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Conguring the X-Ref 10 for use with a combined stereo
and home theater system
There are several ways you can congure a combined stereo and home theater system
to work with your X-Ref 10.
Separate stereo preamp and home theater pre/processor
If you have entirely separate stereo and home theater systems, both with bass
management, and intend to share one X-Ref 10 (or one pair) between them, then the
best option is to simply connect the subwoofer outputs of each to one of the X-Ref’s
input connectors. (Connect one to the balanced input and one to the unbalanced input.
If one source component is physically closer, use the unbalanced cable for the shorter
cable run if possible.) Set the X-Over (crossover) to Direct on the X-Ref 10 to allow the
preamp and pre/processor to each handle their own bass management.
The X-Ref 10 also offers a feature which automatically adds a little extra punch when
you’re watching a movie (it increases low bass by about +6 dB at 45 Hz). This feature
is enabled by connecting the Movie EQ Trigger input on the X-Ref 10 to the trigger
output on your home-theater pre/processor. (Assuming you have a stereo music source
connected to one input on the X-Ref, and a home-theater pre/processor connected to
the other input, the Movie EQ Trigger input is typically congured to activate the bass
boost when the home-theater pre/processor is turned on).
If you have a pre/processor (like Emotiva’s UMC-1) which has programmable trigger
outputs, this allows the Movie EQ boost to be turned on by the pre/processor for just
certain types of program material.
This conguration should also work well if you have a separate preamp and pre/pro but
use “HT Bypass” or “Direct Mode” on either to allow both to share one power amp and
set of speakers for the front channels.
Stereo preamp (without bass management) and
home theater pre/processor
If you have a separate stereo preamp and home theater pre/processor, and your stereo
preamp does not have bass management (but you use your stereo preamp as a phono
preamp), the easiest solution is to connect the Tape Output of your stereo preamp to
one of the high-level inputs (Aux In) on your home theater pre/processor. This will
allow your pre/processor to control most aspects of playing music, including bass
management, yet allow you to play records via your stereo preamp.
Another option is to purchase an external line-level crossover to provide bass
management for your stereo preamp (passive or active) and then congure everything
as described above.