REL S/510 - Luxman setup question
 

Hello all-

I am considering purchasing a REL S/510 subwoofer to be connected to my Luxman L550AX integrated. I am trying to determine the best way to connect the sub. I would like to use the high level Neurtrik cable and I am not quite sure how to connect it to the speaker terminals on the Luxman.

I don’t believe the Luxman L550AX is a fully balanced amp so I am guessing that the typical connection will work by attaching the red wire to the amplifier’s right positive speaker output terminal; attach the yellow wire to the amplifier’s left positive speaker output terminal and attach the black wire to either of the amplifier’s negative (ground) output terminals.

I know on balanced amps, you are not supposed to connect the black cable at all—you just let it hang and tape off the wire.

Before I do anything, I wanted to see if anyone on this site has any experience with this same setup. I don't want to damage the amp or subwoofer.

Thanks,
Dave

If you connect the black wire per the manual and there is hum or it doesn't sound right then you need to find an alternate gnd. connection. You may have to connect the black gnd. wire to the chassis of the amp. The second alternate connection is to run a separate wire from the RCA input gnd. on the sub. (do not connect the hot center wire) to the pre-out RCA gnd. on the amp.

My levinson 585 requires the second alternate connection. Some amps have chassis gnd. and signal gnd. which are totally seperate, this is for noise reduction.

Have you tried reaching out to REL? Best place to start. :yes:

Yes, they say contact the manufacture of the integrated (Luxman), which I did. Waiting on their reply but wanted to also get the input from the experts on this forum.

-Dave

The only difference I see between a Differential/Balanced amplifer hookup and a Class A/B is what to do with the ground wire...


I have a Luxman but I have never hooked up an REL to it (yet).

So if you want to start the "safe" way to see if things work out. Connect the red wire to + of R channel. Connect the yellow to + of L channel. Do not connect the ground but tape over it. https://youtu.be/jDoY5sVT0XQ

If the amp is truly balanced the speaker output is very similar to a bridged amp. In other words the speaker red & blk. float between two amps, one pos. and one neg. A simple push/pull amp will have the blk. speaker post connected to gnd. The REL sub requires a gnd. connection, you cannot leave the blk. wire open, there will be hum and/or low gain.

REL S/510 - Luxman setup question
 

REL is quite specific that the ground wire should not be connected on a fully balanced amp. I have two RELs using high level connections: on the D’Agostino Momentum, which is balanced, the ground wire floats/is unconnected. I have it capped with a wire nut. On my Luxman SQ-N100, it sounds fine with the ground wire connected to a negative post, but there is sound leakage to the speakers when headphones are connected, so I have it connected to the phono ground lug instead.

Following is from the manual for the Carbon Special, but they’re all the same:

“For differential (i.e. fully balanced) amplifiers using one REL, simply use the standard connecting scheme with the exception of NOT connecting the black wire to a negative speaker terminal. Instead, it should first be allowed to “float” or hang down without connection to ANY terminal. Should hum occur using this method, please try connecting to an unused RCA connector on the rear of a preamp or amplifier.”

The video I posted is from REL. They tell you to tape over the ground and leave it off. It should be floating for differential amps.

Thanks all. The Luxman does have a ground post on the back. I suppose I could try that first for thr black wire. I dont think the 550 is fully balanced....I believe the 590 model is fully balanced.

Your post is spot on, Connecting to the GND side of an RCA works often. In my case with the Levinson 585 the BLK wire is not used, I ran an extra wire from a RCA on the 585 to a RCA input of the REL. This is very easy to do by soldering the extra wire to the GND side ONLY!!! of two RCA plugs.

I have owned numerous REL subs and have always found a solution establishing a proper GND :music::thumbsup: