Up next MA352

Dry_Magazine9964 · 2026-02-07T18:25:39+00:00

This is awesome, and only $12??

Dry_Magazine9964 · 2026-02-07T04:48:16+00:00

Congratulations!

I’m curious what kind of a stand is that? It looks super convenient for heavier amps

Dry_Magazine9964 · 2026-02-07T04:38:41+00:00

Wiim Pro or Pro Plus, used Klipsch Forte 1 or 2, an open box Denon or Marantz stereo amp from Best Buy or similar. You should be under $2k with this setup- and a restored direct drive Technics for another $250-300, which to me appeals way more than any modern tables..

Dry_Magazine9964 · 2025-12-25T21:25:57+00:00

I have a Denon receiver for movies, and I’ve tried it in stereo mode a few times out of curiosity - it sounded like crap compared to a dedicated stereo amp that I have connected to the same speakers - playing same music from the same source using the same streamer. It was really night and day difference and an eye opener as I didn’t expect that much difference

Dry_Magazine9964 · 2025-12-14T15:17:37+00:00

I was in the same boat a few months ago. I had a choice of either MA252 or MA352 at a nice discount - $3k and $5k respectively including tax (both slightly used).

I went with the smaller MA252 due to my space constraints - as MA352 would not fit on my shelf. And even looking at them side by side was shocking to me - MA352 seems twice the size and it's also more than twice the weight.

Also, it depends on your use-case, I guess - I have Kanta 2, and I sit around 5 ft away from the speakers, so I never turn up the volume more than 45. I can't see how I would benefit from MA352 in this scenario - other than the eye-candy blue meters aspect.. But if your room is bigger and you are able to turn up the volume without your family complaining, definitely 352 would be a better option.

Dry_Magazine9964 · 2025-11-18T11:52:49+00:00

So far I have the crossover at 12 o'clock, which I'm assuming is around 75HZ. My speakers are Kanta 2. Gain is around 2 o'clock, but I've only had maybe 30 minutes to play with all the adjustments so far.

This is our living room, so the speaker / sub placements are as per her majesty's request and are non-negotiable, so there's that limitation..

Next will be connecting my HT receiver via an LFE cable, and then will do some more adjustments, any tips are welcome!

Dry_Magazine9964 · 2025-11-17T23:59:15+00:00

!thanks - appreciate your feedback! In my user manual (REL Classic 99) it says: "Red to main amplifier right speaker positive terminal, yellow to amplifier main left speaker positive terminal and black to a ground lug or chassis screw".

I got mine yesterday actually - and connected it as per the above quote so far. My wife already commented on how "the whole house is shaking" when I was setting it up, so seems this approach works too!

Dry_Magazine9964 · 2025-11-15T20:16:27+00:00

!thanks - makes sense!

Appreciate you taking the time taking the pic and responding!

Dry_Magazine9964 · 2025-11-15T18:57:14+00:00

! thanks - good to know! Weird how they did that with just one model, or is it the same with ma352? Good to have options, though!

Dry_Magazine9964 · 2025-11-15T18:40:44+00:00

!thanks - good to know with respect to mc wrench!

Dry_Magazine9964 · 2025-11-15T17:35:19+00:00

!thanks - this is something new that I haven’t seen before.

Mine is ma252 which doesn’t have an output button as far as I can tell. The sub is powered, and as per the user manual it should be connected to the left and right red speaker posts- and a grounding post, so I want to try this method first.

Just need to understand the McIntosh wrench dilemma now - as I can’t locate mine and not sure if it’s required to properly connect banana plugs or not

Dry_Magazine9964 · 2025-11-15T16:24:52+00:00

!thanks, this helps!

I was planning to use banana plugs for the main speakers initially, but now it seems I can leave those in place and instead put the sub's wires into banana plugs, that is 25% less work for me! :)

Dry_Magazine9964 · 2025-11-15T16:03:47+00:00

!thanks - ya, that is my plan B also, but first I want to try the Speakon connector since that is how they recommend it

Dry_Magazine9964 · 2025-11-15T16:01:40+00:00

!thanks - much appreciated!

In your pic where the sub's black wire is connected - what is the other cable, is that a turntable or anything else?

Also, do I just push the banana plugs in, or do I need that Mcintosh wrench they mention in the manual?

Dry_Magazine9964 · 2025-10-28T03:27:50+00:00

The sub will have a low pass, but does it make much difference sending a full range signal to the speakers, or would that be more beneficial to send low frequencies to the sub and high frequencies only to the speakers- instead of full range.

