Advice sought for adding sub to make a 2.1 system

[corumuk]

Hi,
My current chain is:
PC
DACMagic (2010 version)
Rega Brio (2017 version)
Dynaudio Emit M10 (2016)

Hooking up a sub with speaker wire connectors would be straightforward on something like a Wharfedale SW150, but what about taking it up a notch to something like the Kali WS 6.2 which only has XLR and RCA inputs?

On my current system the DACMagic has XLR and RCA outputs, with the RCA outputs going to the Brio. Would it be as simple as getting a splitter for each of the L/R RCA outputs from the DAC with one going to the amp and other to the sub, or could this result in syncing issues? Or alternatively I could leave the RCA outputs as they are and just connect the XLR outputs from the DAC to the XLR inputs on the sub, assuming the DAC isn't restricted to one or the other of the outputs (RCA/XLR) working at any one time.

Thanks.

 

[early rejecter]

You want the subwoofer connect after your volume control in the chain so that the subwoofer adjusts along with your mains. Connected to your DAC, you would need to manually adjust the subwoofer volume on the sub itself every time you used the Brio to change the volume on your main speakers. Using only the equipment you have now, it looks like you’ll need a subwoofer with high level (i.e. speaker) connections since the Brio doesn’t have a variable RCA output.

 

[corumuk]

Thanks. Yes indeed that would be problematic.

How about splicing one of these things into the speaker wires coming out of the back of the Brio, and then using the RCA input on the Kali WS6.2. Would that work?
https://shorturl.at/KwKny
I note these things are sold as car audio devices and my usage would be in the home, although presumably that wouldn't matter.

 

[DVDdoug]

Once you have (volume controlled) line-level outputs, many subwoofers have line-level pass-through with a built-in crossover.

The "standard solution" is an AVR which will have a line-level subwoofer output and a crossover ("bass management"). Note that you need a surround decoder to get the "point one" LFE channel from movies. The stereo mix only includes the "regular bass".

You can also get a hardware crossover, or a lot of people here use a miniDSP as a crossover.

It's always OK to go from unbalanced (RCA) to balanced (XLR) and you still get most of the noise rejection benefits But the other way can get tricky because you can end-up shorting one of the signal connections to ground. (It's OK to short an input but not an output.)

And "pro" levels are higher than consumer levels so sometimes the XLR inputs don't have enough gain when connected to consumer equipment.

 

[ZolaIII]

A multichannel card which is either/either if it's tower PC internal one and you are probably limited to Creative for unbalanced or interface with balanced (recommendations go Motu, Topping... but if you can find even old Fucoshite Scarlett 3rd gen for little money it will work just fine). Get normal subs if you have some value options or on sail preferably 12". For example 2x JBL Stage P220 for little more money where I live right now. A measurement microphone is must have, and you have to learn to make good crossovers (which ain't either easy or trivial as it might sound).