Connecting a subwoofer to a Nait 2

Passive subs are designed to work with dedicated multichannel power-amps (typically for a/v use), not stereo power amps.

1,2,3)  You certainly can't connect it to BOTH speakers as that will short the amps L&R outputs together and blow up your amp.
Connecting it to just one speaker will unbalance everything.

2,3)  Not good, that will present an unfair load to the amp (on one channel).

4)  Passive subs usually don't have low pass filters (the filter is in the driver amp).

Thanks for the reply - I thought the whole thing sounded dubious.

But it has shaken my whole world view to learn that not everything on the internet is 100% accurate.

Oh dear, I hope you're not going to bill me for the therapy. 
But then you're in Canada not USA, so you probably don't need it! 

Curious, I'm in Canada too.

Ken

Moderated Post: please don't post e-mail addresses on a publicly viewable forum.

In case someone else stumbles onto this thread trying to connect a subwoofer to a Nait, the solution was a powered sub with speaker-level inputs (not the passive sub I thought of first).

The powered sub has speaker ins and outs and connecting my main speakers through the sub worked fine. But ultimately I connected the speakers directly to the Nait to run full-range, then I piggybacked a second set of banana plugs off the main speaker bananas on the Nait and ran them to the sub inputs.

Apparently the impedence of the powered sub is high enough that it puts no additional load on the Naim (i.e. "the amp won't see the sub.")

After a few minutes adjusting the sub's crossover frequency, volume and phase, the effect was astounding - even with fairly large floorstanding speakers, the sub makes the sound much fuller and richer with no boominess or thumping (great thing about a powered sub is the ability to control its contribution). And of course the effect was even greater with small bookshelf speakers.

Glad to hear you have a solution that works for you - what sub did you buy?

If I've understood you correctly, you've connected the high level leads to the speaker terminals on the amp. Naim's recommendation is always to connect these to the speakers, not the amp. Some sub manufacturers seem to disagree with this, but it could be worth a try.

I've a BK (active) sub connected to my SL2s using the lead that came with the sub.  It connects at the speaker terminals.  My plugs are WBT screw type rather than soldered so pretty easy to piggyback the sub cables onto the speaker cables/plug.  Works well in my setup.  BK shipped the sub to me in Canada for a pretty reasonable sum.

Don't connect a sub to the speaker terminals of a Naim amplifier.  Doing this will add extra capacitance to the load on the amp.

The right way to connect a sub if you CAN'T use a low level connection, is to connect the sub to the back of the speakers. There's a Naim FAQ about it.

Thanks everyone for following up with additional info even after I thought I had it solved - I'll re-connect from the speaker end (not a problem).

I'm kind of addicted to the sub now. Even with my floorstanding speakers (that have decent bass) the sound without the sub now sounds thin (and for now it's an inexpensive sub hijacked from my 5.1 setup).

For completeness, here's the FAQ: https://forums.naimaudio.com/to...nection-of-subwoofer

Huge,  that's how I have my sub connected....to the back of the speakers.

Hi Curious,

You say that without the sub, the sound is a bit thin, that effect can sometimes indicate that the sub's level is too high or the crossover frequency has too much overlap with the main speakers.

How are you setting up the main to sub crossover (i.e. the sub's level and the frequency setting of the sub's low pass filter)?
How are you dealing with the main resonant modes of the room?
How are you determining and compensating for the subs 'group delay'?

For reference I used REW and a miniDSP UMIK-1 to calibrate my room and my system.  Then, to deal with the main resonances I installed a load of bass traps and use a DSP to process the electronic signal to the sub.  OK, yes, I've gone to extremes to integrate my sub; but I have a nearly square room and that makes it particularly challenging to get the system / room integration just right.

Huge posted:

You say that without the sub, the sound is a bit thin, that effect can sometimes indicate that the sub's level is too high or the crossover frequency has too much overlap with the main speakers.

 

It might mean that he likes his sub turned that high! Always a tricky balance if you like plenty of bass.

And ultimately that's the objective.  However, with a bit of measurement and well judged adjustment he may well be able to find a combination he'll like better in the long term.

It may also indicate some subtle adjustments to room acoustics that can also give long term benefit - it's similar to the question of 'musicality' vs 'HiFi character' in audio systems.