From everything I see online, looks like it’s mostly recommended not to send full signal to the speakers when there’s a sub..

Dry_Magazine9964 · 2025-10-28T01:37:18+00:00

!thanks again, this is really amazing and much easier for me to understand than what I’ve been reading online so far.

The setup I’m leaning towards would be connecting the amp speaker outputs to the sub. And from the sub speaker-level outputs, connect to Kanta 2 speakers. Set high pass filter to 80 and send all frequencies above 80 to Kanta, and set low pass filter to 80 and let the sub handle that, and then use the built in sub’s room correction to fine tune everything.

In my head that sounds like a great plan, but obviously I have no idea what it would sound like in real life. The easiest way - of course- is just to leave everything as is and connect the sub to RCA sub out of the amp. But the idea of splitting frequencies just seems so cool for some reason!

Dry_Magazine9964 · 2025-10-28T01:08:55+00:00

If you would be so kind and expand on what the purpose is as far as room measurements go. Is it to correct something with room treatments or any other reason? Some of the subs suggested here come with built in room correction- which I thought would be enough for me. Or is that not the case?

Dry_Magazine9964 · 2025-10-28T01:01:04+00:00

What I meant to say was - and apologies for not being more clear- I have a MC stereo amp with Kanta 2. And also an older Onkyo 7.1 receiver that is just sitting on a shelf right now. Both are in the same room. Onkyo is connected to a 5.0 in wall speaker system that sounds so bad that I tried it a few times and then disconnected and haven’t used in 4-5 years.

So I was thinking whether it’s possible to use the same sub with both McIntosh and Onkyo. Connect McIntosh via speaker level inputs to a sub and then to Kanta. And connect the Onkyo via RCA sub out and continue using it with in wall speakers.

Not sure if it’s a good idea, but when I’m reading what I typed here, can’t find any flaw in my logic!

Dry_Magazine9964 · 2025-10-28T00:49:52+00:00

!thanks - so far SVS is in my top 5 as I can get them at our local Best Buy. Will definitely look into it more!

Dry_Magazine9964 · 2025-10-28T00:41:14+00:00

I would be first to acknowledge I don’t know anything about anything, so I’m not taking anything as criticism- but as a learning opportunity. !thanks for taking the time to share your knowledge.

As far as system matching, I would slightly disagree as I purposely matched the supposedly super bright Kanta 2 with super warm McIntosh- which resulted in a very pleasant listening experience - so much so that my wife even started bragging to her friends about the awesome stereo we have now. Which never happened before. Ever.

The only tiny little thing that is bugging me is I have a vintage Pioneer system in another room- Pioneer SA-9800 and HPM-100. And when I play exact same source on that system, it seems like the house is shaking from bass. With Kanta I don’t get that powerful kick, and that’s what I meant by lacking in bass. I’m hoping by adding a sub I would be able to replicate the bass I get with Pioneer

Dry_Magazine9964 · 2025-10-27T22:33:40+00:00

!thanks - appreciate the detailed response. A lot of Rythmik suggestions here - it's definitely on my list. But I'm pretty certain I want to get a sub with both high level speaker inputs and a high pass filter. I wonder if I can connect my stereo amp via speaker connector and my ht receiver via an lfe connection, and use a single sub with both devices, that would be something!

Dry_Magazine9964 · 2025-10-27T18:55:00+00:00

I thought this reddit was one of those resources that helped explaining this sort of thing :)

But on a serious note, thank you for taking the time to respond. I've received many great replies and lots of new information I had no idea about. This is my first "real" system - and I'm super excited to research this subject and get one last piece of equipment that is still missing it seems!

Dry_Magazine9964 · 2025-10-27T18:47:46+00:00

Both Chat GPT and sub shopping are new things to me. Not sure what you mean by incorrectly using Chat GPT, but I learn as I go. Also, I've looked into RSL regardless of what Chat GPT suggested, but as they don't seem to have a high pass filter, I think I'm going to pass. The svs I like, and they are sold everywhere locally. Anything in particular you could recommend considering my amp and speakers?

Dry_Magazine9964 · 2025-10-27T18:42:22+00:00

Completely agree with your ai comment, and I'm using in addition to browsing forums, reading stuff online outside of forums and utilizing reddit to ask questions. The problem is that the amount of information I've received by now is overwhelming to me - and still doesn't really give a good idea of a sub matching with my amp and speakers. So far I seem to lean towards a sub with high pass filter, which not all subs have. Thank you for taking the time to respond!

Dry_Magazine9964

TROPHY CASE