Should I use a Y-splitter for the rca jacks on my sub or just a single connection? (1 Viewer)

What are your thoughts on this? I have read you get better performance using a y-splitter and using both rca jacks on the sub as oposed to just one? My sub is a vtf-3 and I got a hk 525 receiver. What are your thoughts on this?

IMHO, this is one of those things that'll cost you under $10 to try, and that you MAY notice an improvement with. Get a buddy to switch the thing (without telling you) and see if it sounds better.

Todd

The actual sound quailty itself will not change, but you "may possibly" pick up some gain to the sub.===>More volume out of the sub with everything still set the same.

Without touching anything (the volume on receiver or gain knob on sub) add the Y-Adaptor (1-female to 2-males) to the end of your sub cable then plug it into both R & L line level rca jacks.

A good ole cheap Radio Shack Y-Adaptor is fine, don't waste your money on a fancy 20.00+ sub Y-Adaptor. Unless it makes you feel better to see it say Monster or whatever on it..

Bottom line:
If it works the sub will play louder with the "same settings", if not, the subs volume will "stay exactly the same".
If it works you will have to re-calibrate the sub.

Other VTF-3 owners might chime in and be able to tell you if you get the gain or not from the Y-Adaptor addition. Thus not wasting your time & money if it dose not work.

Even if it dose work it's a "personal choice", you DON'T really need it, some people use them and some don't.

Also, NOT EVERY self powered sub dose the Y work on, some it dose not.

But as Chuck said, it's a very cheap thing to give a try..

Regards
Geoff

Edit: I run 3 subs and they all have Y-Adaptors on their rca inputs to help keep the gain up. Without them I need to run my receivers LFE 6 clicks higher to get the same spl output.

Thanks for the replys guys. I already have the y-splitter connected since it came with my sub rca cable. It sounded amazing to me, but maybe I will try it without the y-splitter to see if there is a difference.

This really depends on the sub. Some subs are designed to bypass it's internal crossover when fed only ONE input (some Infinity units, for example). Other subs will automatically 'adjust' themselves when you feed it only one input, and others will work 'better' when you feed both inputs. Check the owner's manual to see what it says on the subject.

The Y-connector delivers a slightly louder signal to the VTF-3, which sums (adds) the two signals together. Since you can just turn up the volume on the sub, Dr. Hsu says that a Y-connector is not needed. He says it does not increase sound quality. It won't hurt anything either, but Dr. Hsu engineered his subs to work well in the majority of situations out of the box. Since most people use a single subwoofer cable from a surround sound capable receiver, the sub was designed for this.

The sound difference wont be as great as the effects the room has on sound. Its possible to get up to 10 dB swings at certain higher freqencies just by moving the speaker or your head one foot.

-Sasha at Hsu Research