Thoughts on re-powering a Snell subwoofer

[Shanman]

I had been previously scouring that ground loop thread for suspects, I have yet to find the reason. Outlets are all correct in the room, and unplugging the modem and cable to my house has no effect. Plugging up my Denon avr- x3300 in the same spot never, ever hums. I may even start checking ceiling fans I guess...

Interesting that some don't buy the biamping benefit. You mean to tell me Crutchfield has brainwashed us all??

I was thinking biamping the Arcam would give a solid channel to the mid/tweets, the biamped channel to the woofers, and the Crown would take over low end duties and free up the Snells from 80hz and downward.

 

[lovinthehd]

I had been previously scouring that ground loop thread for suspects, I have yet to find the reason. Outlets are all correct in the room, and unplugging the modem and cable to my house has no effect. Plugging up my Denon avr- x3300 in the same spot never, ever hums. I may even start checking ceiling fans I guess...

Interesting that some don't buy the biamping benefit. You mean to tell me Crutchfield has brainwashed us all??

I was thinking biamping the Arcam would give a solid channel to the mid/tweets, the biamped channel to the woofers, and the Crown would take over low end duties and free up the Snells from 80hz and downward.

So you have the 60hz hum only with the sub (and old amp)? Might see if a new amp does that too...

The passive bi-amping thing is encouraged by marketing mostly and reinforced by almost all speakers coming with the dual posts (even tho many speaker designers don't agree with the practice) as well as the avrs providing a route to do so easily. I don't follow Crutchfield for anything myself but if they encourage it blindly I'd say they're just on the marketing bandwagon for the most part. Did you read the Audioholics article? OTOH if you think it offers an audible benefit....

 

[Shanman]

I get a hum on the Arcam, but it comes and goes. Sub never hummed when it worked. I've engaged the ground lift switch as well on the back and it changes nothing. Swapped power cables, checked for ground loops etc. Even after the repair to the Arcam, I'm thinking about taking it back because the repair was 90 day warranty. My heart tells me the volume knob rotary. I can hit mute and the floor is dead silent. My second turntable set up in the same room which consists of an Adcom preamp with a Niles power amp and Elac Debut 2.0's has zero hum..

As far as bi-amping, the Snell D7's have bi-ampable binding posts so I assumed a benefit to do it. Plus, you snoop around Emotiva or Schiit webites and they are pushing the separate preamp with power amp for each channel. Perhaps another unecessary means to blow money.

 

[Grandmaster64]

Hi! My Snell Basis 300 just shut down when I plug it after long storage. Just wondering if you can provide any advice if it is worth repairing.

Thank you!

 

[WaynePflughaupt]

With an outboard amplifier, you can easily convert it to passive.

Dead subwoofer? Don’t pitch it, convert it to passive!

www.avsforum.com

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[Grandmaster64]

With an outboard amplifier, you can easily convert it to passive.

Dead subwoofer? Don’t pitch it, convert it to passive!

www.avsforum.com

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

Thank you for the tip. I honestly do not know “Do It Your Own”. I am a straight buyer and I have junked a lot in the past.

Once this lockdown is over, I might bring it to a shop or to someone in my area to check nevertheless it to Passive.

Also, I use Marantz SR8002 HTR run it.

Thank you again.

 

[Shanman]

Hi! My Snell Basis 300 just shut down when I plug it after long storage. Just wondering if you can provide any advice if it is worth repairing.

Thank you!

Long story short, I ended up going passive power after a handful of failed attempts at repowering with plate amps.

Atomic Hi-Fi who bought out Snell stock when they folded had a replacement BASH amp that was supposed to be the last iteration they settled on for their powered subs. It did not fit properly and also had a nasty hum. It went back.

PartsExpress.com has a plate amp that bolts right up to the exact recessed hole in the back of the Basis 300 enclosure. It is 50w shy of what the Snell plate amp was rated at. I bought one, it hummed and I sent it back. Got a second one that had no hum, but it had a high pitched continuous whistle. It went back.

I finally settled on the passive power, using one channel of a Niles 2150 which outputs 270w into the 4ohms needed by the sub. The LFE output of my AVR feeds the signal to the Niles, and then to the Snell sub. I drilled the backplate of the original Snell plate amp and installed a pair of binding posts. Looks factory unless you were scrutinizing it enough to realize it was no longer actively powered.

Before:

After:

 

[Grandmaster64]

Thank you for the response. Does it mean that I will have 2 subs : Active & Passive running at the same time? Sorry, I am not that technical. I am simply a straight buyer and plug and play, But I will be excited to learn it. I just cannot let go of the Snell as it looks really nice and compact and elegant and really delivers deep in music. Thank you so much.

 

[Shanman]

No, you will have your original sub, not two. We are referring to active as an onboard amp within the enclosure (plate amp) and passive outboard power source (power amp sitting on a rack or shelf to power the sub). The Parts Express example is a plug and play option for actively repowering your Snell subwoofer. With minimal additional effort, attaching the 5 way binding posts(speaker wire inputs) to the Snell cabinet and an outboard amp would be a more long-term solution. Many folks would be using the Crown XLS for such a purpose as the high, low, and bandpass crossovers built into those amps are pretty simple and easy to use and perfect for subwoofer repowering. Some laud QSC as well for that purpose. Just match an amp to provide the 300ish or so watts into 4 ohms for that sub. By the way, any of these options will no longer support the cool back-lit volume knob on top of the cabinet....

Also, to answer your original question- Yes, I think it is completely worth it to repower that sub. For a 10" sub that was made 10+ years ago, it is pretty impressive. Originally about $1500 when new, you can repower it for $250-$350. It walks all over any current 10" sub you could buy for $250-$350. Believe me, the Polk, BIC, and Klipsch in that price range don't even compare to the quality of that Snell.

 

[lovinthehd]

All subs are passive to an extent. Some have been called active merely because they have an amp attached to the sub box like a plate amp, or perhaps simply a specific matched separate amp it is provided with. A strictly passive sub has no particular amp assigned to it.

 

[Grandmaster64]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys. I will definitely do something on this beauty. I live in Canada, btw, so sourcing of parts and materials maybe a challenge.

Cheers