Wiim Amp red light an no sound when connected to tower speakers with powered subwoofers

[twd000]

I have a pair of Boston Acoustics VR-965s connected to my Wiim Amp, which is connected to my TV via HDMI

These speakers have built-in powered subwoofers with adjustable volume level. I have connected the Sub Out on the Wiim to an RCA splitter, then RCA cables going to each speakers sub input.

When enable subwoofer output in the Wiim app, it will play sound for a few minutes, then displays the flashing red light and no sound comes out.

This happened once before and Wiim sent me a brand new Amp. New Amp exhibits the same behavior.

If I disable sub out in the app, and unplug the RCA cables, I get mid and high frequencies in the main woofer and tweeter.

Is the Wiim Amp not compatible with powered subwoofers in these towers? Or is there some other way to connect them?

 

[Fernandodelae]

I have a pair of Boston Acoustics VR-965s connected to my Wiim Amp, which is connected to my TV via HDMI

These speakers have built-in powered subwoofers with adjustable volume level. I have connected the Sub Out on the Wiim to an RCA splitter, then RCA cables going to each speakers sub input.

When enable subwoofer output in the Wiim app, it will play sound for a few minutes, then displays the flashing red light and no sound comes out.

This happened once before and Wiim sent me a brand new Amp. New Amp exhibits the same behavior.

If I disable sub out in the app, and unplug the RCA cables, I get mid and high frequencies in the main woofer and tweeter.

Is the Wiim Amp not compatible with powered subwoofers in these towers? Or is there some other way to connect them?

This speakers you own are powered speakers with built in AMP, The WiiM AMP is designed to work with passive speakers so it seems like you have the wrong equipment, hence the error light is being displayed in the WiiM.

Also the work around you´re trying to do will not work.

What you need in this case is not a WiiM AMP which is redundant and incompatible with your powered speakers but a streamer only, like a WiiM Mini, Pro, Pro + or Ultra.

 

[harkpabst]

I have a pair of Boston Acoustics VR-965s connected to my Wiim Amp, which is connected to my TV via HDMI

These speakers have built-in powered subwoofers with adjustable volume level. I have connected the Sub Out on the Wiim to an RCA splitter, then RCA cables going to each speakers sub input.

When enable subwoofer output in the Wiim app, it will play sound for a few minutes, then displays the flashing red light and no sound comes out.

This happened once before and Wiim sent me a brand new Amp. New Amp exhibits the same behavior.

If I disable sub out in the app, and unplug the RCA cables, I get mid and high frequencies in the main woofer and tweeter.

Is the Wiim Amp not compatible with powered subwoofers in these towers? Or is there some other way to connect them?

These speakers are pretty weird ... but they should work well with your WiiM Amp.

Just do not connect the WiiM Amp's sub out to the speakers' sub-in and do not enable the subwoofer setting in the WiiM Home App and you should be done. As far as I understand it, you can feed the LFE signal to the built-in subwoofers but you don't have to. They seem to use the high-level input from your speaker cables and drive the internal sub from this signal.

This is easy to test: Connect just the speaker cables from the WiiM Amp and the power cables to the speakers, of course. Play some music. Rotate the knob labelled "bass/sub" fully anti-clockwise, then fully clockwise. There should be a very noticeable difference.

The bad news: You cannot take advantage of the WiiM Amps sub management. The good news: You don't really need it with these speakers. Unless you want to connect a real subwoofer with a bigger driver and more grunt.

 

[harkpabst]

Take note of the hints in the manual. For a stereo system just connect speaker cables as shown.

The sub out on the WiiM Amp is not a Dolby Pro Logic effects channel. It will split the audio band into a monophonic bass signal and a stereophonic mains signal at any crossover frequency between 30 Hz and 250 Hz. The integrated sub and the mid/high section on your speakers already have crossovers in place for a very specific crossover frequency. Even if the WiiM Amp would work continuously without entering error state, this built-in crossover and that configured for the Amp would never get along well.

 

[twd000]

This speakers you own are powered speakers with built in AMP, The WiiM AMP is designed to work with passive speakers so it seems like you have the wrong equipment, hence the error light is being displayed in the WiiM.

Also the work around you´re trying to do will not work.

What you need in this case is not a WiiM AMP which is redundant and incompatible with your powered speakers but a streamer only, like a WiiM Mini, Pro, Pro + or Ultra.

my understanding is that the woofer and tweeter are passive, but only the sub is active. If I connect an un-powered streamer only, I don't think I will get any sound

 

[harkpabst]

my understanding is that the woofer and tweeter are passive, but only the sub is active. If I connect an un-powered streamer only, I don't think I will get any sound

That's right.

 

[twd000]

View attachment 10300
Take note of the hints in the manual. For a stereo system just connect speaker cables as shown.

The sub out on the WiiM Amp is not a Dolby Pro Logic effects channel. It will split the audio band into a monophonic bass signal and a stereophonic mains signal at any crossover frequency between 30 Hz and 250 Hz. The integrated sub and the mid/high section on your speakers already have crossovers in place for a very specific crossover frequency. Even if the WiiM Amp would work continuously without entering error state, this built-in crossover and that configured for the Amp would never get along well.

thanks, yes that is what I recall reading in the manual
the second option is what I chose - "sub out from receiver to Y-connector to sub input on towers"
are you saying that skipping that extra connection makes no difference? If I only connect to the speaker terminals, I'll get the same sound?

 

[harkpabst]

are you saying that skipping that extra connection makes no difference? If I only connect to the speaker terminals, I'll get the same sound?

Yes, exactly. If there is no separate channel containing additional bass information (like the LFE) then there's no need for the additional cable. The speaker is designed to work with a traditional stereo amplifier or with an X.1 AVR. In both cases the built-in powered subwoofer will be used.

The only thing you might actually try is if the volume knob on the back of the speaker has any effect if no cable is connected to sub. I suspect it does, but I'm not sure.

I'm not sure what makes the WiiM Amp switch off with this additional connection. but I am 100% sure that it doesn't do any good when playing music.