Can you hook up a powered sub from your tv?? (1 Viewer)

[RYHD]

Hello,
It's nice to be a member, great site!! I have the Bose Cinemate hooked up to a Polaroid 40" LCD and I'm really enjoying both. It has become obvious though that the bose sub hardly brings any boom to my HT experience. I want to add a 2nd sub if possible but I was wondering since I have no receiver how I would do this. I had heard that you could possibly do digital coax out from my tv to the left line in of a powered sub and then control it with the tv volume. Is there anyway that I can add some extra bass to this bose system without having to buy a receiver because I am very tight on space? Here's my setup: RCA from cable box to tv, rca from tv to bose 1 input mini reciever. hdmi from dvd player into tv. Bose controls sound from both.

Thanks, Ryan

 

[Phil Taylor]

You could possibly try running a powered sub off a line out (red & white RCA connectors) from your TV and set the crossover around 80-90hz on the sub. You may want to "Y" them together with a Y adapter to get lows from both channels. Not sure how well it would work but if it doesn't satisfy you at least you would already have a sub for when you buy a real receiver

 

[RYHD]

Thanks Phil,
My rca out from my tv is already being taken up by the bose. The only audio out that I have is a digital audio coax out. Could I hook up a sub with that? I've tried researching this and some say it can work others say it won't. I guess I'm looking for a definitive answer before making the purchase.

thanks.

 

[Phil Taylor]

Well you could try adding a simple RCA Y (2) on your TV audio outs running one set to your Bose and the other to the sub -- it just might work or to be sure you could get an audio DA similar to this one at Amazon --
http://www.amazon.com/4-Output-A-v%2...dp/B0002C81AM/
that would work fer sure.

 

[JohnRice]

Ryan, using the digital coax out definitely will work. It will work to destroy the sub. Consider the advice of anyone who said you can do that as being reliably wrong.

So, I take it the Bose is a powered system and you are using the regular 2 channel analog (red/white) output from the tv and running it to the Bose. The solution is actually pretty simple. You get a sub with low level (RCA) inputs and outputs with its own crossover. There are many to choose from. The two RCA outputs go from the tv to the sub, which "peels" off its frequencies, then it passes whats left on to the Bose. I would try setting the crossover around 100 Hz. Not all subs have a variable crossover, but any decent one should. You just have to be sure the sub has this feature. Unfortuantely, most retail salespeople don't even know what that is, so you have to be careful with their advice. They just want to sell you something.

Here is an example, sorry the pic isn't larger...



The top right connections are the low level (RCA) ins and outs, and the dials to the left of them control the crossover.

That is from an SVS sub, but many are similar. The connections toward the bottom are the speaker level ones, which you should not use.

 

[RYHD]

Thanks to all who helped. I believe I'm going to try out the MTX 12" for 169at circuit city. It has the RCA in and outs and a variable crossover. It fits my budget. Is this an okay choice? I can't post url's yet since I'm too new but it is listed online at circuit city.

Will this crossover method downgrade the performance of the two bose speakers in anyway?

Thanks

 

[Phil Taylor]

The MTX is an "OK" choice of those available at Circuit City in its price range and has the line ins and outs you are needing. It has mixed reviews and is not an audiophile's choice by any means but should give you some added (although somewhat muddy) thump. Alternatives would be at least twice the price.

 

[JohnRice]

BTW Ryan, I was presuming you are using a variable level output from the TV, and using the TV's volume control to adjust the volume of the Bose speakers. If the Bose have their own volume control and you use this method, it won't work because the volume of the sub will stay the same.

As far as subs, I really don't know a thing about the lower cost ones, except that most of them aren't very good. I think there is a Dayton from partsexpress.com in your range that has been well received. I haven't checked to see if it has the crossover features you need. Any way, to get a pretty decent sub, you probably need to go at least $300 from SVS or HSU. I know that just isn't always possible.