1 wire or 2 wire sub-woofer hookup which is best?? (1 Viewer)

[Scott Cunninghm]

Most subs can be hooked up 2 ways. There is an RCA plug un many recievers that is for low frequency effeact (LFE). This is a special output for the sub-woofer itself. It is a single output on a reciever, but is normally split with a "Y" splitter to the two sub inputs. It still only carries one signal.

The other hookup option is to hook the front main speaker outputs from the reciever to the sub, then hook the speakers up through the sub's l/r output terminals. This allows the sub to use the standard main speaker signal, and create the bass for that.

As both signals are a bit different, which is the normal or preferred way of hooking up your sub. Which gives the best results, the LFE input, or the pass-through of the main speaker input?

 

[Dustin B]

It's a bit more complicated than that. You have to consider what your speakers and sub are capable of, what the bass management of receiver or pre/pro is (where the crossover can be set, what it's slopes are and how it redirects bass from the other speakers and LFE), what the crossover of your sub is (slopes, how it's adjustable), etc.

The short answer is I prefer to set all my speakers to small, redirecting their bass to the LFE and hooking my sub up using the sub preout of the receiver or pre/pro. Whether that signal needs to be split to the left and right inputs depends on the plate amp.

 

[Scott Cunninghm]

Dustin, you are hurtin my head ;-)

How do you redirect the sub effect from the speakers to the LFE. I have a Yamah reciever. Can I do it in the menu's??

Front speakers are old Bose 10.2's (yeah, yeah, I know, get rid of the Bose) with unpowered 8" cones (among other speakers in teh array). I am planning on getting a 10"-12" sub to help these out and just wonder how to best hook it up.

Based on what you say I should go to the sub using the LFE output instead of the front speaker outputs. Once that is done I should somehow re-direct the bass to the sub instead of the mains through the LFE output. Is this what you mean?

 

[Dustin B]

Yep, it's really simple to do. Dig out the Yamaha's manual. Then what you will want to do is tell it you have a sub and that all your speakers are small. The receiver will then take all the bass under 90hz from the speakers and redirect it to the sub through the LFE. The sub will also be feed the LFE signal.

 

[Jeremy_Watson]

Scott,
I believe Dustin is referring to the internal crossover settings of your receiver. Most newer receivers, and I imagine older ones as well, have an adjustable crossover setting. I believe, and please anyone correct me if I'm wrong, and frequencies below this crossover are automatically directed to the LFE channel.
Also, changing the settings of your speakers from "Large" to "Small" tells your receiver where to set the crossover point for each of those 5 (or 6 or 7) channels of sound; all input below xxHz will be sent to the LFE channel. The "Small" setting has a higher frequency crossover, since smaller speakers cannot usual go as low as ones with larger woofers, and this would likely be the best setting for your speakers.