HELP for hooking up a powered sub to Conrad-Johnson PF-2 pre-amp

[ptqtuh]

Hi guys,

On the back of the CJ PF-2 pre-amp, there's only ONE pair of output for left & right channels. How/where do I hook up my powered sub into this pre-amp? I tried Y-adaptor but this created some distortions, quite annoying. Any advise guys?

Also, on the back of this pre-amp (attached pic), there a pair of un-marked female RCA jacks. Do you know what are they & why they are there? Any advise is very appreciated. Thanks.

[markw]

The common method of hooking up a sub to such a device is to use the "Y" jacks to split each cnannel into two separate power amps, one of which would be in the sub. That's what I'm doing with my setup and how I advise others to proceed.

The fact that the output of that amp can't handle the two high impedance inputs of the amps makes me wonder about the condition of the that preamp. What is it's output impedance? What kind of sub is this and what's it's input impedance.?

[E-Stat]

How/where do I hook up my powered sub into this pre-amp? I tried Y-adaptor but this created some distortions, quite annoying.

As that is a solid state FET design, it should have sufficiently low output impedance to drive your subs as well. I went that route using Y adaptors as markw suggested for a while with my system. What kind of distortions did you experience?

rw

[ptqtuh]

The common method of hooking up a sub to such a device is to use the "Y" jacks to split each cnannel into two separate power amps, one of which would be in the sub. That's what I'm doing with my setup and how I advise others to proceed.

The fact that the output of that amp can't handle the two high impedance inputs of the amps makes me wonder about the condition of the that preamp. What is it's output impedance? What kind of sub is this and what's it's input impedance.?

Ans:

CJ pre-amp - Output impedance: less than 200 ohms
Sub-woofer: Powered Sub Boston Acoustics PV 500 and its input impedance is 8 Ohms

[markw]

Ans:

CJ pre-amp - Output impedance: less than 200 ohms
Sub-woofer: .....input impedance is 8 Ohms

Are you feeding into the line level inputs of the sub? These are generally a high impedance input, as opposed to the pre's output impedance.

Generally, if the output impedance of the device being hooked up to an input (or paralleled inputs) is at least a 1:10 ratio, you're good to go.

[ptqtuh]

As that is a solid state FET design, it should have sufficiently low output impedance to drive your subs as well. I went that route using Y adaptors as markw suggested for a while with my system. What kind of distortions did you experience?

rw

Ans:

It's just a chip sound, very annoying. Anytime, when I listen to it, I've got a feeling something like "yeah, it's almost there, very close, something is missing, etc." It's not as smooth as it should be. BTW, what brand of Y adaptors that u used? I use Monster Cable's. Any better brand out there, Vampire wire? Thanks.

[E-Stat]

Ans:

It's just a chip sound, very annoying. Anytime, when I listen to it, I've got a feeling something like "yeah, it's almost there, very close, something is missing, etc." It's not as smooth as it should be. BTW, what brand of Y adaptors that u used? I use Monster Cable's. Any better brand out there, Vampire wire? Thanks.

Mine were Monster as well. Sorry - don't have any other suggestions.

rw

[E-Stat]

Preception supersedes reality.

I've been meaning to ask you what your tag line means. Doctrine supercedes reality? Are you saying that theory supercedes reality? As a professor, my wife precepts students at a nearby hospital, but what does preception have to do with audio?

rw