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Need some BIG help with my old Technics SA 190 reciever and SW 10 Cerwin Vega Sub

post #1 of 13
8/9/09 at 2:19am
Thread Starter 
ok i have an older technics reciever, sa 190, which i would like to learn how to turn this into a great setup for a dorm room. I have a Ten inch Cerwin Vega SW 10 sub, but im lost on how to connect it to this older reciever. I'm kind of new to this, but i have about five Cerwin Vega home speakers and four Infinity home speakers.  any help would be amazing!   just like me know what you would do, and i'll probably go the same route!!! i realize i cant get surround sound, but maybe im wrong...
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post #2 of 13
8/9/09 at 7:35am
 Welcome to the forum.  The rec'r you are referring to is stereo and rated at 35 watts per channel and dates from 1986-1987.  The sub probably has speaker level ins and outs and either has a fixed or adjustable crossover (I have not checked) and you can take the left and right channel speaker outputs into the corresponding inputs of the sub and the speaker level outputs of the sub to the inputs of the left and right speaker.  There are Dolby Pro-Logic add on units that you can buy used for not tons of money.  Adcom made one (GSP-560), Onkyo (ES-600Pro) and others as well.  Those have amplifiers built-in and go in the tape loop of your stereo rec'r and have channel level controls.  I have the Onkyo unit in the basement (it has 3x25W per channel) on my old PC with surround speakers in the ceiling.  It doesn't see tons of use.  You probably could find one on craigslist.com for under $40.
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post #3 of 13
8/10/09 at 12:27am
Thread Starter 
ok, so what you're saying is i need to run one wire from the reciever to the input of the sub. then run the rest from the sub to the speakers?
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post #4 of 13
8/10/09 at 12:57am
Is this subwoofer powered or unpowered?  Does it have speaker level inputs, and how many, how are they marked?  outputs?  Any RCA jacks at all?  Any controls for crossover level, volume, phase?  If you could take a photo of the available connections & attach it would help us.

I would not go the route Phil is suggesting with old add-on Prologic device, that is a solution for like 19 years ago maybe, you'd be up to early 1990's tech.  That seems silly to me.  For around that price, $60, you could probably easily find a used Dolby Digital/DTS receiver, get up to early 2000's tech.   For $180 you can have a brand new 2009 model w/ HDMI. You could perhaps use your old receiver as the subwoofer amp if needed.
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post #5 of 13
8/10/09 at 1:08am
Thread Starter 
so you think it might just be in my best interest to buy a reciever that has a sub output and surround sound?

basically i just want it for a dorm room, so i either have a stereo without a sub, or buy a reciever that will get some use out of the sub...?

this what it looks like. should i just buy a new reciever if i have around 5 great cerwin vega speakers to go with it?
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post #6 of 13
8/10/09 at 1:11am
Thread Starter 

is my best option to just buy a decent receiver for this sub so i can have surround and not just stereo? it seems like it would be worth it, and i probably wont get the most out of my sub if not.... let me know please and thanks
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post #7 of 13
8/10/09 at 11:34am
The old receiver is only good for stereo sound. You would use it with just two of those other speakers you have.  You'd wire the left/right +/- to the speaker level inputs on that sub amp.  Then go from the speaker level outputs of the sub amp to two speakers.  This would be fine setup in a typical dorm room.  Depends on how big your room is and if you are splitting it with a roommate, if your room is the size of the dorms I remember it wouldn't be all that practical to put in 5 speakers for full surround; I didn't do full surround until I got an apartment.

If you want surround sound I would just get a new receiver.   If < $100 budget get something used, Dolby Digital+DTS, the more digital inputs the better.  If you have $180+ I would just get a new one.
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post #8 of 13
8/10/09 at 11:44pm
Thread Starter 
ya spending less is probably best.  do you think it'd be worth it to hook up the four additional speakers into the receiver as well?  i would rather use them and not waste them.  am i going to get the full worth from my sub by doing this, or will it just play the music i have in a low tone. 
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post #9 of 13
8/11/09 at 12:01am
Thread Starter 
http://s4.tinypic.com/b5mnar.jpg

here is my receiver
 it has at least four speaker outputs... and i have plenty of speakers
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post #10 of 13
8/11/09 at 12:09am
Thread Starter 
http://img.adoosimg.com/538e28de9b37e054078e791a9421-2-3.jpg


the top is an internet photo of the back of my receiver. does this help?  how would you set it up with about five speakers
and the powered sub
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post #11 of 13
8/11/09 at 12:36am
Thread Starter 
one more note, i had a friend give me a whole 75 ft reel of 24 gauge speaker wire from radio shack.  is it ok to use if the longest distance is around 8 ft? will it really affect the sound that much?
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post #12 of 13
8/11/09 at 9:31am
The subwoofer just fills out the low end, bass your main speakers can't handle.  Don't know what you mean by "full worth". In a dorm room like I said I'd just use 2 speakers + the sub, I don't think an putting an extra 2 is going to improve things any for music.  Save the other speakers for when you get an apartment or something and want to set up real surround for movies.

The speaker wire is fine for 8 feet.
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post #13 of 13
8/11/09 at 10:02pm
Thread Starter 
ok im all set!! thanks a bunch for the help!  only one more question...  what frequency should i run my sub on?  they say they can run 8 ohms or less, so im not sure what to set my sub on if im just goin to watch movies and play music
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