notwork on the record outs.

You are on a US site. We do not have that amp here and there would really be no market for it.

The only way you could use a sub with that amp would be to find a sub with speaker level inputs. These are now hard to find, and it is not a good connection.

If you want to use a sub, you need an amp that has a subwoofer output, or an amp that has jumpers between the pre amp and amp stage. Only some vintage amps have that. The only other solution is to use a saperate pre amp and power amp.

Most people with subs use an AV receiver.

Unless you use used equipment you will not do this for 160 Quid.

Alright thanks mate. Appreciate the help, could get a more expensive av receiver then and wait to get a subwoofer.

 

[silba]

When i click edit the box goes away before i can edit, sorry for double post.

I think i've found a suitable receiver then. Onkyo TX8020.

 

[TLS Guy]

Alright thanks mate. Appreciate the help, could get a more expensive av receiver then and wait to get a subwoofer.

The European market is very different to the US market. Understand you will need to connect the receiver to a TV at least for set up.

 

[TLS Guy]

When i click edit the box goes away before i can edit, sorry for double post.

I think i've found a suitable receiver then. Onkyo TX8020.

Onkyo are known for reliability issues.

 

[silba]

Onkyo are known for reliability issues.

What im running now is a receiver maybe i should have called it that instead of an amp.

I've always heard good things about onkyo as a budget brand which i understand is nowhere near audiophile quality.
Thanks for pointing it out though, ill do some more digging and if i get stuck ill try to find a uk based forum because i can't and dont expect you guys to spend time trying to figure out our market and which brands are good over here.

 

[tyhjaarpa]

This is cheapest sub with speaker level inputs: http://www.bkelec.com/HiFi/Sub_Woofers/Gemini.htm how ever I would suggest getting atleast the 12" models over this small sub. BK has the best quality subs in europe for the money.

 

[tyhjaarpa]

What im running now is a receiver maybe i should have called it that instead of an amp.

I've always heard good things about onkyo as a budget brand which i understand is nowhere near audiophile quality.
Thanks for pointing it out though, ill do some more digging and if i get stuck ill try to find a uk based forum because i can't and dont expect you guys to spend time trying to figure out our market and which brands are good over here.

Denon/Marantz/Yamaha are the brands you should look for. Just find the cheapest unit from them that has all the features you need.

 

[silba]

Denon/Marantz/Yamaha are the brands you should look for. Just find the cheapest unit from them that has all the features you need.

Thanks mate. Denon and Marantz aren't cheap enough to show up in my prices ranges so far. Finding alot of Yamaha though. Eyeballing the Yamaha HTR3069 reciever. Should hit 105w pc at 8ohm which is perfect for my diamond 122s and has a dedicated subwoofer out.

thanks for the sub recomendation too thats another brand for me to look out for then

 

[MrBoat]

Or, search around for used gear. Even an AVR that is 10-15 years old will work as an amp. I know this is a US forum, but audiophiles are pretty much the same in that they can often find themselves, gear rich, and money poor. The Denon I use (3805) is from around 2004. One was given to me and it worked so well that I found another for $50. Now I notice that they are reasonably common.

Audio equipment is kind of like spare parts for cars. Once you start looking for one to fix the problem, you'll end up with 3. Audio gear is also like cars in a way, that once you start driving a certain model, you will notice more of the same on the road.

You should be able to find a used model with 100 watts or more into 8 ohms. If you try to budget a new one, adequate (headroom) power always seems to be the sacrifice.

 

[silba]

Or, search around for used gear. Even an AVR that is 10-15 years old will work as an amp. I know this is a US forum, but audiophiles are pretty much the same in that they can often find themselves, gear rich, and money poor. The Denon I use (3805) is from around 2004. One was given to me and it worked so well that I found another for $50. Now I notice that they are reasonably common.

Audio equipment is kind of like spare parts for cars. Once you start looking for one to fix the problem, you'll end up with 3. Audio gear is also like cars in a way, that once you start driving a certain model, you will notice more of the same on the road.

You should be able to find a used model with 100 watts or more into 8 ohms. If you try to budget a new one, adequate (headroom) power always seems to be the sacrifice.

I like shiny new things to be honest. The only reason i had my dads old amp was because my speakers blew and i needed something asap. You are 100% correct though, its very hard to find anything around 100w 8ohm even after almost doubling my budget. I've come to learn though that power is not everything and im pretty sure this old receiver im using isnt going at it full power.

I'll have to take a look at some used equipment though now just to see if there is any bargains laying around. Thank you

 

[KEW]

One question to ask is what is your source?
I ask because I know some people use their Oppo as a pre-amp (or if your CD player has a volume control and you only listen to CD's, you can connect wye splitters to the RCA outputs), or if you use your computer as a CD Player/music server, there may be options to use the computer as a pre-amp.
In this case, you could get away with an amplifier, such as this:
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/A500?adpos=1o2&creative=54989476081&device=c&matchtype=&network=g&product_id=A500&gclid=CjwKEAjw85DIBRCy2aT0hPmS1jkSJAC1m9Uv4oj8Sm2MEVLBTtL9hoxUB-OY782nDMnkTYOlwGEqWhoC4eTw_wcB
Behringer is a German Company so I assume they are available in most of Europe.

 

[silba]

One question to ask is what is your source?
I ask because I know some people use their Oppo as a pre-amp (or if your CD player has a volume control and you only listen to CD's, you can connect wye splitters to the RCA outputs), or if you use your computer as a CD Player/music server, there may be options to use the computer as a pre-amp.
In this case, you could get away with an amplifier, such as this:
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/A500?adpos=1o2&creative=54989476081&device=c&matchtype=&network=g&product_id=A500&gclid=CjwKEAjw85DIBRCy2aT0hPmS1jkSJAC1m9Uv4oj8Sm2MEVLBTtL9hoxUB-OY782nDMnkTYOlwGEqWhoC4eTw_wcB
Behringer is a German Company so I assume they are available in most of Europe.

hi mate.

I'm not familiar enough with setups to full understand what you've asked but ill try to answer haha

My audio source is my computer which is connected to my tv via hdmi (as with all my audio sources such at xbox, dvd etc) and then the tv supplies the signal to the receiver so i dont have to use any audio cables or messing about, sound is always on no matter which device im using.

 

[KEW]

hi mate.

I'm not familiar enough with setups to full understand what you've asked but ill try to answer haha

My audio source is my computer which is connected to my tv via hdmi (as with all my audio sources such at xbox, dvd etc) and then the tv supplies the signal to the receiver so i dont have to use any audio cables or messing about, sound is always on no matter which device im using.

So if everything is routed through your TV, you can use it to control you volume and select inputs. You really do not need a pre-amp section and run the audio output from your TV directly to a power amp like the one linked.

What specific model of TV do you have so I can be specific on how to perform the connections?

 

[silba]

So if everything is routed through your TV, you can use it to control you volume and select inputs. You really do not need a pre-amp section and run the audio output from your TV directly to a power amp like the one linked.

What specific model of TV do you have so I can be specific on how to perform the connections?

don't have a clue what model # it is and im not flexible enough to see the sticker on the back haha
There is only 2 audio outputs though, optical and headphone. im' using the headphone jack at the moment which is assume is just a raw passthrough as i notice no difference when i use my pc as the source vs my tv as the source to the receiver.

 

[KEW]

The headphone jack to a power amp should work fine and is the least expensive route to what you are asking for IMHO.

 

[MrBoat]

The headphone jack to a power amp should work fine and is the least expensive route to what you are asking for IMHO.

It does work fine. My TV is older. Has a lot of connections on it, but when I first hooked up the Denon to it, it made it hum. Maybe I had the wrong cable. I was just going to use it to set the Denon up. Since I don't watch TV, I abandoned it instead of troubleshooting the problem and just used the display on the receiver to set it up. Perhaps the OP should try taking the TV out of the equation and going direct to the amp to see if that works.

 

[silba]

The headphone jack to a power amp should work fine and is the least expensive route to what you are asking for IMHO.

How would i go about hooking up the subwoofer to the amp though? specifically the sw150 and as201 in my first post.

It does work fine. My TV is older. Has a lot of connections on it, but when I first hooked up the Denon to it, it made it hum. Maybe I had the wrong cable. I was just going to use it to set the Denon up. Since I don't watch TV, I abandoned it instead of troubleshooting the problem and just used the display on the receiver to set it up. Perhaps the OP should try taking the TV out of the equation and going direct to the amp to see if that works.

See if what works? I'm not having any issues, im just a bit confused as how to hook up the sw150 without a subwoofer output.

 

[KEW]

How would i go about hooking up the subwoofer to the amp though? specifically the sw150 and as201 in my first post.

Is your subwoofer the Yamaha YST-SW150?
If so, it has high-level speaker outputs!

Disconnect your speaker cables from the 122's. Run the speaker cables from the AS201 to the "From Amplifier" inputs on the YST-SW150. Then run another set of speaker cables from the "To Speakers" connection of the SW150 to your 122's.

Set the "High Cut Filter" to 60Hz which should work with the low-end roll-off of your speakers.

Set the AS201 to a comfortable level. Using music you are familiar with that has a fair amount of bass and adjust the volume of the subwoofer to match the speakers. I usually turn it up just until I begin to hear the sound of the sub coming from the sub (when I am close, adjusting the knob). I leave it there and do iterative fine adjustments later listening from the listening position.